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Couple of videos: Pinnacle Trailer and the cave
3 December 2010, 2:45 pm

Here is the trailer for The Pinnacle DVD, ice climbing on Ben Nevis following in the footsteps of Smith and Marshall. Brilliant for the winter psyche!The DVD is in the shop here.

This is an extended clip of Michael making a determined second ascent of my own problem Bone Broke (Font 7c) in the Arisaig Cave last week. The wee fire was great, shame the wind was blowing it into the cave for the full winter cave dwelling experience!

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Too steep for dry snow..
11 December 2010, 8:04 pm



Michael on some nice ice, on the way to look at some steepness and then abseil off.It’s been an up and down couple of weeks. I tried training hard but ended up annoying an arm muscle and having to back off just when psyche levels were getting very high. I must admit I got a bit fed up after that and put my energy into various writing tasks I’m working on. A lot of work got done, and now my arms are feeling ready for some training again. So it's worked out well.I went with Michael to look at a winter project, a very steep one. But it’s 45 degree steepness meant it was the only route on the cliff not in condition. ARRRGH! Next time.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Christmas orders
17 December 2010, 2:19 am

More and more of you are asking each day about our last posting dates for Christmas from our shop. Claire is dispatching every day as usual, via Royal Mail. If you’re ordering within the UK then you ought to get your order in by last thing Monday night (20th) to make sure it’s there before Christmas. Please be aware things are sometimes taking a little longer as Royal Mail still seem to be delayed in a few places by the snowy weather. We’re expecting new stock of the Mountain Equipment Pro-team T-shirts later today and will put  all the sizes up in the shop as soon as they arrive. We've been out of men's sizes in these for ages and I know lots of you asked when they were coming back.As always, if you want anything signed, just ask, in the special instructions field of the PayPal checkout. Thanks to everyone who’s ordered from us recently. Claire’s been doing a great job in the office getting everything out in double quick time every morning.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Mountain Equipment Ts are here
28 December 2010, 6:15 pm

Our fresh stock of Mountain Equipment Pro-Team T-shirts arrived just before Christmas. It’s a short run from ME and we are due to get more sometime in the spring. But just to say the current lot are selling fast, so if you want one get it now. There are 3 male mediums left at the moment!Claire has added chest sizes for them on their page in the shop so you can be sure which size is right. We have been impressed with the quality of the new run of T-shirts, great quality organic cotton and a little ‘heavier’ cotton and crisper print than the previous batches. In the shop here.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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All happening
28 December 2010, 6:16 pm

Happy Christmas everyone. It’s been all happening for me - ups and downs. First up I have been in the foundation stages of next years training, putting in four or five hours a day on my board, doing my moves and exercises. My body feels great apart from a core stabiliser muscle in my trunk which is causing some pain and concern.  More on this later. As much as this could get in the way of immediate performances on cliffs, it’s letting me get on with the much needed work of preparing my body for next year’s objectives. For the last couple of years I’ve been quite focused on short term objectives, hence not doing any hard routes, just lots of ‘easy’ ones. Not easy of course, just easy enough to do in a couple of days. Two E10s, three E9s and a good few E8s this year. I’m ready for a big one or two routes again. And that means short term sacrifice.I’ve made several changes to my training, which are going great so far. I’m excited for next year. After training I’ve also been doing a ton of reading about training and about injury rehabilitation as I continue to work hard on my book Rock ‘Til You Drop. It’s fascinating. There is so much to learn. But I must admit it’s been hard to sleep. I’ve got the information coming out of my ears by the time I go to bed. Usually 3am at the moment.On our way home from Christmas in Glasgow, we briefly became accident statistics. After sticking below 40mph all the way from Glasgow in sleet and snow in Claire’s 4x4, a ridiculous stretch of black ice took control of the car on Rannoch Moor. I managed about 5 anti-steers back and forth, keeping the car facing ‘forward’ (roughly) for about 200 or more yards. But it was useless and I had time to apologise to Claire and receive her acceptance as we spun a few more times and were finally deposited in the ditch. A winch and a couple of hundred quid later, we drove home, at jogging pace. Thanks to the lads who tried to help us get the car out under our own steam. I have your snow shovel. Drop me a line and I can send it back.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Diagnosis, sort of
2 January 2011, 10:07 pm

 Today I got up, drove a few hundred miles, saw the physio, then the doctor, dowloaded about 20 research papers and read various relevant chapters from the textbook tower. Stuff it. After the diagnosis I’m breaking open the Christmas biscuit tin from Marks and Spencers and necking a few cups of tea before I head into the wall for training.

As suspected over the last three weeks it seems likely I have annoyed/torn the aponeurosis of my external oblique. In other words a ‘sportsman’s hernia’. Damnit. Just a little niggling pain on cutting loose which disappears once warmed up. But I don’t want it getting any worse. And if the surgeon confirms it in a couple of weeks time I might need a wee bit of ‘invasive’ treatment involving knives, bits of polypropylene mesh and my abdominal wall. I’m going to bite the bullet and get a private consultation to make sure I get prompt treatment from the right person. They told me dourly on the phone to “bring my credit card” Gulp!

Causes? Who knows… Could have been the roof aiding mission in prep for the Great Climb. Could have been over energetic wood chopping, or heavy rucksacks, or training, or genes or whatever. Lessons for others - don’t let rectus abdominus (six pack) get too strong while neglecting the obliques. Don’t train when you’re knackered. Don’t carry three ropes and three racks up a mountain in one go. Chop wood like a samurai, not a caveman. Actually I’m sure even cavemen would be disgusted at my technical prowess with the splitting axe.

At least it’s still a small problem. I’m set on keeping it that way. I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, I felt stronger on my board than I’ve ever done last night. All I need to do is keep my feet on and all is fine!Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Evidence of improvement
2 January 2011, 10:09 pm

With the crags looking drier I went out rock climbing for the first time in several weeks today, to my project next to Sky Pliot, Glen Nevis. I’ve totally enjoyed the past three weeks of focused training and writing. I feel like I already have a good base of strength for the coming year.

That project was ideal as a wee tester of how I was getting on after this little spell of uninterrupted training. At my strongest ever, in October 2009, I was getting up to the crux with difficulty, and could do the crux move in isolation a few times in a session. I had just done an intense month of training on my board then as well. But right as I was going my best I made a couple of training errors and got injured. I never went back to Sky Pilot, not feeling strong enough really.

I’m pretty sure the project is at least V14 and I know I need to be a few percentage points above that 2009 strength highpoint to be in with a chance. Most of 2010 was taken up with trad, partly because that just what I fancied doing, and partly because I was still struggling a bit with one or two injuries. I normally spent the whole autumn, winter and spring bouldering, but I only started in December this year.

But armed with the knowledge I’ve gained about elbow injuries from the past year of study and all the physio work I’ve done, I’m feeling able to train at full pace for the first time in over two years. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be limited by full body tiredness from training instead of going at the pace of injured tendons. It’s also great to be able to move with confidence too.

So today it was great to feel as strong as I’ve ever felt on the rock. On a few of the moves I maybe felt a little stronger than before. But nothing dramatic. I feel like I’ve just caught up my bouldering strength to where it was. More weeks on the board are needed. Days where you realise some real progress has been made are still the best.

Well excited.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Mega training session
7 January 2011, 12:11 pm

Yesterday we completed our journey home from my lecture in Shrewsbury and we were both feeling kinda knackered. But after two days enforced rest, mostly spent driving, I was in severe training withdrawal.The rest had certainly allowed my body to bounce back from the previous long stint of daily training. I had my strongest session ever, climbing all my hardest problems on the board in one session. Three weeks ago, I was barely managing any of them. Brilliant. I gouged my finger open from a loss of concentration while going for a sharp hold and bled everywhere. Emerging from the boardroom at 1am half covered in blood seemed a fitting end to a mega training session. Bring on today’s session.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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May be spared the knife?
21 January 2011, 1:47 pm



The consultant reckons I have an internal oblique tear but the damage is in the muscle belly or MT junction, so I may yet be spared surgery. Good news, although I’m not 100% convinced he’s right. For now at least it’s an all clear to try some winter climbing and see how I get on. Meanwhile I still feel good in training, although cabin fever is reaching breaking point. It’s amazing how daily exposure to the outdoors and empty spaces becomes so hardwired it drives you quite nuts in even the most temporary withdrawal from it. I sometimes say in lectures that I love training so much that if I was somehow restricted to only climbing on my board I wouldn’t mind too much. Hmmm, maybe that’s not true after all! It’s nice to know that a balance of both keep mind and body healthy.That said, aside from the finger strength gains, the time at home has been great to get everything in order for the coming year. It’s so true that if you don’t take time to sort stuff out and get organised, it tends to get in the way later on when you need to be in full focus.

I'm an obsessive type and cant stand to leave things unfinished unless it's unavoidable (hence I have a respectable ticklist in redpointing). But that's only half of it. I remember listening to the Forum's 60 second ideas to improve the world while driving down Glenfinnan and one related very strongly with me. It was to abstain from multitasking! I do my fair share of multitasking and occasionally it's totally the thing to do, such as when working with slow computers or mundane tasks. But most of the time, it actually slows everything down rather than adding efficiency. And usually, you end up with crap work into the bargain.

People often roll their eyes, or criticise my all or nothing, drop everything else approach. But I must say that every accomplishment I've made in my life has come via this approach. I'm addicted to it and have yet to find a better substitute for focus.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Seismic shifts in Lochaber
24 January 2011, 8:54 pm





My alarm had just gone off at 6am and I was working up to getting myself moving after another late night working till 2 when there was a bump in the night. Well, more of a shaking. As everything around us started to shake more and more, we looked at each other and Claire was the first to come out and say “Is that an earthquake!?”A bit of vibration was all it was and it took the BBC news later on to confirm it was indeed an earthquake of 3.4 magnitude. Their news report said some peoples cats around Lochaber had gone mad. Ours wasn’t fussed at all, but I’m not sure what that says about the cat...

On Carn Mor Dearg yesterday with the Mountain Equipment winter skills course.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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First winter route of the season
30 January 2011, 11:04 pm



Fine high pressure weather on Ben Nevis this week



Snow bunting enjoying the views and climbers sandwiches on the summit



Lovely morning in Observatory Gully



Ines leads off up an excellent thin ice slab on Triple X VIII, 8



With physio exercises commenced on my hernia I felt OK to try a day out winter climbing. So I teamed up with Ines Papert and Charly who are visiting Scotland and headed up the Ben. After a brief wander about with me pointing out various new route possibilites, we settled on a look at a new icy mixed line based on the summer route Rolling Stones.Charly set off, getting past a slightly sketchy thin crux bulge and embarked on a long traverse above our heads. It looked tricky. It was kind of bold to second as well as lead after I (being last on the rope) took out the backrope runner at the start of the traverse.Next up it was Ines’ turn and she headed off across a very thinly iced slab which looked great fun. Ines was looking very at home on the ice and we enjoyed following a lot more than the previous pitch.Last up it was my turn and I joined Ian Small and Ian Parnell’s new route from last year, Faith Healer VIII,7 at the start of it’s crux pitch. The steep chimney was great fun and nice to be reacquainted with the absorption of winter leading again after ten months or so since I last wielded my ice tools on a mixed route.Triple X, VIII,8 gave us three nice pitches and satisfied an urge to open a new line on this nice little face that I’d spied while wandering about near Echo Wall in the past.



The line of Triple X

Next day it was back in action on the bouldering front. I managed to do the crux move on my highball project in Glen Nevis again which is getting me excited. I feel like I have a good sequence for most of it now and all I’m needing is a few more kgs worth of raw crimping strength. Next week’s forecast looks good for concentrating on the crimping strength, rather than braving the storms...

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Training diary
13 February 2011, 3:48 pm



Training was going damn great until today. A finger is hurting so hence I am writing instead of training today.

In the last week I’ve been starting to experiment with having two sessions a day for the first time in over a year. I’ll need to introduce them gently! My routine at the moment is a good couple of hours of shoulder and hip flexibility and end-range holding work to kick things off, then my usual injury rehab exercises (various), then get on the board. I’ve not managed to reproduce 100% of my best ever form about two months ago, but then I’ve been going at it quite hard with little rest, so I wouldn’t expect to anyway. After a full boulder session it’s onto the circuits but I’m still in the early stages of these and not really had any gains to speak of. In six weeks time it should be different!

I’ve had a couple of days off training here and there, going winter climbing and going to some classes (more on that soon). It’s been interesting last week to try pull-ups again this week. I’ve not really done a complete pull-up in over two years since I injured my elbow. But now they are almost completely better I thought it was safe to see how I was. WEAK! I can still do one complete one-arm on either arm, but well down on my PB of 5 before I got injured. It just shows that it’s not important for rock climbing, but I know I’m certainly weak on ice axes. My short term priority is to improve my full crimp strength for my boulder project in Glen Nevis. My thumbs have always been really weak.

I’ve got another 6 weeks or so until the boulder will be likely to be in condition. Ideally that means 30 sessions of hard crimping on the board between now and then. But things are never ideal as today has proved. I’ve just been writing about the messiness of ‘real life’ training on my training blog here. I’m not expecting success on the boulder when the spring comes. It’s so hard for me that any progress will be brilliant. But although I’m not expecting success, I’m sure aiming for it! After that I’ll try and ramp up the endurance work to try a sport project I have - hard 9a. I’ve done the moves. F8c+ into a Font 8a/8a+. Maybe too hard? Let’s find out. All I know is if I get a good run at these projects, the trad lines for summer will finally fall.

The key to all this is maintaining that good base of uninterrupted training right now. Roll on tomorrows session..

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Asgard Jamming review
21 February 2011, 1:43 pm

While on a rest day on a trip recently I watched the Asgard Jamming DVD and liked it so much I’ve been meaning ever since to get some copies in from the Favresse bros for the webshop. I got round to it!

I think even if you have no intention of ever climbing a big wall never mind walking 600km in a single trip just to get to Mount Asgard, you’ll find this film very entertaining. It’s certainly the best piece of big wall filming I’ve seen. It follows Nico and Oliver Favresse, together with Sean Villanueva, Stephane Hanssens and Silvia Vidal on a brilliant adventure to Baffin Island and after their epic approach, 11 days of fine looking climbing on the wall.It totally reminds you why you go climbing, how much fun it can be and how exciting things can get when you really go for it. Nico’s looong whipper that you see the first half of in the trailer is great viewing. When not entertaining us with hardcore granite pitches, the mandolin toting Belgians are showing us how to have a party on a big wall in style and generally make a massive big wall look like 11 days cragging, except with a drop of justice underneath. Great stuff!It’s in the shop here.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Freida MacLeod arrives
21 February 2011, 1:48 pm



On Tuesday, our daughter Freida MacLeod was born. Claire and I are over the moon. Last night, we came home from hospital after a rough week for Claire and all MacLeods promptly passed out for a much needed sleep, not that it lasted.A healthy chubster at 8lb, 3 ounces, I wonder what adventures are coming her way in life, with a mum who jumps out of planes for fun and a dad who climbs cliffs and generally lives life in the elemental outdoors and mountains. I’m certainly happy that we’ve been able to get to where we are in time for her arrival - a house that is surrounded by nature to grow up in. It’s really lucky, for all of us. An extra cup of tea was certainly in order before the days training session today. But I don’t think I’ll ever suffer from lack of focus to fire off a bleary eyed training session. The highs of watching a new life arrive certainly reawaken the sense of need to get the most out it. Baby bouncer bolts are placed in the roof of the climbing wall for a bit of bouncing and swinging when Freida is ready for it.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Bounceback
26 February 2011, 2:05 am



It’s funny when you are feeling wasted how the little hole you’re in seems much deeper than it actually is.

Since Freida arrived last week, my non-climbing life has been fantastic. The best it’s ever been, despite the adjustments and sleep deprivation. But the importance of my climbing life doesn’t just go away. It doesn’t change at all, in fact. I used to think it was psychologically dangerous to be dependent on my lifelong habits of the outdoors, exercise and training I do through my climbing. As time went on I realised this was silly. I think eventually it becomes a part of of you that is hardwired. And thats fine. It is amazing it takes 30 odd years to realise it’s ok to be yourself!Naturally, I’ve put a lot of thought, work and planning into how to balance my climbing and non-climbing life. I’m certainly not perfect at it let me tell you. But I have been doing this all my adult life and it’s worked out well so far.

Some of this is really practical basic stuff - having a top-notch climbing wall next door to the nursery, living in the heart of the places I want to climb and having a flexible work schedule to take advantage of good conditions. These are the key ingredients for sure, and maybe the hardest to secure - over a decade of hard work for me. The others are more subtle. Yet despite the planning, I did get the fear last week after having several absolutely crap training sessions in a row. Sure, they were performed in a haze of sleepiness, but was tiredness really all it was? And even if so, is that it for the foreseeable? I could see, for about a nano second, while falling off a ridiculously easy circuit the other night, how someone could give in to tiredness and permanently lower their expectations in order to avoid such disappointment. I thought previous experiences might insulate me from this weakness. But it’s amazing how being knackered lowers your guard.

All very gloomy. Until it wasn’t... All that was needed was a little extra sleep. It’s being grabbed an hour here, an hour there. But add it up to a critical level and lo and behold, the performance returns. This week maybe I’m getting to grips with the new routine of snatched naps. And all of a sudden tonight the power returned to my arms like magic and I clawed my way up a couple of my hardest creations on the wall. I forgot how well the body adapts and bounces back to change. What a lift!

Yes Yes I know how silly this post might read to someone who doesn’t share the same addiction to training. And I know the challenges for me are nothing compared to Claire right now. But everyone has to have something to keep them keen. And for me it’s this. I’d rather go without food for a week than training. Since this is primarily a climber’s blog, I’m just going through the little ups and downs that go on while in the bubble of the climbing session. But once it’s done, I take off my rockshoes and go back to the important stuff - Claire and Freida!

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Video: Climbing with Emmett in Pembroke by BD
27 February 2011, 3:14 pm



Nice little video from Black Diamond of myself and Tim Emmett climbing in Pembroke last autumn. I just finished writing a little story about the trip which will be up on BD’s site here later.

from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Review: The Players DVD
28 February 2011, 5:20 pm



Been meaning to post this for a while...

The Players is as you might have guessed a classic American sport/bouldering flick - hard climbers, lovely places and lovely climbs. And that’s it. Cool - so what’s it like? Well there aren’t any groundbreaking first ascents on a world scale, but obviously a LOT of impressive climbing from Sharma, Graham, and Woods and Rands. The real highlight is that we get to see a few more characters that we in the UK don’t see much of in climbing DVDs.Alex Puccio and Emily Harrington are two very contrasting but inspirational female climbers. It was great to see them included as there is still not so much footage of the living end of the female climbing elite. It was interesting to see footage of Joe Kinder on his repeats of the Tommy Caldwell 9a testpieces at the Fortress of Solitude. I was always intrigued by these routes as we haven't heard much about them outside the US, except that they sound hard. They looked hard too! Chris Linder deep water soloing in Vietnam and the machine that is Ethan Pringle walking up 5.14 trad headpoints are both entertaining. The shooting is not quite as grand as the Big Up blockbusters it will inevitably be compared to, but I felt I got to know the characters a little better without the larger than life sheen. I enjoyed watching a few times as I stretched out tight muscles before sessions on the board!

If you're keen for a copy, it's in the shop here.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Must get light
4 March 2011, 9:37 pm



Two frustrating but still good days on my highball Glen Nevis project lately. A persistent split tip is demanding a break from tiny sharp crimps, just when conditions are getting brilliant. Nevertheless, I worked out some more sequence tricks and feel my arms and fingers have reasonable power. There’s only one ingredient left really - must make my body lighter. It’s getting close to time to switch from training to performance mode.Hey, I’m still nowhere near doing the thing. But I can see that I could be. Time to focus. For now, it’s laps on the board with split fingers taped. The moves feel brilliant - I can see they are starting to flow. I know I’m climbing them close to as well as I can, it’s just pure strength-weight ratio on the crux move now.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Review: Racing Weight quick start guide
5 March 2011, 10:24 pm



Matt Fitzgerald’s first text on weight optimisation for endurance athletes is a first in it’s field and understandably a best seller-  it’s a rather essential book to have if you are a runner, cyclist or triathlete. Because there is so little well written and scientifically based information on weight management in sport generally, it’s also pretty essential reading for climbers too.There was only one snag - climbing is not an aerobic endurance sport. Some of the information in Racing Weight was directly applicable to climbers, but the bulk of it still needs some interpretation to shoehorn the principles onto a completely different activity.

On first glance I thought that Fitzgerald’s sequel  - the Racing Weight Quick Start Guide might be not much more than a commercially led follow up with recipes and plans that follow directly from the ideas in the first book. Actually I think it could be better titled, as it’s not just that at all. ‘Quick Start’ actually refers to his ideas for weight loss at the start of a training cycle for endurance athletes. The whole premise of Racing Weight was that endurance athletes who dieted hard to get to their fighting weight would end up offsetting gains by the consequent loss of training intensity. However, even endurance athletes have time in the foundation phase of the new macrocycle where they can afford to absorb this, and they can adopt a more rapid weight loss program. This means a very different strategy. Conveniently, this fits in a lot better with the types of schedules climbers tend to do.

This book answered many (still not all!) of the lingering questions I had on weight management for resistance/anaerobic athletes like ourselves. Taking advantage of some key research findings in the past couple of years, together with his clear and very well constructed writing, Matt has produced another essential piece of digest for everyone whom this subject concerns. Most of the really ‘juicy’ scientific information that it’s in the first book fits into about 30 or 40 pages. But It’s well worth it for that understanding in my opinion. The extensive section on foods and choosing them for different situations is really excellent too, and I’m fairly sure the same information cannot be found anywhere else in such complete form and so well tailored to the intended audience.

I got some copies ordered for the shop straight away! It's right here.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Afternoon on Stob Ban
21 March 2011, 10:07 pm



Hours of sleep have been gradually increasing over the past couple of weeks as Freida settles into life in the outside world of day and night. So I was keen to get more than just training done and make it out onto the hills before I missed the snow completely. I headed out by myself as early starts are a little hard work just now and went for a nice afternoon climbing something new on Stob Ban. Sadly my intended route was in the process of falling down due to the warm spring winds, so I headed off up the buttress with no particular aim except to enjoy the movement on snow, rock and turf. I mostly soloed, which I enjoyed a lot. But the rock was quite loose and turf not completely solid, so my rope and the little red belayer came out for a pitch.



Would be nice, but not today in plus 2!



Getting my rope-solo system a little more slick. Long way to go there...



Back on the board, things have been going really good. I’ve managed to surpass my previous strength PB by a good margin and feeling highly excited for the coming rock season. The cumulative effect of simply clocking up the hours on the board all winter long seem to have prevailed. Excellent.Too early to test it on projects just yet. I tried today but ended up taking my climbing gear for a nice walk in the rain. I did nearly run over an Otter on the way home which was the highlight of the day (seeing it, that is!).

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Homing in
25 March 2011, 12:26 am



Best session yet on my highball project in Glen Nevis today. Wow it felt nice to be able to get up to that crux again, and this time have space to attack the move. Trouble was I think I need a session of getting used to falling from there so I can focus properly on sticking that sloper.

Thankfully I seemed to be missing the boulder in the landing zone and rolling in the grass. It didn’t help that I left a mat stashed at the crag from yesterday but someone had nicked it. I think a backwards fall onto that boulder could be a rib breaker without at least 4 pads. It’s a bit too much of a trek for 2 trips or carrying that many from the road. It sucks that you can’t leave a pad overnight well covered with rocks without someone nicking it. You always hope climbers wouldn’t do it. They even took the foot towel out of it and left that behind.

Tomorrow I’ll have a day of prep for the next session. Come on!! Time to home in and get down to proper battle. Still no idea if it’s realistic for me. I’ll only know once I stick the sloper if the next move isn’t totally impossible on the link. It feels limit for me on the rope, just having pulled on at the crux.

Soloing Sky Pilot next door I realised that falling on the British tech 6b territory above the crux is not an option. I’m not sure how I feel about going for it if I linked through the crux when there by myself. But then, you’d have to, wouldn’t you?

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Within a move
30 March 2011, 10:47 pm



Holding the crux. A good feeling. Right now I’m totally locked on with my highball project in the glen. Progress has been superb and it’s gone from a distant prospect to feeling very possible in a short time, thanks to all that training.

It’s really at my limit though, so I have to accept that every good session might be the best before I lose ground. It doesn’t matter - I’m enjoying trying, a lot. It’s only when really committed in a die hard way to a project that the windows open up to learning new things. It surprises me that the learning doesn’t stop even though I’ve been here before - maximally motivated, maximally stretched and close to both success and failure all at the same time.It’s good for me to experience this on a hard boulder line for the first time in a few years - the levers of progress are so different from what I’m used to.

Over the past two years, I’ve not really been able to train as I’d like due to injury, so most of my climbs have been trad. I missed hard bouldering and hard boulder training intensely, and have relished the last four months of it. The past three sessions on the project have been the culmination of it. Last session, I held the crux sloper. Tonight, I touched the next hold. If I hold that, I’m on terrain where I would only fall If I made an stupid error, which is just as well as it’s getting into soloing territory up there!

On a boulder, so much extreme effort and focus is distilled into millisecond adjustments of movement and timing. There is very little room for finding what’s necessary during the climb itself. This is the land of the intuitive. Recording that you’ve made a movement decision only just keeps up with actually making the movement. Conscious thought is way too slow and clunky. But it’s not intuitive adjustment out of thin air. It’s adjustment of a model of how the move should go, and how the effort should be timed and focused that’s been refined hundreds of times in your mind. At the level where the real enjoyment comes, it’s a heuristic process of visualisation; you don’t always know why something is right, you just feel like it will be.

To illustrate this blog post, I scrolled through the video of the attempt, shot on my compact propped on a stone. Looking through it, frame by frame, it hit me that I have a record of several movement decisions in my mind’s recording of the move, for every frame of video. 30 frames/sec is too slow! How great is it that movement on rock is so subtle, and that the mind is so expertly geared up to analyse and refine it. You can see how it gets addictive eh? Hopefully I have the program sussed for that final hard move, and weather, and muscles allow me to get back to it in a few days time.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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New wall in Oban
2 April 2011, 2:30 pm



Checking the new climbs at Atlantis, Oban

Had a fun day working in Oban setting problems at the new bouldering wall in Oban at the Atlantis centre. The wall was built by the hard work machine that is Scott Muir and his company Dream Climbing Walls. He’s the only man I know that could give Tim Emmett a run for his money in terms of sheer overflow of physical energy. Modern climbing walls still amaze me - they are so good! It’s great how an intricate design of tapering or expanding shapes influence the constraints for setting really interesting moves. I guess the more experience you have as a climber, and especially as a route setter, the more you appreciate this. There is so much room for movement variety in climbing though, and for personal tastes. I’m not sure if it’s because I climb outside a lot and digest a lot of varied, undulating surfaces, but I’m often a fan of large areas of flat panels on climbing walls. I guess it’s just a nice change. The Oban wall is the best designed wall I’ve set on that has a complex shape. It’s weird - sometimes the shapes just don’t seem to work for making aesthetic climbing moves. This one does though! Looking forward to going back for my coaching sessions there soon. Much as the setting day was great fun, it did my head cold caught the day before no good at all. So it’s an extra rest day today before I’m back at Sky Pilot. Cubby reckons it’ll be soaking after the deluge, but I’ll show up anyway, armed with towels and ready for a training session on it..

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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New playgrounds
4 April 2011, 7:59 pm



A nod to the Flick Scotland blog for this aerial shot of the western highlands from the air above Glasgow. I blog it  as it was pretty much the view that started me climbing, seen from the Queens View in the Kilpatrick hills in the lower right foreground of the shot. In mid April circa 1993 it looked exactly as it does here, a horizon full of endless snow capped mountains against a blue sky.I’d just cycled out from Glasgow and became aware of an altogether more impressive playground than any I’d seen so far. I got home and got a book out of the library about the Southern Highlands. In the appendix was a section about rock climbs at Dumbarton Rock. It was a few stops along the train line from my house. You know the rest..Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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April Showers, Scottish style
4 April 2011, 8:40 pm



Fresh snow on Sgurr a’ Mhaim yesterdayAs predicted the west of Scotland deluge has been pounding Glen Nevis. Cubby and I squinted out of the car window just long enough for an eyeful of rain and sleet and sacked it off. But on the way home the end of the first front arrived, so I hung back and read my book for a bit and then walked in. Unbelievably the severe gales had seemingly blown a lot of the rain over the top of the crag and my project was mostly dry. As the sun came out I felt good and started trying to warm up.Today’s excuse quickly emerged from this. ‘warming up’ was not possible. The snowline was dropping with each shower that went through and the wind tunnel effect through the overhanging crag was doing great for drying it but sucking every bit of body heat out of me. I still had 7 good tries to the crux and feeling strong. But ‘glassy’ skin from the icy wind and numb fingers, together with a glassy crux sloper are not a good mix and I just couldn’t stick it. Rests between goes were spent cowering from wild blizzards of hail and snow passing through and chasing after mats and jackets picked up by the gale.Returning home I felt totally wrecked once again. Once on the couch I couldn’t move. Before the evening was out I noticed a ligament in my knee getting progressively more painful after a bad landing on one attempt. Not sure what’s going on there yet..Such is projecting. I’m close enough to only need one really good attempt. So I should keep the warpaint on. I think the continuing downpours will have the last word for now though. I’m expecting it’ll be wet until at least next week. So the debate is whether to go back to the board to try and top up strength levels. Or should I rest and be ready in case the rain isn’t so bad??Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog