Holy crap! That was so solid! I am so deeply impressed with your composure and execution. And to finish it off the most low key post send reaction for what was an absolutely monumental achievement. Congratulations and well done!
Thanks. I have a couple of thoughts in response to that. First, while everyone is different, I feel that free soloing is a place for a cool head, so its kind of hard to go from a deep state of calm to super excited just because you topped out. Second, this ascent was just a small part of training for a much much harder and more dangerous route (Echo Wall). So this was rather weighing on my mind at the time. It would have been premature to be celebrating with the dangerous lead still ahead.
you only solo this hard if you expect to send it, so why would you be excited when you do send it? same thing with Honnold's "delighted" reaction after topping out El Cap
Please please please make an analysis video on this. Your thoughts, at the time and now, commentary on moves, your hair, anything please please please!! At the time and still one of the most compelling and impressive bits of climbing footage I've ever seen
Sweaty arms? I assume that if you have really sweaty arms that sweat can run to your hands anytime you drop your arms down. Wouldn't want that ruining his grip, especially given the stakes. But that's my best guess.
I'm pretty sure he is just controlling the rotation of his body there and using his other arm as an intermediate hold to more precisely place the left hand. So to avoid getting sweat on his left hand he chalked up his right forearm before.
absolutely amazing. goes to show each time you put up a new route... there's months of training, thousands of hours.... the final send is just the tip of the iceberg. love the videos, looking forward to the cold weather, decent winter and if so, seeing what you and Helen get up to. looking forward to getting up to fort William soon. keep the videos coming please I love them. Matt 🙂
Long time not seen Echowall. One of the most impressive climbing movie for me of all time. Thanks for the footage. And huge congrats to your incredible mindset
I thought it was 'let down' (by today's standards anyway) by the lack of various angles. No drones back then, no 5 or 6 cameras, which for me make Echo Wall age pretty quickly. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
@@denislejeune9218 still a thoroughly impressive climb. To date not repeated and filmed by misses macleod who must have a massive amount of believe and strength to film her husband undertaking multiple climbs with pretty severe consequences for any mistakes. Truly epic stuff
You seem to be really good at evaluating calculated risk. Really cool skill to have! When I was an active climber late teens/early 20s was really bad at this and things went wrong ....
@Jimmy Alain Robert would be very close competition with an 8b. if i remember it correctly he also did an 8a+ in Bijoux that he then downclimbed, all free solo
Beastly stuff. Question though, if you don't have top foot access how the hell do you get down from a free solo like this? This one seemed to have a way off without downclimbing. Would you get a rope there first, rap down, then free solo, then rap down again? Just wondering, cause if that happens, you can either do a self-belay or a soloist to get a rope up, if no one else is with you, which seems a bit odd. But then again, so is soloing.
I don't consider topping out as a defining trait of a highball. on a route like this I would consider wether a fall from the hardest moves would likely cause injury. I think this is in the blurry line between the two and without pads is a bold effort :)
A long time ago and still an inspiring climb. I wonder if you'd still consider something like free soloing a necessary way to prepare for a difficult climb? Some free soloing makes sense to me, but for that specific climb the risk of a relatively minor tendon injury mid-climb leading to a fairly brutal fall seems like it would introduce a pretty significant number of micromorts. In any case, I'm sure it focussed the mind...
No. I was onsighting 8a+. But then I wasn't doing much onsighting really (I've never had good endurance). Perhaps if I were doing a lot I could have been onsighting into 8b at a push.
@@climbermacleod Makes sense. I think that a little-discussed climbing dichotomy is "project" climbers v. "onsight" climbers. Of course someone like Ondra can do both at the highest level, but historically you have say a Megos v. Gullich (and maybe Yuji v. Huber?) the former almost never spending more than a day on a climb v. someone spending years just to work out a crux. I tend towards the latter, and it cuts in to my urge to travel more or hard onsighting. Good work on using this particular experience to build on.
Indeed, why would you ride a motorbike with your eyes shut? Mind you the number of fatal motorbike accidents in the Scottish highlands sometimes make me wonder if they are doing just that!
@@climbermacleod You are obviously a careful and considered person in many respects. Do you feel any urge, or observe it, to increase the danger level. Or do you feel that, as the difficulty gets greater through improvement, the risk itself stays the same (or reduces)?
I think that isn’t going to be repeated for a long time. Alex Honnold skilled like 2 or 3 generations of free solo climbing and is in a league of his own. Nobody has even considered free soloing half dome again and he did that in what, 2012-2013? This dude is probably a better boulderer although I haven’t seen honnold boulder much. This climb is very impressive in its own different way. Honnold is great and perfect in his safety zone of mostly crack climbing. I’m not sure Alex would attempt this. Maybe if he had mastered it.
very ballsy stuff here especially because you wouldn't die most likely from the fall, but you'd never climb again to say the least. could have done it as a very highball boulder with lots of crash pads, but then it wouldn't be a true free solo. record hardest free solo i do believe!
Big thanks for not dying!
lol your name, interesting that you'd be into climbing
Still amazing footage years later. I'm amazed you convinced your wife to film this!
She never got the phone call to belay
So impressive and inspirational. One of the greatest achievements in climbing history, done in such a humble and low-key way.
Holy crap! That was so solid! I am so deeply impressed with your composure and execution. And to finish it off the most low key post send reaction for what was an absolutely monumental achievement. Congratulations and well done!
Thanks. I have a couple of thoughts in response to that. First, while everyone is different, I feel that free soloing is a place for a cool head, so its kind of hard to go from a deep state of calm to super excited just because you topped out. Second, this ascent was just a small part of training for a much much harder and more dangerous route (Echo Wall). So this was rather weighing on my mind at the time. It would have been premature to be celebrating with the dangerous lead still ahead.
you only solo this hard if you expect to send it, so why would you be excited when you do send it? same thing with Honnold's "delighted" reaction after topping out El Cap
wow, not even a scream after he did this amazing climb, what a psycho
Only halfway through the video and already digging the hair cut! Quality video so far as always!
Wow. Great work. Has to be one of the hardest true free solos on record!
Please please please make an analysis video on this. Your thoughts, at the time and now, commentary on moves, your hair, anything please please please!! At the time and still one of the most compelling and impressive bits of climbing footage I've ever seen
ruclips.net/video/TPnP6exshXY/видео.htmlsi=yu9fAInQjX17CD_b
Check this one out - Dave comments on the solo pretty thoroughly.
I like how you stayed in control after the steep part and just stood there during the rush.
Even three years later this is so impressive. The boldness of your climbing will always astonish me.
I love to watch you climb! You're such an amazing and inspiring climber Dave. Thank you for sharing...
What an example of humility, no screaming or celebrating, just another step on the way to leading echo wall. Brilliant stuff
you looked calm, focused, relaxed and in flow, it seems to me that your mental game couldnt have been better Dave, insanely impressive
makin it look so effortless...stunning, Dave!
I was wondering why the chalk on the forearm, then 2:57
Sweaty arms? I assume that if you have really sweaty arms that sweat can run to your hands anytime you drop your arms down. Wouldn't want that ruining his grip, especially given the stakes. But that's my best guess.
Luke Skinner I think he didn’t want to have to reach behind himself at that point to chalk up...my guess...
I've tested a theory that any sweat generated on your hands will get soaked up by the chalk on your wrists and arms.
I'm pretty sure he is just controlling the rotation of his body there and using his other arm as an intermediate hold to more precisely place the left hand. So to avoid getting sweat on his left hand he chalked up his right forearm before.
It's easy to solo when you're from the MacLeod Clan and cannot die anyway because you're a Highlander. 😅
absolutely amazing. goes to show each time you put up a new route... there's months of training, thousands of hours.... the final send is just the tip of the iceberg.
love the videos, looking forward to the cold weather, decent winter and if so, seeing what you and Helen get up to. looking forward to getting up to fort William soon.
keep the videos coming please I love them.
Matt
🙂
Impressive, Dave! Just subbed to your channel. That pocket sequence at 3:12 looks stunning!
All the best, a Danish fan!
Long time not seen Echowall. One of the most impressive climbing movie for me of all time. Thanks for the footage. And huge congrats to your incredible mindset
That middle finger hold !!! Jesus i need to go do some pull ups
3:05-3:10 my god you are an animal. Single finger hold to pull yourself up into a two finger hold, pure strength and endurance.
wow !!! Fantastic!!! Courage and beauty, and the smile at the end says it all about the meaning of this sport. Greetings from Italy
😎
total gestural and especially mental control! Bravo Dave and thank you for this superb lesson 🙏
Absolutely inspiring Dave
Super cool start
Amazing to watch someone climb something so hard so perfectly.
Impressive stuff, love the precision of movement. echo wall is a great film
I thought it was 'let down' (by today's standards anyway) by the lack of various angles. No drones back then, no 5 or 6 cameras, which for me make Echo Wall age pretty quickly. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
@@denislejeune9218 still a thoroughly impressive climb. To date not repeated and filmed by misses macleod who must have a massive amount of believe and strength to film her husband undertaking multiple climbs with pretty severe consequences for any mistakes. Truly epic stuff
@@stewart6329 We are in agreement.
I think i had a bigger smile than you did after you topped the route. You smashed it!
What you do on the mental aspect here is of the chart! Respect, and awsome to watch. Play safe!👍💪💪💪
You seem to be really good at evaluating calculated risk. Really cool skill to have! When I was an active climber late teens/early 20s was really bad at this and things went wrong ....
Amazing, Dave. Great one to pull from the archives!
Amazing. You knew you could, and you did
So impressive, I don't know how you can keep such solid composure when there's so little margin for error. Amazing focus and skill!
Probably one of the most gangster thing any climber had tried and crushed!
The music fits so well! Any idea of the name?
It was the chalk on the forearm that did it! Nice climb
2:56
So is the chalk of the foerarm so you can transfer it to you hands and reach into a chalk bag?
ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
really cool. inspiring to see such a hard free solo
Incredible Dave!
what's the soundtrack's name? it always comes to mind when I'm trying a new route or project haha
What's the track in the background?
Amazing! Balls of steel!!
Probably the highest grade solos ever very cool
why is there some kind of a tiny disruption at 3:48 / 3:49? :-)
Because he totally fell off and jumped back on at that point :-)
Fasmistic good, I was not sure first, but now it’s two of us... :-)
This has to be right up there with the hardest ever single pitch solos of all time?
@Jimmy Alain Robert would be very close competition with an 8b. if i remember it correctly he also did an 8a+ in Bijoux that he then downclimbed, all free solo
Was at the time and I reckon still probably the hardest.
@@biltongandboba Kevin Jorgeson - The Fly: ruclips.net/video/Mft3k_f0vOM/видео.html
Michal Makuša not a free solo. 6-7m tall and with a crashpad, it’s just a tall boulder problem
@@michalmakusa6923 that's just a high ball
"A bit of a training exercise" Low key as usual
great accomplishment, dude! gratz
Es mejor quitar las cintas exprés de la ruta que se va hacer el solo , no quedan bien estando , mata la magia de ver la ruta limpia.
What song is that?
to everyone their own, the mental en physical performance is fantastic, I prefer your roped climbing or bouldering personally.
Song?
You fuckin mad man doing all these dynamic moves free solo, damn
Smashed it, you made it look easy mate
The intoduction sounded like famous last words. Glad they wheren’t!
I love the music!
Sick music!
I have to come back to watch the video again every once and a while just to make sure its real....... crazy
Grande bicho! M👏👏👏💪💪💪. Esto es en margalef, verdad?
Beastly stuff. Question though, if you don't have top foot access how the hell do you get down from a free solo like this? This one seemed to have a way off without downclimbing. Would you get a rope there first, rap down, then free solo, then rap down again? Just wondering, cause if that happens, you can either do a self-belay or a soloist to get a rope up, if no one else is with you, which seems a bit odd. But then again, so is soloing.
Still the best video on youtube...
Amazing.
Damn brother, nice send. Seems to climb like just a super long mega highball boulder
But no pads so free solo
Is a single pitch still called freesolo or does it become a highball if you can topout? Mad skills anyways. Wouldn't be able to do it myself.
It would be a highball if he'd padded it out
I don't consider topping out as a defining trait of a highball. on a route like this I would consider wether a fall from the hardest moves would likely cause injury. I think this is in the blurry line between the two and without pads is a bold effort :)
That was some sexy climbing Dave
Nice work! Which was easier? The redpoint or the solo?
The solo was probably a bit easier. It is amazing how much a few clips break your rhythm!
I'm still wondering the philosophy and mental state behind free soloing. It's already terrifying 15 feet off the ground with a crash pad beneath
A long time ago and still an inspiring climb.
I wonder if you'd still consider something like free soloing a necessary way to prepare for a difficult climb? Some free soloing makes sense to me, but for that specific climb the risk of a relatively minor tendon injury mid-climb leading to a fairly brutal fall seems like it would introduce a pretty significant number of micromorts. In any case, I'm sure it focussed the mind...
As might be expected from Dave, not a bad response... ruclips.net/video/vJlYAu0agKE/видео.html
3:08 i never was so stoked someone showing me the finger
Breathtaking! The hardest free solo in the history?
Cool just bought the film !
isn't it a little beit too dangerous and I'd say insane to solo routes close to your limit?
Looks like for Dave this route is a highball boulder problem :D
...without any mats. No biggie.
Top notch.
If this was a highball boulder problem what grade would you reckon lol
8C so V15. Then again it says 8B+ so V14. Epic either way
I would think v10 or maybe v11 for French 8b+/8c crux?
Awesome!
Something something doesn't count because no sit start
fucking awesome is all I can add.
I would think that this is within your onsight level at the time?
No. I was onsighting 8a+. But then I wasn't doing much onsighting really (I've never had good endurance). Perhaps if I were doing a lot I could have been onsighting into 8b at a push.
@@climbermacleod Makes sense. I think that a little-discussed climbing dichotomy is "project" climbers v. "onsight" climbers. Of course someone like Ondra can do both at the highest level, but historically you have say a Megos v. Gullich (and maybe Yuji v. Huber?) the former almost never spending more than a day on a climb v. someone spending years just to work out a crux. I tend towards the latter, and it cuts in to my urge to travel more or hard onsighting. Good work on using this particular experience to build on.
Impressive!!!
I could probably close my eyes for a bit while riding my motorbike but WHY WOULD I? This is both great and disturbed.
Ga Wa mental fortitude
Mind training before doing super hard and bold trad...
Indeed, why would you ride a motorbike with your eyes shut? Mind you the number of fatal motorbike accidents in the Scottish highlands sometimes make me wonder if they are doing just that!
@@climbermacleod You are obviously a careful and considered person in many respects. Do you feel any urge, or observe it, to increase the danger level. Or do you feel that, as the difficulty gets greater through improvement, the risk itself stays the same (or reduces)?
New mind. From the first lock at 100%.
8B+???
It's about that height where you could survive falling off it, however you would break just about every bone in your body
Yep... fall from that height would make you wish you were dead.
Really depends on how he lands. Could easily be fatal.
Impressive. What are your thoughts on free solo-ing El Cap?
I think that isn’t going to be repeated for a long time. Alex Honnold skilled like 2 or 3 generations of free solo climbing and is in a league of his own. Nobody has even considered free soloing half dome again and he did that in what, 2012-2013? This dude is probably a better boulderer although I haven’t seen honnold boulder much. This climb is very impressive in its own different way. Honnold is great and perfect in his safety zone of mostly crack climbing. I’m not sure Alex would attempt this. Maybe if he had mastered it.
Skipped* 2-3 generation I mean
Am I the only one to see the whale at 3m30 ?
Badass!
Thanks youtube for again making my hands sweet
Strong
my hands are cold and sweating
That's RAD!
Crazy.
Dave is the very best all rounder in.british climbing no doubt!
Built Different
What a fucking beast
very ballsy stuff here especially because you wouldn't die most likely from the fall, but you'd never climb again to say the least. could have done it as a very highball boulder with lots of crash pads, but then it wouldn't be a true free solo. record hardest free solo i do believe!
beast
I wonder why climbers free solo like this, I would like to know why he did it
Now that's what you call bouldering. Amazing.
TITANNN!
🔥!
Holy. Mother.