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Slacklines are on sale
13 June 2012, 11:23 am

 

 We just halved the price of our slackline sets from £120 to £60. We don’t have many left so if you are keen, best get them in now. Good time of year to have one, I’d say. They are right here.      We also have Tip Juice back in stock for the worn out skin on your fingers. Although I use this most days myself, I got to give it a real test with daily usage on my hands in the dry alpine climate of Switzerland. For a 2 month bouldering trip I did pretty well to have good enough skin to only use tape once (a serious gouge from the start hold on Mystic Stylez). A tub is £9 and you’ll find it 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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Following a good vibe
13 June 2012, 11:52 am

 

After returning from my travels I was interested to see how the effects of 2 months bouldering followed by a week and half of sedentary time in the car would affect my fitness on my Steall project. After a couple of sessions, it’s obvious I can pull a few % points harder on the holds. Endurance is pretty poor, but not quite the disaster I expected. After doing Seven of Nine last year (3 months not climbing anything longer than 10 moves) I went to Tunnel Wall and took 3 tries to do Fated Path (a stamina 7c+!). Despite the moves feeling like V-Diff, I just got pumped doing virtually anything. That was a memorably depressing session. Of course it only took four sessions to be able to lap the routes there aerobically and then move back up through the 8s.    At the end of my lecture tour I did have just a handful of short but good sessions on endurance. I made a good decision to start on some pretty easy but steep ground and err on the volume side. This seems to have been a good kickstart. After a few of those I managed to get through the crux of Ring of Steall (8c+) again for the first time. Great, but on arriving at the real crux of my project finish, I could only slap uselessly at a tiny crimper I must get static and perfectly.    I’ve had two more sessions trying to work on the climb on my own since then. Although there is no dramatic progress to speak of, I know from experience that these sessions do get you closer to making breakthroughs. I’ve learned all sorts of little things about how to do the moves better. Dare I say it, I don’t think my sequence can change a great deal now.    So it’s down to 30 move power endurance. Training for the route by trying it sometimes works really well so I’m keen to take advantage of the easterly winds at present and get on it. But It’s not a great route for training on, mainly because the hardest moves are a bit too hard! They only really work if your arms are completely fresh. Ideally a mix of circuits and maybe one session out of three on the route would be right I think. I might even try a bit of power endurance work on the campus board for this.    I have a choice really between getting serious about this project and really putting some dedicated work on it, or going to play on other things. Even if I’m on project mode, certain other venues and routes will make good training, and my gut is telling me I’m getting high enough on the route to get serious. I know that my power endurance has never been good, and it would be a great experiment to see what could happen if did train it properly for a spell. It seems pretty clear that the bouldering trip has given me a base of strength that really ought to be enough to make this route possible. It would be crazy not to give it a good shot then. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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We have a sale on
13 June 2012, 11:11 pm

 

Our sale on slacklines has been super popular (we have one set left - be quick), so we decided to run a more general sale in our shop. It's the first time we've ever done this! We’ll run it for one month and we’ve put some good discounts of 25-50% on roughly half of our products. Worldwide shipping as always and do be on the quick side in case our stock runs out. Here’s what we’ve discounted:      Mountain Heroes - Lovely and substantial coffee table book of superb and iconic shots of many of the world’s most influential climbers. We sell a lot of these when we run stalls at festivals because as soon as folk pick it up they see it’s a lovely book. We quite often sell them two at a time becuase folk buy it for a gift and then decide to take a personal copy too! Previously £30 (like I said, it’s a big substantial book). On sale at £22.50 here. Folk at lectures often ask me to sign the page with my picture. Just ask in the checkout page if you’d like this.      Extreme Alpinism - Mark Twight’s seminal book on techniques and approaches to alpinism. A bit of a bible really. Was £20, now £15 here.      Mountain Equipment Beanies - Warm, and comfy for anything from bouldering to winter alpinism. On my head about 250 days in the year (OMG!). We have various colours in the branded version and the plain version. Was £15, now £12 here.      Ron Fawcett, Rock Athlete - Hardback edition of the great man’s autobiography. An interesting time in climbing and always much to learn from characters like Ron. Was £20, now £15 here.      Hostile Habitats - It’s a book that often comes out in conversation with owners of it, since it’s so full of fascinating details about the landscape, flora and fauna of Scotland’s mountain environment. If you are planning to spend your life in these mountains, it is frankly crazy not to make yourself aware of the richness of interest all around you, from geological features to the lichens that colour the rock so beautifully. I first became aware of the book when Tom Prentice appeared above me as I sat on my boulder mat at Dumby, He was taking pictures of the gas pockets in the Basalt I was climbing on. I had no idea they were gas pockets. These days I look at the places I go to in Scotland with a new pair of eyes, and take so much more from being there thanks to the knowledge in the book. Was £17, now £12.75 here.      The Players DVD - Dave Graham, Chris Sharma, Emily Harrington, Daniel Woods, Lisa Rands, Joe Kinder, Alex Puccio, Chris Lindner, and Ethan Pringle. 9as, Font 8cs, E10 trad, Deep water soloing. A ton of great climbing footage and a ton of learning from the best movers on rock. End of. Was £20, now £10 here.      Northern Beats DVD - Bernd Zangerl and friends on tour opening new boulders in Norway. Amazing rock, impressive movement, good music. A psyche hit! Was £10, now £5 here.      The Mountain Marathon Book - A hill racer’s bible. If you’re thinking of entering your first hill race, or trying to move up the rankings, it doesn’t make much sense lose out on to make one of the mistakes this book will save you from making. It’s a young sport and this is the first good instructional book on the subject. Was £20, now £15 here.      The Munros in Winter - One way to look at it is ‘it’s a book about hillwalking’. So why is it so inspiring? Well something to note for starters is that it’s author the great North West Highalnds pioneer is now (in his 50s!) one of the best winter climbers in Scotland, regularly  hillwalking grade VIII mixed routes and IX if he’s looking for a more serious ‘day on the hill’. This book is about an extra long day on the hill - he got in his van, drove to Scotland and did the first completion of the 277 Munros in a single winter season. I first read it as a 15 year old and was left utterly inspired to explore these mythical corners of the highlands. It’s a much, much better way to learn about these mountains than reading a standard guide book, that’s for sure! A great story about a great effort from the softly spoken man machine. Was £15, now £11.25 here.  

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Review: Vertical Sailing & Welcome to the Hood
14 June 2012, 9:23 pm

 

 We’ve just added three new products in the shop. Vertical Sailing and Welcome to the Hood DVDs, two of my favourite climbing films from the last few months. We also just added the much awaited new edition of John Sherman’s uber book on techniques, tactics and training for bouldering; “Better Bouldering”. I’m definitely bias in being excited to see it since I’m a co-author! I wrote the chapter on training, with some perspectives on gaining strength without turning into the ubiquitous steely youth you see in every bouldering wall who never seems to actually get V-Hard problems done on the real rock. I’ll do a full review shortly but for now let’s just say it’s a five star book and the best dedicated boulderers handbook out there. It’s in the shop here.    Vertical Sailing      Made by the best adventure big walling partnership on the planet right now’ Nico Favresse, Olivier Favresse, Sean Villaneuva & Ben Ditto, this DVD is the most entertaining climbing movie I’ve seen in a good few years. I’ve watched it several times, and in between laughing out loud at the hilarious situations they end up in, I’m awed, inspired and highly jealous of the adventure they take us on.    The film starts of in fine style with hilarious team vomiting as Captain Bob Shepton’s tiny yacht sails them through rough waters up the Greenland coast. Over the course of several films, the team have perfected expedition filming like noone else I’ve seen. From the footage you would really think they had a film crew with them. But it’s just that they have it so dialled. Some footage of stunning granite fjords and onsight new routing of 400m E6 6bs follow. But that’s just the warm up for the impossible wall. 1000 metres, great granite, but this isn’t Yosemite. There are grassy cracks that look desperate, fulmars, loose rock days waiting out storms and a ridiculous wet chimney. You would think that footage of a wet greasy overhanging chimney pitch pouring with water would make for a laughable short clip but would be a lot more ‘entertaining’ to climb than to watch. But for me this is probably the highlight of the film.     It absolutely captures why we climb routes like this instead of just going on chalked up sport routes all the time. It looks frightening, totally out there, dangerous and apart from all that, unclimbable. So watching Villanueva thrutching his way up it Gore-Texed to the hilt with water everywhere is excellent. Not many films could shoot this sort of terrain and make you wish you were there. There is the usual portaledge partying which the Belgian team have made their trademark. By the end you are left with a feeling that you could go to the most ridiculous corner of the vertical world, climb the most desperate and committing thing you can find and just have nothing but laughs all the way. Most uplifting. And your non-climbing friends could watch and be just as entertained and impressed. It’s in the shop here.    Welcome to the Hood      Fortunately, since bouldering is convenient to film and good cameras like the 5D are so well suited to this sort of filming, we get to see a lot of the worlds best ascents, well filmed often by the climbers themselves. And so it is with this movie of 4 of the strongest in the world just now; Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, Guntram Joerg and Andy Gullsten. We get to see 8b+s in Font and then over to several Swiss venues. I was particuarly keen to see more from the lesser known venues of Murgtal and Silvretta. I was in Murgtal myself for a session in April and thought it was a lovely place with it’s bouldering potential being rapidly developed right now. The section in Chironico was a great highlight. Interesting as always to watch and learn from the contrast of movement style and strengths of the different guys.   Even at their level their styles are quite different. The finale of Woods’ flash of Entlinge 8B+/8C (the hardest bouldering flash in the world to date) is jaw dropping. What a machine. Essential dose of viewing for boulderers. It’s in the shop here.    If you didn’t catch my blog post last night we also have just put a good sale on with about half our products discounted by 25-50% for a month. It’s been super popular today and a few things are selling out or getting close to it. So do have a look.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Tempting Fate
14 June 2012, 9:54 pm

 

 

Current highpoint on my project at Steall - a horrendous gaston/cross/backhand/fingerlock move to a perfect little edge I have to hit with my fingers and thumb in just the right spot.

In my blog post last night about my recent efforts on my Steall project, I knew that if I said out loud that my sequence wouldn’t couldn’t be improved much, I’d immediately prove myself wrong. And so it was. Today, With fresh body and mind after a seriously needed rest day I found five new bits of of beta which help my sequence. Of course, most of them are small; a change in body position or momentum in the move. But one change in particular might make a significant difference in how consistently I can get to my highpoint. So maybe I can get a little higher sometime soon?    I still am two steps (links) away from doing proper redpoints. I have yet to climb from below the Ring of Steall crux to the top. That’s a pretty important link that still feels a good bit away. After that, the next important link is from the ground to two moves higher in the crux than my current best effort. If that ever happens I’ll be on seek and destroy mode immediately. I’m feeling good enough on it to justify keeping on training my endurance on the route, at least for another session. Maybe next week I’ll do some targeted training elsewhere in case I get stale on the route.    It’s helping that England is currently getting the chains of rain bearing fronts that we normally get up here right now. Apparently thanks to the Jet stream? In the easterly today it was around 13 degrees at Steall with a 30mph wind. Sticky holds and even the hungriest midge grounded. A good session! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Confidence materialising?
17 June 2012, 12:28 pm

 

That’s the fourth session on my project this week, every one with progress to speak of. So I can’t be close to my limit yet. Yesterday I was with Michael instead of alone on my shunt. I made the big step of linking from the start of the Ring of Steall crux to the top of my project. It’s the first time I’ve felt like I was linking on a route instead of doing hard bouldering moves on a rope, if you know what I mean.   

I know that to have proper attempts to complete the route, I need to be at a stage where I’m really confident on the moves and don’t feel that they are low percentage. So now I’m getting the Ring of Steall crux static which is good progress. I can’t be fully confident until I’m actually getting highpoints on the headwall above where the route leaves Ring of Steall. Although I’ve got very overlapping halves on the route now, there is still one more big step to make before it’s time to get properly serious. I must get myself through that desperate cross through move.   

The other thing is that conditions have been perfect. Yesterday it was 9 degrees on the drive up the glen! Windy too. Warm weather has to come sometime and that might put me back a bit in the coming few weeks. Although I feel strong (for me) and climbing not bad, my power endurance still feels about 50% of what it could be, maybe less. The past week has been great. Totally the right decision to take advantage of relatively midge free windy conditions to get more time and confidence on the route.     

Although my more dedicated power endurance training on the circuits has been delayed, it will be all the more useful when I’m finally forced indoors by the weather. If wet or midgy weather comes next week and I have a stint of circuits and runs, I could be in good shape for starting redpoints after that. If conditions stay windy, I have a backup plan of trying a new link up of Fat Groove (8a) into Maxwell’s Demon (8b+) which is pretty much perfect endurance training. It has some good rests so it might be 8b+/8c. I can have two or three good attempts on my project and then get a workout trying the link-up.   

Today I can see the midges outside my window as I write (they are after the CO2 from my boiler exhaust!) and the trees are totally still. Board time! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Old lessons
20 June 2012, 10:07 am

 

Yesterdays session at Steall inevitably brought me down to earth a bit with the cold conditions gone it was quite warm and still enough to have a chasing pack of midges on redpoints. So long sleeves and hats were essential even though I was overheating.    However, it was still a session of progress. On my project I got through the Ring of Steall again despite it being a little greasy, only to fall again at the crossthrough move. I looked again at it on the rope and with fresh eyes found a completely new way to do the move. I had actually tried the method ages ago but discounted it. I can’t believe I didn’t persevere more with it, because when I found exactly the right position, it took much less power than my old method. Being open about thoroughly exploring different methods on really hard crux moves is a lesson I thought I’d learned a decade ago at Dumbarton. Obviously not.     So, feeling like a bit of an idiot, I moved on to getting a workout on the link-up of Fat Groove (8a) into Maxwell’s Demon (8b+). Although it was getting really greasy I got pretty high on the route; to the crux right under the last bolt. Not bad.    So my project has thrown me a lifeline to get a little higher. It’s obviously still paying off to train on the route itself since I’m still improving my movement on it. Looks like the forecast after the weekend will dictate some board sessions at last. It will be the right time I think. Time away to work on pure endurance and a change of scenery to refresh the body.     This morning it’s time for a rest day jog. The Ben, Carn Mor Dearg and the Aonachs I think. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Lack of enzymes
20 June 2012, 8:52 pm

 

Looking down on Glen Nevis from the slope of justice side of Ben Nevis. 

Going for a hill run before breakfast has been a fun and not so serious way to get outside on rest days, look at new crags and burn some ‘Jabba’ as they say in Glasgow. However, in order to run on this type of fuel, one needs the right enzymes. Normally it takes a good four or five runs on jelly legs in a cold sweat to build up enough to be able to keep going without liver glycogen eventually getting raided and everything coming crashing to a halt.   

But every year I forget that the body needs some time to produce the right biological tools to run without sugar. I didn’t help myself by doing writing work until 4pm either. So I had a sandwich breakfast to ‘prime the pump’ and headed for the slope directly up the side of Ben Nevis above Polldubh. It’s the highest slope in Britain, no path and steep tussocky heather and boulders all the way. So I figured going in a straight line right up it would be a fine way to cancel out a fair number of cakes.   

Swimming up through the bracken of the Polldubh crags passed quickly and I go onto the monster slope above, trying to keep a good heart rate. Everything was fine until fairly high on the Ben I got that tell tale all consuming desire to sit down. I’d made another rookie mistake in timing my tunes wrong for dealing with this situation. I was listening to Bridget Kendal’s World of Ideas. Great food for the brain but not exactly listening to push you through the lactic barrier. I should have known that this kind of thing is for dancing along ridge tops, and that thrash was made for 1300 metres height gain at near max heart rate.   

It’s quite amazing. Without the enzymes to turn fat into ATP, nothing happens. You can keep trying to go up, but when the glycogen tank is empty and the reserve fuel pump is not connected, legs don’t work, simple as that. And so I turned on my heel and slithered down crags and boulders into the mugginess of the Glen far below.     

Some calories burned at least, if mostly sugar. And the view and the feeling of being actually hungry for your tea is really nice too. 

I also wanted to recce this route for a crazy idea I have. And I answered some questions about it! i.e it's not the way to go! As I ran and felt so unfit, while thinking about how unfit I feel on my Steall project. It became clear to me that endurance is really my nemesis. And since endurance is gone before you can say 'bouldering phase', it's a nemesis that keeps coming back. 

It would be easier for sure if Scotland had more steep sustained sport routes to keep me going. But that's not really the issue. The problem is that I've had to spend so much time trying to get stronger fingers to be able to do the moves on the routes I want to do, there isn't much time left over to get fitness. For a few brief moments in my climbing career, I've been faintly stamina fit. But most of the time I grunt my way through on sheer tenacity, pumped solid all the way.   

I'm feeling the need to experience that feeling of 'le resistance' again, even if it's only for a a couple of special routes.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[Fiend]

Going for a hill run before breakfast has been a fun and not so serious way to get outside on rest days

...


 It’s the highest slope in Britain, no path and steep tussocky heather and boulders all the way. So I figured going in a straight line right up it

AAAARRGGHHH  no surely there cannot be fun in that!!

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Failing higher
21 June 2012, 8:06 pm

 

A big jump on my project today. New highpoint three moves higher!!! (yes that does deserve an exclamation for each move). The move I fell from is probably the hardest on the route, but after that one, the climbing eases off to a 12 move sprint of maybe 7c+ to the belay. I’m still just getting fitter on the route and stronger on the moves, increment by increment.    This was the last big link to do before it’s time to get serious. And so that’s what I better do. What does that involve? Well, it partly depends on the weather gods, who seem in a grumpy mood. I’ve been blessed with a dry crag and cool conditions for over 2 weeks. Now it’s looking wet.    Worst case scenario is I have to take a few weeks of dedicated training on the boards while the route drips. It might be no bad thing. Best case scenario is the the unsettled weather keeps bringing cool winds but not enough rain to start the bogs oozing from above Steall crag. In that case, I could just keep trying and see if the pattern of getting higher continues?    I’m not so sure it would. Some circuit time would surely give me an edge, as will more runs, good sleep and rest. So not much has changed except now I know I’m not wasting my time. In good conditions at least, I can now start up the route knowing there is a slim chance I could get through all of those tiny holds and actually get to the top.    This is what hard projects are all about. Although I’m partly in the hands of the weather, making that final hurdle from ‘close’ to ‘complete’ is the really difficult and really important step. Anyone can make progress on a project just by showing up with no pressure. But when you know there is a chance it could happen, can you keep making the right moves without feeling the strain and the moment fizzling out.    Send me those gale force easterlies please! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[petejh]

Is it just me who feels they already know the outcome to this - the inevitable 'surpising send' when not expected and a new 9a+ which Dave will grade 9a?

Is it just me 
(apologies this weather could be getting to me)

[slackline]

Could say the same about most pro-athletes projects and the "journey" they go through (man).

Similarly the video shorts with interviews about how its all about the joy of movement and being in such great places.  Yeah, we all know that, thats why we climb ourselves, now get on with the climbing.

[Doylo]

Is it just me who feels they already know the outcome to this - the inevitable 'surpising send' when not expected and a new 9a+ which Dave will grade 9a?

Is it just me 
(apologies this weather could be getting to me)

I agree, i'd put my last pair of Teams on it.  Success is instilled in the man

[Fiend]

Is it just me who feels they already know the outcome to this - the inevitable 'surpising send' when not expected and a new 9a+ which Dave will grade 9a?

Is it just me 
(apologies this weather could be getting to me)

LOL, spot on!

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Wet season training
13 July 2012, 9:51 am

 

If you’re reading from the UK you don’t need me to tell you the weather has been grim. The rain has been one thing, although you can usually get round that in Scotland given our abundance of steep crags which aren’t seepy limestone. High humidity and light winds (i.e. Midge weather) have been the stopper. Actually, our rain has been very light and although there haven't been too many lovely days, the crags are in general very dry.   

I could go cragging I guess, which might be good for the head. But it doesn’t feel like the right thing to do for some reason. Training feels right, or at least did feel right.     

I have been doing my circuits night after night. Some strange things are going on though which I can’t put my finger on. I’m definitely getting less pumped per circuit. I’m even getting a reasonable amount done. Yet for some reason, I don’t ‘feel’ fit.   

When warming up I’m feeling rough and starting from a low base. And even once I’m going I feel heavy. I’m guessing it’s just one of those periods you have to go through every so often. So I’ll carry right on, until my body decides to wake up to the message that I need it to get fitter and stronger.   

To be fair, I do have a hunch that I was actually losing fitness when I was having all those sessions at Steall just on the one route. I’ve had that before and it can be quite marked. So I probably am starting from a low base! It’s quite early days too - 2 or 3 weeks on plastic after a long time away from it. So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that it feels like a bit of a shock to the system.

We’ll see how things go for another couple of weeks and if the conditions are still poor for Steall I’ll decide whether it’s best to train more or go out and do some trad new routes. My bias will definitely be to train more. Doing trad new routes is always what I do in summer and although I love it, it might be a nice time to do something different and really make a 100% effort to do the hardest piece of climbing I’ve done.   

There’s no doubt that there will be good conditions at some point during July and August. But even if it takes until September, at least I’ll have some endurance to speak of! When deciding like this I guess you have to really weigh up what success on the project would mean for you. For me, it would be the most important climb I’ve ever done (quite apart from being the hardest for me personally since it’s not my style). It would be such a great milestone to move on to something fresh.   

Quite a strong argument to train like hell.. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[comPiler]

Out jogging
14 July 2012, 11:09 am

 

 

Looking back down the lower slopes of Leitir Fhionnlaigh, my house near the bottom right and Meall na Teanga across Loch Lochy.  

I rounded off yesterday’s rest day with a jog in the hills around my house. Straight out of my back garden I can go straight up with a continuously steep slope to 600m altitude. If I go at high heart rate up this it’s a good primer to burn some glycogen and then go for a cruise along the ridge at the top. Actually it’s not really a cruise at all thanks to the huge peat troughs lining the plateau above the leitir. Every ten metres or so you jump 6 or 8 feet down into a trough and jump and commando roll back up the opposite wall. So it’s a bit of an assault course! All quite good fun, especially in the rain. Getting cold, wet, muddy and burning some energy at a fast pace.    Since I’ve not had too many mountain cliff days out so far this summer, I’m keen to do some more runs to keep me in shape. Generally my preference is for fasted long distance hill runs at a gentle pace for 2-6 hours. It is sometimes hard to find time to fit them in though, especially when I’m doing endurance work in my climbing training so I’m doing wall circuits every day and need to be careful to eat lots to fuel the work. I could probably manage to time it well to do both and indeed I might be getting fit enough now to start experimenting with that.    Ideally I’d run pretty much all morning, then work, then eat, then climb. My biggest limitation for making it happen is probably disciplining myself to go to bed early. I do find that it’s nice to have some late evening relaxation time after training and family time during the day. Plus, being a night owl it’s all too easy to stay up late. I need a coach to remind me how important it is to get some rest. I’ve spent a lot of the past years on 6 or 7 hours sleep a night which for me just isn’t enough to progress in my sport. The ideal amount would be 10 hours. For that I’d need to be well disciplined! Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[comPiler]

Another Steall milestone.
14 July 2012, 11:18 am

 

 

Michael gears up for another scrap with Steallworker (8b), a cloud of midges above. Get tied in, whirr your jacket around a few times to disperse the midge pack, rip the bag off your head and go!  

The other day I completed a new 8b+/c at Steall. ‘Irn Age’ climbs pretty much all of The Fat Groove (8a) to the roofed groove and then pulls right to climb pretty much all of Maxwell’s Demon (8b+). Although it has two no-hands rests on it low down, it’s still a good test of stamina and a mega trip up the crag with a tough finale. I certainly felt I needed to be quite fresh for the crux of Maxwell’s Demon which is right up near the last bolt after 35 metres of climbing.    After I got a nice sequence on the crux I did think Irn Age would be 8b+ and Maxwell’s Demon could actually be 8b. But Michael pointed out that it is way harder than any of the 8b+s or even the 8c’s I’ve done abroad. A classic case of a route feeling easy when you do it. Too many of the routes at Steall are my own and there’s noone repeating the harder ones them despite attempts, so I don’t have much info to go on to figure out what grade everything might be. Moving on...    Finally I can feel the effects of my circuits in my arms, climbing The Fat Groove without getting a pump and actually recovering on the better holds high on the route. Although it’s obviously miles easier than my 9a project just to the right, it’s still a confidence booster that these routes can go despite wet holds, bad weather and the odd midge.    I’ve put in the hours on my harder project, so I have the moves really smooth. I’m feeling 85% there fitness wise. But I think the real issue might come down to conditions. Last week I had a brief go on it again and just couldn’t even hang the two crux edges. Unless it’s cold and windy the tiny crystals just cut my skin. The northerlies of this week have turned out to be way too weak to be of any use at Steall.    So there are still some hurdles, but I’m making enough progress to want to keep at it for now. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[comPiler]

Raasay recce
14 July 2012, 11:47 am

 



100 metres high, the grey stuff is good sandstone, and it goes on for miles along the coast. Running out of new rock in the UK? Aye...

For ages Michael and myself have been keen to go and look at the huge Triassic sandstone cliffs on the east coast of Raasay and scope out what potential there might be. After a hard day at Steall we decided now was a good time for a day trip and sped up there.

 

First up we checked out this huge slot of Sandstone. Beautiful rock formations and good stone. But maybe a little too sheltered to get dry enough very often. I could be wrong though. You’d get some lovely E8 and upwards 25 metre solos in here, or some great sport routes!    Then we headed along the lovely coast past Screapadal and the now long abandoned crofting communities that existed in this remote spot. As we expected, there was a TON of rock. Towering sandstone cliffs over 100 metres high with only a handful of the very easiest lines climbed, and the slope below covered in countless boulders.      

Mega boulder, 20 metres high. Unfortunately made of cheese.  

Both the cliff and boulders were a little dissapointing on closer inspection. The main face routes would make one of the best sport cliffs in Scotland, or some death defying barely protected trad which didn’t really inspire me too much (maybe it’s just not St John’s Head?!). We spent ages looking round the boulders finding countless problems in the V0-V3 range that looked great, but not much for ourselves. But finally we stumbled upon one line that changed our psyche - the biggest, baddest Font 7c/+ roof in Scotland!      

It looked simply awesome. But we were now counting down to run for the ferry time. The landing was full of big holes so we moved rocks for an hour and built a mega landing. I got the holds clean and moves done rapidly and then looked at my phone; we should have left 20 minutes ago to catch the last ferry! There was time for one try.      

It was 22 moves long, pretty techy and a little scary at the end. I unfortunately caught a hold wrong near the end and didn’t get it. I cursed, but there was nothing to do but scrabble to get trainers on and spend the next 30 minutes running at 180bpm to catch the ferry, which we did. So there is something to go back for. I’m glad in a way. It’s such a lovely piece of rock, and although I’m pretty sure I can do it in an attempt or two, It’ll be worth the day trip to enjoy it properly...and then try the left hand exit. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[comPiler]

The Nevis breakfast, again
17 July 2012, 9:30 pm

 

Finally needing a climbing rest day I went for another fasted run before breakfast. The weather was fine so I opted for Ben Nevis, straight up the slope from the Glen Nevis road end in a brutally steep glycogen burning continuous climb straight to the summit. Going as fast as I could, I could start to feel the glycogen tank emptying after only 45 minutes, motivation to keep slogging dying off and being replaced by a strong desire to lie down and sleep.   

Having a few of these runs in the bag recently is meaning I can now keep going a fair bit better once the tank is empty and I’m making glucose out of body fat. The next 45 minutes to the summit felt predictably hard work, but some good tunes got me through it and all of a sudden strolling over the plateau to the observatory.     

I sat down in the cool breeze among the crowd of summitteers, for a few minutes. I couldn’t stay though, I was pretty damn hungry and the sound of many sandwiches being munched all around me was deafening. Get moving!    My legs felt worked but were still strong to bounce back down the boulderfields in a good run and off into Coire Gubishean and onto to upper Steall. Running through Steall I could really feel I was burning fat and stopping running even for a moment to clamber over rocks on jelly legs gave me an overwhelming urge to lie down. So I cruised on happily down the familiar path back to my car and an egg roll in town.   

Today, I’m 34. Birthday itinerary: Swimming with the girls, book writing, feeding midges at Steall. 

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[comPiler]

Mystic Stylez 8C video
24 July 2012, 6:51 pm

 

Video of me doing the repeat of Daniel Woods problem Mystic Stylez in Switzerland a couple of months ago. The clip comes from the Polished Project’s film about my reflections on climbing which is on the way. Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[tim palmer]

Does anyone else think the canera angle is a bit odd?  you can't really see the problem

[SA Chris]

Similar comments on the QBV thread when it was posted there.

[Fultonius]

I'm amused that he managed to swap shoes and take of his top mid crux 

[tim palmer]

Similar comments on the QBV thread when it was posted there.

QBV?

just weird as it is a reasonable sized bouldered and the view of it is not restricted by any adjacent rocks

[SA Chris]

Quality Bouldering Videos. Sorry, thought it would be obv.