Dave MacLeod (born 17 July 1978) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

, ice climber, and climbing author. MacLeod is best known for being the first climber in the world to climb in

free solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

style (without rope) a route (''Darwin Dixit'' in

Margalef Margalef is a village in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the edge of Montsant and is a popular ecotourism destination, especially among rock climbers Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural r ...

, in 2008), and for climbing one of the hardest

traditional climbing Traditional climbing (or Trad climbing) is a style of rock climbing in which the climber places all the necessary protection gear required to arrest any falls as they are climbing, and then removes it when the pitch is complete (often done ...

routes in the world (''Rhapsody'' on Dumbarton Rock, graded E11 7a, in 2006).

Climbing career

Rock climbing

In April 2006, MacLeod established the climb ''Rhapsody'' on Dumbarton Rock which, at a grade of E11 7a, was possibly the hardest trad climbing route in the world. ''Rhapsody'' is the true finish to the line of ''Requiem'', graded 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 crack-line that fades out to a seam at half height. Requiem follows a flake heading rightwards to finish, while Rhapsody climbs the line of the crack all the way to the top. The top half of the crack gives 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. In 2008 Steve McClure made the third ascent of Rhapsody and confirmed the grade. The ascent of Rhapsody is the subject of the movie ''E11'' (2006) directed by Paul Diffley and produced by Hot Aches Productions. MacLeod has since featured in several more climbing films by Hot Aches Productions. In 2008, MacLeod became the first climber in history to free solo a route graded (''Darwin Dixit'' in

). In 2008, MacLeod completed the traditional rock climb, ''Echo Wall'', an extreme and as-yet ungraded rock climb on Ben Nevis, which took two years of preparation. MacLeod 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 addition to his achievements in traditional rock climbing, MacLeod has also successfully created and completed

sport climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

routes and projects up to the grade of (''A Muerte'' at Siurana, in 2007) and has established bouldering problems up to the grade of (''Natural Method'' on the Skeleton Boulder at

Glen Nevis Glen Nevis ( gd, Gleann Nibheis) is a glen in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, with Fort William at its foot. It is bordered to the south by the Mamore range, and to the north by the highest mountains in the British Isles: Ben Nevis, Càrn Mor ...

in 2012). On 28 August 2010, MacLeod and Tim Emmett established the route ''The Usual Suspects'' on Sron Uladail 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 Lewis and Harris ( gd, Leòdhas agus na Hearadh, sco, Lewis an Harris), or Lewis with Harris, is a single Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides, divided by mountains. It is the largest island in Scotland and the third largest in the British ...

as two separate islands) in five days, an achievement documented in the BBC Scotland series ''5 Climbs, 5 Islands'' (later released on DVD as ''Triple 5''). MacLeod has continued his association with BBC Scotland, filming ''The First Great Climb'' (broadcast on 22 November 2011), in which he replicated a successful 1876 attempt on the Stack of Handa using the type of equipment that would have been available at the time, and ''Climbing – No Limits!'' (broadcast on 12 April 2012), establishing new routes in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

and the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

Mixed climbing

MacLeod has also established hard routes in

mixed climbing Mixed climbing is a combination of ice climbing and rock climbing generally using ice climbing equipment such as crampons and ice tools. Mixed climbing has inspired its own specialized gear such as boots which are similar to climbing shoes but ...

with ice axes and crampons, climbing ''Good Training for Something'' with Canadian climber

Will Gadd Will Gadd (born March 8, 1967) is a prominent Canadian ice climber and paraglider pilot. He formerly held the paragliding world distance record, with a flight of 423 km in Zapata, Texas. He is the host of the documentary series ''Fearless ...

at a grade of M12. In 2005, he established the hardest traditional mixed climbing route in the world at the time, ''The Hurting'' in

Coire an t-Sneachda Coire an t-Sneachda (sometimes misspelled as ''Coire an t'Sneachda'') is a glacial cirque or corrie landform in the Cairngorm or mountain range in the Grampian Mountains of the Scottish Highlands. The summits of Cairn Lochan (1215 m) an ...

, Cairngorms. The route has been repeated a few times and has a

Scottish winter grade In rock climbing, mountaineering, and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing (such as sport ...

of XI,11 (M9+/M10) with hard, technical climbing over very poor protection.

Writing

In December 2009, Macleod's book ''9 Out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes: Navigation Through the Maze of Advice for the Self-coached Climber'' was published. In 2015, Macleod's book ''Make or Break: Don't Let Climbing Injuries Dictate Your Success'' was published.

Bibliography

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Climbing career

Rock climbing

Mixed climbing

Writing

Bibliography

See also

References

External links