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Dave MacLeod (Read 342365 times)

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#550 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 02:04:46 pm


People die from leader falls all the time there (see http://db-sandsteinklettern.gipfelbuch.de/gipfel.php?sektorid=131 for just one sector in Elbsandsteingebirge [a cross for every death, a nurse for every hospitalisation]), but rarely very good climbers.

Blimey, that's a bit grim!

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#551 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 02:18:03 pm
It's always struck me that there aren't that many serious incidents (say breaks with long term consequences and deaths) involving climbers at the higher end of trad climbing (or any kind of rock climbing). Taking an empirical approach, aggregating experience, perhaps most rock climbers become very good at controlling risk and aren't in fact therefore taking as big a risk as some think they are?

This.

And without linking to the stats here (easy to find), climbing is remarkably safe compared to many more "mainstream" sports like cycling and Horseriding.
Possibly the control remains with the participants more in our world?


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#552 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 03:02:04 pm
I spoke to all of my climbing friends and none of them had been killed climbing, so I conclude it is extremely safe.

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#553 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 03:05:09 pm
Glad to hear. Five of my climbing friends cannot be reached any longer after fatal accidents.

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#554 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 03:13:13 pm
I think it's very different in the mountaineering community. I remember reading a book by Messner or someone similar saying that about half of their climbing friends were dead by the stage in their life when they were writing about it.

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#555 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 03:45:37 pm
I spoke to all of my climbing friends and none of them had been killed climbing, so I conclude it is extremely safe.

Are they sure?

I think it's very different in the mountaineering community. I remember reading a book by Messner or someone similar saying that about half of their climbing friends were dead by the stage in their life when they were writing about it.

I don't know, but would guess, this is more likely to be avalanche / altitude / weather related (external factors) than falls? Whereas Rock Climbers are less susceptible to such things?


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#556 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 03:48:37 pm
I think it's very different in the mountaineering community. I remember reading a book by Messner or someone similar saying that about half of their climbing friends were dead by the stage in their life when they were writing about it.

I don't know, but would guess, this is more likely to be avalanche / altitude / weather related (external factors) than falls? Whereas Rock Climbers are less susceptible to such things?
Yes, absolutely. Also, a lot of those risks are more out of a climber's control, apart from choosing whether to go out in a particular forecast etc. But, those may be comparable to risks to rock climbers such as rockfall

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#557 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 03:56:43 pm
I've lost a few friends through climbing related accidents but none were doing anything hard / "dangerous".

I was talking to Smythe about just this thing the other week and the only conclusion we could come to was that you're more likely to fuck up when you're not totally focused. Confirmed by him then telling me about almost dying at the Virgin gym recently by climbing an entire route on the steeper bit without clipping in and having to reverse to the ground....... grim.

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#558 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 04:08:12 pm
I've lost a few friends through climbing related accidents but none were doing anything hard / "dangerous".

I was talking to Smythe about just this thing the other week and the only conclusion we could come to was that you're more likely to fuck up when you're not totally focused. Confirmed by him then telling me about almost dying at the Virgin gym recently by climbing an entire route on the steeper bit without clipping in and having to reverse to the ground....... grim.

That made my palms sweat.


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#559 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 26, 2016, 05:00:32 pm
Yes why would anyone climb at virgin? Savage

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#560 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 27, 2016, 12:48:32 am
middle class problems

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#561 AAAAARRGGH!
May 28, 2016, 01:00:15 am
AAAAARRGGH!
27 May 2016, 11:54 pm

  from MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT on Vimeo.

Above is the film of me climbing Practice of the Wild 8C in Switzerland the other week. The whole experience of that trip went pretty well. I had a good focus, good training and ended up doing not just the big goal, but almost everything else on my wishlist as well. I normally make pretty ambitious wish lists for trips and so if I manage even one of them I’m doing well. So I came home quite inspired to try and repeat the process.

However, your focus has to fall into line with what the conditions of the moment dictate. I wanted to climb one more boulder problem project back in Scotland, before the summer heat arrived. With many things to catch up on since I arrived home, I only got two chances to get on it. Last week I went up in not great conditions and almost did it. Yesterday I had another chance but couldn’t get away till late in the evening. My plan was to drive up, walk in and have a night session on it with the lights. But when I arrived in the car park at 10pm I felt too tired and decided just to sleep and go up early in the morning.

Next morning I walked in to find the project roasting hot, in full sun with no wind. No chance. I deluded myself for ten minutes and tried to warm up for it but quickly confirmed that bouldering season, at least for something as hard as this project, is now over.

So I packed up, turned around, and walked out, cursing myself for not managing to make this project happen while I had the form to actually climb it. I’ll just have to hope I still feel strong in the autumn, although by then I’ll be preparing for a 9a endurance route. I drove home rather frustrated, behind caravans.

Much as the failure is unpleasant in the short term, a kick in the ass is what I need now, to force me to move on, re-focus and prepare for what I want to climb next. One of the many lessons I learn about my climbing over and over again is that I do best with a clear focus rather than trying whatever. For the summer trad season, I have various ideas for hard projects to look at, but nothing I’ve actually been on yet. Next week I should have a chance to go and look at the first one or two of these potential new routes.

So for now I can only have a very short term focus - to start to claw back some endurance. I've been on the circuits, to try and turn myself into a route climber again. 3 sessions in, I already feel some progress and it’s actually really nice to climb more than 10 moves in a row.Dave MacLeod

My book - 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes

Source: Dave MacLeod blog


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#562 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 28, 2016, 05:52:18 pm
Excellent vid

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#563 Re: Dave MacLeod
May 28, 2016, 09:59:04 pm
Excellent vid

Agreed, the training and climbing overlays were spot on

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#564 North By North West, direct
June 09, 2016, 07:00:06 pm
North By North West, direct
9 June 2016, 3:01 pm





Racing ahead of my chasing pack of midges to arrive at the roof on North by North West direct (E7 6b). From here you swing wildly left along the lip and get cracking on the big wall above.

Last week I decided to teach myself the lesson for a third time that boulder project season is over. I know, I’m a slow learner. However, to be fair I still almost pulled off my project. Since then I have been trying to get my endurance off the floor. One place on my project list was The Bonaidh Donn near Torridon, not an often visited crag I don’t think. Which is a shame because although it’s quite far from the road it’s really good.

There is one hard route there - an excellent sounding E7 of Stork’s called North by North West. It does a 5c first pitch and then traverses out above a roof to enter this wild finger crack soaring up an overhanging wall. I guessed a direct entry through the roof could be a good project. I went up and abseiled down for a look. Unfortunately the roof was blank. But there was obvious potential to come into the line along the lip of the roof from the right making a more direct single pitch version of the climb, probably at the same grade.

I went up on a super hot day with Alicia to have a go. After doing some other routes the midge appeared and the conditions were ridiculously bad. We sat with our hoods on and I contemplated the futility of trying it in full midge and heat. But I just don’t like going home without the route in the bag. So we went down and I tied in. In order that I didn’t melt, I was forced to take my midge hood and long sleeve top off to start up the initial wall. This provided about E7 6c midge factor scraping tons of midges off my arms while trying to get a first runner in. Things thankfully got more breezy by the roof and I was able to immensely enjoy the rest of the route, which didn’t feel too hard.

Great start to the trad season.



Alicia following 'Stoater' (Severe). The wall of North by North West can be seen in the background.



Alicia trying not to feed the midges



High on North by North West. Great line.



Good sunset beyond Loch Maree and the Minch

Dave MacLeod

My book - 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes

Source: Dave MacLeod blog


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#565 New sponsor - La Sportiva!
June 20, 2016, 01:01:03 am
New sponsor - La Sportiva!
19 June 2016, 11:41 pm



Training in my new La Sportiva Otakis earlier today

I’m delighted to say I have joined the athlete team of La Sportiva after meeting the guys at Lyon Equipment last week. I don’t think it is news to any readers of this blog that I am pretty obsessive about the details in pushing my climbing and in optimising every aspect of it. So if I’m obsessive about climbing gear in general, when it comes to footwear, especially rock shoes, I take it to another level.

And why wouldn’t you? In rock climbing, the shoe on your foot becomes part of the machine. Your climbing style changes to match it. Anyone who's read 9 out of 10 and Make or Break knows my views on how important it is to get this right. But even if you follow good practice with choosing your rock shoes (trying on many pairs until you find something that fits your feet well) there is still the issue that individual models sometimes change, and your favoured model is no longer around. However, one lasting rule is that expert shoe manufacturers, with a long track record of designing and constructing high quality shoes can be relied upon to keep producing great designs.

I’d been deliberating about linking up with a footwear sponsor for some time. La Sportiva was the manufacturer in my mind to speak to. I got a great delivery of La Sportiva shoes earlier this week and obviously couldn’t wait to try them out. Over the past few days I’ve been climbing on very steep ground, first on a boulder project and then some sport climbing. I tend to prefer stiffer shoes than most, but I also like a good downturn. My favourite shoe so far for this type of climbing has been the new Otaki (I’m wearing in the pics) which is just out. They are brilliant for applying huge amounts of tension through a tiny foothold on steep ground and feel very compact and responsive on my feet. The overall ‘feel’ of a rock shoe definitely influences how you move on the rock and these feel secure, precise and just incredibly powerful on the vertical to 45 degree terrain I’ve climbed on them so far.

Although I still didn’t quite manage the boulder project I tried on my first outing with them (it is super hard for me!), they did feel fantastic and I could nearly do the project with some different foot beta I’d previously dismissed because I couldn’t get enough weight on my feet. The next day I did Remember to Roll (8b at Creag nan Luch) first redpoint in them and it felt pretty easy! Pretty good start.

Today I did a big training session on my board in them and they felt top notch on my entire cadre of hard problems and circuits on the 45 board. I’m always hesitant with hyperbole, but they did feel like I was getting a bit more body tension on these problems I know well than any other boot I’ve tried. You can take that with a pinch of salt since it’s a subjective comparison. But on the other hand, I know my board well, and I’m pretty sensitive to the differences between my many different rock shoes I’ve trained in over the years.

Obviously I’m also looking forward to climbing in La Sportiva’s winter boots this year, especially the Batura and Ice Cube. And I also feel a little coy about getting excited about new hillwalking boots. As a Scottish climber, my hill boots live in my car and I pretty much spend my waking life in either those or my rock shoes. If they are not super light, super comfortable and keep my feet nice and dry, my life would be a lot worse. I walked into my project on Skye in my new Trangos and know I will be a happy man pounding the Scottish hills in these.

The athlete team I have joined is rather humbling for me. It's quite a list. I better step up!

Dave MacLeod

My book - 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes

Source: Dave MacLeod blog


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#566 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 09:23:39 am
Great to read Garth's impartial views on the new Reebok shoes there.


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#567 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 09:39:30 am
Must be a brilliant climber to have done all those hard routes before in inferior footwear.

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#568 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 12:42:57 pm
He seems to be able to wear any shoe going... During his little spell experimenting between sponsors he wore whites, dragons, stix and instinct vs. I personally can't even get whites on my feet in a performance fit because they are so narrow and the stix are fairly high volume and wide. I tried on the Otaki and thought they were a bit clumpy but they're obviously well made, like all la sportiva shoes.

It will be interesting to see which la sportiva model Dave settles with over time and he's posted various articles over the years stating how good every scarpa model is when it's newly released but seemed to exclusively wear the stix. Therefore, I'd say that you could take this review with a pinch of salt! I'd expect to see him wearing the wider ones as time goes on like the solutions and muiras.

Shoe geek out.

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#569 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 12:57:32 pm
I'd expect him to do and say whatever will keep his robot overlords happy.

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#570 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 01:02:04 pm
Lets face it he could probably crush font 8b+ with dogturds strapped to his feet. And by that I mean Boreals.

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#571 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 01:07:37 pm
Great to read Garth's impartial views on the new Reebok shoes there.




Brilliant davE. Do you think he wrote that himself? It does come across like it was written by a mediabot(tm).

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#572 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 01:07:56 pm
He seems to be able to wear any shoe going... During his little spell experimenting between sponsors he wore whites, dragons, stix and instinct vs. I personally can't even get whites on my feet in a performance fit because they are so narrow and the stix are fairly high volume and wide. I tried on the Otaki and thought they were a bit clumpy but they're obviously well made, like all la sportiva shoes.

It will be interesting to see which la sportiva model Dave settles with over time and he's posted various articles over the years stating how good every scarpa model is when it's newly released but seemed to exclusively wear the stix. Therefore, I'd say that you could take this review with a pinch of salt! I'd expect to see him wearing the wider ones as time goes on like the solutions and muiras.

Shoe geek out.


Finally. Finally.


The true identity of "weakdave" is revealed!

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#573 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 01:09:19 pm
We need more weakdaves in the market place to provide me with a steady supply of nearly new shoes... ;)

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#574 Re: Dave MacLeod
June 20, 2016, 01:09:26 pm
Great to read Garth's impartial views on the new Reebok shoes there.




Brilliant davE. Do you think he wrote that himself? It does come across like it was written by a mediabot(tm).


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