Chistoph Hainz during the ascent of Magic Mushroom. [Photo] Courtesty of Christoph Hainz
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Italian Christoph Hainz and the Swiss Roger Schali opened a new route on the Eiger’s north face this October. The route, Magic Mushroom, climbs twenty pitches of the vertical and overhanging face to the “stone mushroom” often used by BASE jumpers as a launch point from the mountain.
Hainz and Schali reported very compact rock, which they bolted from hooks. They propose a grade of 7c–5.12d–for the most difficult pitches of the route. The lower wall was reported at 6a to 6b+, the middle at 6c+ to 7a.
Hainz is not a stranger to the north face. At one time, he held the record for fastest solo ascent of the standard 1938 Route. With minimal gear, he climbed unroped except for the Difficult Crack, which was icy, and reached the summit in record time: four hours and forty minutes.