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West Highland Adventure Trail
1 December 2014, 3:35 pm

 

from Dave MacLeod on Vimeo.

The School of Adventure Studies at West Highland College asked us to edit together some footage they shot on the West Highland Adventure Trail they ran in the spring. It’s a pretty cool place to study, don’t you think?Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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A pile of fresh titles for December
7 December 2014, 1:35 pm

We’ve just added a pile of fresh products to the shop of essential reading and viewing for climbers. First off is Volker Schoffl and Thomas Hochholzer’s climbing injury book One Move Too Many. Reliable information on dealing with climbing injuries is still hard to come by in 2014 and climbers really have to make themselves experts in this field in order to minimise the disruption that injury will inevitably cause them in a life of climbing. As many of you will know, I am just finishing a book on this subject myself. However, climbers really cannot read enough on this subject and advice from such prolific researchers as these authors will reap huge benefits on your climbing. One Move Too Many has been around for a while, but this is a revised second edition, just out.

I was excited to see Steve McClure’s story finally out. Steve is a rare thing in climbing, or in sport in general. He is a brilliant athlete and has shown amazing commitment and vision in how he has achieved his world class routes which are still giving the likes of Adam Ondra something to chew on today. Yet almost everyone can relate to him as he has pursued that tricky balance of trying to make these achievements happen while still leading a ‘normal’ life of family, work and a generally well-rounded perspective on life. In other words, he is one of the best role models we have in climbing, and every climber ought to listen to what he has to say. Since he is also an excellent writer who has an ability to get to the core of why it’s worth talking about all of the themes explored in his book.

Next up is Alastair Lee’s Brit Rock 2014 DVD which is a collection of climbing and other outdoor sports films. As a climber, this DVD is a must have because of the first film on the disc; Stone Free, following the free solo exploits of Julian Lines. Although he is one of the world’s best solo climbers (if it’s a good idea to even say that out loud?!), he is the polar opposite of some of the other famous solo climbers around at the moment. And this is why we should watch it. It’s not just a jaw dropping, nerve tingling scare fest (although there is plenty of that). We get to see a very honest look into Jules mind and way of life. It is a way of life that is largely forgotten even by plenty of climbers these days. Listening to what Jules has to say about what his experiences on the mountain cliffs mean to him is a deeply inspiring watch. And then there is Project Mina, which shares the inspiring content, albeit in a very different environment of competition climbing. The running and biking films were bonuses for me, but they were both fantastic films and ones that I may not have seen unless I’d bought the DVD.

We have also added the Avalanche Pocket Guide to the shop. Now this is something it might be tempting to skip. It’s not the coolest (no pun intended) reading material to part with £7 of your hard earned cash for. However, think for just a moment about the scores of young folk just like you and me who die every winter under tons of snow. They are not different from you, they are not idiots, and they travel on the same terrain as you will be in the coming months. And they are dead. In many cases, their only mistake is ignorance. Having watched with my own eyes three climbers walk straight into an inevitable avalanche on Ben Nevis last winter (they survived, this time) it really reminded me how little we can afford to be ignorant on this subject. It’s up to you - you could either make sure you are fully briefed on the skills and lessons for making sound judgements in avalanche terrain, or you could take the risk and just hope for the best. If you can’t bear to read something so uncool yourself, at least fill your climbing partner’s Christmas stocking with it.

Finally, we have The Great Mountain Crags of Scotland in stock now and in a world where climbing media is increasingly cheap and cheerful, this book is a treat - well written by a who’s who of the activists on the crags, filled with great photography from the likes of Dave Cuthbertson and other talented folk and a wonderful reference to plan your adventures of future seasons in our mountains. Something to treasure.

As ever, we are dispatching daily to worldwide destinations via Royal Mail right up to and over Christmas. The main shop page is here.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Mid-winter lockdown
14 January 2015, 1:55 pm



Apart from a brief break with my family over Christmas, I have been on something of a lockdown to get my climbing injuries book ready to send to the printers. No distractions, no messing about, just getting down to serious work. Such is the way with big projects, both on the rock and off. It can be relatively easy to get to the nearly there stage. But exponentially harder to see off all those hurdles that jump up between ‘close’ and ‘done’.

So long as you don’t look at your email inbox, living in the highlands does make it easier to pile drive through work tasks of this nature. I’m desperate to finish them all, stone dead, and then move on and go back to the rock and ice in time for the good conditions arriving.

I spent Hogmanay in PDF print settings hell, and since then have tidied up countless other loose ends that need to be sorted to get it there. Although the little things keep coming, it will be off to the printers imminently, and I will post up more information about it then.

I’ve also just finished three climbing related films, all of a very different nature which will be online soon to show you. As the January gales and rain have raged outside here, I’ve been dashing between the house and the board for training.

Two or three little mid-winter tasks remain on my list, most of which ought to be crushed by some time next week. And then it will be time to climb.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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My climbing injuries book is up for pre-order
19 January 2015, 12:30 pm



Readers of this blog will of course know that I have been working on a book on climbing injuries for some years. It has turned out to be a much bigger book than I originally envisaged. It has been a huge project, but in a few weeks I will reach the finish line. The book is currently with the printers and some time in the next few weeks, many boxes of copies will arrive at my house. The final stages were a rather exhausting process, but I’m excited to release it and potentially help healthy climbers stay healthy and injured climbers to get back to the fray.

I’ll write a more detailed post about the content of the book when the stock arrives in early February. If you want to make sure you get a copy as soon as you can, we’ve put it up for pre-order in the shop here, and it’ll be in the post to you as soon as it arrives. I’ve also added the table of contents below so you have an idea of the breadth of the areas covered.

My aim was to write the manual on how to stay healthy as a climbing athlete that I wished I’d had when I was 16. The first priority was to base my writing on the cutting edge of sports medicine research, wherever it was available. The second was to include all the diverse aspects of injury prevention and recovery, and then present them in a way that allows you to see them in the whole context of your efforts to stay injury free. As with the world of training, too many injury texts focus on or overplay the importance of just one aspect of sports medicine.

Having spent around 4 years researching, thinking and writing the book, I do feel that if I’d had access to the information contained in it when I was a teenager, my health and climbing achievements over the past 20 years would have been significantly better. I hope the book can make this difference both for both youngsters who have yet to experience injury, and battle scarred climbers like myself.

Below is the table of contents, so you can get idea of the scope of the book. You’ll find the book in the shop here.

Section 1: Make or break

Why the treatments you have tried aren’t working, and what to do about it.How to use this bookThe real reasons you are injuredStress and injuryThe reason you are still injuredThe language problemThe practitioner problemThe sports medicine problemThe missing linkExceptional use: the luxury of doing your sport badlyPreventionYour visit to the doctor’sSummary

Section 2: Know pain, or no gain

Pain and how to read itSeeing the patterns in your painWhat is healthy soreness?Understanding your painGoing beyond reading only painSummary

Section 3: Removing the causes of injury for prevention and treatment

Are you only treating symptoms?What was the real cause?The big four: technique, posture, activity, restCorrecting techniqueCorrecting postureActivityHow to restWarm-up and injuryLifestyleNutrition

Section 4: Rehabilitation of climbing injuries - treating both causes and symptoms

Acute rehabilitationWhen to move beyond acute careGoals of mid-late rehabilitationModern understanding of tendon injuries and recoveryTherapeutic activity - basic exercisesTherapeutic activity - climbingProprioceptive trainingWalking the line of rehab ups and downsTherapeutic modalitiesSurgeryDrug and other emerging treatmentsWhen to stop rehab?Summary

Section 5: Psychology of injuries: dealing with the anguish of injuryFace it: it really is that bad!Take heartFinding motivation

Section 6: Young climbersWhat young climbers should knowToo much, too young: a warningWhat parents and coaches should do

Section 7: The elbowGolfer’s and tennis elbowBrachioradialis/brachialis strainOther elbow injuries

Section 8: The fingersDifferent grips in climbing and consequences for injuryPulley injuriesWhen and how to tape the fingersPainful finger jointsFlexor unit strainsDupuytren’s contractureGanglionsOther finger injuries

Section 9: The wristTriangular fibrocartilage injuryCarpal tunnel syndromeDe Quervain’s tenosynovitisOther wrist injuries

Section 10: The shoulderShoulder impingement/rotator cuff tearsBiceps tendon insertion tearsLabral tearsShoulder dislocationFrozen shoulderThoracic outlet syndrome Shoulder and neck trigger points

Section 11: Lower body injuriesFoot pain in climbersPlantar fasciitisHeel pad bruisingIngrown toenailsSesamoid injuriesHallux valgusMorton’s neuromaAnkle injuries in climbersCartilage/joint injuriesAnkle impingement syndromeAchilles tendon painKnee injuries in climbersMeniscus tearsAnterior cruciate ligament tearsMedial collateral ligament tearsHamstrings tearHernia

Section 12: Further readingFurther reading and referencesGetting access to good care

The author’s tale of woe and hope

Glossary of key terms

Thanks

ReferencesDave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Some mixed with Natalie
4 February 2015, 10:20 pm



A quick hot aches break before the crux of Promised Land VI,6 Ben Dorain. All photos thanks to Chris Prescott & Paul Diffley

Over the past week I have been coming out from the shadow of book work and starting to regain some strength on my board. I went out with Kev and tried a hard winter project, but I was not fit enough to do it yet. So there are no shortcuts, I have some work to do to get into shape for my projects. But things are easy when you have had some time off - I feel stronger on my board every successive session. On one hand you want this feeling to last because it’s always nice to feel stronger than before. But It’s also kind of bad because for this to happen I must be really unfit!

Yesterday I had a fun day out with Natalie on Ben Dorain. We climbed a varied VI,6 called The Promised Land. It was one of Nat’s first winter climbs, so I got to lead all the pitches which were varied and interesting, with some nice easier sections on which to get into a better rhythm of moving on turf, ice and rock. I have always been pretty bad at winter climbing compared to summer trad. But yesterday’s climb reminded me how nice it is to move about on tools in well frozen turf and good hooks.

Today I was working for Mountain Equipment and tomorrow myself and Nat are heading down to Beinn Udlaidh for some nice ice.



 Natalie Berry following the excellent ice pitch on Promised Land. Paul Diffley took the shot while filming us.



The southern highlands have always been my favourite place for mixed climbing.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Make or Break: Don’t let climbing injuries dictate your success
6 February 2015, 12:15 am





For the past 4 years or so, I have been working on a book about climbing injuries. It spells out in detail how to treat them once you have them, based on the evidence from high quality scientific research and practice. More importantly, it discusses all the things we do in our climbing routine that cause our future injuries and prolong those we have already caused.

I have titled the book ‘Make or Break’. This is because becoming an expert in understanding the causes and treatments of climbing injuries will be make or break for your climbing career. As Wolfgang Gullich said, “getting strong is easy, getting strong without getting injured is hard”. In my first book, 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes, I suggested that many aspects of training for climbing are not rocket science. Keep showing up, pulling on small holds, pushing the limits of your motivation and learning from others and you will get stronger fingers and get better at climbing.

It will be injuries that will get in the way of your progress, and if you let them, they will dictate how far you get in climbing. The research suggests that nearly all climbers get injured at some point. Finger injuries are most likely, followed by elbows and shoulders. Of course there are countless bits of our anatomy that can break if suitably mistreated. When you get one of these injuries, you need to be the expert, because unfortunately you cannot rely on anyone else to make sure you recover. This is not because doctors and therapists fail to do a good job (although they sometimes do). It is because there is no single source of advice on the vast array of things you must do to make sure you recover well and prevent future injuries. The climbing coaches, physiotherapists, otrhopaedic surgeons etc. that you will see will all give you pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, but it is you who must put them together.



Claire MacLeod dispatching our pre-orders the other night.

During the process of writing the book, I have discovered many pieces of hard scientific information and subtle concepts I wish I’d known when I was 16. They would have saved me so much of the pain and psychological torment of injuries that climbers everywhere share at some point in their career. There are many strands of information in the book. It is a handbook on how to take care of yourself as a lifelong climbing athlete. In this blog post, I will briefly outline three messages that will give you a flavour of what you will find in the book:

1. Tendons don’t like rest, or change.

Surprisingly, sports medicine research still has a lot to learn about tendons and how they heal and respond to training. However, there have been several big steps forward in the research over the past decade or two. The only problem is, new knowledge in sports medicine takes years or even decades to filter through to the advice you receive. Consider the following quote:

“In general, it takes approximately 17 years to get 14% of research findings adopted into practice. Moreover, only 30–50% of patients receive recommended care, 20–30% receive care that is not needed or that is potentially harmful and 96% may receive care with the absence of evidence of effectiveness.”

I was shocked too when I read that. I was aware through my own experience that the advice I’d been given to recover from my own climbing injuries was often at odds with research I’d read. But to discover the extent of the lag between research findings and advice given to sportspeople is depressing. We only have one life and we cannot afford to receive outdated advice. Unfortunately, the internet hasn’t made the task of unearthing reliable advice any easier. Scientific journals remain hidden to most behind a paywall, while the same poor quality, outdated and non-specific advice drowns out the few reliable sources.

One of the shifts in understanding from the past decade is that slow-onset tendon injuries such as golfer’s elbow do not respond well to complete rest. In fact, it often makes the condition worse. Moreover, many of the adjunct treatments often offered - stretching, massage, ibuprofen may do little to contribute to healing, and only affect pain. Instead, the most promising treatment has been large volumes of exercise of a specific mode (eccentric) and at a level which causes some pain. Much of this seems counterintuitive at first sight, which is why a detailed understanding of what happens in injured tendons is so important.

Some practitioners in sports medicine are still working to a pre-1990s concept of tendon healing and will advise you to heal your injured tendons by resting them completely. In contrast, modern research has found that the best way to heal injured tendons is to use them, but only in a way that is specific to the nature of the injury. Tendons do not like rest or change. The successful formula is to provide constant stimulus to tendons to maintain their health. But if you want to change that stimulus, such as by training harder, you must do so very carefully, using all the cues from the body that you can listen to.

Section 1 of the book discusses in detail the limitations of the sports medicine industry and how to get the most out of it, and section 4 details the modern understanding of tendon injuries and how to successfully treat them.

2. Know pain, or no gain

Above I hinted at the difference between the pain level and the healing status of an injury - a crucial concept for any sportsperson to understand. Understanding of the nature of pain has been another area of science that has advanced hugely in sports medicine. It is not enough to be able to listen to your body. You need to be able to decode the messages and see the patterns in them. This is both a science and an art.

Climbers need to be able to differentiate between healthy soreness from training and activity, and damage that demands action. They need to be able to take understand how various treatments affect pain from their injuries and what this means for their daily decisions on how much activity to expose them to. They need to understand how many aspects of their environment and psychological state amplify or suppress pain sensations from their daily activities. Pain sensations are an essential measure for climbers to monitor, but without detailed knowledge of how it works, it is very easy to interpret those messages from pain wrongly.

Section 2 of the book is entirely devoted to understanding pain.

3. The luxury of doing sport badly will not last

A young body can withstand a surprising amount of abuse. But the relentlessness of sport and training amplifies the effect of small imbalances or errors, and it doesn’t take long before these accumulate to the point of injury. Balance is the key word here. One area of sports medicine that has come on a fair bit in recent years has been the recognition that athletes need to develop strength in a balanced way, taking care to strengthen muscles on both sides of joints. That is a good development, but it is not enough.

Balancing of the stress imposed by training for climbing needs to come in several other ways too. Matching increases in training intensity with improvements in the quality of rest is one way. Improving technique and the design of the training progression to spread that stress is another.

Sections 1, 3 and 4 deal with these concepts and the specific details that climbers should be aware of which commonly result in climbing injuries.



Repeated forceful internal rotation of the arm (the right arm on this move) is a big part of climbing. So it is no surprise that the internal rotators of the arm at the shoulder become dominant. You may well get years out of a healthy young shoulder without feeling a thing. But the resulting impingement syndrome affects so many climbers. If you'd rather prevent it, it's not hard to do a little work to keep the shoulder joint working well. And if you are already suffering, you may be able to reverse it quite quickly, unless you've really tried to ignore it for too long!



Maintaining awareness of the foot during hand movements is a core skill in climbing injury awareness. Slipping feet are a important cause of many finger and shoulder injuries. Do your feet slip too often? Do you know what to do when they do slip? Correct your climbing technique and you can push your body a lot harder before it starts to complain.

Finally, there is the psychological challenge of injuries which is hugely underestimated by both climbers and their friends and families. In sections 1 and 5 of the book, I present the idea that we should see the injuries we suffer as a crucial message that something must change in our way of approaching climbing. By seeing the injury as an opportunity to go back to basics, to understand what must change and make that change, we can not only improve our climbing, but enjoy the process rather than endure it.

I hope the book will help many climbers prevent their future injuries or overcome existing ones. You'll find the book in our shop here, dispatching worldwide.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Let's get a climbing centre in Fort William!
11 February 2015, 8:23 pm



from Three Wise Monkeys Climbing on Vimeo.

Check out the video we made above for Three Wise Monkeys Climbing, who have just launched a crowdfunding campaign to open a climbing centre in Fort William.

The video says it all really, but it’s a simple pitch - all of use who live in the area or visit it for climbing would love a high quality climbing facility in Fort William. They need to raise £40,000 in 28 days. The climbing scene here is pretty small, so don’t leave it to someone else. Go and make your pledge here, and I’ll see you in the wall in the summer.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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All go
19 February 2015, 2:24 pm



Starting up Feeding Frenzy VI,7 on Ben Nevis last week

February is always all go in Lochaber. First of all, we have been sending out a lot of copies of Make or Break. Thanks to everyone who’s ordered it and I hope it is starting to help you with your climbing and injury rehab decisions already. We’ve had a few recurring questions about it:

‘Is it better [for us] to order it directly from our site, or Amazon?’

Yes it’s better to get it direct from us than the mighty Amazon. We are shipping them all over the world, every day. Plus, you get a signed copy this way!

‘Are we releasing an ebook/kindle version?’

No plans to at the moment, although we might do it sometime.

Thanks for everyone’s great feedback on the book so far. It means a lot.

In between dealing with book related things, I’ve been in my wall training a lot and rebuilding fitness. I love my wall! It’s so great to finally be in there regularly, just pulling on holds and enjoying it. I’ve also been out on the ice which has been in present in large quantities on the Scottish mountains recently.



On the first ascent of Transition VI,7 Ben Udlaidh. Photo: Chris Prescott/Hot Aches Productions

Firstly I visited Ben Udlaidh with Natalie. It’s somewhere I used to go a lot as a youngster and have done several new routes there, most of which are still kind of unknown since the guidebook is so out of date. The day we visited it was just starting to warm up and some pieces of ice were starting to fall off. So we had to grab some of the action quickly before it got a little dangerous. We climbed a lovely unclimbed steep icicle on the lower tier, with some steep mixed pulls at the bottom to gain the ice. Most folk go to Udlaidh for the pure ice lines, but the routes with a little mixed ground are really good fun and rather underrated.



Natalie enjoying an ice cave rest mid way up Transition VI,7 Ben Udlaidh

Then I had a few days on the Ben. A couple of these were abortive. One day we rocked up at the foot of a Neil Gresham route Feeding Frenzy (VI,7) which takes a wild hanging icicle left of Mega Route X. It was in great condition and the most attractive piece of ice in the coire. I climbed a nice entry pitch and belayed below the icicle. I was just bringing Kev up when we heard a long series of blood-curdling screams in the distance, possibly across on Tower Ridge. They were horrible to listen to and carried on for several minutes. We felt something extremely bad must have happened and felt the best thing to do would be to go and see if we could help. I see online that at least two other teams on other routes did the same. But noone yet found the source of the screams. It was still the right thing to do to bail off our route, just in case we could have assisted. But it left us with unfinished business.



Approaching the icicle on Feeding Frenzy, VI,7 Ben Nevis

So we returned a couple of days later. I climbed up behind the icicle and at first tried to break a hole through the curtain to access the front face. It seemed pretty solid so I stepped onto it and climbed right around the whole thing and up the right edge of it. It was a fantastic trip and I see it got at least one further ascent from Nick Bullock and Tim Neill some days later. Kev wasn’t able to manage some of the cross through moves on the traverse to the ice with his prosthetic ice tool, so I had an exciting abseil down it to retrieve my gear from the back of the curtain.

Over the last day or two the weather has been poor, so it’s back to training. I’m also at the Fort William Mountain Festival each night over the next few nights. We went to the opening night last night which was brilliant. We premiered our film about the geological and botanical investigations on the north face of the Ben last summer and listened to several great speakers and musicians in a packed hall. There are still some tickets for the remaining nights, so do snap one up if you can make it. We will be in the exhibition hall each night with climbing books and films, and I’m speaking about Make or Break in the Book Festival line up on Saturday afternoon. See you there! Below is the showreel we put together for the festival to give you an idea of the footage in some of this year’s films.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Body heat
25 February 2015, 10:48 pm

 

from Dave MacLeod on Vimeo.

Having come out of the other side of my massive book project and starting to climb regularly again, I have been thinking a lot about the nature of my need to climb and what I take from the activity. I’m aware that for some readers these comments may sound ridiculous, but they are my feelings and so you can take them or leave them - they simply are what they are.

My deprivation from climbing over the past months and years during this project has been relative. I have still climbed more metres of rock and ice than many people have the chance to and I am grateful for that. I’m also aware that the book project has had still greater disruption for my family. This post is not a moan. I understand that everyone has choices to make in their life which have a big mix of positive and negative consequences and then live with them. Nonetheless, whether it seems self-indulgent or not, the relative lack of climbing over the period had a huge effect on me. A negative effect.

Wanting to make the most of each and every possible opportunity in life can be both an advantage and a big problem. Being drawn in several different directions at once is destructive for success at most things that require work and application. I could write posts about all these directions, but in this I’m just writing about the climbing aspect.

Several years ago a climbing journalist interviewed me soon after I climbed Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock. I remember him commenting after the interview that he still wasn’t really clear why I liked climbing so much. I think he was not seeing the wood for the trees. I don’t climb to notch up first ascents, to complete hard projects, or to be better than anyone else. Spending my time doing these things is the means, not the end. The end is simply the climbing. The hard projects, training and the pushing yourself simply intensifies the experience. If I’ve pushed myself harder than someone else, it’s simply because I enjoy the climbing that much.

So this need to climb is not something that has to be linked to achievements or grades etc. They merely assist in getting the most out of the climbing. In trying to find an analogy for this basic need to climb, I felt it was similar to the need to have the correct body heat. Imagine you were deprived of the heating or clothing to stay warm. You can still function in your activities of daily life, even enjoy good things. But it is just harder to enjoy them while you shiver. If exposed to this over time, you might even adapt to this state to an extent. The discomfort may fade to a dull hue, no longer at the front of your mind. But it is far from eliminated. At the extremes of deprivation, the discomfort would be strong enough to cancel out satisfaction from meeting any other basic needs or comforts.

Over the past three weeks I have been building back up my basic strength and fitness in my climbing wall. I have found that even when feeling rusty in my movements and weak on the small holds, climbing makes me feel that I can deal with the all the other problems in life. But as I’ve got stronger and fitter, I’ve noticed the effect is stronger. This is more than it being nice to be able to climb things I couldn’t before. The actual climbing feels better. More agility, control and confidence, as well as strength.

The book project has been a reminder that since I’m lucky enough to have opportunities to climb, I should take them wherever possible, not just for the direct enjoyment, but for the effects in all parts of life. It's also reminded me to take the time to train and build up to a good performance.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

[fatneck]

The "blood curdling screams" mentioned by Dave have caused quite a stir!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31550374

http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?n=609268

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Red Dragon
3 March 2015, 1:45 pm



Approaching the crux on the first ascent of Red Dragon VIII,9, Ben Nevis. Photo: Helen Rennard

Helen Rennard and myself were getting a bit fed up with waiting for a break in the stormy weather on the mountains, so we went up Ben Nevis on a blustery morning. There had been a very brief overnight thaw which we hoped would firm up the dangerous approach slopes. But as it got light it appeared to have stripped our possible new route objective. I also fell through a snowbridge on the path and went up to my knees in water. So we sat in the CIC hut for a while drying my boots and figuring out where to go.

We opted for the steep walls right of Echo Wall which have few routes and we thought it might be relatively sheltered from the heavy snow shower rattling in from the west. On the way up Observatory Gully we passed a string of goggled-up climbers descending from their route objectives in the blizzard. They optimistically wished us luck as we hid in our hoods and pressed on.



Helen and myself heading up Observatory Gully towards Echo Wall (in cloud). Photo: Blair Fyffe

At the foot of the wall there was relative shelter and and we uncoiled the ropes below an overhanging crack feature soaring up the walls above. Helen had been here previously, but her partner had got very pumped and fallen from the first few metres, with a projected grade of 9 for this section.

I managed to get over this first overhanging section without taking too much time, mainly because I didn’t want to hang about with poor gear in the extremely verglassed crack. On the following section I carried on with care, in the hope I’d get at least one solid runner, but I couldn't seem to get that. Eventually I arrived at an uncomfortable overhung slot below a very steep bulge in the crack above. I spent a very long time here.

I fiddled for ages, going up and down with some fear, trying in vain to get a good runner. Eventually, two very good hooks in the overhang persuaded me to move higher and I got a Spectre in. After a retreat to the slot, this runner provided the security to push a bit higher. A second Spectre went in and I now had enough protection to probe upwards with more commitment. Unfortunately I was by now getting pretty tired and was aware that Helen had been suffering the blizzard for some time without moving. She must have been freezing. On the other hand, I’d put in a fair bit of work and seemed to be only a few moves away from unlocking the pitch. So I committed upwards with a few heart pumping moments and burning forearms to an uncomfortable rest standing on one foot on the lip of the overhang.

I limped onwards to the belay, rather mentally exhausted and went through some savage hot aches before constructing a belay. Helen did a fine job of following the pitch from what must have been a very cold start. Understandably, she asked if I would lead on. The main problem on the final pitch was warming my freezing hands. It seems to me that your brain must shut out the memory of how bad hot aches can be. After descending Tower Ridge, we still had to don the goggles to walk down the Allt a Mhuillin!

We thought it would only be VIII,9 if the crack wasn't verglassed and would accept cams. It was a fine winter adventure - it does sometime pay off nicely if you press on through all the hurdles that Ben Nevis throws at you. But only with your wits about you at all times.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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High Pressure Crack
6 March 2015, 11:00 am



Starting up pitch 3 of High Pressure Crack VIII,9 Ben Nevis. Photo: Masa Sakano

Returning from a trip to Manchester to speak and coach climbers at the climbing centre, it seemed there were not many breaks in the constant snow storms. But a ridge of high pressure was forecast for Wednesday and Masa Sakano agreed to venture onto the Ben with me. The avalanche forecast was ‘high’ and we’d heard of avalanche incidents the day before. So I thought of an unclimbed overhanging wall on the Douglas Boulder, which can be accessed safely in avalanche conditions so long as you make the descent by abseil.

Last year myself, Helen Rennard and Harry Holmes repeated Nick Bullock and Matt Heliker’s VII,8 ‘Rutless’ here. The crux pitch climbs the first few metres of a soaring overhanging crack and headwall, but quickly scuttles left along ledges and escapes via a corner. Something going right up that wall would be mega!



Approaching the hardest climbing on pitch 3, and starting to feel the pump. Photo: Masa Sakano



Masa led up the icy chimney of Gutless to the ledge below the wall. Watching him, I could see the headwall on the overhanging 3rd pitch. It looked like the crack went diagonally left across a smooth wall covered in a layer of ice and I worried a bit about how I might protect it if I could get there, although I figured the ice might be useful.

When I followed to the ledge, I launched up the overhanging wall without any hesitation so as to get worried. Although the crack was too icy to take more than a couple of cams, good wires spurred on my progress and I pressed on, getting gradually more pumped. Above the lip of the overhang I made a couple of committing pulls to a rest. I was struggling a bit to get gear. Everything was choked in ice. I dug out a big hex placement behind a couple of loose blocks. It was wobbly, so I packed the loose blocks back on top of it with lots of snow to keep it where it was.

The final part of the pitch up the headwall was fantastic on steep cracks on the exposed headwall. The best bit however, was remembering that I’d packed some sweets in the pocket of my Gore-Tex jacket for the belay. Masa led a 62 metre pitch on easier terrain to the top of the Douglas boulder and we headed down into gathering black clouds and eventually rain - it looks like winter is gone for a little while in Scotland.



 Masa following pitch 1





 Masa in the fun chimney of Gutless.



Masa heading off on the long final pitch

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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After the rain
8 March 2015, 9:45 pm



Never tire of this outlook back towards the Glenfinnan hills

Today I had a great day in the Arisaig Cave which was completely bone dry despite the 20cm of rain which has doused Lochaber over the past three days. What a great venue it is. Last year I didn’t do much bouldering really, I spent most of the time on Dolomitic big walls and lately I’ve been getting back into mixed climbing a bit.

Today was a nice reminder just how great it is - so relaxing to head off late morning and feel warm March sunshine in your face as you stroll across a deserted beach to the cave to work on a nice project.

I haven’t been to the cave for not far off two years. Last time I was there I managed, just, to do all the moves on the last remaining big straight up project. It might be as hard as 8B and a great piece of technical and burly climbing up a big diagonal flange. Today I re-worked it and did the moves again. Crucially, I got a good sequence dialled for the upper half of the problem and linked the last 5 moves to the top. I noticed myself getting tired on it quite quickly because of the very physical moves with compression and undercutting. I’ll definitely be back on this soon.



The flange project. training motivation. It’s definitely possible for me!



My tick marks from two years ago still there like it was yesterday. Can’t believe how rainproof the cave is. The ultimate boulder venue really!Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Tripod
17 March 2015, 9:52 pm



Leading the steep crack at the start of Tripod VII,7 on Ben Nevis. Photo Helen Rennard.

The walls on the left side of Tower Ridge is a part of Ben Nevis I’ve visited quite a lot over the years and really like. Obviously, my interest in this area started with Echo Wall some years ago. Since then I’ve done a couple of winter routes around here too. In winter it can provide good shelter from a westerly storm and also remains in condition for mixed quite late in the season. The other week Helen and myself climbed Red Dragon on the wall right of Echo Wall. On Saturday we needed to go higher to find good conditions and walked up to the wall up and left of Echo Wall, near Tower Scoop.

The other year we did a good new VII,8 here which I called Angry Chair. The name came from a huge detached block which I sat and belayed on, looking for a way to finish the route with overhanging blankness above. It reminded me of the song Angry Chair by a band I grew up listening to called Alice in Chains. The song starts:

“Sitting on the Angry Chair. Angry Walls that steal the air...”

Angry Chair followed the first pitch of Clefthanger (summer HVS, winter VI,6) before heading up a groove on the right. On Saturday I started up a steep crack just left of this which would lead into the iced up upper section of Clefthanger. The crack looked VI,6 from below, but turned out to be a good VII,7 with fiddly gear and poor footholds for quite a long way. It was excellent though and I continued all the way to the top in one 68m pitch.

I thought it might be nice to keep going with the Alice in Chains theme for names. I have always liked the grim lyrics and style and so we could call this one Tripod, after their rather darkly illustrated album. It kind of feels relevant to how I'm going to be climbing for the coming couple of months! The area right of Tower Scoop now has 4 good mixed routes between VI and VIII. Tripod starts up the short flow of ice at the base, into the cracks and then the big left leaning ice ramps.



Helen finishing the pitch on great ice.



Tripod starts up the short flow of ice at the base, into the cracks and then the big left leaning ice ramps.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Pink Panther
19 March 2015, 11:02 am



On Pink Panther VI,6 Ben Nevis. Photo: Paul Diffley/Hot Aches

The day after doing Tripod I was heading back up the Allt a Mhuillin with Natalie Berry, intent on making the most of the fine ice conditions. We knew most folk would head for the Indicator Wall area, so instead we headed to the much quieter but almost as high up area above Raeburn’s Easy Route, just right of the Great Tower. We could see that the steep ice pillar of Pink Panther was looking fat and slogged up the neve to a spacious belay spot in the cave behind the icicle. Meanwhile, Paul Diffley abseiled in from the top to film us. The weather was beautiful and it was quite social chatting to Paul as I led up the crux pitch, which was actually quite easy in the current conditions.

Natalie led through up the easy snow to the top and we were rewarded with lovely sunshine and views on top. This was Ben Nevis at its most friendly and it was a nice relaxing day in contrast to the challenging new routing the day before.

That great weekend will be my last of the winter season. It’s all change for me now, with 6 weeks of solid training for the rock season. More on that shortly.



We were accompanied by Paul Diffley and Chris Prescott from Hot Aches, who took some of these nice photos.







 Aye it wasn’t a bad afternoon on the plateau





Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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It's foot-off time
20 March 2015, 6:33 pm



Post surgery day 2. Anaesthetic drip disconnected, time for the training to start again.

I’ve been getting really motivated for training lately. Which is just as well, because I’m about to have a 6 week solid block of it during the spring. The reason? Ankle surgery.

Yes, more ankle surgery. Readers of this blog will know that I’ve had surgery on both ankles in the past two years. In both cases this was for damage to the edge of the cartilage surface of my ankle joints. By far the worst injury was happened in this accident when I was lowered off the end of a rope. The microfracture surgery I had did work to an extent, but the nature of doing tons of walking on mountains has meant the lesion, although small, has not remained stable and has got a little worse. Knowing what I know now, I also suspect that some of the advice I was given for the post operative period was, well, sub standard and could well have contributed to it not working as well as it could have.

So I’ve tried to put my money where my mouth is and follow my own advice in my book, seeking the opinion of the best ankle surgeons in the world to see if there was anything else that could be done to protect my ankles from getting any worse. And there is. After speaking to surgeons based in Cambridge, Malaysia, Newcastle and then Munich, I’ve established that a newly developed procedure has a good probability of making the ankle feel better and protecting its health in the longer term.

All of this has taken 6 months to organise and considerable research and legwork on my part, not to mention working to meet the costs of the treatment. But now I approach the start line and I am in Munich and had my surgery yesterday. It all seemed to go fine and I feel ready to hit the fingerboard today. Nothing is certain in sports medicine and I know there is always a chance it won’t make much difference. But I still feel I ought to do the best I can now to keep myself well serviced so I am still in good form in the years and decades to come.

The sacrifice in the short term is that I have to do foot-off bouldering only for 6 weeks. Not too much of a sacrifice really. Foot off bouldering has always helped me feel really strong. So now I have a chance to have a good uninterrupted spell of it. During the recovery from my last surgeries, I thought it was good to place my focus onto writing my book. This time, I will have ample time to complete organised daily training as well as draw dinosaurs with Freida. It is kind of ridiculous that it takes leg surgery to make me train properly, but I just like going climbing too much. So let's see what I can do with this opportunity.

As I’m sure you can tell, I’ve set out a plan to make this a positive step in both the short and long term. There is really no reason why I shouldn’t be stronger and fitter for my rock projects by the start of May than I would otherwise be if I’d just been going out winter and rock climbing based on the weather.

The process of organising this treatment was at times demoralising. Having actually arrived at the treatment stage feels like I’ve already come through a tough challenge in many areas. Just trying to get my MRI scans from the NHS was a bureaucratic shambles. Then even in the private sector things although good, were still frustratingly slow. The hardest part however has been finding sources of encouragement.

While I’m recovering I’ll be training 7 days a week on my board, fingerboard, campus board, rings, floor exercises, One foot cycling, swimming, general flexibility work, oh and the surgery rehab work itself! Not sure how I’ll fit it all in. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be in good shape after it. At least I start from a reasonable base of built up fitness. It will be interesting to see if the problems in the video below are no longer hard for me in a couple of months time. One way to find out...

from Dave MacLeod on Vimeo.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Edited.

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Zeki Basan
29 March 2015, 10:23 pm

from Nevis Landscape Partnership on Vimeo.

Here is a short film we made about Zeki Basan, a great young character from over in the Gorms. Zeki won the Scottish youth award for mountain culture at this year’s Fort William Mountain Festival. He is the inaugural winner of the youth award and joins a formidable list of winners of the 'adult' award; Hamish McInnes, Jimmy Marshall, Richard Else, Myrtle Simpson, Ian 'Spike' Sykes, Andy Nisbet and Robin Campbell. We also made the film about Robin Campbell for his award this year and I'll post that up as soon as it's live.

I’m certainly used to meeting enthusiastic and smart young folk involved in all manner of mountain sports, but it was great to learn more about Zeki’s passion for bushcraft when we travelled over to speak to him for this film.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Project Fear film
30 March 2015, 8:29 pm



Here is the Project Fear film about my new route on Cima Ovest last September. Truth be told, I was incredibly lucky that myself and Alan Cassidy were able to get the route climbed given the very poor weather in the Dolomites last season. Of course, to a certain extent we made our own luck as you see in the film, my cleaning and preparing the route through the poor weather rather than just sitting waiting.

However, the two sunny days we had were a crucial ingredient and I was desperate to make them count. I’m sure you’ll understand that my favourite part of the film are the parts playing with Freida at home in Glen Nevis. But this it is also a great memory of the adventures on that massive roof. It gets me psyched for summer's big wall expedition will be rather bigger in scale.

A special thanks to Mountain Equipment for supporting our trip and the film idea, Karl for exploring the roof with me and dodging the blocks I knocked off, Alan for coming with me on the route and the Coldhouse guys for being great craic and teaching me a lot.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Speaking in Ambleside on Friday
14 April 2015, 10:45 am



Photo: Paul Diffley/Hot Aches Productions

I'm speaking in Ambleside on Friday with The Climber's Shop and Mountain Equipment, 7.30pm at the University of Cumbria Ambleside campus. All the details and tickets are here. Do come along - they mention refreshments on the climber shop page and the proceeds are being split between Langdale/Ambleside mountain rescue and Community Action Nepal. I'll be around at the Climber's Shop in Ambleside during the afternoon from around 2pm if you fancy dropping in for a chat.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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6 weeks later
25 May 2015, 10:11 am



Camping at Creag Meagaidh with Freida a couple of weeks ago. One of the highlights of the last couple of months.

When I last wrote on my blog I was not long out of ankle surgery and feeling decidedly delicate. But I felt ok - I had experience on my side and was well prepared with a plan of action for the recovery period, mostly consisting of hanging from small holds without my feet.

6 weeks later some things have changed and some have not. I am still feeling rather delicate, although my ankle has made steady progress. I am beginning to use it gently on my steep board and very  close to walking without my crutches. But not quite there. My fingers have definitely become a little stronger and will hopefully get stronger still by the time I am able to climb a piece of real rock again.

There are still various things on my ‘stuff to do while out of action’ list that are undone. But I suppose I have done the most important ones.

Despite the preparedness, I have felt the process mentally tough as ever. Perhaps some readers might be curious as to how I would live out my own advice in part 5 of my book Make or Break, where I propose a mindset and tactics to turn the mental challenge of a rehabilitation period into a positive experience. In that chapter I begin by reiterating that noone should underestimate how hard an injury rehab will hit them, if they are truly dependent on sport and exercise for their well being. Then I go on to lay out how to use the period to increase that well being, at least in the long term. These two messages go hand in hand. Yes it can be positive if you do everything right, but that doesn’t make it easier. You still have to go through it, not around it.

And so to be plain, I have felt the fear and the depression, just as I did after my previous surgeries. Fear that I won’t recover and depression from withdrawal from the places and experiences that I love so much. My approach to dealing with this is very much in The Stoics school of dealing with challenges: to face them head on rather than ignore them with positive thinking. In my view, this is the only effective way to deal with significant worries or problems. Aside from that, I find that if I think too much about what I plan to do after I can walk and climb again, it gets harder to remain patient and go through my daily routine.

Pulling on small holds on my wall has or course been a brilliant catalyst for getting through the period. I have thoroughly attacked the campus board, fingerboard and foot-off problems. I wouldn't say I’m the strongest I’ve ever been. But not far off it. Such a short time isn’t even nearly enough to make such an impact anyway. I’ve found that doing one foot circuits have been the most challenging simply because they are kind of unpleasant to do. But it’s all relative - They are not pretty compared to normal climbing, but I still love doing them compared to doing nothing! I also spent about a week resetting the whole board and making and adding more holds.

I still have a week before I check in with my surgeon and talk about dropping the crutches and putting my rock shoes on again. And even once I do, I still need to make time to ease into climbing. So there is still time to work a bit more on my full crimp strength and build a little more endurance before I return to the ROCK!

One of the things I've done over the past three weeks is learn to fly our new drone, or try to at least. I'm still pretty bad at it, but it's good to learn something new. It has also allowed me to go outside while I'm on crutches, if not so far from the car. Below you can see some of my practice, filming my brother Alan MacLeod practising his pipes in Glen Roy and Glen Nevis before my sister's wedding last weekend.

from Dave MacLeod on Vimeo.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Robin Campbell film
29 May 2015, 1:37 pm



Here is a wee film we put together about Robin Campbell for this year’s Fort William Mountain Festival. As well as Robin himself, it also features Jimmy Marshall, Paul Brian and Ken Crocket (thanks for joining in the singing Ken!).Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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davemacleod.com shop summer sale
4 June 2015, 12:55 pm

In a first for the davemacleod.com shop, we are doing a summer sale with healthy discounts of 50-75% on lots of our climbing DVDs and clothing. Some examples:

Echo Wall and Longhope DVDs now £5. The BBC Great Climb on Sron Ulladale (first ascent of The Usual Suspects E9 7a with Tim Emmett) now £10. The Triple 5 DVD (5 first ascents between E5 and E8 on 5 Hebridean Islands in 5 days) now £10. Plus 50% discounts on some of our Mountain Equipment clothing.

Dispatching worldwide as always.Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Campus notes
4 June 2015, 8:00 pm



from Dave MacLeod on Vimeo.

During my surgery rehab I have done a LOT of climbing without my feet. Unsurprisingly I have got a little stronger. I have been training more or less every day for 2-4 hours. Around half the work has been fingerboard and campusboard workouts. I’ve also done some foot-off bouldering on both small and big holds.

Another big chunk of the time has been endurance circuits of around 30 moves, performed with one foot. I started off trying to do these foot-off, but the intensity was a bit high, so I’ve settled for one foot on but keeping my trainers on. I find that if I put on the rockshoe it feels too much like normal climbing and it torments me that I can't use the other foot. It will be interesting to see the effects of this training. On one hand, it’s still fairly ‘ugly’ climbing on one foot and therefore not great for improving your efficiency. On the other hand, sustained endurance terrain on powerful juggy terrain is a weakness for me, so it may have been useful. I’ll find out in due course.

The final big chunk of my time has been taken up with all the peripheral stuff that is A) not actually that peripheral, and B) normally gets missed. I’ve really improved many aspects of my core strength and arm strength and completed what rehab exercises I was able to do before getting to the full weightbearing stage.

I’ve been starting to use my foot progressively more on the board over the past few weeks now and getting pretty close to my resumption of outdoor climbing. I want to make a solid start to normal climbing, so I'm leaving it until I'm sure I can do that. As this gets close, yesterday I had a nice little milestone of getting 1-4-7 on my campusboard (small Metolius wood grips rungs, 22cm spaced).

I have done almost no campusing for years now, Partly because the climbing walls I had access to when I moved away from Glasgow in 2007 didn’t have any, and then from 2008 after my elbows started to complain and I just stuck to climbing only.

When I built my new climbing wall last spring I included a campus board and used the small Metolius rungs which are a fair bit harder than the old S7 small rungs in the Glasgow Climbing Centre board I used to train on. I could do 1-5-8 on that one and 1-4-7 pretty easily. I stayed away from the new campus board last year while I built a level of resistance back up after the previous year without a board to train on while I was in the process of moving house.

Right after my surgery, at the end of March, I started to play on it gently at first, and progressively doing a little more each week. A couple of times I felt I’d overdone it and left it again for at least 5 days. In those early weeks, I couldn’t get near 1-4-7. So to be able to do it now is a clear strength gain. You don’t get too many of those after 20 years climbing!

My experience of really dedicated spells of fingerboard or similar organised strength training is that apart from the initial few weeks of rapid gains, the gains you make are so small they can be hard to notice, especially if you are fit enough to train every day and so not coming to the board in a fully rested state. The time you notice it is generally months down the line, when you have had time to go and integrate those new strength gains into your technique on the rock.

So bring on the projects, the time is just around the corner!Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog

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Climbing begins
21 June 2015, 12:46 pm



Enjoying the chilled out finish of Austerity Lite (E6 6b) on the first ascent, Financial Sector, Neist Point, Isle of Skye. Photo: Chris Prescott/Hot Aches Productions



First post surgery route. Just a 6b at Brin Rock. It was raining, it was midgy, but it still felt great.

After a spell of climbing on my recovering foot on big footholds (and trainers) on my board, I graduated to putting my rock shoes on again. At first I just stuck to the board but I’ve now been on the rock as well.

Naturally it feels great to be climbing again. I have been noticing the extra strength from all the foot-off training too. There are some challenges still ahead though. My foot is weak and still a little sore on the odd move. Smearing on slabs is still requiring a bit of care, and I’m quite timid on jumps.

My outdoor sessions have only been the last week and so far I’ve been just doing mileage on easier bouldering up to 7B. Yesterday I went to Neist Point on Skye with Natalie. Nat made a fine lead of Piggy Bank (E3 5c), starting off in drizzle, finishing in full on rain. Just as we were packing up to leave, the clouds suddenly cleared and so I gave the arete left of Piggy bank a quick clean and led a new E6 6b, Austerity Lite. I wondered if it would feel kind of weird being on a trad sharp end, pulling on tiny crimps. But it was totally fine.

It is still difficult to hold back and be very gentle in my climbing, especially as I've been training myself to be explosive with the upper body with foot-off climbing for three months. During the next week I'm hoping I'll feel good enough to try something a little harder.



Alicia on the Ruthven Boulder



Nat starting off on a damp Piggy Bank E3 5c, Neist Point.



Going for the finishing jug on Potential 7, 7B, Torridon Boulders.

Dave MacLeod

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

Source: Dave MacLeod blog