Dave MacLeod

Dave MacLeod
Born	Scotland
Occupation	Climber
Spouse	Claire MacLeod

Dave MacLeod is a Scottish rock climber and one of the foremost climbers in the UK,^[1] and one of the most accomplished all-round climbers in the world today. In April 2006 he established the climb Rhapsody on Dumbarton Rock which, at a grade of E11 7a, was possibly the hardest traditional climbing route in the world at the time and looks set to be confirmed as the most difficult in the UK. [1][2]

Rhapsody is the true finish to the line of Requiem E8 6b. Requiem was climbed in 1983 by Dave Cuthbertson and was one of the hardest rock climbs in the world at the time. It follows a crackline which fades out to a seam at half height. Requiem follows a flake heading rightwards to finish, Rhapsody climbs the line of the crack all the way to the top. The top half of the crack gives the 8c+ climbing and takes no more protection. MacLeod took many long falls from this runout, three from the last move in which he fell 70 feet and injured himself by hitting the rock at the end of the fall.

Rhapsody has now been repeated by at least two other climbers and has not yet been downgraded suggesting that the controversial high grade is justified.

The ascent of Rhapsody is the subject of the movie, 'E11' (2006) dir. Paul Diffley, produced by Hot Aches Productions. MacLeod has since featured in several more climbing films by Hot Aches Productions.

In addition to his achievements in traditional climbing, Dave has also successfully created and completed sport climbing routes and projects up to a grade of French 9a ('A Muerte' at Siurana) and has created bouldering problems up to a grade of Font 8b ("Pressure" at Dumbarton Rock). While he rarely free solo climbs, Dave has completed solo climbs up to grade 8c ('Darwin Dixit' in Margalef).

Dave MacLeod has also established impressive credentials in mixed climbing with ice axes and crampons, climbing "Good Training for Something" with Canadian climber Will Gadd at a grade of M12. He has also established the hardest traditional mixed climbing route in the world, "The Hurting" in Coire an t-Sneachda, Cairngorms. The route has been repeated twice ^{[2] [3]} and has a Scottish winter grade of XI,11 (M10+) with hard, technical climbing over very poor protection.

Echo Wall, an extreme and as-yet ungraded climb on Ben Nevis was completed by MacLeod in 2008 after two years of preparation.^[4] Dave described Echo Wall as harder than Rhapsody but left the route ungraded in a possible attempt to avoid the earlier controversy surrounding the E11 grade.

In December 2009 Dave Macleod released his book '9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes: navigation through the maze of advice for the self-coached climber'.

On 28 August 2010, MacLeod and Tim Emmett established the route The Usual Suspects on Sron Ulladail on Harris, provisionally graded E9 7a, in an ascent broadcast live on BBC Two Scotland. As part of their preparation, MacLeod and Emmett successfully established five new routes on five Hebridean islands (counting Lewis with Harris as two separate islands) in five days, an achievement documented in the BBC Scotland series 5 Climbs, 5 Islands.^[5]

Notes

1. ^ http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/Natural-Highs.4998426.jp
2. ^ http://www.scottishwinter.com/?p=1563
3. ^ http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=60515
4. ^ "MacLeod's Boldest: Echo Wall". Alpinist.com. http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08x/newswire-echo-wall-macleod. Retrieved 2006-02-22. 
5. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vpg71

External links

• Dave MacLeod Dave's official website
• Blog Dave's official blog
• Online Climbing Coach Blog Dave's coaching blog
• Climbing routes on Dumbarton Rock
• 'E11' - the movie
• Hot Aches Productions climbing filmmakers which feature MacLeod

Persondata
Name	Macleod, Dave
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Date of birth
Place of birth	Scotland
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