UKC

It's 10 years to the day this weekend that Dave MacLeod made the first ascent of Rhapsody E11 at Dumbarton Rock - the first of its grade in the world and a route that has seen just three repeats since 2006.

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In reply to UKC News:

Still one of the best climbing films ever made.

In reply to Tom F Harding:

Is your website OK? The link didn't work for me.

In reply to UKC News:

Fab film and great effort by Dave .

However, I thought there had been 4 repeats ?? If I remember rightly I think Sonnie Trotter, Steve Mcclure & James Pearson have repeated it .. But wasn't there somebody else too ??

In reply to Grinning Donkey:

So nice did it twice, I think

In reply to Grinning Donkey:

didn't steve pinkpoint it though?

In reply to UKC News:

Loving being reminded of these ascents. I can't help thinking he may have avoided those leg injuries though, if he'd made the belay more dynamic some how, sand bags tied to the belayer, less gear low down and a long ground anchor perhaps. I don't remember the other ascensionists suffering from such damaging falls. Apologies, its the engineer in me. Are well, hindsight's a wonderful thing and this is water well and truly under the bridge. Now where's that Longhope DVD...

In reply to Mark Collins:

I think he anchored his belayer on a ledge, which resulted somehow in the pendulum into the cliff, others didn't do this and had a soft catch, or at least that's my understanding.

In reply to UKC News:

Amazing.

Is it disappointing that in those 10 years, it is still the only (repeated) climb in the UK of its grade? Or was it just ahead of its time?

In reply to planetmarshall:

Well there's probably only 2 E11s in the UK and I can't see folk queuing up for Echo Wall!

In reply to Mark Collins:

My understanding is the others did it in one long pitch (there's a sport route below the ledge) while Dave was belayed from the ledge so with the others there was much more potential for a soft catch.

In reply to don macb:


...and took an easier finish

In reply to Michael Gordon:

I think he just used a very minor sequence deviation where he went for the top with the other hand? Apparently they are both similar difficulty he just felt that was slightly easier for him?

In reply to Michael Gordon:


I'm sure there's a lot of E11s in the UK - most are awaiting their first ascent

In reply to Duncan Campbell:


Yes Steve did say something like that. Depends who you go by.

I recall MacLeod said on his blog he considered going out left on the jugs as an E10 a long time prior to the FA but decided he wanted to finish direct. That final move was the redpoint crux for him (how many times did he fall from there?) so he obviously considers the difference significant. Both MacLeod and Sonnie Trotter have said that in their view Steve didn't climb 'Rhapsody' the route. But then maybe it doesn't matter. Of course in an ideal world it wouldn't be an eliminate and these variations wouldn't exist.

In reply to Duncan Campbell:


No, he used a different hold at the very top, further to the left. Considering Dave fell from the very top hold a few times, it was definitely a different finish.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

Taken from Steve's blog:

"The Line
...a simple cross over with the right hand gains the edge of the cliff, a large jug, and a sit down rest if required. However, don’t do that, move right instead on very poor sloping crimps for a few metres to a reasonable side-pull but with terrible footholds. From there it’s possible to step across back into Requiem, or reach across and place another good cam. However, don’t do that either, move up via a series of doubtful finger jams and gastons to a press leftwards to a razorblade edge. An even sharper edge above this about three feet below the top Dave and Sonny took with their left hand and I used my right. For them a long slap to the top was the final move, for me it was a finger-slicing ‘barn-door’ move to a hold near the arête and then the top. This proved to be the hardest move on the route on lead!"

Doesn't sound miles different to me!! If you find evidence to say that those guys said he hadn't done the route I'd be interested to read it!

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

From Dave MacLeod's blog:
The most eye popping moment [in the film Committed 2] for me though was seeing Steve McClure on Rhapsody - going left to the jugs on the left arête two moves before the redpoint crux, a link I did in August 2005 and considered finishing the route this way and making an E10. It was contrived to carry on direct following the crack right to the top, probably daft on my part, but that’s what all the fuss was about, and for me what made it scrape into E11. I thought hard about it and eventually felt it would a shame to take the escape just before the culmination of the route, and also saw when I tried to link it going direct that this route had the opportunity to make a really tough route – that’s what I was after. I paid for that decision with several more falls from the final move, a winter of worry and many nights of training, all the time knowing I could just traverse left from the sidepull for an easy option and still get an E10 tick.

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

and from Sonnie's blog (entry titled 'Oh the Irony', where I'd add he is also very complementary about Steve):

"Did Steve McClure climb Rhapsody? In my opinion no, he did not. He did a slightly easier sequence out left gunning for the arete. He avoided what I think (personally) is the most defining sequence on Rhapsody, the lunge for the top of the wall."

In reply to tony:



The 1980's called, and they want their eliminate rules back.........

In reply to Michael Gordon:

Fair enough Guess that's the problem with eliminates

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

Here's Sonnie's blog post:

"Did Steve McClure climb Rhapsody? In my opinion no, he did not. He did a slightly easier sequence out left gunning for the arete. He avoided what I think (personally) is the most defining sequence on Rhapsody, the lunge for the top of the wall.

"But what he did do was still an UNBELIEVABLE climb, and in only four days, he pretty much showed Dave and I what is possible and set the bar pretty high for any further repeats. I’d be impressed to see anyone climb through the crux faster than Steve did. He’s AMAZING and one of my personal hero’s, but this isn’t about him and what he did or didn’t do, because STEVE doesn’t care anyway, he’s just out there having fun and pulling down, the way it should be."

Steve's ascent is on film (Committed 2, I think) if you want to check it out. I think the fact he was filmed shows he was being completely open about how he climbed it.