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All the small things
8 April 2010, 6:48 pm



A couple of days off (spent fiddling with typography and researching) was good for my arms. An unexpected cessation of rain and warm spring sunshine was plenty reason to drop drop everything and head across the road to the isles again for another sortie in the cave. After displacing a gaggle of sheep who had been in residence during the storms, I warmed up and pretty much knew it was on. First try, a little shaky, but I puffed and grunted my through to the end of the link project; ‘All the small things’, Font 8a, in the bag. Check Pete’s video above.

All the small things Font 8a. Photo: Stone CountryAs always there is more to add. The link I did finishes at a logical jug in the apex of the cave. But the fun could be extended by dropping back down into the next undercut groove and heading further into the darkness. The moves on this are possible but withstood an hour trying, balancing precariously on stacked buckets to reach up and feel the tiny edges. That one will go at a large grade. Meantime I’m onto the 4* line at the cave entrance, which will be the best Font 8a+ in Scotland if I have my way.Tomorrow though, I’m bound for the western isles for the first time this season, to check things out for later. Off to pack binoculars, sea sickness tablets and a lot of static rope...Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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Proclamation
9 April 2010, 10:20 pm



Proclamation, Font 7c+ (Photo taken in the old irish tradition of lonely Hebridean first ascents; by self-timer, moments after the actual ascent). Going right from here along the rail instead of up will be at least Font 8a.I had the pleasure of taking the Calmac ferry to Harris today for a week of discovering new places to climb, on foot and tomorrow, by boat. After tea in Hotel Hebrides (much recommended) new cafe in Tarbert, I had two hours to climb some rocks.Niggling in my mind since my last two trips to Harris was a wee boulder problem on Clisham that had eluded me on both sessions. It had looked as though there was one way, and one way only to climb the thing. As it was a bald, rounded prow of gneiss I was foolish enough to fall for that. Of course it took me to accept that I was about to fail a third time to start using my imagination. Fifteen minutes later, I’d figured out that climbing most of it with at least one foot above my head might actually work. I had three minutes left before I had to leave for evening meetings with colleagues on our project.So I did it. It was the first time in a while I surprised myself rock climbing and felt elated on the top of a boulder. The reason for this is a renewed hunger for the direct, hands-on grapple with rock texture, as opposed to the winter of being disconnected from the medium by the length of a pair of ice axes all winter long. The Gneiss does a better job of indulging the appreciation of rock and movement aesthetics, and the great feeling of friction underneath the fingers than any rock I can think of.About fifteen inquisitive sheep witnessed my ascent. A few interrupted their continuous chewing motion to make proud proclamations into the evening haze in the glen. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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The last day or two on Harris
13 April 2010, 10:51 pm

All thinking the same thing?

settling in for the spring

Donald's catch while he waited for us

Joe merging blissfully into Glen Scaladale

Force production is known to correlate to chin distortion. At least Joe's extended chin is only temporary.

Another V9 for Harris if I can get that left foot swung round

Done.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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Rockcast 2010
16 April 2010, 11:05 pm



The mighty Sron Ulladale, Isle of HarrisIt’s great to be able to talk about this now…Nearly three years ago, the BBC attempted to run the ambitious live ‘Great Climb’ live broadcast on Cairngorm, with myself and a team of climbers from all over the world. We planned, rigged and trained for the big day. And then it rained. The washout was a huge disappointment, partially avenged by my ascent of my project on Hell’s Lum cliff a few days later which became the film ‘To Hell and Back’. Ever since, Triple Echo Productions who were behind the Great Climb project have been planning to make another attempt at a big live climbing event for the BBC. This year, the necessary components have aligned and we have a plan:



Tim Emmett and myself climbing on Ben Nevis in 2007On 28th August, myself and Tim Emmett are planning to attempt a hard new route on Sron Ulladale, the biggest overhanging piece of rock in the UK (700 feet high, overhanging it’s base by 150 feet or so). As you might imagine, the prospect of this brings feelings of massive excitement, together with a fair dose of intimidation, pressure and anticipation. The correct ingredients for a fine adventure.



Harris landscapeI’d love to tell you exactly which part of the mighty Sron we will try to climb, but last week on our recce, close inspection of the cliff was out of the question due to the golden eagles, nesting on the main part of the face once again. If the eagles hatch chicks (best of luck to them!) we won’t be able to look closely at the lines until August. So until then, it’s training and waiting. Naturally, our plan is to climb the hardest possible route that imagination and finger strength allows.



Colin Wells standing at the foot of Sron Ulladale. The rock in shot above him is roughly the first fifth of the cliff height (!).However, we have something else up our sleeves for the meantime. We’ll be doing another challenge to feature in the 6 hour live broadcast. We’ll try a triple five challenge of five new climbs on five hebridean islands in five days. Last week Donald took us around many a far flung corner of the Western Isles, showing us many a gobsmacking unclimbed cliff, geo or stack. After serial protracted deliberations in Hotel Hebrides we shortlisted the many amazing cliffs into five objectives, which we will travel between by boat, sleeping below deck, in camps or under boulders.



I’ll have a lot more to say about this as more plans emerge in the coming weeks. Right now I have to go back to training for it. More on the BBC site here.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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Some quick facts about the Sron Ulladale live climb
17 April 2010, 6:21 pm

Today I’ve been getting some questions about the BBC live broadcast on Aug 28th. Here are some answers as far as I know them right now:What happens if it rains, just like last time?Two possibilities - First the Sron is just about the biggest natural umbrella in the UK. The part we want to climb stays completely dry in the foulest of atlantic weather fronts. Our only Achilles heel might be if an isolated hold or section of the route is seeping from a crack, or the top of the overhangs are too hard to climb in the wet. I’ll know more about this after the golden eagles have finished raising their chicks and I can get on the cliff to look closely. I think in all but a northwesterly gale blowing heavy rain and body numbing cold straight into the overhangs, we should be sheltered and able to climb at least most of it. I have seen some methods of getting to the top by some creative route finding if we can’t avoid wet rock at the top 50m, but it totally depends on the exact nature of the terrain we end up climbing.But in case of a truly grim storm that really interferes with our climbing, we’ll have a ton of footage to show you from the triple five challenge which we are filming next month. The objectives are all pretty hard - E7 or harder. Naturally we have some options here for frustrating weather as well. Either way, there should be plenty of fine exciting climbing action to bring you on Aug 28th.I can’t get BBC2 Scotland, can I still watch it?Yes, it will be streamed live on the BBC website, and shown on the BBC HD channel too. Not doubt there will be plenty of other methods to tune in besides - more on this as I get the information from the BBC.What will you do if you can’t climb your route?I’ll fall off and that’ll be that! I’m expecting we’ll have a ‘living end’ standard piece of climbing to do. I’ll be giving it plenty and will be arriving well prepared, psyched and ready for a fine battle. I’m sure Tim will be too. But such is the nature of doing new things in sport; barriers can’t be broken every time. So we might fall off. We’ll all find out on the day. No pressure then…What islands are you climbing on during the triple five week?I’ll tell you when I see the forecast the day before we actually climb them, and if Donald can get close enough to the cliffs to land us in his boat. In other words, we have a plan, but that plan is guaranteed to change, and change again as the Hebridean weather has the last word. You’ll have to take my word for it that we’ll be climbing some stunning pieces of rock in some stunning places.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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Triangulation sessions in the cave
18 April 2010, 11:03 pm



Good session in the cave today in spring sunshine. I was feeling totally wasted from working far too late for a couple of days (&nights). But seemed to pull this out of the bag despite wobbly arms and sketchy concentration. Maybe it was just too good to slip by…Actually it was the killer toe hook that sealed the deal. I think I have seen the missing link to extent the big traverse right back into the second half of the cave. Perfect spring day today. PS the problem is called Triangulation and it's in the Font 8a ballpark (if not then easier, I lose track).Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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What school can’t teach you about climbing hard
27 April 2010, 2:28 pm

I just did some interviews about my climbing for various publications. The questions, in one way or another, ask “what is your secret”? It’s especially relevant in my case as I can’t answer that I’m naturally strong, or thin or talented or started climbing before I could walk.I’ve given roundabout answers for years, not understanding the underlying theme myself. In parallel I’ve tried to understand why climbers I’ve coached plateau where they do with apparently all the practical ingredients to keep improving.Recently I’ve thought and talked a lot about school and it’s effects down the line. Sad as it makes me to say it, I learned my ‘secret’ to doing what I have when I was away from school, which happened a lot.  A lot of school is about explicitly or implicitly working to fit in. To attain the satisfactory standard of your peers and nothing more. The minimum necessary to get an A and then you can coast. But good performance is by definition not fitting in. You won’t find the solution to the technique, motivation, training, financial, practical or unexplained problem that’s holding you back, by waiting for your teachers or peers or someone on a forum to tell you.I’m not saying they are useless - they are essential for pointing you in the right direction and supplying the initial shove. After that you roll to a stop pretty quickly unless you start producing your own momentum.Fifteen years of learning to wait to be told what to do and put in the minimum amount of work is really hard to unlearn. Start now!In the rest of this post I’ve given some pratical examples about how this idea helped me specifically and also some famous climbers. It’s maybe a bit technical for this blog, so I’ve posted it on my coaching blog.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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Oversimplification of sport
28 April 2010, 5:50 pm

Last night my extended post about school, influences and looking for shortcuts sparked off some interesting comments over on my Online Climbing Coach blog. They prompted another post from me about the subtle but critical difference between ‘chasing numbers’ in sport and actually improving. Commenting on that this, Gian questioned how the two can have such different implications for enjoyment of sport, since after all “numbers are meant to be a description of difficulty”.Simplified numbers or statements often are used these days to form the whole story about sport, and that is one of the reasons it’s so fraught with commoditization, unfairness, predictability and cheating. In big sports, a lot of money and time goes into finding ways to keep on top of drug cheats, so far with arguably little effect. In my opinion, it’s attacking from the wrong end. Attacking the incentive to cheat would work many fold better, and the weapons of war are the pens of the marketers of sport and the media that consumes it.Numbers are an index of difficulty of a climb (or some other task), but not an index of performance. To get a fair idea of how impressive a sport performance is, we usually need two, sometimes three bits of information sandwiched together. A climbing example: One bit - “He climbed that E7”Two bits - “He onsighted that E7”Three bits - “He onsighted that E7 in the rain”One bit headlines are always more attractive for media and they resort to it more and more in all corners of media. It’s a short term way to get more hits (and a long term route to implosion but that’s another blog post). Two bit headlines at least are needed by everyone to keep sport working. When I say everyone, I mean athletes themselves as well.Using numbers as a one bit index of performance is drain on the motivation in the long term and an continued improvement is destined to stall big time! “I’ve climbed E7!” is not enough, because the two bit headline in the background might be “I’ve climbed E7 but it was a soft touch...or it was a fluke…or I fasted for a week...or I cheated”For athletes, the improvement is most motivating and hence sustainable if the number is the secondary part of the headline:“I climbed well, got over my fear, and climbed that E7”“My footwork is much better this year after all those drills, so I knew I could get that 7a”“I really disciplined myself to rest properly, and I’m stronger for it”That kind of thinking shows how there’s more to taking satisfaction from improvement than the number. It’s not a lot more - just one or two extra bits of information - but crucial. Sports don’t need to be super complicated to be motivating, but rounding everything down to the lowest common denominator all the time is very toxic for motivation.

Footnote: I do a lot of headpointed trad routes, and a few people get very concerned that folk out there might not properly weight the performance of, for example, 'E11 headpoint'. Sure, a few inexperienced onlookers might not understand the significance of the second bit of that statement. I don't think this small group are really worth worrying too much about. As for the rest of us, I think people are smart enough to get their head around the idea that the number takes on a different meaning if you climbed in headpoint style.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod

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The Great Climb 2010
4 May 2010, 6:43 pm



The mighty Sron Ulladale, Isle of HarrisIt’s great to be able to talk about this now…Nearly three years ago, the BBC attempted to run the ambitious live ‘Great Climb’ live broadcast on Cairngorm, with myself and a team of climbers from all over the world. We planned, rigged and trained for the big day. And then it rained. The washout was a huge disappointment, partially avenged by my ascent of my project on Hell’s Lum cliff a few days later which became the film ‘To Hell and Back’. Ever since, Triple Echo Productions who were behind the Great Climb project have been planning to make another attempt at a big live climbing event for the BBC. This year, the necessary components have aligned and we have a plan:

On 28th August, myself and Tim Emmett are planning to attempt a hard new route on Sron Ulladale, the biggest overhanging piece of rock in the UK (700 feet high, overhanging it’s base by 150 feet or so). As you might imagine, the prospect of this brings feelings of massive excitement, together with a fair dose of intimidation, pressure and anticipation. The correct ingredients for a fine adventure.



Harris landscapeI’d love to tell you exactly which part of the mighty Sron we will try to climb, but last week on our recce, close inspection of the cliff was out of the question due to the golden eagles, nesting on the main part of the face once again. If the eagles hatch chicks (best of luck to them!) we won’t be able to look closely at the lines until August. So until then, it’s training and waiting. Naturally, our plan is to climb the hardest possible route that imagination and finger strength allows.



Colin Wells standing at the foot of Sron Ulladale. The rock in shot above him is roughly the first fifth of the cliff height (!).However, we have something else up our sleeves for the meantime. We’ll be doing another challenge to feature in the 6 hour live broadcast. We’ll try a triple five challenge of five new climbs on five hebridean islands in five days. Last week Donald took us around many a far flung corner of the Western Isles, showing us many a gobsmacking unclimbed cliff, geo or stack. After serial protracted deliberations in Hotel Hebrides we shortlisted the many amazing cliffs into five objectives, which we will travel between by boat, sleeping below deck, in camps or under boulders.



I’ll have a lot more to say about this as more plans emerge in the coming weeks. Right now I have to go back to training for it. More on the BBC site here.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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In the middle
4 May 2010, 9:43 pm

Right now I’m where climbing is best - in the middle of two or three hard projects all getting serious attention from me. It’s great and I’m feeling 90% rock fit after the winter at last. First up I’ve been in the big cave over at Arisaig. I’ve done the big link of the entire cave in two halves now and it’s still feeling like at least an 8c+ route, if a horizontal one! It’s one of those lines that I’m certain would feel like 9a if it was on a big cliff. But it’s very easy to work as it’s a roof boulder problem. We’ll have to see how it feels when I can get to the crux from the start. Yesterday, I returned to a brilliant project I bolted in 2007. I couldn’t get near the crux moves at that time and sacked it off, feeling it was 9a+ at least and too nasty and sharp on the fingers to justify. But it niggled. So I went back with fresh eyes. After a couple of hours on the shunt a new sequence emerged - fantastic technical but aggressive moves. It went at about V10, but you have to do an 8c/+ route to get there. Also I am watching the weather and hovering over the prospect of returning to a big project from last year. With more snow forecast in the mountains, it might be a bit chilly just yet, but I’m feeling in shape for it and have the impatience to get through a hard lead right now.A lot going on…I lost my camera, otherwise I’d have some more pics of these to show you. But I should be more organised now the weight of the big site redesign is (just about ) done.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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New site!
4 May 2010, 9:46 pm

After a good bit of fiddling and long evenings I have a newly redesigned and reorganised site. Apart from changing the look, the biggest change is to our shop which we’ve made easier to use, added more products and shopping in Euro and US Dollar currencies for those whom that applies. We’ve been getting a lot of orders of your favourite climbing books and DVDs from all over the world, so we hope this helps.Thanks for supporting our shop - it really helps us. I’m really keen to hear any feedback anyone has about the site - good, bad or problems needing fixing. Please leave me a comment. It’s hard to get time to triple check everything so it really helps to have a nudge when needed.

PS: If you visit this blog directly, keep in mind you could subscribe to my feed so you get the posts as they come.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Thanks uncertainty
7 May 2010, 9:53 am



How you feel about adventures or stuff you’re trying but can’t yet do depends a lot on your mood. It’s not easy, but it is sometimes possible to take some control over that.Liking this note from the Thanks Blog which is here.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Devastation succumbs to the Redpath grit (and massive shoulders)
7 May 2010, 10:50 am

Dave Redpath climbing Devastation Generation 8c, Dumbuck. Photo: Mark Mcgowan

I was most excited and heartened to read Dave Redpath’s blog this morning of his success on Devastation Generation (8c). Not just any 8c, or any 8c ascent. It’s a victory after 14 years of bolting it, naming it with a lot of personal meaning, trying it on and off, training for it, talking about it, thinking about it and pulling on that grim sequence of flat undercuts.



Only those who are up to the pain of 14 years of struggle and uncertainty get to have a chain clip as satisfying as this. Photo: Mark McgowanI first tried it with Dave in 1999 (!). Later, he passed the baton briefly to me while he did a PhD and I had a fine battle with to climb it in 2004. Malcolm Smith got a repeat in 2007. Even though I managed to climb it first, it was definitely always Dave’s route, not just because of the name, but it became important because it was important to Dave.It’s funny - that idea. I saw the same thing happen with my own route Rhapsody. It got a lot of attention when famous climbers came to little old Dumbarton to repeat it. Folk couldn’t understand the big attraction because it was a bit of a weird line, a bit eliminate, and the crag is a bit scruffy. Was it just the grade that created the draw? No, it was the meaning created by the effort of the first ascent. That was communicated in the film E11, and it was enough to make climbers fly around the world twice and fall off that headwall countless times to repeat it. A good reason to make climbing films, don’t you think?Of course, there are stories like this everywhere. The other week I was climbing at an obscure little crag in Yorkshire with a 9a+ on it called Violent New Breed. Looking at it, I have no doubt it’s up there with the hardest sport routes anywhere. The holds are almost invisible. Unless a curious soul takes it on, it will probably sit there unnoticed for a long time. Does it matter? Not in the grand scheme of things. But it is a shame that John Gaskins story of this route is essentially untold. Sharing inspiration is a good cause. The routes themselves are not all climbers can give to their sport. Cynical ‘old prunes’ (to coin a British phrase) with blinkers on think blogs, films etc are all about self-promotion and ego massage. All I can think reading Dave’s blog this morning was that I was inspired and thanks for sharing it! If you’d like a slice, Dave’s blog is here.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Big link in the cave complete
12 May 2010, 5:28 pm



At Eternity’s Gate, V13Climbing tough projects that take you a wee while is always a game of balancing stakes. The more work and effort you put in, the more progress you make. The more you drop other things and focus on just that, the faster and more consistent the progress. But at the same time, it gets ever harder not to be become attached to success on it as you sense it getting close. And as you stretch your hand further, the potential for backfire gets ever larger.In my favour, a fortnight of cold weather, an lb of body mass trimmed and an uninterrupted series of work sessions. But a broken hold, the urgency of impending warm weather and the monotonous hard physical work re-awakening just about every injury niggle I’ve ever had was making the end of the game imminent.What to do? Ignore it and keep making hard won baby steps. Just as I was feeling like I’d have no chance of maintaining finger and toe strength through that section of little crimps just before the bat-hang, I found myself puffing and panting through them and hanging from the jug before the final V8+ section. I initially felt this was V14 for sure, but a couple of last minute sequence tweaks was enough to keep the flow of moves going and the anaerobic countdown just inside my capacity. Who knows though, F8c+ might be a more appropriate rating than V13 seeing as it’s 60 moves long!I’ll get a topo up for the cave soon as I can. Meanwhile, In a fatigued state I dragged my sore arms around another hillside near Arisaig with Donald and found this:



The little lean-to roof was so innocuous we almost walked past, but inside lucked a 50 degree overhanging wall covered in little positive edges like something straight out of a Swiss granite valley. 4 mini-classics between V7 and V9 later,  could only sit and watch the snow showers drifting over Skye and the small isles for the rest of the afternoon.Tomorrow, the trad season starts for me, although there’s a chance the lingering winter might make it a false start. We’ll see...



Another snow shower pummels EiggDave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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What about everywhere else?
23 May 2010, 4:05 pm



Consider this graph from Chris Anderson’s blog. It shows air travel patterns from the UK over the recent decade.The changes in the airline industry and the way recommendations flow is meaning that more people are going to the places you’ve not heard of before, not just the famous spots. When I saw this I immediately thought of climbing. I’ve always had a strange relationship to travelling to climbing destinations. Although, the famous spots around the world are such because they are (on the surface at least) good, I find that I don’t always have the best time there.Sometimes the good climbing is offset by too many people, crap logistics, unfriendly people, bad food etc etc..There is good climbing in soooo many places all over the planet. Folk ask me a lot why I don’t travel abroad more to climb. I sort of understand why they ask because people generally are still fairly conditioned to think about the famous places and imagine that if they haven't heard of somewhere it’s cant be good.Lot’s of people haven’t heard of most of the crags I climb on, so they wouldn’t at first realise that just because I live in one of the ‘everywhere else’ places it doesn’t mean I don’t have just as good climbing nearby. In 17 years I’ve never once felt bored or short of new things to go and climb within three hours drive of my house. What more could you ask for?Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Sessions with Cubby and Mr King
23 May 2010, 4:21 pm



Donald enjoying good conglomerate at the MoundOn the way back south from Thurso I stopped off at some conglomerate bouldering not far south of Golspie with Donald that Cubby told me about. We spent a nice couple of hours climbing here. Worth knowing about. They are at The Mound, Loch Fleet (NH 766 978) with two separate walls, both about a minutes walk from the car and from each other through the trees.



Cubby demonstrating his traverse on a lovely May afternoon in Glen Etive. I added a lower variation to this at a burly V9 or so.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Orkney false start
23 May 2010, 4:36 pm



With V13 fitness finally regained after the endless winter of snowy mountaineering, I was obviously keen to get back to me project on Orkney - freeing the original line of the Longhope Route. But winter, in the northern end of the UK at least, wasn’t giving in just yet.



But we went anyway. It was kind of as bad as we expected, but worth going anyway. Donald and I spent a couple of days on the wall, one dangling about on the top and one on the bottom pitches. A lot of shivering was done, and trying to climb an F8c pitch in full winter mountaineering clothing didn’t fully work out. So we bailed without a great deal of deliberation.Nevertheless I learned some more things about the route, namely that I need more time on it and it’s going to be damn hard. And visiting Orkney is always a pleasure. It was good to see that Donald found the lower pitches as adventurous as I think they are. I did almost have a nasty fall when a block I was holding onto parted company with the wall while a loooong way above a runner. A missed heartbeat to say the least. The appetite is well and truly stoked for a proper encounter when the ocean warms up to something less than arctic.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Recent good stuff that happened
25 May 2010, 12:55 pm

This week I’ve had a good lesson in making goals. On the whole I’m absolutely terrible at achieving goals. I get by with looking to those who don’t know me that I’m actually okay at making goals because of two workarounds: I have lots of goals, I work really hard and I work all the time.Working really hard and working all the time are good in small doses. But in the long run, it’s really really bad for you. It’s been really really bad for me. I can’t tell you how bad. In fact it’s the thing I hate about myself the most.The smart thing to to, that I haven’t figured out how to do yet is to alternate work, rest and discerning between important and not important goals.

The root of my problem has been irrational fear, not being realistic about what I can and can’t do and being too simplistic in my approach to goals of different types.Too simplistic? I read a nice idea about stuff that can’t fail, and it opened my eyes to a paradox. Some goals become much harder to achieve if you can’t afford to fail. Usually, you actually can afford to fail and in fact must allow yourself to fail many times if you’re going to manage it. It just feels like you can’t because of inner or social pressure.A lot of climbing falls under this category. There’s the simple idea I explained in my book about how being afraid to fail, or fall in climbing cripples it utterly in most situations. I really took this to heart years ago in my climbing. If you watched E11 you’ll see that I really learned on that route that it didn’t matter that I wasn’t up to the job of climbing E11. I failed again and got closer to the level, one step at a time in a relentless push right to the end.Great. But I learned the hard way that the same approach to other tasks doesn’t work. Sometimes you really can’t afford to fail, you don’t get another try. Different approach needed. Trouble for me is that I got really in the habit of not worrying about failing, having mountains of goals and not worrying if I fail on most but succeed on some in the process. So it’s an uphill struggle to adjust.Irrational fear? Like most folk, I have stupid fears and waste a large amount of time and energy acting them out. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Hard to ignore all the same.Not being realistic is a simple one - I just have an appetite bigger than my belly.Good to have learned more about these things, hard to put into practice. But a few days of starting and I feel a little better.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Triple 5 challenge
6 June 2010, 10:23 pm



Enjoying a wall of immaculate Gabbro on St KildaIn preparation for The Great Climb on August 28th - our live Climb on Sron Uladail, Richard Else from Triple Echo set Tim Emmett and myself a separate climbing challenge to attempt.5 new routes on 5 Hebridean islands in 5 days - the Triple 5. The parameters were totally fixed. No second chances, no extensions, no workarounds. I was fairly skeptical to say the least that we could pull it off. Sometimes I’ve barely managed to get five new (hard) routes in five years in the hebrides due to it’s fickle weather. The idea of turning up by boat each morning on a different island, rigging ropes for four cameras and coming away with new hard rock climbs back to back seemed a tad far fetched. And so it turned out. We had rain, problems with boats, gales, soakings by waves, breaking holds, falls and violent sea sickness. In amongst all that we had some surprising successes. Obviously to see the outcome you’ll have to tune in to the BBC on your preferred platform on August 28th. How much you’ll see of our adventure will depend on the action happening on our Sron Uladail attempt. If it’s all guns blazing on the Sron then our Triple 5 adventure might be shown a little later. We’ll have to see…Here are a some pictures to give you a taster of a week that all of us will remember for a long time:



Tim eyes up the Shiants as we approach.



Lonely cottage on the Shiants.



The 30 foot roof on Creag Mo which I fell off three times.



Interested locals watch us on Galta Mor, The Shiants.



Tim enjoying the wildlife packed sea lochs on Lewis.



A moment of concentration as precious cargo is carried aboard.



The Cuma waits patiently for us in Village Bay, St Kilda.



Lewis local. Didn’t say much..



Tea and frantic planning for tomorrow on the boat.



Nice Brian, nice.



Gary takes us across Loch Seaforth after a long night aboard. On the journey to St Kilda I was the most violently sick I've been in my life. My fulmar impression was only matched by Cubby. The nausea failed to wear off as we prepared for our new route on the island. I nearly fainted on the 'high street' of Village Bay. What a state.



Joe enjoying the tour of St Kilda.



St Kilda’s stacks blew us away.



A magic sight of St Kilda’s spiky surreal skyline.



Me, and a team of people who are quite amazing at what they do. It was a pleasure...

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Hot Aches Boxless set until the end of June
8 June 2010, 4:51 pm

Just a heads up that the ‘boxless’ set of the Hot Aches productions archive of DVDs is only available until the end of June:

E11, Committed 1, Committed 2, All Mixed Up and Monkey See, Monkey Do for £50.

If you like the look of the offer, now is the time to go here and get it.This clip is of me on the Hurting from Committed 2. Btw most of Hot Aches film are now available free in short sections on their You Tube channel here.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Climbing with Emmett
8 June 2010, 7:58 pm

A week spent rushing around the Hebrides attempting E7s and 8s with Tim Emmett, under the constant scrutiny of a camera team was a good learning experience. Even more so as we rounded it off with a rather soul searching set of interviews with Edi Stark (who has won a lot of awards for her ability to dig deep into the motivations of her interviewees). Any time spent in the company of athletes like Tim is fascinating. Through our own chats, seeing each other in action and talking with Edi we could see some big differences in our approaches to hard climbing. It’s clear to me that there are several ways to skin a cat when it comes to sport performance psychological strategies, especially when you take into account the interaction of a particular strategy with a strong personality.Today I was reading an interesting idea about nostalgia for the future, and it got me thinking about Tim’s approach. Successful athletes are by definition, driven. It’s that extra they can give that everyone else can’t that inspires us to do at least a little better. But folk like Tim do a LOT better. The guy broke his ankle late this winter and was in plaster just a handful of weeks ago, but did Wales’ first E10 on Sunday. That’s impressive, but from him, not surprising.Everyone enjoys nostalgia about the past, but I must admit I’d not thought of the concept of nostalgia about the future. We like visualising what the future will be like (usually like the present but a bit nicer, like with your latest project in the bag). Folk that visualise some quite big things and get attached to the vision they’ve created. When failure to realise the vision stares you in the face, it’s painful. And the pain, or fear, can bring out the best in you. It can make you swallow your fear and go for that hold, or get up earlier and train, or rearrange your life to make it happen.Explained like that, it sounds a bit negative. And sometimes it can be. There are a lot of unhappy sports people out there, elite and non-elite. Sometimes it’s ok to feel this pain in a negative way and use it as a tool, so long as you can stand back afterwards and see it for what it is. Not everyone can.If you are really a master of goals and following them, you can use your attachment to your vision of the future as a great tool, but never be dragged down into regret.It seems to me that Tim is a master of this game. Making big goals, facing the potential for failure absolutely head on, feeling the fear and using it as a tool. But how does this square with being happy and relaxed about life? It’s an apparent paradox.The answer is that the master of goals has the ability to become deeply attached to an ambitious, even improbable outcome, like climbing an E10, yet drop that vision and move on at a moment’s notice without regret if it doesn't work out. I’ve always marvelled at Tim’s ability to set ridiculous goals, tons of them, one after the other, in different sports, and manage so many of them. But no athlete ever manages all their goals. Hence so many are unhappy when they retire from them.Being a successful athlete implies a deep dissatisfaction with your immediate performance. It’s the only thing that produces enough motivational momentum to realise big changes in performance, year after year. The ability to quit those goals held so dearly as quickly as possible, and without lingering regret is both the secret to achieving many of them and to avoiding turning into an unhappy zealot. Easier said than done. If you get the chance, go to one of Tim’s lectures for a lesson from an exemplar.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Another highland day, another new venue
8 June 2010, 8:00 pm



I met up with Michael and Tom to get the tour of the routes they’ve been working on Ben Narnain at Arrochar. Last year Michael was full of tales of his new route Machete E6 6b - a big wall climb, big runouts, crucial cam slots, and wasn’t sure if it could be edging E7. After lazing in the sun watching Michael clean his next project, I went for the flash with Michael sending up encouragement and the odd bit of information to help decode the rough blank expanse above me. When I hesitated, he assured me holds were on the way. When he warned they were slopey, I was glad of the heads up before I wobbled within reach of them. It didn’t help that I took all the wrong gear up the route and made a right mess of placing what I did take. Consequently, climbing it like I was soloing provided a nice workout for body and mind. It all felt a bit tiring by the time I was driving northwards back home and had to stop for a cup of tea to keep my sleepy head functioning for a final hour before collapsing into bed.Tomorrow, weather permitting I’m on a solo training trip for the Longhope route again.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Interesting neuroscientist’s fiction
14 June 2010, 12:18 pm

I was listening to an interesting discussion by a bunch of neuroscientists as they talked through some fictional stories about afterlives and how consideration of the idea of an afterlife causes us to see some interesting perspectives on real life. One brought up a film called ‘Afterlife’ where people were asked to think back on their life to a favourite moment or memory, which they would then be allowed to take with them to the afterlife and could live in their favourite moment forever more.All very far fetched, right… But the interesting thing was that the memories that people in the story picked were often the most seemingly banal moments - sitting doing nothing in a particular place, simply being with someone special in a totally ordinary setting etc..It was funny for me listening, while on a long walk out from a session on a hard project and in the process of psyching myself up to try and finish it. The most memorable days trying hard projects in the past have not generally been the day I did them, or even days of good progress. To pick one of my hard climbs as an example, my best memory from doing Rhapsody was late night runs around Dumbarton, simply enjoying the feeling of having done several hours of training that day and winding down with a run. This is not to say that having the projects to work towards is therefore not important - quite the opposite. They are essential as the catalyst for the experiences gathered along the way. Without them, life would be emptier.  The flip side of this is that being dependent on success on them closes off the link to those experiences along the way - the ones that will really be memorable long after the project is just a number in your logbook.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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New Chainsaw
14 June 2010, 12:28 pm

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Still shivering on Hoy
14 June 2010, 12:31 pm





Thanks for the thought



Mmmm, inviting! After a long session on the wall, I was too late to make the last let-in time for the fantastic hostel facility in Moaness. I was hoping Fay would volunteer to open the hostel and let me leave money out for her, but sadly not, so it was a shivery night in the pier building for me. Some ridiculous sessions of aerobics every couple of hours through the night were required to keep the shivers at bay.Among other things, I took a couple of days to venture back onto Hoy by myself to spend a couple of sessions on the crux pitch of the Longhope project. I had underestimated how dialled I had it when I was having sessions last summer and the effect of one or two of the smallest holds wearing down a tiny bit and just tipping the difficulty in the upward direction.   The pitch is definitely feeling like F8c. I feel like I have to be climbing at least ‘90%’ to redpoint 8c. What I’m not sure about is if I can walk in and climb 420 metres of pitches up to there and still feel 90%? The two other big problems with getting this route done are the temperature and the bloody birds. I hoped that by now summer might have edged up as far as Orkney, but yesterday I was still climbing in full winter mountaineering clothing and duvet jacket with completely numb hands in the relentless wind. On the crux 50 metre pitch, there is good gear most of the way apart from a long runout early in the pitch up to a break with a hole in it. Most unfortunately, a fulmar is poised right in the back of the hole ready to puke it’s grim stomach contents right into my face right as I would take a 70 foot fall with some nasty ledges within clipping distance. The next gear is a long reach off the hole (the break is too sandy and rounded to take anything else).So there are still fitness and timing problems to solve. But at least good links have been done and I can get on with rounding off my fitness on some big mountain trad days in anticipation of my nest Hoy venture, whenever summer arrives there?

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog