Conditions:Magic Box Canyon-20211207062743

Latest:	4 Sep 2021 (4 yrs ago)

Reported by:	Beccap (47 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate
Wetsuit:	Thick wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	13 hours

Team: 9 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: A great day with a great group. All bolts were in good condition, but most natural anchors needed to be replaced. The anchor for the crack was inaccessible, causing us to re-route and scramble up canyon left, which cost about 90 minutes problem solving and moving the entire group through that bottleneck. In hindsight I think most of us wished we were in dry suits due to the amount on time spent in deep pools. Overall, the canyon is a wonderful full value adventure day.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
30 Aug 2025	Great	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Normal	11 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Fumim (3 reports)
Comment: Great day with a friendly flow in a beautiful canyon. It felt like the lower side of the moderate-low today. Water wasn't super cold, but 5/4 wetsuit felt right. There was no anchor for R1, so it was a somewhat technical down climb DCL. It's a slippery canyon, so we body-anchored the first person wherever the anchor was at the edge. A local tipped us to slide the bottom half or 2/3 or so on R10, but the timing to release the rope can be a bit tricky. If you hold onto the rope too long, you would pendulum hard onto the wall of an alcove (canyoneer's right). I remember R10 anchor was DCL, not DCR, but was easy to find. There was one rap, maybe R4, that was much taller than the beta (perhaps 60' instead of 50'). The canyon is generally very slippery, which made the creek walk slower and energy intensive, especially for the long exit. But another canyoneer later told that there is a shortcut exit DCL shortly after the last rap, cross-country to intercept a power line track, then went down to the bridge, skipping a bunch of creek walking. I wish we would have known that route. It would have saved me from having an existential crisis multiple times. We took a water taxi from Horseshoe Bay at 7am, 40min ride to McNab, and was back to McNab from the canyon between 6-6:30pm, taking the return taxi at 7pm. If all the crew members were efficient in creek walking, we would have been done by 5-5:30pm.
23 Aug 2024	Good	Moderate Low	Thick wetsuit	Normal	9 hours	9 people Intermediate to Advanced	K arc (387 reports),Coops (137 reports),Kirbside (98 reports),Cheveran (94 reports)
Comment: Overall a good day in Magic Box. The canyon is amazingly beautiful but our weather was not (rainy and very overcast). Very slippery throughout, which made creek walking slow, and many rappels awkward. This likely detracted from our enjoyment of the canyon. We added 5 bolts at various points throughout the canyon (largely where the beta requested). Not listing as "special challenges" because the first group through should be prepared to bolt (and if another group came through this year they didn't write a report...). Outside of that the canyon ran smoothly. We rigged twin systems where appropriate to keep the group moving. If you have a fast group you could likely do this with a 6 am water taxi in and an 8 pm taxi out. Be aware taxis may be late. Group was cold in a few sections but nothing major (water was a bit warmer than Box a few days ago). We scouted out a different exit back to a powerline access road (which we will add to the beta at some point). Sadly the decapitation slide is no more.
3 Sep 2023	Amazing	Low	Drysuit		12 hours	8 people Intermediate to Advanced	Logan (60 reports)
Comment: Magic Box raises the bar for what constitutes a 5-star canyon in this region. Remarkable in all aspects - massive clear green pools, superb slide, nice jumps, good downclimbs, rappels in flow, a myriad of rock types. It checks all the boxes of a great canyon. We did 15 rappels, 4 jumps, 1 big slide, followed by 40 minutes of fun boulder hopping on a myriad of grippy rock types. The slide is about 30' once you lower into it. Very impressive, similar to Lodrino's long vertical slides. 4 jumps in the range of 20-25' plus a couple smaller ones. FIRST TEAM EVERY YEAR MUST BRING A DRILL - there is a series of 3 anchors on log jams with false floors below the Grotto and these could change dramatically over the winter storms and after Spring flooding.
4 Sep 2021	Great	Moderate	Thick wetsuit	Normal	13 hours	9 people Intermediate to Advanced	Beccap (47 reports)
Comment: A great day with a great group. All bolts were in good condition, but most natural anchors needed to be replaced. The anchor for the crack was inaccessible, causing us to re-route and scramble up canyon left, which cost about 90 minutes problem solving and moving the entire group through that bottleneck. In hindsight I think most of us wished we were in dry suits due to the amount on time spent in deep pools. Overall, the canyon is a wonderful full value adventure day.
5 Sep 2019	Amazing	Moderate	Full wetsuit	Advanced			Michaelhenson (6 reports)