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Karina's machine mode
13 October 2011, 12:24 am

 

We finished our new route in the Peak District a day early, so I had time after all to make it to the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. That was the 9^th EMFF and I was glad I didn’t miss it as it always provides a fresh dose of inspiration and an atmosphere.

As a speaker or climber featured in a good few films, I’ve been to a lot of mountain festivals but I’d have to say Edinburgh is my favourite. A lot of that is down to Stevie Christie managing to strike the right note with the vibe, films, speakers etc. Well done again Stevie.     

On the Saturday evening session we listened to Karina Hollekim speak about the ups and downs of her career as a BASE jumper. If you haven’t heard of her, Karina is most famous for the film 20 seconds of joy in which we see her great enjoyment of jumping and then crushing disablement when her parachute didn’t open properly and her legs were broken so badly she was told she would never walk again. One gruelling recovery later, she can walk, and ski. Her talk was very much focused on the self-belief required to do what she did before (jump off cliffs) and the whole other level of self-belief required to get through her recovery.

The message that self belief is the key ingredient to break personal barriers is one that we see a lot from speakers with a motivational story. Sometimes I’ve seen it presented that self belief is all that is necessary. But it’s fair to say that most would place it more as a crucial ingredient, but just one of quite a few more. That is certainly my feeling.   

One statement in Karina’s talk stood out a mile for me. She was describing the moment sitting crouched in the dark at the foot of a signal tower waiting for the all clear to climb to do her very first BASE jump. Full of fear, she felt she couldn’t make herself do it. But when the call finally came through on the radio, she “got up, like a machine and started climbing up the ladder”.     

Machine mode neatly describes the state of mind needed to make the final decision to do almost anything bold and committing. Thinking as a human fades away, replaced by processing as a machine. I’m here, I’m ready, I want to do this, and I’m doing it now. The time for questions is passed, already processed. All that is left is to turn the decision into action.     Simple huh? But this is the hardest thing for people do actually do. There is a block right at the point machine mode is needed. The fearful, doubting human thoughts refuse to be switched off, and nothing happens. Rationalisation follows, and the moment is gone.   

I managed to ask Karina about this after her talk. Could anyone master this machine mode? I’ve often asked myself this. For some it seems to come naturally. For others it’s out of reach even if they are actually really trying. Karina’s answer was surprisingly direct. She thought you could either do it or you couldn’t. Reassuring I suppose, as if you can’t do it, at least you know it’s because it’s a genuinely hard thing to do.   

I must say, I’m not sure whether I totally agree. I certainly agree that most people will never actually manage to master this mental skill. But that it’s beyond possibility I don’t know. I guess I’m naturally resistant to the idea of untrainable performance variables. My personal view is that there is more to it.     

I think a lot of it has to do with how much you actually want to do the thing. Even the most die hard egos crumble doing the most dangerous form of climbing - free soloing. People can do a handful of bold things for ego, attention or status. But it never lasts. To do bold things day in, day out, you need to genuinely love doing the raw activity. If that raw motivation for the activity isn’t there underneath, that might be the real reason for failure. And if you were doing something else that you really did want to do, machine mode would appear. Also, I sometimes feel that even when good motivation is there, it gets clouded by other motives that ultimately get in the way.     

Before concluding that you could never, do something like Karina has, I’d say at least try first of all to reconnect with the raw, basic things that make you want to do that thing, and see what happens. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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To those about to rock Scottish climbing - TCA Glasgow
20 October 2011, 7:51 pm

 

The biggest and best bouldering wall in the UK, The Climbing Academy opens in Glasgow tomorrow. Brilliant news! Can’t wait to get in there...

from Jen Randall on Vimeo.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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On lecture tour next week
23 October 2011, 5:52 pm

 

Racked up for rigging the Longhope Route - more of Lukasz’ pictures of this route in my lectures next week.    All of next week I’m travelling around doing talks each evening in a different part of the UK. Maybe I’ll see some of you?! Mostly I’ll be talking about the importance of taking on massive projects like the Long Hope route on Orkney. Big projects like that and a few other hard climbs I’ll show you involve a lot of doubt - you just don’t know if you’ve got enough to finally do them (unless they are too easy!). Dealing with that doubt is a big psychological challenge. My experience has been that there’s more than one successful mindset to adopt. I‘ll explain more at the talks.    First up, I’m going round Scotland, speaking at various Tiso stores on a Mountain Equipment tour. Details and tickets are here, but the dates are:    Monday 24th Inverness Tiso Outdoor experience 7.30pm  Tuesday 25th Aberdeen Tiso 7.30pm  Wednesday 26th Perth Tiso Outdoor experience 7.30pm  Thursday 27th Glasgow Tiso GOE 7.30pm  Friday 28th Edinburgh Tiso Outdoor experience 7.30pm    On Saturday I’m speaking twice at the SAFOS seminar on decision making in avalanche terrain at EICA Ratho. First up I’m speaking about my approaches and ideas to managing risk in my trad climbing. I’ll discuss some of the times I’ve nearly killed myself climbing, and what I did wrong, and some of the times I climbed really dangerous routes safely, like The Indian Face. Details of this here - There are some great speakers lined up on risk and decision making.    On Sunday I’m at Dart Rock near Exeter doing coaching clinics (Sunday and Monday) and  on Sunday evening I’m speaking there.     See you out there!

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Handa - More dangling above drops for the BBC
24 October 2011, 2:51 pm

   

The Great Stack of Handa. Photo: Triple Echo Productions

Last month I was working on two great film shoots with the Triple Echo team for the BBC at either ends of the UK. First off it was up north to the Stack of Handa to play the part of Donald McDonald, a Lewis farmer from the 1870s.     The reason we ended up here was down to two accounts in the SMC journal by WH Murray and Tom Patey. Handa is a small island off the far north west coast of Scotland near Scourie. It’s a fairly remote and barren place, abandoned since the potato famine in 1848. Probably it’s best natural feature is the great stack of Handa, a 300 foot chunky sea stack of red sandstone sat between two headlands with cavernous vertical cliffs between.    

Myself, Donald King and Dave Cuthbertson going climbing on Handa. Photo: Triple Echo Productions

Three rather intrepid men from Lewis rode across the Minch in 1870 and made the first crossing onto the stack by rather inventive means. They lugged 600 feet of fishing rope across the island and walked it out across the headlands , pulling it tight until the rope (just) rested over the summit of the stack. McDonald then rather boldly hand-over-handed across the sagging rope without any backup to get onto the stack. The climb up the far side of the rope stack sounded like a fight for his life, the rope basically running almost vertically at that point. With encouragement from his partners, he made it and brought the others over the re-belayed rope in a breeches buoy.    

Crossing the fishing rope to the stack. Photo: Triple Echo Productions

It’s hard to see any other reason for them taking the considerable trouble and risk to make this expedition for anything other than the sheer challenge of it. There are plenty of birdy cliffs for harvesting that are a lot more accessible nearby. Therefore, according to Murray writing in the journal, it may be the first recorded instance of an ascent like this in the country.        

 

Making progress along the rope got a lot harder as you approached the stack. The rope was basically running vertically. Photo: Triple Echo Productions  

Tom Patey tried to repeat the same method in 1967 with modern ropes and jumars, but there was so much sag on the rope that Patey found it a desperate challenge and wrote of his incredulity that the Lewismen pulled it off, and without protection. A piece of stomach churning boldness! He invited Murray to research the story further, which he did. Murray tracked down McDonald’s son in Dunoon and got the more detailed story. It sounds like the Lewismen of the era were pretty handy and competitive climbers!      

Cubby following in the breeches buoy. I.e. an oversized nappy! Photo: Triple Echo Productions

Anyway, the full story will be in the film which is on BBC2 Scotland (iPlayer etc) towards the end of November. I’ll let you know the time when it’s published.    My comrades in the re-creation were Cubby and Donald King and we had a blast dangling about on fishing ropes above the big drop into the sea. Or should that be we got blasted by the full wrath of the Atlantic squalls every ten minutes for the best part of a week. I started off the week thinking that my costume of a tweed suit, bunnet and old leather boots was quite good outdoor attire. But by the end I must say I couldn’t wait to see the back of soggy tweed and soaking boots and get back into modern kit and ropes that weight less than 40kg.    The week was for me an old lesson re-learned. The generations gone by had less to work with, but had no less boldness, courage, or ingenuity. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Johnny Dawes book in the shop
24 October 2011, 2:58 pm

   

Johnny Dawes long awaited autobiography ‘Full of myself’ has finally arrived and I’ve just put it up on our shop here. The stock just arrived this morning and after a quick flick through it looks like a superb book with a lot more really interesting pictures than I was expecting. I’ll write a full review soon.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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New route in Peak Cavern
3 November 2011, 8:01 pm

   

Pitch 1 (wet 7c+)  of Ring of Fire during the first ascent in Peak Cavern. All pics Triple Echo Productions.

The other shoot I just finished with Triple Echo for the BBC was even weirder than the Handa adventure! The director Richard Else managed to get special permission to climb in the show cave Peak Cavern near Castleton right in the middle of the Peak District. The idea was for myself and Alan Cassidy to see if we could find a route out of it!    Peak Cavern, otherwise known as 'The Devil's Arse' is one of the biggest and most impressive limestone crags in the Peak. In a region where every other inch of rock has a route on it, it’s pretty amazing that there are no free routes on this crag at all. It comes down to access. The crag has been banned for climbing forever as it’s a tourist attraction on private land - paying public walking around below climbs etc. Of course it’s a massive shame since I’m certain a way round it could be found with the help of the BMC. The cave is only open to the public until 5pm and then it’s locked. Climber’s lock-in? Sadly I don’t think a change is likely any time soon. We appealed as best we could.    

Anyway, we enjoyed our special permission while we had it, in the name of making BBC television. But first we spent two days a bit further north climbing an even sillier cave. The team wanted to see if we could climb our way out of a proper Yorkshire Pot Hole - Jingling Pot. A 60m tubular soaking wet pitch black slimy hole in the ground. Alan and myself didn’t have the faintest idea how to tackle it. I started off climbing in winter boots and gloves which was a mistake and I quickly switched to rockboots even through the water was running down it, over the green slime. I thought back to a day last year climbing Pleasure Done (E3) in Pembroke with Tim Emmett in the rain. That was surprisingly amenable and the limestone had a weird friction even though it was soaking. Jingling might be just like that, but with a headtorch on?! It turned out to be a wee bit harder than that, but we had a great time and emerged squinting in the daylight after one of our stranger days out climbing.    After that we headed to the main event at Peak Cavern. Where Jingling Pot felt about E3 in the wet, Peak Cavern looked about 9c! The cave went in for over 100 metres. It also looked like any route there would take a lot of cleaning since the cave roof had hundreds of years worth of soot from the troglodytes who used to live there. With 4 days to do a route, we opted for a nice looking line going up a 45 degree wall then crossing the full length of the side wall and some roofs to gain a crack system in the headwall. It looked like it would go in about 4 pitches!



    Back on dry rock on the superb pitch 3 (7b+)

After a hardcore couple of days with the hilti and wire brush, It looked amazing: 7c+, 7a, 7b+, 7b. Only one problem, the first pitch would be 7c+ if it was dry. But it was completely soaking and all the holds were full of slimy wet mud - proper caving style! At least Keith’s floodlights made it feel slightly more like a crag than a hole in the ground. I had a couple of tries, sliding about all over the place. It was actually better not to use chalk for most of the first pitch, it only made your hands feel slimier.

    Alan cruising pitch 2 (7a)

Next morning I set off again. I could see that slipping off could happen on any move, so why worry about any of them? I just kept creeping across the traverse, unexpectedly scrapping my way through to the stance, and we could enjoy the remaining spectacular pitches through the roofs and headwall. What shall we call it? Has to be 'Ring of Fire'! My first new routes in Yorkshire and the Peak -what a weird week!

 

Alan enjoying the fantastic headwall on pitch 4 (7b). The programme will be coming to a TV screen near you sometime next year. I'll let you know when it's scheduled.  Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Perfect day in Torridon
8 November 2011, 11:04 pm

 

After coming home from my lecture tour I’ve had a familiar feeling of being a little burnt out. This happens to me every year really, I cram as much work as I can into the west highland monsoon season - lectures, writing, coaching, events, film work etc. By the end of it, I’m always rather impatient for the calmness of just going to an empty highland glen and climbing some nice rock on my own.   

I’m not naturally cut out for being on stage every night, and much as enjoy sharing the stories and meeting great people, I need some balance after many weeks of it.    So after a week of sorting out so many loose ends at home, the autumn monsoon finally broke to sunny gold coloured mountains, and I got to enjoy two great bouldering sessions. I can’t tell you how much of a lift it is to spend time on real rock in a nice place after so much time indoors.   

First off I found some killer new beta on a tough project in Glen Nevis. One that will take a while, even with a clever trick of the foot on the crux. Today, the north west seemed to be the place to be and I scooted up for an afternoon on the simply superb boulders in Glen Torridon. I noticed that visiting Sheffield bouldering specialist Dan Varian, one of the strongest men in our isles at present, had added a few hard problems here in the spring that sounded great.     

I went up to check out a lovely arete called Stokes Croft, given about 8A. I enjoyed it a lot. Perfect holds, perfect conditions. The only thing not in perfect condition was me, still feeling decidedly sluggish from one of those nagging colds that seems to keep coming back. But as soon as I arrived at the problem, the sniffles and sighs melted away and I had the moves worked out in twenty minutes and then climbed it first redpoint. It’s probably more like 7C+ but it was still a lovely change to just go and repeat something that was all cleaned up and ready. I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning dirty rock this year!   

Wee clip of this above. These last two sessions have fully redoubled keenness for the bouldering season, and for training training TRAINING!!! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Longhope DVD is not far away
9 November 2011, 12:18 am

 

 

We’ve just finished arranging the DVD artwork for the Long Hope film which may be finished by the time you read this and off to the DVD manufacturers. Paul Diffley has been doing sterling work editing it and must have earned a beer or three at Kendal after the premiere. Speaking of the premiere at Kendal - it’s already sold out! So if you want to be there, your only chance now is to enter the Mountain Equipment competition to win tickets for it. All you have to do is leave a comment here.      

For those of you who don’t get tickets, the DVD will be out when it comes back from the manufacturers and we’ll put it up for pre-order in the shop soon so watch this space.    The film is looking really great, although I would say that. I reckon it almost makes you want to go and climb a fulmar infested loose big wall sea cliff in the middle of nowhere. Extras on the DVD include the film of my ascent of The Indian Face (E9), Mucklehouse Wall (E5 5c, 5c, 6a) on Hoy and of course our ascent of the Old Man of Hoy.    Other things coming up - The Stac of Handa re-enactment I shot the other week with the BBC has a provisional slot on BBC2 Scotland/iPlayer as an Adventure Show special on Nov 22nd at 19.00. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Tip Juice in the shop
11 November 2011, 11:40 pm

 

I’ve just added the new Tip Juice balm to the webshop. Most keen climbers these days doing a lot of sport climbing or bouldering are using a skin balm to help speed the recovery of fingertip skin for the next session. In the damp climate of western Scotland I don’t find I need to use it every session to keep my finger creases from cracking. But on a trip to somewhere with a dry climate such as sport climbing in Spain I’ll use it every day. It goes without saying that if you have a split tip or a cut from a sharp hold on your fingers you’ll need to use a balm like this daily to help it heal in the quickest possible time and prevent it going to a deep crack that will bother you for ages.    Tip Juice is a new balm developed by an Aberdeen team of boulderers. They took a long time to perfect it and I think they’ve done a nice job. You can find it in the shop here together with the ingredients list. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Long Hope DVD available for pre-order
11 November 2011, 11:51 pm

 

 The Long Hope DVD is now up in the shop for pre-order.  

The master disc is off to the DVD manufacturers and DVD stock usually takes a couple of weeks or so to be manufactured. If you did manage to get tickets to the premiere in Kendal before it sold out, we are hoping to have a handful of advance copies there but if you don’t make it to that, pre-ordering it now will mean you’ll get it the fastest way possible. We’ll dispatch orders for it as soon as we get hold of the stock.    A lot of folk ask for their DVD signed, which is no problem of course! Just ask in the ‘special instructions’ field of the checkout form.    The running time of the film is 60 minutes and there are lots of extra films on the DVD: My ascent of Indian Face, Mucklehouse Wall on Hoy and naturally, The Old Man of Hoy.    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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BAFTA for The Great Climb
14 November 2011, 9:18 pm

 

 The Great Climb programme just won a Scottish BAFTA for live event coverage last night. I’m well chuffed that the effort that went into the programme from a lot of people was obviously appreciated and it’s nice to see it have recognition. It was a fine effort from Triple Echo Productions to attempt another live climbing broadcast, and pull it off after the frustrations of previous attempts.    Folk were asking on my lecture tour last week if there is still anywhere you can get hold of a copy of the programme. The DVD is right here.    I’ve also been asked loads if there are any more televised climbing programmes in the pipeline. I mentioned the other week about the Stac of Handa re-enactment that is showing on Nov 22nd (7pm BBC2 Scotland, iPlayer). There is a wee trailer up on the BBC site for this here. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Long Hope - Kendal people’s choice
22 November 2011, 10:47 pm

 

 

Andy Turner, myself, Paul Diffley, Ed Drummond and Oilver Hill at the Long Hope premiere, KMF. Photo: Henryiddon.com 

It was a nice atmosphere at the premiere of the film about the Longhope Route in Kendal on Friday night. Ed Drummond was on good form to say a few words after the film and it was cool to have 5 of the 6 people who have climbed that route in our various different styles in one place. Thanks to folks who voted for it and gave it the people’s choice award of the Kendal festival. DVD’s are still being made but will be with us soon. Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered so far.   

It’s a strange experience presenting a film of a climb like this. For the audience, it’s the first time they’ve been able to see the story really get a feel for this climb. For me, it’s really the end of the process. I was sitting watching it with everyone else, feeling happy with my memories of that cliff. But they are just that - memories. The only meaning it has for me is contained within the film; that watching it will motivate others to have good adventures of their own.   

Since climbing the route in June, I’ve been doing some basic training, and doing a lot of work (as in bill paying work) to set myself up for next years adventures. I have the restlessness to find new things again! Some projects, like those around my home area of Glen Nevis will come down to training and dedication. There are also some fantastic onsight climbs I’d like to try this winter. After last winter’s time out with an impending new baby I’m looking forward to learning to use the ice axe again. I’ll need to start from a low base, which is always great fun to just enjoy repeating others routes for a little bit.   

First though, I have one more week of work, coaching abroad, exploring some untouched limestone. I’ll post up some pictures...

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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The need to pull hard
3 December 2011, 3:56 pm

 

A week of coaching abroad last week marked the end of a crazy few months of various work projects. Last week was very strange, going climbing every day and having great days but only on easy routes. I was absolutely stir crazy on the way home to pull hard on some small holds again. The need to take things to extremes seems to be a deep set part of human nature, and not just ego driven need to stand out from a crowd.     Climbing at a relaxed pace without battling my way up routes to the last just doesn’t work for me. Although I love all the other aspects of going climbing, they seem to work as part of a whole recipe - and climbing routes that are hard for me is a crucial ingredient.     Our return to the UK was met by the inevitable rain and gales, so it was my board who took the brunt of my restlessness. I must have caught it off guard since I managed a personal best session on my hard problems and made some great progress on a couple of projects I couldn’t touch just a few weeks before. Endurance was sadly lacking however.    What to do tomorrow??? Freeze my fingers bouldering or freeze my fingers mixed climbing? Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Long Hope DVD is here!
3 December 2011, 4:06 pm

 

We now have our stock of the Long Hope DVD and many of our pre-orders will have them by now. They are in the shop here and as usual we are dispatching every day in the run up to Christmas. I’ve just been signing a large pile of them for folk and if you’d like a copy signed, just ask on the checkout page. Signed copies are only available from my shop.    Thanks for all the messages from those of you who have seen it. It seems it’s become your favourite climbing film very quickly which is good to know that what was appealing to me as a climb and an adventure is also to lots of other folks.    Here’s the trailer for the DVD:

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Meeting the Queen
11 December 2011, 10:52 pm

   

On Fat Boy Slim VI, 6, Ben Nevis the other day



How do I winter climb again?    After doing Anubis a couple of years ago I took a bit of a break from winter climbing. That route was a really nice piece of climbing and was very satisfying to climb. It was hard to find something good enough to follow it. I was also really missing bouldering and felt I hard to get some strength base together for climbing the Longhope. Last season I tried a couple of new routes that were maybe too hard, and then winter was over for me with imminent arrival of my daughter Freida. It’ll be interesting to see if I can find some good routes this season. I was worried that I would feel very out of touch with winter climbing. So I thought I better start with some basics at VI or VII. It certainly felt strange to be holding tools again and a circuit around my board tonight on them felt desperate. It’s always difficult finding the real stand out new routes in any discipline, but never more so than in winter climbing. I’m really into finding steeper lines but it’s a frustrating business when every climb on the mountain is in condition except yours sometimes. But I do know about two or three lines that might have the makings of great winter routes that I’d like to go at if they come into condition this year. I think a Birnam cave session or two could be in order first though!  

 

Blink and you’ll miss it. MacLeod in a suit for the first time, for one night only.    It must have been some occasion, you must be thinking, to see me in a suit of an evening. Indeed! I was asked to go to London to meet the Queen, along with many other adventurers from up and down the land and beyond. We gathered at Buckingham Palace, for a glass of champagne and a royal hand shake to mark the centenary of the Scott expedition. I met many accomplished climbers I knew, some I didn’t know and spotted various royals and folks I’d seen a lot on the telly. Messner gave me some good beta about future projects too. It was a nice evening, and the trip was a nice way to spend a couple of rest days after a monster session at the TCA in Glasgow.  

Speaking of the TCA, it was my first visit and I was headless chickening as most folk apparently do on their first visit. It’s the best climbing wall I’ve ever been to, worldwide. I’m really chuffed to see climbing walls go to another level. I walked around all after noon repeating inwardly “I wish this was here when I started climbing”. I’m super looking forward to Christmas hols in Glasgow to get a proper feel for the place. It’s just too big to scratch the surface on your first visit. If you haven’t been yet, sort it out!  

 

As I write I have the satisfied feeling of every upper body muscle aching from a good solid session on my board - hard problems, mileage, circuits and tooling circuits and then my rehabs. With work trips finally over for the year it’s so nice just to get down to the business of uninterrupted training. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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While the rain falls
13 December 2011, 11:48 pm

  My house was still standing after Hurricane Bawbag and all is well as we settle into a long awaited full week at home and not on the road. Despite a million flattened trees in the glen around our house, everything except our TV signal (dodgy aerial down at the loch shore) survived. Our internet connection survived and that has been keeping us busy with Christmas orders from the webshop (thanks for those!!). We are dispatching every day as always by first class post.

While the gales and sleet rage outside, I have been getting seriously into training. My finger joints are complaining about this mildly, but good sleep and food are keeping them keen for leaping between crimps on the board.     Tonight I even managed a tweaked version of my model of , a good notch harder than the original, which I completed once shortly before I did the real thing back in April. From my bouldering apprenticeship in Dumbarton I’ve been left with reasonably good openhanded strength on small positive edges and I’m good at getting weight on my feet when the climbing surface is fairly undulating and angled. My ever growing weakness was flat panel 45 degree angles and big pinches.   

I’ve kind of neglected the pinch strength aspect since few of my rock projects rely on this, something I’ve now come to regret. However, It’s never too late to get strong and I’m attacking it now with some fine pinch problems. I reckon I’m still at least 2 full grades weaker on pinches than edges as recent indoor sessions around Scotland have reminded me. Let’s see what we can do about that.   

The training part is easy though - It’s like eating pudding, I could just keep going and going. The hard bit is maintaining the discipline to rest properly and do all the supportive stuff to keep the body going (rehab exercises, basic strength work, flexibility and eating well). With Frieda crawling about the house now tracking down anything dangerous she can get her little teeth into, it gets too tempting sometimes to take the opportunity to do some work while she sleeps. Resist! Rest up and train another day.   

Following my session tonight I’ve just spent a couple of hours immersing myself in some fine training inspiration such as this:

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Training on the job
21 December 2011, 11:55 am

 

How on earth?    I did have a plan to do a few easy winter routes before trying a couple of harder new lines I have an eye on, but curiosity for the hard routes rapidly got the better of that. I just had three tries on a fantastic new line with a 6 metre horizontal roof. The first attempt was a bit of a poor show to be totally honest. Climbing with tools is definitely feeling a bit alien still, so I did a lot of craning my neck looking up at it and making various excuses.    There’s nothing wrong with doing a bit of training on the job though, so I went back up with Kev and fully attacked the roof. The rock is so smooth cut and featureless that it seems to be better to cut onto one tool on quite a few of the moves rather than even bother trying to get crampons to stick to overhead and distant smears. I pretty much gave up though as I just couldn’t find a way to do the move around the lip. The gap between the hooks seemed just massive and I couldn’t find anything to get my feet on at all.     It’s hard to give up so easy though. That night I dreamed up a method involving throwing a foot overhead into a potential heel-toe and climbing feet first around the lip. When I went back up with Michael, it didn’t work. Not even close. Michael had a shot too and reckoned it’s harder climbing than the Birnam tooling routes - maybe M11+ climbing. Next time up I found a way to stein-pull my axe in a thin hook and do a massive and dynamic move to the first little nick around the lip.     However, I didn’t have the strength to complete the route yesterday. I think a couple of weeks of circuits with tools while the mild weather is in could be just what the doctor ordered. Next time it will be really interesting to see if I can get past the lip and into the overhanging groove above. Hopefully I’ll have learnt a bit more about how to use my tools well again and be fully ready for an anaerobic battle! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Plastic power
4 January 2012, 12:57 am

 

With Scotland being hammered by the usual January gales and rain, I’ve been directing my climbing attentions over Christmas to a sustained attack on the fantastic TCA bouldering centre in Glasgow. I climbed a mountain of fantastic problems and definitely feel stronger for it, especially on big moves. There’s a lot of climbing space there and there are no shortage of leaps and jumps between the holds (some performance related comments on this over on my other blog). An uninterrupted spell of good quality training doesn’t get much better in climbing, apart of course from an opportunity to use the training on a piece of real rock.    But with wall to wall rain and more gales lined up for the next few weeks, it’s time for more of the same. It’s a great chance for me to really attack some long term weaknesses that I seldom get a chance to really attack when I’m doing my usual routine of very little training, just going climbing all the time.    My goals have been to work hard on my pinch strength among various aspects of my strength and flexibility. I’ve had a good couple of weeks of good training and another three of serious work should time nicely with the first crisp days of February (fingers crossed) for getting back outside onto rock projects.  

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Climbing coaching sessions at Fort William Mountain Festival
6 January 2012, 4:55 pm

 

 On Friday 17th of Feb I’m running some daytime climbing technique masterclasses at the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven as part of the Fort William Mountain Festival. The sessions will be 2 hours long and there will be 6 spaces on each session. I’ll give you a fairly intense couple of hours of climbing technique advice, coaching and inspiration! To take part you have to be a climber and be used to a climbing wall, but it doesn’t matter what level you are at. You’ll learn a lot whether you are climbing at a fairly basic level or a pretty serious climber.     The sessions will take place at 10am-12pm, 12.30pm-2.30pm and 3pm- 5pm. It costs £35 per climber (pay on the day) as well as your normal climbing wall entry fee at the Ice Factor. I get a lot of requests to give coaching and these classes will fill up pretty fast so give Claire a ring on 07813 060376 to book your place quick!    That evening at the festival is the mountaineering evening with showings of the brilliant film ‘Vertical Sailing’ about big wall exploring in Greenland and also the Longhope film about my own mini-big wall climb on Orkney.  

Over on my events page you'll see I'm also giving a lecture at Rheged in the Lakes on Jan 28th and at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Feb 8th (more about that in a minute). Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Long Hope night at RGS in London Feb 8th
6 January 2012, 7:39 pm

   

Paul Diffley captures the action from an airy filming position on the Longhope route. Photo: Lukasz Warzecha  

On February 8th, myself, Andy Turner and filmmaker Paul Diffley will be speaking at the Royal Geographical Society in London about the Longhope route. Mountain Equipment and Gore-Tex have helped us arrange an evening of entertainment at the RGS to share with you what was pretty memorable adventure for us, both in terms of the climbers involved in attempting to climb this cliff over 40 years, and in documenting it on film.    Myself and Andy will be speaking about our experiences in preparing and attempting the first free ascent of the original Longhope Route as well as some of the history behind climbing on the cliff, and then we’ll present The Long Hope film made by Paul Diffley. In particular I’ll talk about some of the psychology behind taking on a three-year sporting ambition to open a new route at world class difficulty like this, how I’ve learned to be comfortable with the dangers involved, and some of the hurdles that you just couldn’t plan for along the way. Andy will be speaking about how his winter mountaineering adventures in Scotland, the Alps and Norway were about as good preparation as you could get for this type of adventure, yet still not enough to avoid some knee trembling moments on a 1400 foot loose, bird infested sea-cliff.    We’ll have a bar and plenty of time to meet up and talk about adventures on cliffs during the evening or ask questions. We’ll also have some signed copies of the Long Hope DVD and various other films and books we’ve made. Doors open at 6pm to start 7pm. It should be a great night!    Tickets and full details are available in my shop right here. It’s going to be a busy show so it would be a very good plan to get your ticket early.  

 

Andy Turner, Dave MacLeod and the Longhope route, St John’s Head, Orkney. One of the three looks hard and intimidating. Photo: Lukasz Warzecha

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Aberdeen city break
11 January 2012, 1:46 pm

 

I can’t believe 2 months had passed without climbing outdoors on rock in Scotland. I can’t remember the weather being so unhelpful during the winter for several years. Lochaber has just been hammered with rain and gales and it seems my options for getting on projects have been basically nil.     

No matter, all the training on plastic has been worth it. But severe withdrawal symptoms from climbing a real piece of rock set in and so I took a gamble and drove over to the Aberdeen sea cliffs in the hope of finding something to climb.   

It worked! I dropped Claire and Frieda in Aberdeen and somewhat bleary eyed from the early start and long drive, stumbled into Cammachmore Bay for a look at Devistator 8A. After a couple of tries this went down so I nipped over the hill and just beat the rising tide into Clashfarqhuar Bay and did Delirium 8A.

Next day I missed my tide window for Clashfarqhuar  and after a fair bit of faffing about trying to remember where Craigmaroinn was I found it and went for a look at Twilight Princess 8A. It’s a link between the start of Kayla into the finish of Pit Left Hand. But as I was improvising my climbing plans and didn’t have the description to hand I assumed it must traverse all the way into the furthest left straight up problem since that looked like the obvious hardest link to be done. I even went strict and dropped down into the starting holds of this to make sure. But on returning home I found that I’d finished up the wrong problem (The Buzz 7b). Not much difference, maybe a touch harder but yet another variation in the wee cave.   

It was a nice reminder the nothing ventured nothing gained rule and that even Scotland in January occasionally throws a psyched climber a lifeline. Little video of these above, in the solitary climber style of camera propped on a rock... Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Dry rock - new routes!
18 January 2012, 12:29 am

 

Catch 22 is a somewhat elusive boulder problem in a couple of ways. Cubby kept telling me about this eliminate but great little problem up at Sky Pilot in Glen Nevis. With some knowledge of the wall I asked him to describe it so I could try and do it. He did, but I got it wrong and climbed the problem in thinking this was it (with a sit start added by me, which I shall now call Catch 21!).     

Finally Cubby came up to photograph me trying another of his old projects which eventually came to be Seven of Nine 8B+ and showed me Catch 22. He gave it 7C in the classic old school style (stiff at that grade). It revolves around holding a wild swing when you jump off 2 opposing edges to a glassy sloper. Sort of reminiscent of ‘Slap Happy’ at Dumbarton Rock but a lot harder. A sit start was obviously possible but neither of us had done the moves.   

While working hard on this spring, repeating Catch 22 became part of my warm up rountine every session. And when I became strong and light enough for Seven of Nine, I could do Catch 22 first try, every time. I worked out two hard moves to get into it from the sitter, but the link was going to be hard as you have to have the crucial edges just right to stay tight enough to catch and hold the sloper.    I tried it in September after a summer of trad and couldn’t touch it. But after some bouldering recently it would be very interesting to see if that made any difference? It did! It still took a solid hour on it to refine the movement and timing, reminding myself to squeeze apart on the presses while moving my right foot up, and pulling with that foot until the last as I went for the sloper. On the last try of the day before I had to leave for tea at a friend's, it went. Feels like Font 8A+ to me, but perhaps for hardcore ’45’ abusers it might be ok. Eliminate, but great movement. Some performance related observations on this ascent over on my coaching blog. 

Next day I decided to go back up to the Skeleton boulder project with Michael. It was COLD as the photo below shows but we still had a nice time. I am still unable to do the crux move of the Skeleton roof line that was in Committed 2. But at least I saw some beta that's worth working on some more to see if I can make it work. That roof is definitely the hardest boulder I've ever tried. A new level is always good to focus the motivation. 

 

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Lectures in February
24 January 2012, 11:57 am

 

 

The last of my lectures for a while are happening in February - see you at some of these hopefully:    This Saturday (Jan 28^th) I’m speaking at Rheged in the Lakes. Details and tickets here.    On February 3^rd I’ll be in the audience for a change while Claire gives the lecture! She is speaking at Roy Bridge Memorial Hall, 7.30pm about her mountain film making adventures and jumping out of planes. Tickets on the door - £4 and you’ll also get some food and a cup of tea!    On February 8^th I’m speaking along with Andy Turner and Paul Diffley at the Royal Geographical Society in London about the Long Hope. After the lecture we’ll show the film too and there will be an opportunity to gather for a good chat at the bar during the evening. Details and tickets here.    On February 24^th I’m speaking in Hoy Kirk, Hoy, Orkney about the Long Hope and showing the film. Looking forward to being back on the island! It’ll be a good chance for me to explain to everyone I saw out and about around Orkney what all the fuss was about that kept me returning to St John’s head trip after trip. Start time 6.30pm.    After that I’m away on a long climbing trip. See you there! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Something Different
3 February 2012, 12:32 pm

   

Getting pumped and scared at the lip of the roof on Castle in the Sky, Druim Shionnach. Photos: Andy Turner.    A few weeks ago I mentioned I’d tried a huge roof in winter. It was up on Druim Shionnach on the Skye Road, about half an hour from my house. Things didn’t go very well with that. I tried it maybe three times and on my last try ripped out a tiny chockstone in the thin crack in the roof that was crucial for the crux lunge in the middle of the roof. After that it was a parallel crack and neither myself, Donald or Michael could work out how this section could go. So for now at least (I never say never), I was a bit stumped.    But at the end of the day I had a brief foray on the roof just to it’s left. About 5 metres straight across the smooth horizontal roof with no crack system to follow. I tried to aid across it just to see if there could be any hooks at all. It looked like an outside chance of being possible but at a silly grade.    I had another session to aid around the lip and see if it might be possible. Just aiding was scary enough. I was forced to aid mostly on my axes on tiny hooks as there was very little gear in the roof or around the lip. In the end all the protection after the first metre in the roof was one poor downpointing blade and one pecker on the headwall. I was pretty sure a fall would strip them both and would mean a long fall and big smash into the lower wall. But at least I found some hooks and could see that it might go with 2 figure-four moves in a row across the roof. There would be nothing for it but to have an all out go for it and make sure I didn’t fall off onto that gear!



Andy Turner and Ruth Taylor came up with me and Andy abseiled down to take some pictures and provide some much needed encouragement. The VII wall below the roof was the perfect warm up and I arranged the little cams at the start of the roof, changed gloves and got nervous. Eventually there was nothing for it so spanned out from the undercut hook at the back and launched out. Cutting loose onto the first hook, I swung out to see it wasn’t in the hook at all and hanging off a microscopic nubbin. As I dangled wondering what to do I explained to Ruth in a heated manner that I was about to lose my only point of contact with the roof. Rather than try and get a figure four in, which would surely rip with a head first fall, I attempted the start of a one armer and got as far as pulling my shoulder in a bit!    That was enough to just reach into the next undercut hook and I was back in business. All this rather washed away the nerves and I slipped into committed mode and started the figure fours across the roof. The crap peg was still very comforting to clip before turning the lip and pushing on with total commitment turned rapidly to fear on the thinnest hook I’ve used on a trad route.    All of a sudden I was at the last move. A big spiky flake just out of reach, fiddling to find a hidden torque in a flange of schist. There was enough time to think “what if that torque rips?! I’m going to fall the full distance!” I held that thought in the back of my mind through a careful cross into the flake and glorious lumps of frozen turf on the ramp beyond. Woohoo! The last 30 metres was much easier at about tech 6 but with non existent gear, so I tried hard not to rush and keep it steady.    An amazing little route and definitely one that revives the psyche that there are good mixed projects out there in Scotland. I must admit after I did Anubis a couple of years ago my focus shifted a bit towards bouldering as I wasn’t sure what was the right routes to keep progressing with my winter climbing. I’ve called it Castle in the Sky which seems quite nice and the expression reflects how these super hard winter projects seem sometimes. I don’t have a grade for it except to say that it’s both hard and dangerous. It might be safer if a crack near the lip wasn’t choked with ice and would yield a well positioned cam. Since there aren’t really any routes other than my own to compare it to, I have to compare it to them!! A grade harder at least than Don’t Die maybe (which could be X,10 after Greg’s excellent second ascent recently according to Climb Magazine??) It probably fits within the same ballpark grade as Anubis too, whatever that should get?    As you can see from the pictures, it doesn’t look like your average Scottish winter route. That’s because it’s not. It’s not a gully, it’s not a snowy turfy corner. It’s a big square cut cave, so it doesn’t get rime or snow in the roof. It’s good to have something different, otherwise things get boring.  

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Skeleton Boulder roof
11 February 2012, 10:20 pm

 

 

Spectacular view from the Skeleton Boulder, Glen Nevis  

I just had a couple of sessions on the Skeleton boulder project without any success to speak of. The rock seems to be particularly unyielding to my attempts to be inventive with the sequence. It’s a classic boulder problem - enough holds that it’s obviously possible, but they are so unhelpfully arranged that it defeats every possible option. For my strength level at least. And there is the rub. I don’t think I can do much more with sequence cleverness.     I’ve been trying to because I know that if I’m forced to stick with my current sequence, I don’t just need to be a little bit stronger. It would need a substantial change to my strength/weight ratio.     People often ask me, especially at climbing lectures about fear and sense of mortality that climbing risky routes could highlight. I don’t have think (or at least dwell) too much about this on risky routes because I try and do them with a good reserve of control and never really get too scared.    Actually, it’s trying super hard physical climbs like in bouldering that most strongly reminds me of the constraints of life. After yesterdays rather miserable performance on the roof, I was acutely aware that I don’t deal very well with the idea that some things might not be feasible for me. I’ve never really had to experience that yet. In that sense I’m a bit spoiled! I usually feel that it’s possible and just a matter of how much effort you are willing to put in. And I’ve realised from personal experience that you can always put in far more effort than you estimate in advance, so long as you start sufficiently down the road and then refuse to give in when progress grinds to halt.    I’m also realistic. When I was 19 I was doing Font 7C I’m doing 8B/+ now at a push and that is reasonable progress. Is 8C possible? I’m not sure. So I guess this is where things get interesting in the climbing progress game. 33 years old and chasing a big jump in standard. Time to step up a gear then…    Freida is a great daily reminder that progress can happen.  

 

Five Finger gully bathed in February sunshine.  

Thanks to everyone who came out to our lecture in London the other day. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog