UKC

Yesterday Alan Little wrote on another topic:

"I knew at least half a dozen people who led E1 within their first year *thirty bloody years ago*. (Sadly I personally wasn't one of them) Gear was crap then and so were training facilities."

I was about to reply but then thought a new topic might be more appropriate. It seems to me that the really big advances in trad climbing gear actually happened more than 30 years ago.

When I started in the late 60's we had no harnesses, no belay plates, no sticky rubber, no chalk, no climbing walls, no Friends and no sets of nuts we would recognise today. By 1984 we had all of these. Since then, the advances have been merely incremental rather than revolutionary.

I wonder what the next really big step change might be?

In reply to Martin Hore:

You probably missed the most significant change - ropes.

In reply to Martin Hore:

Photo topo Guide Books? from 2000 (ish) onwards?

Personal airbags for high ball problems

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

But those high ball problems were being done well before bouldering mats. Surely they are just for softies?

There is a superb photo of Jerry Moffat soloing Ulyses at Stanage from above in my copy of On Peak Rock. You can clearly see the beer mat below protecting any fall he might have had. I doubt there were even any spotters when the photo was taken.

In reply to Martin Hore:


A new type of nuts using a shape memory alloy that moulds exactly to any crack, no matter what the shape, and can be released at the touch of a button (presumably with some safe guard! lol)?

In reply to GrahamD:


I'm pretty sure my first leads (1968 or so) were on fairly modern-looking kernmantel ropes. Yes, I was top-roping southern sandstone prior to that on some hemp or even polypropylene ropes that we certainly wouldn't recognise as fit for purpose today.

In reply to Sandstone Stickman:


Yes, I think I agree with you on that one. Much easier now there's no excuse for going off-route (provided someone hasn't miss-drawn the topo of course.

In reply to Martin Hore:
Good question.

I actually started climbing by soloing in a local quarry in plimmies. This was in the late 70s, so I'm probably one of the last.

The big things that were happening around that time were: widespread use of chalk; the introduction of camming devices; second generation rock boots; belay devices; climbing walls.


I'd say you're right. Lots of incremental improvement since, but no really radical innovations.

A 2.5 Friend was one of my early gear purchases, but for a long time it was also my only camming device . "Quantity has a quality all of its own" though, and the complete set of cams from 10mm upwards that I now possess, with doubles if I can be bothered to carry them, does make life a lot easier than one cam and a few hexes.

Similarly, Fires were better than EBs and Miuras are better still, but probably not as much of a jump as from plimmies to EBs.

The Sticht Plate had just come into general use, and until/unless assisted locking devices become common for trad I'd say nothing much has changed there.

Climbing walls were rudimentary compared to today's, but I'd almost say brick edge traversing - if your finger tendons survive it - is more relevant training for rock than plastic blob dyno-ing. Crimpy round-about-vertical is the only style in which I can sometimes burn Kids These Days off at bouldering walls.

The NEXT big thing? Dunno. Something similar to avalanche airbags but with helium, eliminating the need for ropes etc. entirely?

In reply to Martin Hore:

Bouldering mats? when I were a lad it were a one foot square bit of carpet and be done with it!
I've been around on and off for 30 years. the biggest advances in gear and standards came just before my time but of course I was around through the early advancements and improvments. The biggest change came IMO was when climbers lost the fear of falling. Ropes/harness/reliable gear such as wires, cams, crabs and of course the stitch plate, added together these bits and bobs let the leader push harder than ever before and the second could catch the falling leader, often and in safety.
Its interesting that a crab in say '85 cost about 4 quid. A lot of money. 30 years later and a lighter, stonger and better crab costs about 4 quid! Mad isn't it?!

In reply to AlanLittle:

I have a few bits that have survived the years - 1 croft B3 stickie shoe, my karrimor hot ice 30 and my camp 'tuber' single or double rope belay device. You words about climbing walls took me back to the corridor at Belper. i always prefered to outdoors though and used black rocks for bouldering <although it was called messing about then!> or low level traversing at Whillersley. Happy days

In reply to Martin Hore:

At least for trad, the issue is that leading is 'all in the head'. What percentage of trad leads logged on this site (i.e., covering the full range of abilities) would have involved falls? Very few. If you don't fall then all the nut, friends, ropes, harness advantages are purely psychological. And I suspect that mentally we are no tougher (able to cope with stress) today than we were thirty years ago. Probably the opposite. I use 'we' loosely, of course.