Dave Macleod Claims First Ascent of Seven of Nine (V14)

Way back in September, Scottish climber of E11 fame, Dave Macleod, remarked on his blog that he was having a ‘what now?’ moment.  After a long summer season of new routing in the Scottish Highlands he was ready to “climb some hard moves again.”  Since his 2006 experience on Rhapsody, the UK’s first E11 (and a highly publicized one at that), Dave has been the master of long term projects.  His prophetic statement of being ready to “climb some hard moves again” resulted in the successful ascent of what Dave considers his hardest boulder problem: Seven of Nine (V14).

Photo: DaveMacleod.blogspot.com

The problem is located at the Sky Pilot crag of Glen Nevis.  It’s a classic testament of Dave’s style, which mixes extremely hard moves with dangerous terrain.  The crux comes in ‘highball’ territory but the problem is continuously difficult above and quickly transitions into more of a solo than a boulder problem. 

In October of 2009, at a time that Macleod considered himself in the best shape of his life, he was able to do the crux in isolation (on rope) a few times per session but never able to stick it from the ground.  He set off this past winter on a specific training regimen that completely focused on gaining power for the problem.  After a long winter of intense training, Dave finally stuck the move from the ground and pushed through the dangerous top-out.

Dave’s battle with the problem, his training methods, and all the challenges he faced, are meticulously documented in his excellent blog.  If you’re in need of some motivation to send your project it’s worth scrolling back through the past six months of blog posts to find out what it takes to get yourself in top form. 

Read Dave’s blog here.

Click here, or the image, for video of Dave Macleod on the first ascent of Seven of Nine (V14).