Traditional climbing

Traditional climbing (or trad climbing) is a type of free climbing in rock climbing where the lead climber places removable protection while simultaneously ascending the route; when the lead climber has completed the route, the second climber (or belayer) then removes this protection as they ascend the route. Traditional climbing differs from sport climbing where the protection equipment is already pre-drilled into the rock in the form of bolts.
Traditional climbing carries a much higher level of risk than bolted sport climbing as the climber may not have placed the protection equipment correctly while ascending the route, or there may be few opportunities to insert satisfactory protection (e.g. on very difficult routes). Traditional climbing was once the dominant form of free climbing but since the mid-1980s, sport climbing — and its related form of competition climbing — became more popular for single pitch, and all grade milestones from 8a+ (5.13c) onwards were on single-pitch sport routes.
From the early 2000s, there was a resurgence in interest in single-pitch traditional climbing as climbers began greenpointing sport routes (e.g. Greenspit and The Path), and setting new milestones for traditional routes (e.g. Cobra Crack at 8c (5.14b) by Sonnie Trotter, and Rhapsody at 8c+ (5.14c) by Dave MacLeod). Female climber Beth Rodden created a new traditional route at the same level as the men with Meltdown also at 8c+ (5.14c). In 2019, Jacopo Larcher created what is considered the first 9a (5.14d) graded traditional route with Tribe.
Traditional climbing is a form of free climbing (i.e. no artificial or mechanical device can be used to aid progression, unlike with aid climbing), which is performed in pairs where the lead climber places removable climbing protection into the route while ascending. After the lead climber has reached the top, the second climber (or belayer) removes this temporary climbing protection while climbing the route. Some consider the hammering in of pitons while climbing the route, as long as they are only for climbing protection and not to aid progression, to also be traditional climbing.
Traditional climbing differs from sport climbing that has in-situ climbing protection already pre-bolted into the route, and the lead climber just clips their rope, via quickdraws, into the bolts as they ascend. As a result, sport climbing is therefore a much safer, and less stressful, form of free climbing. Traditional climbing differs from free solo climbing where no climbing protection is used whatsoever.
With the greater popularity of sport climbing, traditional climbing evolved to embrace some of its redpointing techniques in qualifying a climb as 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.
From the early 21st century, traditional climbers began to introduce the derived term 'greenpointing' (or the Grünpunkt movement, as a play on the sport climbing Rotpunkt movement), to describe completing an ascent of an existing pre-bolted sport-climb but only using "traditional protection" (in some cases, the bolts would be physically removed or 'chopped', but not always).
As 20th-century rock climbers began to free climb (i.e. avoiding any form of aid), they often used traditional climbing techniques for protection. 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.
With the development of "active" traditional climbing protection in the 1970s—called spring-loaded camming devices (SLCDs, or "friends")—the grades of technical difficulty that traditional climbers could safely undertake on crack climbing routes increased dramatically, and new grade milestones were set on new traditional climbing routes. However, by the mid-1980s, the leading traditional climbers were again facing technical challenges with minimal possibilities for traditional climbing protection (i.e. face climbing routes with tiny or no cracks whatsoever in which to insert SLCDs), that required them to accept significant personal risks – Johnny Dawes's 1986 ascent of Indian Face being a notable example.
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. It led to a dramatic increase in climbing standards – all future new grade milestones would be set on sport climbing routes. 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. Sport climbing then became—and remains today—the most popular form of single-pitch rock climbing, although traditional climbing is still popular in multi-pitch climbing and in big wall and alpine climbing in particular.
Traditional returned to single-pitch prominence when in 2003, Swiss climber Didier Berthod greenpointed the bolted sport climb Greenspit (E9, 5.14, 8b) to create one of the hardest traditional crack routes in the world. 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+). The increased prominence of traditional climbing attracted the leading sport climbers who began to repeat—and create—major traditional routes (e.g. Ethan Pringle with BlackBeard's Tears and Beth Rodden with Meltdown). 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.
Traditional climbing requires more rock climbing equipment than sport climbing as the lead climber needs to carry, and insert, protection devices while climbing 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.
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.
The traditional climber has two key concerns, or areas of risk, when placing the protection equipment while leading the traditional route.
The first concern is related to the quality of the protection placements. 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). 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". 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 the ground.
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 opening sequence of the 1998 British climbing film, Hard Grit.
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).
The grading of traditional climbing routes starts with a sport climbing grade for the "technical difficulty", and an additional "risk grade" to reflect how hard the lead climber will find protecting the route while ascending. Some sport grading systems, particularly the French system (e.g. ... 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 7c, ...), offer no additional "risk grade", and are thus less likely to be used as traditional climbing grades (but may be quoted alongside one). The most dominant grading system for traditional climbing is the American system (e.g. ... 5.9, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10d, 5.11a, ...), which for traditional routes can add the "suffix" of "R" for risk of serious injury in any fall, or "X" for routes where a fall at a particular place, could be fatal (i.e. a "chop route"). For example, a famous but serious extreme North American traditional climb is Sonnie Trotter's 2007 route, The Path in Lake Louise, Alberta, which is graded 5.14a R.
One of the most detailed, and still widely used, traditional grading systems is the British E-grade (e.g. ... VS 4c, HVS 5a, E1 5b, E2 5c, E4 6a, ...). Two grades are quoted; the first being the "adjectival grade", and the second being the "technical grade". The interplay between the two grades reflects the "risk grade" of the route. For each "technical grade", there is a normal equivalent "adjectival grade"; for example, for the technical grade of "6a", the normal "adjectival grade" is "E4". Where the "adjectival grade" is lower than normal, for example, E3 6a (or even E2 6a), that means the route is much safer and easier to protect. When the "adjectival grade" is higher than normal, for example, E5 6a (or even E6 6a), that means the route is more dangerous and harder to protect. 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.
Before the emergence of sport climbing in the early 1980s, almost all new grade milestones in rock climbing were set by traditional climbers. By the end of the 1970s, male traditional climbers were climbing to 5.13a (7c+) with Toni Yaniro [fr]'s Grand Illusion, while female traditional climbers were climbing to 5.12d (7c), with Lynn Hill on Ophir Broke. 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. 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".
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 2024, the strongest male traditional climbers (e.g. Jacopo Larcher and James Pearson) were climbing just one notch above the strongest female traditional climbers (e.g. Beth Rodden, Hazel Findlay and Barbara Zangerl) at 9a (5.14d) versus 8c+ (5.14c). 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:
A number of notable films have been made focused on traditional climbing including: