How can an average climber do the hardest route in the world? Dave MacLeod wasn’t even the best among his fellow rock climbers in Glasgow, until a sequence of key decisions and influences catalysed his progression from an unremarkable intermediate to one of the best all-round climbers in the world. Dave shows that much of his advantage came from easily trainable skills or behavioural traits that could be replicated by any climber.

Moving the Needle is a story of the ups and downs of a struggle to answer a deep curiosity and its side effect of making the first ascent of Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, then the hardest trad climb in the world and the first to earn the grade of E11. Through an autobiographical exploration of his apprenticeship as a climber, the book is intended to function as a guide to transform your own climbing.

Moving the Needle is a large format, full colour hardcover book with 278 pages and 143 colour photographs, with a foreword from Dave Cuthbertson, and edited by Deziree Wilson. All copies sold from davemacleod.com are signed by Dave MacLeod and if buying as a gift, feel free to ask for a personal message in the special instructions field at checkout.

The book will release in the autumn and will shortly go to the printers. Claire and I would be so grateful if you would consider pre-ordering rather than waiting until it releases because that will help us judge how many books to print. As a thank you for the support, I’m going to add an invite in your order confirmation email to a live online Q&A session after the book releases. As you read it, please do think of questions you have about how to adapt my experience onto your climbing.

We ship to most countries worldwide. Choose your country from the dropdown menu on the checkout page and shipping options will update automatically. Any additional items ordered at the same time will be shipped with Moving the Needle when stock arrives.