The 24/8 Challenge - Dave MacLeod

The 24/8 Challenge - Dave MacLeod

Dave MacLeod is probably our top male climbing hero and this amazing film sums up why. 

Dave MacLeod set himself the challenge to complete 5 different climbing disciplines-all at a very high grade all in 24 hours. This included the following:

- 8a Boulder route

- 8a Sport climbing route

- E8 Trad climbing route

- Grade 8 Winter Climbing route 

- 8 Munros 

The 24/8 is therefore essentially- all the grade eights in a day. 

The very fact that he can do all these disciplines at such a high grade alone is super impressive- never mind trying to do them all in one day. The other difficulty with doing a challenge like this is having all the routes 'in condition' in one single day. MacLeod stated that in the past 10 years the routes have probably only been in condition for 4-5 days during that time. 

On March 19th 2018 the conditions looked spot on so he went for it- watch and enjoy coverage of this epic feat in true MacLeod humble style!

Also be sure to check out Dave MacLeod's website here. He creates brilliant blogs and vlogs for climbers and mountaineers that will inspire you to push your grade and get out on the rock! 

The routes MacLeod completed during the challenge were all in Scotland in the Glen Nevis / Fort William area near where he lives. It's an area that we, along with MacLeod know and love and every time we watch this film it makes us want to go back! 

Here are some photos of the individual routes Macleod completed in 24/8 challenge:

 Cameron Stone Arete Boulder Route (8A+/V12)

Leopold Sport Climbing Route (8a/5.13b)

Misadventure Trad Climbing Route (E8/5.13c)

Frosty's Vigill Ice Climbing Winter Route (VIII, 8) 

8 Munro's (all above 3000ft) 

If you enjoyed this film you must check out Echo Wall on MacLeod's website here. Echo Wall is probably one of the hardest trad routes in the UK. I went passed it last year whilst doing Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis and it looks ridiculously hard. 

Another fantastic film McLeod has created is The Long Hope climbing film (which probably should have a blog post of it's own- I will add it to the list!). The Long Hope is a 1150 foot E11 Trad climb on the Island of Hoy. It was first climbed in 1970 by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill taking them 7 days. The Long Hope film follows McLeod's attempt at climbing the route in one day with the hardest pitch being right at the end of the climb. 

Enjoy and keep an eye out on our recommended adventure films of the website where we will regularly uploading inspirational outdoor films like this. You can also subscribe to our updates at the bottom of our home page.