8B+ by Dave MacLeod (39)

Dave MacLeod, one of the best multi discipline climbers, has done the second ascent of Malcolm Smith's Gutbuster at Dumby from 2010 and here is his report. As always interesting reading Dave's thought about his send that started with some hard tries ten years ago. In September, he separated his shoulder and then he had some sessions in November where he understood he needed to build up his strength. On his second session the last week it was snowing. "On the third try a full on blizzard started while I was on the shakeout. My hands went numb and I fell off Sanction, but even if I hadn’t, the top holds were full of snow and I’d never have made it through. I retreated to the cafe for a brew while the snow raged and then returned and brushed the snow off the holds. But it was getting dark and getting silly." Anyhow, on his "last go" he could not see one foothold in the gloom and without taking off his shoes he started again and made it to the easy slab top out, "crimping the hell out of the damp snowy crimps. Getting off the boulder was even more of a gripper! The descent climb faced directly into the snow and was snow covered slippery death."