MacLeod Climbs A Muerte F9a

Dave MacLeod has joined the small, strong group of British climbers who have climbed F9a. Dave joined the group late last week when he climbed A Muerte in Siruana Spain. The route was first climbed by Rich Simpson in March 2006 (news report here>>), which was an astounding effort as the route was a local project that had resisted the efforts of many top climbers including Dani Andrada, Ramonet Julian and Iker Pou. The route is a steep and relatively short line. Just 21 moves take the climber up first through f8b climbing, then into a 6-8 move crux sequence, before reaching a jug and shake-out. After that it´s only f8a to the top. Dave is spending a couple of weeks in Siruana along with the HotAches crew who managed to get the footage. Below is a part of Dave´s account of his ascent. You can read a full account of Dave´s last few weeks in Spain on his excellent blog. “Once the bitter evening winds blew and the sun dropped low, I blasted onto my redpoint – 20 moves in 30 seconds of bang, bang, bang from hold to hold before my strength gave out in spitting distance of the finishing jug.All that was needed was another moves? worth of juice in my arms to make it happen. Two days complete rest while working in Torello was just the ticket, and on our return I arrived back at the rockover and had the strength leftover to grab that big undercut and scream from the top of my lungs ?COME ONNNNNN!!!? After Dave finished A Muerte, he went and had a days play on La Rambla F9a+ (which had only been climbed by Patxi Usobiaga) before heading back to a cold, wet Scotland. Dave has now climbed F9a, E11, M12, Scottish XI & Font8b – Incredibly impressive resume that stands him out as one of the best all round climbers in the world. Source: Dave MacLeod´s blog>> & HotAches blog>>

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