UKC

Tonight's Friday Night Video is quite the scoop. A Dave MacLeod video portrait.

"This film, shot in Magic Wood, Switzerland, is a portrait of Dave – combining interviews and climbing. This unique glimpse of Dave's life, allows him to share his experiences, his ideas, his thoughts on being a climber and what it really takes to improve and succeed."

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67893

In reply to UKC News:

Dave MacLeod = Class

In reply to UKC News:

E11 (12), Font 8c, F9a, XI(I)

Jesus...

Although he climbs several grades harder than I can even dream of, what I like about Dave is how he inspires mortal climbers like me to believe in my abilities and just keep trying. He doesn't give off the impression that he's magic and nobody else could possibly do what he's doing. Although really he is and they probably couldn't! Thanks to the guys who made the film too.

In reply to Jenny: I totally agree Jenny. It's nice to hear a world class climber talking about trying hard and struggling. This is an inspirational film.

In reply to UKC News:

Really enjoyed this. Nice guy.

Anyway, I really think we could be up for Cliffhanger 2 - he's looking a hell of a lot like (a less beefy version of) Sly in some angles....

Brilliant.

In reply to UKC News: Great wee film. Genuinely inspiring, puts into words brilliantly the need to enjoy the failing and trying in any sport, rather than just the rare successes. Nice to be reminded that's it's like that for everyone.

In reply to Jenny:

i'm delighted to report that i had the pleasure of climbing with dave last year and the impression that you get (from this and other videos / blogs / lectures / writing) of the man are pretty accurate. he's a lovely bloke and seems to genuinely understand that all sorts of folk climb at different levels and for different reasons... we all love it and we're not so different from each other: he is quick to highlight this in person, not just when he's in front of a camera. it's a shared experience- the common ground being the passion and the amazing elation we have all felt when pushing ourselves. the grade REALLY isn't that important... operating at your limit IS.

dave is the real deal and a vibrant character within the climbing community. he remained positive and enthusiastic with me, even when i was in fact letting myself down and falling short of the mark. he is without a doubt worthy of the respect and- indeed- considerable affection that is bestowed upon him.

a lovely short. more please, lukasz!

In reply to don macb:

I agree, great film and I'd love to have the opportunity to meet dave at some point. He seems to have cracked a lot of things that I really struggle with.

Regarding the comment above though, isn't there a bit of a contradiction here? If, as Dave said in the video (and I agree totally), most people can achieve something getting on for a world class level, then surely if they're operating at their limit, then they'll be at that world class level. The only way of knowing whether you are at that limit is through keeping an eye on grade. I think there's a bit of a tendency for people to "hippytise" these statements to appear friendly and all inclusive, but ultimately you have to either say that just 'getting out' is what it's about, or that pushing yourself to the limit and therefore the grade is what is important. I don't see how one can be so involved with the limit of one's bodies and so detached from grades, which mirrors the way Dave talks about the 'font 8b+' in the video. I think that's the right attitude like, just that we should be a bit more consistent in the way we talk about it.

In reply to UKC News:

Nice video, interesting chap and a well-paced story so thanks for making the video available to us all.

However, one detail almost caused me to turn it off half way through; the camera trick whereby only a small part of the image is in focus became intensely irritating very quickly after the first 2 or 3 times. I don't know whether it was tilt-shift, filter, post-production or what but it seemed like a new toy that someone had got carried away with.

Shame because apart from that I thought it was a lovely video.

Am I the only one who thought that?

In reply to john arran:

Nope.

E

In reply to john arran: Glad someone else noticed it. The tilt-shift to film climbing does not work in the slightest. On one of the problems Dave was out of the area of focus for pretty much the whole boulder problem, it seemed like a case of someone having a new toy and was determined to use it! Other than that a great video, just lose the tilt-shift next time as it gives me a headache!

In reply to Franco Cookson:

howdy, franco. i've always enjoyed your virtual presence (plus i dig your blog) and i'm glad to see you touching down on this thread.

i think your 'hippytise' suggestion is valid and i end up checking my enthusiasm before posting, with an awareness of this very phenomena in mind (it's true that i am prone to this very trap). it would be quite cool for this thread to go off on a tangent that explored the elite vs everyman thang... it's an interesting debate that i would enjoy having beyond the limited realms of my own tiny mind.

however: i'm on night shift and am a tad the worse for wear this morning, so will need to bow out for now. i'll consider your theme and maybe pick up on it overnight if i'm quiet at work.

+1 for the video from me too. Really inspirational and nicely filmed.

In reply to Franco Cookson:

It is possible though to both keep an eye on grades and always be eyeing up that next line that is harder AND just enjoy going out climbing easier stuff sometimes too. E.g. There was a video a while back where he and Emmett were at Pembroke on a smeggy day and after sacking off the E9, they went and did some E5s, if Dave was as single minded as only being interested in the next grade I'm guessing he would have gone and trained on a boulder or something instead of enjoying the opportunity to tick some (for him) easy classics.
The sport and boulder climbers I know are more single minded but definitely the trad crowd are as wont to get on something at their limit as they are to do some easier routes in a nice place.

In reply to henwardian:

yup!

In reply to john arran:

You're right, very irritating. I noticed it immediately, and though 'hope that doesn't continue throughout the whole video'... oh well...

Please Dave (or the videographer) - don't do this again to this extend! Tilt is hard enough to do good in still images (I've tried!), but it'll always never work if randomly applied to 50% of a video.

In reply to john arran:

I didn't mind the tilt shift effect, though I agree it was a tad over-used.

However, Dave clearly has a thing for shifting snow around, whether it be in the Scottish mountains or on top of a boulder in the Magic Wood. He's obviously missed his vocation and should apply for a job as driver of a piste basher or snowplow.

In reply to Arjen:

Thank you for all the comments, I should maybe point out that in a lot of ways this video was an experiment. It was first time for us both to shoot something together as PolishedProject.com therefore maybe not quite as 'polished' as we expected.

As always UKC is full of professional photographers, videographers and editors... We WON'T do THIS again. And one more thing... Excuse me... 'Randomly'? Ohh, I've tried too, successfully!
Thank you John for your comment, point taken.

Lukasz
www.LWimages.co.uk

In reply to henwardian:

I think this wasn't a compromise on his focus towards his goal. I think they were ticking it off as a rest day. Dave has talk about having winter days as rest days recently. This sounds similar.

Thus, what you have seen as just going out, can be viewed as the best choice for progressing towards his next goal, given the possibilities that day. He has an easy day on the relevent rock type and tops up on stamina. He also recovers.

I'm sure it was an enjoyable experience and your easy days could be viewed in the same light, as active rest days, but only if you plan them as a counterpoint to harder days in the same period.

In reply to LukaszWarzecha:

Well I really enjoyed it, so thanks.

In reply to LukaszWarzecha: There is one thing most of the ukc users are good at and that's giving a critique.

In reply to UKC News:

I thought it was a brilliant little film, Dave is inspiring and I loved the video itself, thanks Lucasz!

In reply to Toccata: Incredible achievments across four diciplines. I'm not knowlegable enough about who's who in climbing but is there any serious competition to DM for best all-rounder?

In reply to balnakiel:

I'd say he has a pretty good argument for best all-around technical cragger. Robert Jasper would probably be up there too, same with the Hubers (who are a bit more "out of the game" at this point, at least when it comes to hard rock). Bring in longer alpine and expedition (big wall/Himalaya/etc.) type climbing and you need to start also looking at guys like Ueli Steck, Marko Prezelj, Steve House, Denis Urubko, etc.

In reply to UKC News:

Great vid. For me the insights were the highlight, so I wasn't too concerned about the videography.

In reply to Skyfall:

Agreed, got to love the extreme snow clearing!

In reply to UKC News:

Outstanding: world class climber.