Dave MacLeod makes third ascent of Lexicon
- Wednesday 6th April 2022
Dave MacLeod has made the third ascent of Lexicon (E11 7a), Neil Gresham’s Pavey Ark test-piece.
As reported, the honour of the second ascent of Lexicon went to Steve McClure, although not until he’d taken the monster lob off the headwall! However, as one of the UK best all-round climbers, Dave MacLeod’s long association with hard trad climbing arguably put him front and centre as one of the climbers most likely to get do an early repeat of the Gresham test-piece.
This chapter of the Lexicon story started the moment Dave MacLeod read about Gresham’s first ascent. MacLeod explains in his extensive write-up on his blog, “I glanced at my feed and saw that Neil Gresham had climbed a new E11 on Pavey Ark. I stopped what I was doing and read the whole article about Neil’s new route Lexicon instantly. There was no point kidding myself on, I might as well decide right now that I would be travelling to the Lakes next week.”
Having previously climbed Impact Day, Dave Birkett’s route on the same wall as Lexicon, MacLeod had an excellent insight into how good the rock and the climbing would be on Lexicon, “I recalled the lovely rock on the wall and so the prospect of a route here with such a massive grade would surely present a brilliant climbing challenge.”
Having interviewed Neil Gresham for his YouTube channel, MacLeod was impressed with Neil Gresham’s achievement on the first ascent of Lexicon, not least his continued development as a climber into his forties and fifties. MacLeod talks about this on his blog, “I’ve spent many years studying physiology and so of course I know that this is possible. But possible and actually doing it are two very different things. Almost no-one does it because discarding habits, forcing new ones, breaking glass ceilings of your own making and essentially reinventing yourself is not easy. You need to be driven by something to make this happen. I suspected that perhaps the quality of the climbing on this wall might have been a significant driver for Neil. If it was as good as it sounded, I too could let myself become locked in to the one-way journey of obsession, starting with the M6 south.”
Motivation duly established, MacLeod doubled-down on the job in hand. Anyone that follows him on-line knows that MacLeod is one of the more analytical and methodical climbers operating at the highest levels. Within a week MacLeod was working Lexicon on a top rope; coincidently MacLeod’s first day on the job was the day that Steve McClure took his 70-footer lob. Undeterred by McClure’s massive fall, MacLeod set to work beginning by crafting a sequence that best suited him. Despite being hampered by an on-going elbow injury MacLeod repeatedly made the long journey south to work the route and refine his beta. By November, MacLeod had linked Lexicon several times on a top-rope and although recovering from the elbow injury was forced to end his 2021 campaign due to wet conditions; hardly surprising given winter was knocking on the door by that stage! Characteristically however, MacLeod had established his game-plan and had a clear way forward.
After a very successful winter training campaign MacLeod – having recovered from the elbow injury – bouldered hard and racked-up the endurance training on his home board. Finally, MacLeod returned to Pavey in the good weather of late March and began the process or ramping-up his spring campaign. As well as using different move beta to that which both Gresham and McClure had used, MacLeod opted to use a small BD nut and skyhook on the big runout on the headwall. Both Gresham and McClure had ignored the possibility of these additional “marginal” gear placements preferring to press-on through the hard, pumpy climbing instead. Although having the obvious psychological advantage of reducing the run-out MacLeod’s gear required considerable effort to place, effort that not only interupted the climbing but was physically and mentally draining to place. To assist, McLeod “racked” the nut and skyhook to his harness using Velcro and pre-clipped it to his lead rope so that he could place the two pieces as quickly as possible.
The day of MacLeod’s successful ascent the un-seasonally warm sun had heated the rock up making it “too warm”. Nevertheless MacLeod stayed focused, determined to get the job done if the conditions improved. Finally, he committed. He explains how his ascent unfolded at length on his blog.
“I worked my way up the E6 lower wall and arranged the gear at an awkward kneebar. I hate the delay of lingering on rests on trad routes. Where the rest is purely about putting off the inevitable, I tend to just rally and want to force the outcome. I committed by vocalising a little announcement to Natalie; ‘climbing’ and pulled up on the little undercut. As I took the hold after the sloper, a little sidepull right in front of your face, I clocked the sweat on my fingertips. ‘Don’t go any higher’. The nut went in okay, but I was barn-dooring badly while trying to detach the skyhook from fresh velcro. ‘Get it in and then just grab it’. With the runners in, I relieved the left hand and chalked up, noting that to my surprise the left arm was not pumped. A distracted thought flashed across my mind ‘training fucking works!, that’s cool!’ Back in the present, my feet were somehow already built up level with the skyhook and I was leaving it behind. ‘What are you doing? Don’t go any higher. Grab that skyhook’. ‘Oh fuck sake Dave as if you were ever going to grab the bloody runner. Forget that. Feel that breeze. You’re here, you’ve got a partner to belay and you’ve linked it ten times. Just climb another ten moves and don’t let go of that slot at the end’.
By the time that little conversation was over I had the crimp in the groove and was carefully stuffing the back three fingers into the shallow pocket where Steve fell. ‘Oh yes, this spot feels just as high and lonely as I thought it would. Might as well enjoy the mad position, it’s too late for doing anything else. Regardless of the outcome, you’re only going to be here for a second or two’. Setting up for the lunge to the slot, I felt all in the wrong place, my feet were numb and body too tense. I felt like all my weight was on the tiny crimps and was pulling like hell on them. But I also felt I had a lot of power on them. Time to use it! It wasn’t pretty, but I grabbed the slot with a deep grunt. ‘Massive neural drive’ as my muscle physiology lecturer used to say. It worked, with the consequence of a bit of shakiness as the neural drive spilled over on the easier last couple of moves. The security of the huge spiky jug at the top was so comforting, an unquestionable finish line from which you can finally let go of the ache.”
MacLeod’s third ascent of Lexicon is remarkable in a number of ways. At 43 he’s the youngest climber to have repeated it. His third ascent signifies that the hard trad scene is as buoyant as ever and that the top climbers are keen to get to grips and repeat hard new impressive routes. MacLeod’s analytical methodology shows that taking a targeted and individual approach can pay massive dividends for the right individual.
Whilst recognising that he hasn’t climbed all the hard routes in England and Wales MacLeod believes that Lexicon “is harder than any of them”. He goes on to say, “Neil’s effort climbing the first ascent is exceptional in my opinion. There are plenty of climbers who could do the moves on it, but I suspect the number who would actually lead it is rather small, at the moment at least.”
Read MacLeod’s account of his third ascent in full on his website blog here.