Vlog #7 Most scared I've ever been

In climbing or in life in general, I discovered the hard way that its possible to be way more scared for someone else than it is for yourself. It's kind of weird going over climbing accidents I've had. I certainly hope it's a long, long time before I'm as scared as the night I describe in this vlog.
You'll find over a decade worth of climbing performance advice and information on my blogs and in my books atwww.davemacleod.com/shop

[@mevversreturns]

Not a climbing related comment, but you're an astonishingly good story teller, seems to be very natural for you.

[@dannygrout92]

Jesus H Christ Dave, you're a bloody wild man. Super casual telling of a story including broken bones solo falls and self rescue, make it seem like any other Sunday.

[@TomClothier]

Dave these videos are awesome. Really well presented, shot and edited. Quality stuff!

[@noahh2338]

Dave, you seem like a solid dude..keep it up brother!

[@stebostock20]

I was hoping for an answer to the duck question, hilarious!

[@harryfox7160]

Absolutely top drawer, sir! These deserve to be the most popular climbing blogs out there...

[@herbert5727]

Love these vlogs! Learning from the best climber!

[@RinjaniDawnAdventuresLombok]

Quality, thanks for sharing Dave 👌

[@bodha99]

My hands were sweating while listening to Masa's fall. Great video bro.

[@staticalphabetsoup637]

Adrenaline is a crazy thing my friend! It’s wild the things people accomplish in moments of fear. You’ve provided me a ton of super valuable insight and motivation in climbing and I’ve been super appreciative of your content, you’re one of my favourites!

[@jonahsmall6728]

AWESOME video, more please 👌

[@benmoyer3606]

I had a very similar experience when I was on a high ball Boulder and a hold broke. I fell off, and landed on my hand with my arm in full extension. I was high up on a ridge, and getting down required scrambling, which I would have to do crash pads and all. I couldn't extend or flex at the elbow. I managed to make it back since my left arm was fine, but I was more just sad that I would be unable to climb.. for two days I couldn't flex or extend at the right elbow, and experience a significant amount of swelling and pain. I mostly just chilled out at the campsite. I had a feeling it wasn't hospital worthy, but there was that scared part of me. Day three I noticed mobility returning to the joint. By day four I did some stretching and even some very easy low boulders. Over the weeks I continued climbing gradually harder and harder, still feeling pain from time to time but slowly trending towards being more bearable. One month later and I am stronger than I was before the injury and am sending Boulder problems that once took me several sessions in one or two goes. I think the injury probably was not serious, but I think the mental shock sort of gave me a reset. I was terrified I'd be out for months, but the fact I recovered so quickly, allowed me to be much more daring and less hesitant. Also the fact I recovered so quickly from the injury has made me realize that our bodies aremuch more strong and resilient than we think

[@jonasnesurd3652]

by far the bist ending! :D great content, as always!

[@thoughtthrottle.]

Amazing story Dave! Definitely a dream of mine to visit Scotland for a climbing trip someday. Much love from Canada!

[@KevinSmith-tr4db]

Me too!!! any other Canadian Kevins want to go climb in Scotland?

[@rushthezeppelin]

Most scared I've ever been was on a 5.8 in Oklahoma. It was a severely rotten granite climb. My partner had gone up the first part and had to cross a slopey ledge where a hold broke and she almost slipped and would have almost guaranteed taken a groundfall from about 25' up. She managed to get to the other side of the ledge and was looking at the crack that was in front of her. She climbed up about 4 feet or so and realized that the crack was severely rotten and that there would be about 6' of climbing with no pro and a ledge fall. So she decided to build an anchor and bail off. I decided to give it a go and ended up taking about 20 minutes before I finally worked myself into pulling some really shitty moves. I ended up french freeing on a super shitty tricam placement to get into solid enough rock. If it had blown I would have definitely decked on the ledge. After that the crack had a break in it where there was a small jug and I reached into that jug only to find a small piece of prickly pear cactus that I had to finagle around (ended up getting some needles in my hand) and after this I had to run out a #5 offwidth crack that started getting rotten again. The topout was super slopey and once again I found more prickly pear right in the way of the last move. Yet again if I had popped out at the top of this I would have likely decked on the ledge. Needless to say the pucker factor was extreme and but I was very thankful that I love offwidth and had the skills to get through that last section. Before that I would have to say it was a 2 pitch on sort of granite out in CO. I led the second pitch which was great rock. The very last section of this was a small ledge which I placed a #5 right below. Leading up from that ledge was a squeeze chimney which was killer. I go up the chimney which had a bit of a slab topout and the chimney squeezed down so much it forced me out onto the slab. So here i was with probably 40m of rope out and #5 about 25' below me and I had to pull out onto a slab with tons of exposure. That was only one or two moves though and I was safe so it wasn't that big a deal. The really cool part was as I was setting up an anchor a fucking F-16 (at least I think it was) buzzed no more than 40' directly over my head.

[@weedaviec]

Superb ending!

[@TheAquanomad]

10 duck-sized horses! Great videos Dave, keep 'em coming :)

[@marcchrys]

Great story! Wet rock/vegetation is a great leveller...I remember back in the day when we used to wear socks over our boots. I'm neurotic these days..always ensure my boot soles are squeaky clean...particularly when soloing.

[@cob1965]

Ahhh.....Dry Scottish understatement, Mr Macleod, grand master of the Big Day Out!

[@StevenSugref]

It sounds like you both had an absolute nightmare of a day! 🤤🤣 It must have been horrible sitting by the loch with your broken ankle, not knowing where he was, and being unable to look for him. At least you both managed to bounce back and now have a good story to tell 😁

[@mixolydian2010]

Jesus glad your both ok!

[@StoreyR]

Is this place called Benin Shaus? I've been to this place before on a short work trip away. It is an epic approach into this secluded crag. And a steep grassy climb, and lots of horse flies. Didn't even get to climb anything when I went. It was wet. Scottish climbing prodigy dave - breaks bones and still returns to send 💪💪

[@DD-yy2ez]

I had a good laugh, really funny, keep safe, THANKS.

[@Adamjen]

Cool story, thanks for sharing it.

[@ianmcnulty5056]

Great video ! Ending was good as well ! Lol

[@SuperBizgec]

Really funny, honest and usefull!! Thanks

[@ToppaliniTube]

i love how you break your leg and you're worried about your static rope! good stuff

[@constantinosschinas4503]

yeah. that was stupid. and almost killed his friend.

[@ensar6803]

what a story! living legend

[@robcam7479]

Oh that cheered me up!

[@robmckiernan3264]

Fantastic video

[@Zolodar]

Those climbing coaches rolling in with the real deal of questions at the end!

[@brass086]

Love these videos and hearing about your adventures in general. Question I would ask is as a gym climber 7a, outside single pitch hvs and a winter two summer three scrambler solo, What is the best way to get into more serious winter climbing iv3-4+ is it better to do a summer learn to lead course or winter mountaineering course? I'm desperate to get tower ridge done, anoagh Eagach and curved ridge done in winter not to mention the climbing in England and Wales. But for me it is the trust in my own placement. How's best to get into the mulipitch environment. Cheers for your videos and I look forward to seeing more in the future. Cheers Matt

[@jenniferclapham6539]

What a story!

[@camillotroisi2127]

Dave stai diventando una grande forma d'ispirazione per me. Thank you!

[@DerelictChad]

"I found it was surprisingly difficult to get going on a broken leg" Wow. I would have been calling mountain rescue. Loving these blogs, Really inspiring.

[@stephenhenderson6404]

I reckon that's a 30 min painful cycle versus a 2-3 hour painful wait in the dark. I would have left the rope till later though!

[@kiefmanning7394]

Definitely the duck sized horses. Thanks for the story.

[@bullionsean456]

Wow, talk about an EPIC

[@semmtexx]

Man what a story!

[@user-ec7oe1bl8y]

So you fell from a metre or two, 6 months recovery, your friend fell from the top and 4 days recovery. Crazy how it can turn out.

[@mattgesner1996]

Class act

[@gigantius2]

Anyone know where this beach is? Captions tell me "Benny insurance" haha

[@CerealGamingTV]

binnein shuas

[@mills593593]

10 duck sized horses, anyday of the week!

[@PO53286G]

What jacket are you wearing Dave? Do they still make it or a similar product?

[@climbermacleod]

That one isn't actually made any more. But I'd recommend two similar jackets which I love: www.mountain-equipment.co.uk/switch-jacket And this new one which is super light but has a hood www.mountain-equipment.co.uk/kinesis-jacket

[@PO53286G]

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. I’ve been looking for something like this and for ages. Keep up the great content. Dave MacLeod

[@calnick0]

Great story! My most scared is being attacked by peregrine falcons two pitches up! They ripped my shirt open and scratched me.

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

I was attacked by only one...but it was 9 pitches up, and I had no rope, solo recon of a 5.9. Another climber died soloing it a few years later.

[@calnick0]

@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 yeah, I don't freesolo.

[@paulmitchell5349]

As a cat, Masa has had 6 lives so far.

[@DrewWithington]

I think you could be a raconteur as well as a pro climber!

[@neilreading990]

What is the top that you are wearing

[@climbermacleod]

Sorry Neil its an older model Mountain Equipment don't make anymore. The most similar thing that's new is the Kinesis Jacket. www.mountain-equipment.co.uk/kinesis-jacket I first got one right after I shot this video and its now my favoured soft shell lightweight top for trad climbing and mid layer for winter stuff.

[@theunaphotobomber]

Was this before or after you decided to free solo 5.14? Because rock breaking at 1 meter and still causing that sort of damage MUST make you consider the possibilities when you're in the no fall zone...

[@Leo-ry6zh]

Damn, have you seen touching the void? I don’t mean to dampen your story but that was hella scary

[@ToppaliniTube]

i guess your good luck transferred to him as you took a small fall and broke a leg, and he took a free solo fall and just ended up bruised

[@DrewWithington]

I think what happened to your daughter must be every parent of a young child's nightmare.

[@1981stonemonkey]

What´s the most scared you´ve ever been in climbing? > That was actually right here, where I am stood just now... * Stands on a sandy beach *

[@stephenr80]

In spain we call after a finger injury xD

[@constantinosschinas4503]

Masa was lucky as lucky can be. But he should never go there anyway. You had a broken ankle, rope could be collected another day. Really bad decision that almost killed your friend. With all the respect.

[@nathanballentyne]

Strongest dad in the world?

[@balke7935]

First :o)