Rock climbing

In April 2006, MacLeod established the climb Rhapsody on Dumbarton Rock which, at a grade of E11 7a, was possibly the hardest traditional climbing route in the world at the time.^[3][4] Rhapsody is the true finish to the line of Requiem, graded E8 6b. Requiem was climbed in 1983 by Dave Cuthbertson and was one of the hardest rock climbs in the world at the time. It follows a crack-line that fades out to a seam at half height. Requiem follows a flake heading rightwards to finish, while Rhapsody climbs the line of the crack all the way to the top. The top half of the crack gives 8c+ climbing and takes no more protection. MacLeod took many long falls from this runout, three from the last move in which he fell 70 feet and injured himself by hitting the rock at the end of the fall. In 2008 Steve McClure made the third ascent of Rhapsody and confirmed the grade.^[5] The ascent of Rhapsody is the subject of the movie E11 (2006) directed by Paul Diffley and produced by Hot Aches Productions. MacLeod has since featured in several more climbing films by Hot Aches Productions.^[6]

In 2008, MacLeod became the second-ever person free solo an 8b+ (5.14a) graded route (Darwin Dixit in Margalef).^[1][2]

In 2008, MacLeod completed the traditional rock climb Echo Wall, an extreme and as-yet ungraded rock climb on Ben Nevis, which took two years of preparation.^[7] MacLeod described Echo Wall as harder than Rhapsody but left the route ungraded in a possible attempt to avoid the earlier controversy surrounding the E11 grade.

In addition to his achievements in traditional rock climbing, MacLeod has also successfully created and completed sport climbing routes and projects up to the grade of 9a (5.14d) (A Muerte at Siurana, in 2007)^[8] and has established bouldering problems up to the grade of 8B+ (V14) (Natural Method on the Skeleton Boulder at Glen Nevis in 2012).^[9]

On 28 August 2010, MacLeod and Tim Emmett established the route The Usual Suspects on Sron Uladail on Harris, provisionally graded E9 7a, in an ascent broadcast live on BBC Two Scotland.^[10] As part of their preparation, MacLeod and Emmett successfully established five new routes on five Hebridean islands (counting Lewis with Harris as two separate islands) in five days, an achievement documented in the BBC Scotland series 5 Climbs, 5 Islands (later released on DVD as Triple 5).^[11] MacLeod has continued his association with BBC Scotland, filming The First Great Climb (broadcast on 22 November 2011), in which he replicated a successful 1876 attempt on the Stack of Handa using the type of equipment that would have been available at the time, and Climbing – No Limits! (broadcast on 12 April 2012), establishing new routes in the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District.

Mixed climbing

MacLeod has also established hard routes in mixed climbing with ice axes and crampons, climbing Good Training for Something with Canadian climber Will Gadd at a grade of M12. In 2005, he established the hardest traditional mixed climbing route in the world at the time, The Hurting in Coire an t-Sneachda, Cairngorms.^[12] The route has been repeated a few times^[13][14][15] and has a Scottish winter grade of XI,11 (M9+/M10)^[16] with hard, technical climbing over very poor protection.

Writing

In December 2009, Macleod's book 9 Out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes: Navigation Through the Maze of Advice for the Self-coached Climber was published. In 2015, Macleod's book Make or Break: Don't Let Climbing Injuries Dictate Your Success was published.