Traditional climbing
Traditional climbing is still the dominant format on longer multi-pitch routes, including alpine and big wall.
[10] Early traditional climbers relied on crude, and often unreliable, forms of homemade "passive" climbing protection such as pieces of metal or chockstones attached to slings.
[13] At this time, French climbers such as Patrick Edlinger began to pre-drill permanent masonry bolts into the almost "blank" faces of Buoux and Verdon for protection (but not as artificial aid); this became known as sport climbing.
The increased safety of pre-drilled bolts also led to the development and popularity of competition climbing and the emergence of the "professional" rock climber.
[16] In 2006, Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter greenpointed The Path (E9, 5.14a R, 8b+) to create one of the world's hardest traditional climbs at the time.
Trotter, and other leading 'trad' climbers such as Dave MacLeod, led a resurgence in traditional climbing by creating new grade milestones on routes such as Cobra Crack (E10, 5.14b, 8c) and Rhapsody (E11, 5.14c R/X, 8c+).
In 2023, when British climber James Pearson created one of the world's first E12 'trad' routes with Bon Voyage, the first repeat was by sport climbing legend, Adam Ondra.
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.
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).
Where these 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).
[24] For example, one of the most famous and dangerous extreme British traditional climbs is Johnny Dawes' 1986 route, Indian Face, which is graded E9 6c (instead of the normal E7 6c), or 5.13a X under the American system.
[30] 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.
In contrast, the strongest male sport climbers (e.g. Adam Ondra and Seb Bouin) were climbing two notches above the strongest female sport climbers (e.g. Angela Eiter and Laura Rogora) at 9c (5.15d) versus 9b (5.15b) As of 2024, the following traditional routes are considered to be some of the hardest-ever ascended:[32][33] A number of notable films have been made focused on traditional climbing including:[44]
