In October 2006 Dave Macleod climbed Bodyswerve 8c at the Anvil a huge (30m high) schist boulder in the woods on a remote peninsula on the east bank of Loch Goil (Argyll and Bute), in Scotland. Before that he made the first ascent of what is considered by many to be the hardest non-bolt protected rock climb in the world, Dumbarton Rock's, Rhapsody, the UK's first E11 celebrated in the Hot Aches film (website) the eponymously named, E11.

After Rhapsody and Bodyswerve he spent time doing a , "stack load(s) of work to get on a financial even keel again" including lecturing, writing and coaching, but the pull of the next climbing challenge was strong and he had to attempt a climb that would, "find out if Rhapsody was 8c+ for physical difficulty."

Dave spent some time trying L'odi Social a confirmed 8c+ at Campi Qui, Siurana (database) in Spain. Success initially aluded him due to lack of fitness, but on his third week-long trip there this year with his wife Claire, Dave clipped the anchors and he is sure that Rhapsody is of a similar physical difficulty, 8c+ to L'odi Social

Dave, at his blog (click here), writes of future climbing opportunities:

"As always when I get the opportunity to climb in famous sport climbing venues, I was both humbled and inspired by the performances of the world class sport climbers also out there. Of course, I am never satisfied, and breaking a new grade always leads to thoughts and plans of breaking the next one! With every grade higher you get, it becomes clearer that you are only limited by your desire to see if you can go further. I think that I have the motivation and possibly the resources to hand to work towards 9a. I am under no illusion that it will take some very significant changes in my habits to make it happen. I am psyched to have a go and see how I get on. I have to be careful though because my goals in winter climbing, trad climbing and bouldering are also high and will need work of a similar magnitude."