Traditional climbing

With the greater popularity of sport climbing, traditional climbing evolved to embrace some of its redpointing techniques in making a first free ascent (FFA). The previously controversial practices of hangdogging (i.e. practicing on an abseil rope), and headpointing (i.e. practicing on a top rope) are now accepted by the leading traditional climbers.[3][4] Traditional climbers subsequently introduced the derived term "greenpointing" (or the Grünpunkt movement, as a play on the sport climbing Rotpunkt movement), to describe making the first free ascent of a pre-bolted sport-climb, but only using "traditional protection".[5][6]

Traditional climbers carrying the protection equipment needed for their traditional climb

Traditional climbing requires more rock climbing equipment than sport climbing as the lead climber needs to carry, and insert, protection devices as they climb the route. The choice of equipment carried will depend on the type of route being attempted. Some of the most difficult and dangerous traditional routes (e.g. Indian Face or Master's Edge) offer very little opportunity to insert protection into the rock, and thus the lead climber carries very little protective equipment. Classic traditional climbs often involve crack climbing (e.g. Separate Reality) that offers greater opportunity for inserting protection — into the crack itself — and the lead climber will carry a lot more equipment to secure their safety.[1][2]

Two main classes of protection are used in traditional climbing, namely: "passive" and "active". Passive protection devices include nuts, hexcentrics and tricams, and are metal shapes attached to wires or slings, which can be inserted into cracks and fissures in the rock that will act like temporary sport climbing bolts (to which quickdraws and the rope can be clipped into). Active protection consists of spring-loaded camming devices (or "friends"), which are cams that dynamically adjust to the size of the crack or fissure in the rock, but also act like temporary sport climbing bolts.[1][2]

Traditional climber inserting protection while leading a crack climb in Yosemite

Traditional climber leading Coyne Crack (5.11+), Indian Creek; the crack offers lots of opportunity for inserting climbing protection

The traditional climber has two key concerns when placing protection equipment during the climb.

The first concern is the quality of the protection placements. Where the placements are considered good and will hold the climber in the event of a major fall, they are called "bomb-proof" (i.e. they behave just like pre-drilled bolts). However, when the placements are poor, and there is uncertainty that they will hold in the event of a major fall — risking a "zipper-fall" — they are described as "thin".[13] For example, when Johnny Dawes freed the traditional climb Indian Face (E9 6c) in 1986, the protection was so thin, Dawes assumed if he fell, the protection would rip out, and he would fall to his death.[14]

The other concern is the distance between the protection placements. Where there are many protection placements with small gaps between them (e.g. 2 to 3 metres), then any fall will be short and less onerous; even if one placement fails/rips-out, there are more placements that might still hold. However, large gaps between placements — known as a "run out" — means that any fall will be larger and will place more pressure on the existing placements to hold the fall. Famous extreme traditional climbs such as Master's Edge (E7 6c) and Gaia (E8 6c) have notorious run-outs, where even if the protection holds, the falling climber has a high chance of hitting the ground, as spectacularly shown in the notable 1998 traditional climbing film, Hard Grit.[15][16]

To reflect the greater risk of traditional climbing routes over sport climbing routes, an additional grade is often added to the route's grade of technical difficulty (i.e. how hard are the individual moves) to reflect the risks. In the United Kingdom, this is known as the "adjectival" grade (Diff, VDiff, HS, VS, HVS, E1 to E11). In the United States, it takes the form of a suffix (PG — be careful, R — fall will cause injury, R/X — fall will cause serious injury, X — fall likely to be fatal).[17]

Before the emergence of sport climbing in the early 1980s, almost all new grade milestones in rock climbing were set by traditional climbers.[9][18] By the end of the 1970s, male traditional climbers were climbing to 5.13a (7c+) with Tony Yarino's Grand Illusion,[9] while female traditional climbers were climbing to 5.12d (7c), with Lynn Hill on Ophir Broke.[18] During the early 1980s, leading European traditional climbers like Jerry Moffatt and Wolfgang Güllich changed to sport climbing, in which all future new grade milestones would be established.[18] Moffatt's last major traditional FFA was Master's Wall (E7 6b) in 1984, where he said afterward: "At that time to be respected, you really had to be putting up really scary new [traditional] routes. That was where it was at, in Britain at least. Master's Wall is probably where I risked most".[19]

While the status of traditional climbing waned during the rise of the safer disciplines of sport climbing (and its related sport of competition climbing), and latterly bouldering, contemporary traditional climbers continued to set new "traditional climbing" grade milestones. By 2023, the strongest male (e.g. Jacopo Larcher and Ethan Pringle) and female traditional climbers (e.g. Beth Rodden and Hazel Findlay) were climbing to approximately the same grade of circa 8c+ (5.14c). In contrast, the strongest male sport climbers (e.g. Adam Ondra and Seb Bouin) were climbing at 9c (5.15d), and the strongest female sport climbers (e.g. Angela Eiter and Laura Rogora) were climbing at 9b (5.15b).

As of 2021, the following traditional routes (not sport climbing routes) are considered to be some of the hardest-ever ascended:[20][21]

• Tribe (ungraded, but possibly 5.14d or harder) in Cardarese, Italy, first free ascent (FFA) by Jacopo Larcher in 2019.[20][21][22]

• Blackbeard’s Tears (5.14c, 8c+) at Redwood, USA, FFA by Ethan Pringle in 2016.[20][21][23]

• Meltdown (5.14c, 8c+) in Yosemite, USA, FFA (and FFFA) by Beth Rodden in 2008.[20][21][24]

• Pura Pura (5.14c, 8c+) in Orco Valley, Italy, FA by Tom Randall in 2014.[20][21][25]

• Recovery Drink (5.14c, 8c+) in Jøssingfjord, Norway, FA by Nico Favresse in 2013.[20][21][26]

• Rhapsody (E11 7a, 5.14c R/X, 8c+) in Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, FA by Dave MacLeod in 2006.[21][27]

• Magic Line (5.14c, 8c+) in Yosemite, pinkpointed by Ron Kauk in 1996, redpointed by Lonnie Kauk in 2018, FFFA by Hazel Findlay in 2019.[21][28]

• Century Crack (5.14b, 8c) in Canyonlands, Utah, FA by Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker in 2011.[20][21][29]

• Cobra Crack (5.14b/c, 8c) in Squamish, British Columbia, FA by Sonnie Trotter in 2006.[20][21][30]

• Echo Wall (5.14b, 8c) on Ben Nevis, Scotland, first ascent by Dave MacLeod in 2008.[20][31][21]