Die by the Drop | E10 Trad climb at Glen Shian

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I guess I was in the right frame of mind, so I led it anyway. Of course the inevitable happened and everything went wrong on the crux. I caught the thumb press but at the same time my toes seemed to buckle on a tiny smear and my body arched backwards. In that breath, I fully expected to fall. But at least I also fully accepted I was committed. So survival instinct could fully kick in and I pressed down into the crimp I’d locked to my knee level with strength you only get above an unprotected drop. That was enough to escape the impending splat and I pressed on, wobbling like jelly, all the way to the top. [1]

References

[1] https://davemacleod.blogspot.com/2010/11/die-by-drop-e10-7a.html

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/categories/trad_climbing/dave_macleod_-die_by_the_drop-_e10-409

There's two hard routes on that wall at Glen Shian - if you do the E7 Apophenia you touch the holds on the route beside it, if you do Die by the Drop and get it wrong you get your hands on Apophenia... I thought I can do them both if me skin's good. There's a flake at the bottom you can get a sling over and I was kind of balanced there on Die by the Drop getting a nut key behind on the lead and prized it open. I thought this is just ridiculous, so I put a Rock 3 up on the left which I can do one move to and I thought I know what will happen here: "He's done it with side runners." I thought well it's such a contrived mix up of a route so I thought I'll not bother talking about it because I didn't like the reports when I did Hold Fast (E9).

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/dave_birkett_the_weekend_warrior-8532