Jacopo Larcher from Italy has made the fifth ascent of Dave MacLeod's Rhapsody, E11 7a, at Dumbarton rock, just west of Glasgow, Scotland.

Dave made the first ascent in 2006 and it has since been repeated by Sonnie Trotter, Steve Mcclure and James Pearson.

Jacopo says he worked the route for a total of nine days and started making lead attempts on the fifth day, but in the beginning he could only make half a toprope session per day as it was very cold.

Then climbed the route on his 7th lead attempt.

He says he could climb the route toprope on his second day on it, but that he struggled a lot with one move during the lead.

He first used James Pearson's beta, but had to change to Dave's after three failed lead attempts.

The move that caused the problems was the double gaston move. The first time he got the second gaston, he made it to the top.

Was he worried at all?

I wasn't worried about the gear. It's small, but it's good. I was just worried about the ledge as I didn't know if I would hit it falling from the top.
I know James took the whipper from the top and nothing happened...but I wasn't syked to try it out ;)

Compared to Prinzip Hoffnung, E9/10 8b/+:

Prinzip was my first hard trad route, so the process was quite new for me. Now I feel more experienced and had a "better" plan, but the route is very different: the first part of Prinzip is not very hard, but it's dangerous. You can hit the ground if you fall.

On Rhapsody you first climb a crack with bomber gear (and you already start high from a ledge). So you will never hit the ground.
That's a big difference that makes the whole process easier...you can give it a go even if you don't feel fit or super ready.

But the climbing is definitely way harder!

Now the plan is to spend the summer in the alps and go to Yosemite in fall, and I always have a project (in Cadarese) on my mind, which I would like to try. That thing is way harder and more dangerous than Rhapsody.