Dave MacLeod Metalcore 8c+ first ascent

There seems to be no stopping Dave Macleod at the moment: on 02/05 the Scotsman made the first ascent of Metalcore F8c+ at The Anvil, an enormous freestanding schist boulder at Lochgoilhead, north of Glasgow.

The route takes the line of Body Swerve (an 8c in its own right first ascended by Macleod in 2006) before following a crackline to the lip of the roof. The Scotsman first bolted the project in 2004 but it wasn't until last week when all things finally slipped into place, third redpoint of the day, to stick the elusive finishing dyno.

Metalcore weighs in as Scotland's hardest sports route and after Rhapsody (at E11 7a Scotland's hardest trad route) is the nth confirmation of Macleod's motivation, focus and all-round talent.