Echo Wall | E11 Trad climb at Ben Nevis

United Kingdom / Scotland / Highland Council
UKClimbing.com

Echo Wall is a near-mythical hard trad climb located high on Ben Nevis and established by Dave MacLeod in July 2008. It is an incredibly bold route, featuring climbing around 8c in a position where falling off could result in a 20m ground fall. Once the main difficulties are done, the route's 70m length requires the leader to untie and solo the more moderate ground to the top.

The route was ungraded by MacLeod, prompting rife speculation about its difficulties. He later said it could be around E10 [1], but second ascensionist James Pearson reckoned it was more like hard E11.

The route has a tough three-hour walk-in, with a solo up Tower Ridge (VD) necessary to access the top of the route. Its location in a high mountain environment necessitates some extreme tactics to make the most of the fleeting season. While working on the first ascent, MacLeod would hike to the top of the route and shovel massive amounts of snow off the top to minimise the meltwater runoff and maximise the number of days he could spend working it over the season.

In training for his ascent, Dave famously soloed Darwin Dixit (8b+) in Margalef, graded 8c at the time and one of the physically hardest solos in the world at that point.

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWAzUOvDEI

[2] https://www.mntnfilm.com/en/film/echo-wall-2008

Contributors
50 contributions since 6th January 2021.
TdG
10 contributions since 29th August 2025.

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Ascents

2 successful ascents recorded.

Climber Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
First ascent. Belayed by Kev Shields.

Claire Macleod:

I could see he was looking over at me, just before the unprotected section. I didn't know if something was wrong, it scared me to think of what he wanted to say to me. It was really hard to keep filming the crux.

Dave:

I need to have no thoughts in my head at all but I couldn't help myself looking over to Claire filming. I felt I only just had enough strength left for the crux but I knew I could fall as well. I could accept that risk but it felt really hard to be sure at that moment with Claire there to see the outcome. [2]

On the grade:

Do you see my problem? I am uncomfortable with the feeling of grades advancing too quickly due to overgrading, but on the other hand feel that Echo Wall might well earn a laughable quanta of E points over anything else I’ve done, based on the way the E scale has been used traditionally over the past couple of decades. I just don’t know. [1]

References

[1] https://davemacleod.blogspot.com/2008/10/grade-of-echo-wall.html

[2] https://www.davemacleod.com/shop/echowall

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/CjnyVzUIpsl/

[4] https://www.instagram.com/p/C4IODTqo8Oh/

[5] SMCJ Number 200 – Vol 40 - 2009
Second ascent. 8 sessions. Harder than Lexicon. Easier than Bon Voyage.

The long awaited second ascent.

Over the days to come, I realised that linking things together would be a lot harder, but inversely my feelings about the protection gradually improved. It’s a very intimidating place to climb, and you often have to deal with less than perfect conditions. In general, it’s really easy to overgrip and waste energy on the route, and the key to eventually being able to link everything together was just spending time up there and allowing myself to slowly feel more comfortable and confident.

...

Apart from the bottom of the route being a lot wetter than ideal, forcing some last-minute sequence changes, and generally taking a lot more time than expected to place all of the gear, especially the aforementioned top cluster, which really tired me out by the time everything was in place, the lead went surprisingly smooth. I didn’t feel as fresh as I would have liked in order to make the top boulder feel relatively easy, but I also had a little margin still to give. [2]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/C-I5sSquqx9/

[2] Interview for Climber magazine, August 2024 https://www.climber.co.uk/news/james-pearson-talks-in-depth-about-the-second-ascent-of-echo-wall/

[3] Interview with Xa White for UKClimbing.com, August 2024 https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2024/08/james_pearson_on_his_repeat_of_echo_wall-73763

[4] https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_I19lHoCgi/

[5] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2024/08/james_pearson_shares_thoughts_on_echo_wall_suggests_hard_e11-73773