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is technology making climbing safer

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jammasterjay 26 Feb 2003
Has technology made climbing safer?
How much does it reduce the risks involved?
Would the boundaries have been pushed so far without technology?
Technology V Experience or a combination of both?
Woker 26 Feb 2003
In reply to jammasterjay:
Ofcourse it has made it safer not only can we place more but it's also more likely to be relieble, especially with all this 3 sigma rated gear etc. In the old days the moto of the climbers pushing the limits was more akin to that of ice climbing.... Don't fall. Nowadaze I climb with people who if they've placed good gear will treat it like a sports climb, and may actually let go of the rock and take deliberate falls rather than cling on for dear life.

As for would the boundaries have been pushed so far, well probably as the top end stuff is often very under protected and dangerous anyway. I think there would be less moderate climbers tho', who basically want a fun safish experience, and this would in turn lead to less top end climbers but they would still exist, no doubt about that.
OP Rap fan 26 Feb 2003
In reply to jammasterjay: I thourght you had died.
OP Anonymous 26 Feb 2003
In reply to Rap fan: oh no! he's risen from the grave & is posting on internet forume! Arghhh!!
 JDDD 26 Feb 2003
In reply to jammasterjay: As ever, the technology has never been better but alas, it is only as good as the person who uses it.
James Jackson 26 Feb 2003
In reply to jammasterjay:

I think technology has made some things safer, but also helped push the boundarys so that thing that were considered impossible are now considered possible but dangerous... Like relying on a Wild Country Zero to protect a move for example...
Futureboy 26 Feb 2003
In reply to jammasterjay:
I would say the combination of technology, incresaing standards and experience means that climbing is no less safe than it ever was...
People climb harder and more dangerous routes than their predecessors, hence the risks are similar?
Another factor is increased participationn and ease of transport to the crag meaning more accidents, but I wonder if the rate is similar when compared to the number of people indulging?
Hmm.
OP Woker 26 Feb 2003
In reply to Futureboy:
However people can now climb very technicaly hard routes which can be well protected, problem is that as climbs get harder the proportion of well protected climbs gets less. I think people rely on their gear more now which will always tend to lead to more accidents, sure the old school guys had more balls but relied on gear less, and worked there way up to harder climbing very slowly, maybe that's why there are more accients now. If more of us climbed with the old school mentality I think there would be less accidents per 100 climbers nowadays than there were then.
Futureboy 26 Feb 2003
In reply to Woker: Yeah, good point. I remember learning to trust gear very quickly one year after a few terrifying lobs. It got to the point where I was almost blase about falling on gear till I nerly decked it after a piece ripped! I was a bit more wary after that.
It also means an continuing incresae in accidents per 100 as people search out new lines which are often more poorly protected but of similar difficulty to "yesterday's" testpieces.
 Ken McCulloch 26 Feb 2003
In reply to jammasterjay:
No doubt about it. When I were a lad in the 60s we had no harnesses, just 'waist-lines', a few slings and heavy steel krabs, climbing boots made from rubber with much less friction than even the least sticky of todays. Big innovations have been: small wired nuts in the 70s enabling you to place pro in thin cracks that only a peg could have been used in before that; camming devices which if todays climbers were deprived of we would miss a lot, and the aforementioned sticky shoes. We are less likely to fall off a given climb, thanks to those shoes, and if we do chances are it's now a good deal more protectable than 30 years ago.
Removed User 26 Feb 2003
In reply to Ken McCulloch:

Better protection and good harnesses are only a part of it.

Sticky rubber and chalk probably add a couple of grades to most folks standards (try padding up the first pitch of the Long Reach in a pair of EB's with sweaty palms if you're at all doubtful).

In Winter curved, then bananna picks have made a huge difference along with better crampons and boots. Better clothing has also allowed folk to climb harder in bad weather.
Dave Collier 26 Feb 2003
In reply to Removed User:

And of course we've all learned the lessons of everyones past mistakes so it's safer that way too....

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