All photos copyright Hotaches, 2006

It’s been a few days now since I watched E11, the story of Dave MacLeod’s obsession, failures and final success on Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock in Scotland, a route considered to be the world’s hardest single pitch traditional climb. I thought I’d let my thoughts settle before writing this review.

To my mind, the sign of a good film is surely one which stays in your thoughts for some days after the viewing, memorable perhaps by way of a strong story line, or one which touches you on a more emotional or intellectual level. Over the last couple of days my thoughts have drifted back to the film on numerous occasions. The story line is good – following the trails and tribulations of a top climber and his two-year quest to climb a new line up the blank looking headwall at the infamous urban, grafittied Dumbarton Rock. The story encompasses not only his attempts, but the obsession which goes with trying a route of this level, the emotions of successes and failures, then blood curdling screams and injuries; the uncertainty of whether the line is possible at all.


Dave training on the door frame in his modest Dumbarton flat (the grunts from pulling hard made neighbours wonder what was going on in there!)

As the pressure of the climb builds so to does the pressure on Dave himself and on his relationship with his wife, Claire. During the filming Dave acknowledges that “basically this route’s totally taken over my life”, and there are some great extracts from Claire, who while being very supportive towards his overriding ambition, also openly admits that she was “beginning to lose the plot with him about it. You can tell he’s not really talking to you, he’s going through moves in his head and he just kinda glazes over in every waking moment and most of his sleeping moments”. As a viewer it occasionally felt as if I was prying into their private lives, watching them in their modest flat in Dumbarton, in bed, doing DIY and listening to their thoughts about their lives …. not quite Eastenders, but it has the same effect of making you feel you’re looking in on something that you maybe shouldn’t be – and leaving you wanting more!


Dave's wife, Claire, belaying and looking a tad concerned at her husband's rock antics!

When it comes to the actual climbing scenes, this is no slick movie about doing desperate moves and looking stylishly polished.


Dave moving smoothly through the crux moves on lead.

No! After a protracted effort of sussing the sequence, Dave finally top ropes it in one go. His revelation quickly turns to realisation of what this means when he remarks “now I’ve got to fuckin lead it!” From here on there’s slapping for finishing holds some 35 feet above his last runner, holds breaking, rp’s snapping, screamers, frustration, injuries and (look away) even some blood!


Paying the consequences of a bad fall - a knackered ankle meant a few days rest.

At times you almost wish he’d give up – you almost cannot bare to watch him taking another whipper (but he does, a huge number of them in fact) and after one fall from the finishing moves, yells out in frustration - “what the fuck do I have to do!”

Cubby capturing the fall on camera - one minute he was in the lens, the next a long way down!

It’s a serious undertaking and Dave soon decides to take a more cautious approach by wearing a helmet and on that very day he crashes violently into the wall saying afterwards “the helmet will be staying for forthcoming attempts”. There’s a superb long shot where you witness the true length of the falls he is taking – time to think! As Dave says humorously – “I’m definitely earning my 11 e-points”.


Whizzing through the air again - and looking surprisingly relaxed!

There is a high tension throughout the film but this is interrupted regularly by interviews with Claire, Cubby, comrade Niall McNair and Dave’s belayer. There are some nice touches such as a ‘live on-location’ rapper and some amusing scene setting snippets such as dogs playing catch with beer cans, grafitti spraying and the infamous Dumbarton youths (aka young Neds).


Dumbarton youths keen to get in on a bit of the action.

Then finally, on a cold April day on his10th lead attempt, Dave finally nails the route - Rhapsody E11 is in the bag! As the viewer I almost feel as ecstatic as him! Suddenly I realise I’ve been sitting tense in anticipation throughout the film….now I can breathe in and relax!

At last ...... SUCCESS!

Despite the fact we’ve all heard and read about Dave climbing E11, until you’ve watched the film you can’t really imagine what achieving that level really involves. This short film (41 minutes) does a fantastic job of following Dave on the eventual success of this monumental achievement and I would highly recommend it, regardless of what level you climb. It’s a great story of someone’s desire to succeed no matter what! Dave finishes by saying “I’m just totally relieved and looking forward to whatever’s next”. And I’m sure Claire just sighs in relief – life can be normal once again….until the next time….

I wonder if there will be a sequel?

Well! ‘Hats Off’ to Dave for doing the route and also ‘Hats Off’ to Paul Diffley and Dave Brown (Hot Aches) for their dedication toward filming it and sharing it with us. It took them over two years, 500 hours of editing from 50+ hours of footage but they’ve succeeded in producing a truly fine and memorable movie. As with Stone Monkey, I’m sure E11 will quickly become a classic.


The boys were kept busy in the editing room but it paid dividends!

Reviewed by Jo George, October 2006

INTERVIEW ON THE MAKING OF E11

Hot Aches is an Edinburgh based company comprising of two keen climbers and enthusiastic film makers, namely Dave Brown and Paul Diffley or “Diff”. Since they formed in 2003, the pair have made several films: Cavewoman (Banff and EMFF finalist); All Mixed Up and Fools With Tools. The duo are now focused full-time on the film and photography business.

Dave Brown acts as director and producer on many of the projects but is also an experienced cameraman and photographer. Dave has climbed for 18 years and has spent the majority of the last two years travelling and climbing abroad in Europe and North America.
Paul also directs, produces and shoots camera and is the main creative editor (this means he gets to suggest some whacky ideas!) ‘Diff’ is also a keen climber and mountain biker. His former career in IT has been left behind for a life of glamour and success!

Dave Brown relaxes on a rock trip abroad.

Paul Diff sitting it out on one of his many days filming of Rhapsody.

Jo: Dave and Paul firstly congratulations on this film, fantastic! - you must be very proud of it, and somewhat relieved that it’s in the bag?

Paul: Thanks Jo, we are both really pleased with the film. We had some pretty special footage and an amazing story, so the challenge was to do justice to it all in the final film.

Dave B: We managed to get it finished on schedule which was great, but the relief stage never really happens because you immediately move onto the worry stage of "what will people think of it?"

Jo: How long did filming take from start to finish?

Paul: We spent about 50 days filming, starting at the point that Dave seriously began to work the route and through to his success about a year later.

Jo: Were you there for every one of Dave’s lead attempts?

Dave B: We had to be there on every lead attempt no matter how difficult that was logistically. A film just wouldn’t be the same if you missed out on the day of success. It would impossible to re-create for the camera the genuine reactions and emotions from the occasion that Dave succeeded. In this case it would also be impossible to re-film the route in parts because the hardest section was so long and dangerous.

Paul: Absolutely, Dave MacLeod couldn’t wait around for a camera crew to be available. If he was feeling fit and the conditions were good he was going to have an attempt whether we where there or not. It certainly put some pressure on us. At the time I also had other work commitments and had to take a lot sick days. In fact by the spring my employer was becoming suspicious and I was considering inventing a more convincing illness which would require multiple days off… something like irritable bowel syndrome. Luckily for me and my bowel, Dave sent the route before it came to that.

Jo: How did you feel when you saw Dave’s first lead fall?

Paul: I can remember just thinking “Oh F*ck!” but I was also concentrating on my camera work, trying to keep him in frame. I think watching events through a viewfinder gives you a slightly detached perspective. As Dave continued to take falls it became harder and harder to watch.

Jo: Did you ever feel you could be putting Dave off (by that I mean perhaps making him lose concentration or putting added pressure on him) by having a camera pointing at him on these serious attempts?

Dave B. We talked to Dave about this. He says that he sometimes finds photographers distracting because they are moving around and clicking away, but film cameras are different because they are a bit further away and also the filming operation is silent and not moving around much. I suppose that we were also a permanent feature on this route so it became quite normal.

Paul: I'm not sure about pressure, I think Dave wanted to succeed so much that a camera crew didn't really add to it.

Jo: Did you have a storyline prepared before you started filming, or did the story emerge as you filmed it?

Dave B: Paul wrote an initial screenplay for the film with some valuable help from a North Face scholarship to the film school at Banff. It might sound strange to people that a documentary has a script in advance but it is really important to plan a film otherwise you end up missing shots that you will need.

Paul: After the initial plan the story obviously evolved but it was very much the structure that we had wanted.

Jo: Whose idea was it to get a live rapper in? (nice touch).

Dave B: All the creative flair in the E11 is very much from Paul. He has lots of crazy ideas, but rather than thinking ‘your mad’ we go along and film it and most of the time it works and makes it into the final edit.

Paul: Glad you liked the Rapper. I had planned to use some of MC Hasta’s music from early on in the film’s production as it fitted well with the urban feel of Dumbarton Rock. He does make one or two appearances on screen in different scenes during the film.

Jo: It’s good to see more Scottish climbers being shown on film now. Why did you choose to film Dave in particular, was it him as a climber or his attempt on this climb that captured your imagination? Do you think it’ll make the rest of the country wake up to what’s happening in Scotland now?

Dave B. We have been filming quite a number of climbers from Scotland, as have some other film-makers. Dave is just one of several that are doing interesting stuff to a high standard. His objective to climb Rhapsody of course really stood out and fired the imagination though.

Paul: The film was originally to be about the route and what it takes to climb at the top level. But inevitably this then becomes about the climber as well.

Dave B: We didn’t set out to make any statement about Scottish climbing, We simply had a good story to tell. However I think that inevitably the film will increase the interest in what is happening in Scotland. It is curious that most are the hardest trad. first ascents and repeats in the last few years have been away from the grit, in Scotland and The Lakes, courtesy of Daves; MacLeod and Birkett.

Jo: What were you trying to achieve/capture in this film?

Paul: This is very much a study of "what does it take to climb such a hard route?" I guess that people will judge to what extent we achieved this objective. We also set out to make the film accessible to a wider audience rather than just climbers, but without detracting from it being a good climbing film.

Jo: Paul did you and Dave have similar ideas on how to edit the film, or did you both have to give and take a bit?

Paul: One person leads and owns each film project otherwise you would go around in circles. The other person is heavily involved in reviewing and suggesting ideas and that works well.

Jo: How much time was spent in the editing room?

Paul: I’d say at about 500 hours, maybe many more. We had well over 50 hours of footage.(see pic) which is a lot to work through. In the past I’ve always had to fit editing around other work commitments. This time I could focus fully and was editing fairly solidly from June to September.

Jo: Which is your most memorable part of the film?

Paul: My favourite scene is where Dave hobbles back home from the crag and tries to down-play the extent of his injuries from his wife, Claire.

Dave B: For me the brief clips of Claire were tremendous. Her comments really added a whole extra dimension to the film.

Jo: How is the film being accepted by the media/ press?

Dave B. Since we launched the trailer on Planet Fear the amount of interest has been quite staggering. At this stage it is a bit early to say, but the initial reviews of the film have been really good so we are quite hopeful that it will go down well.

Jo: What is your personal favourite climbing film(s) and why? (both answer please)

Paul: I'm a big fan of Stone Monkey; great sound track, some awesome climbing and Johnny is such an engaging character on screen. I'm also a big fan of the work of Alastair Lee & David Halsted. I think 'Storms the Movie' is comic genius.

Dave B. For me it has to be Slackjaw’s Hard Grit for many reasons. It set a new standard in climbing films which really hasn’t been surpassed in the decade since. The film also had a big impact on me at the time as a climber. It was a complete revelation to witness the strange world of hard climbing and it is the only film that I regularly re-watch.

Jo: Are you working on any new films now, any future plans?

Dave B: Several film projects are at various stages of progress at the moment. We plan to bring out one or two main films a year. We have some superb footage already so the next six months are a busy time for filming in order to bring one or two to completion. These projects range from trad and sport climbing, winter climbing and also some other ‘adventure sports’.

Jo: Which film festivals are you taking the film to?

Paul: The first screening is at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival on October 21st. This is of course our 'home festival' so we'll have at lot of friends and folk who contributed to the film attending. I'm really looking forward to hearing the collective reaction of 500 people to some of the more 'exciting footage'.

We are also taking the film to Banff in November, which is always a great buzz to attend. After that it will also show at Kendal, which has the best party of them all.

E11 on sale from 21st October. To buy the DVD visit http://www.hotaches.com