Rhapsody E11 7a

Rhapsody is a 35 meter traditional route up the northwest face of Dumbarton Rock, a basalt volcanic plug on the Clyde estuary in Scotland. It climbs a thin crack protected only by small wired nuts, then finishes with a bouldery crux far above that gear where a fall could mean a swing of 20 to 25 meters. Graded E11 7a, it was rated at French 8c+ (5.14c) technical difficulty, a combination of sustained hard climbing and minimal, consequential protection that made it Britain's first E11 and, at the time, the hardest traditional route in the world.

History

Dave MacLeod completed the first ascent on April 9, 2006, after roughly two years of effort on the line, including falls that left him injured. He later said he knew of no other trad route combining this level of danger with this level of difficulty. Sonnie Trotter made the second ascent in June 2008, followed within weeks by Steve McClure's third. James Pearson, who had publicly questioned MacLeod's proposed grade in 2008 without having climbed the route, made the fourth ascent in September 2014, an outcome widely read as a reconciliation with the wider climbing community. Jacopo Larcher climbed it fifth in May 2016. The E11 grade stood as a benchmark for over a decade before being surpassed by harder trad routes later.

On film

E11 (2006), by DangerTV, documents Dave MacLeod's ascent of Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock. The film covers the two year process behind the climb: working the thin crack and marginal gear, the falls taken along the way, and the April 2006 ascent that made Rhapsody the hardest traditional climb in the world at the time.