Aid climbing

thumb|Aid climber using [[aiders (or ladders) on an overhanging climbing route]]

Aid climbing is a form of rock climbing that uses mechanical devices and equipment, such as aiders (also called 'ladders'), to assist in generating upward momentum. Aid climbing is contrasted with free climbing (in both its traditional or sport free-climbing formats), which can use mechanical equipment only for climbing protection, not to assist in any upward momentum. Aid climbing can involve hammering in permanent pitons and bolts, into which the aiders are clipped, but there is also 'clean aid climbing', which avoids any hammering and uses only temporary removable placements such as spring-loaded camming devices.

While aid climbing traces its origins to the start of all climbing when ladders and pitons were common, its use in single-pitch climbing waned in the early 20th century with the rise of free climbing. At the same time, the Dolomites saw the start of modern "big wall aid climbing", where pioneers like Emilio Comici developed new tools and techniques. Aid climbing's "golden age" was in the 1960s and 1970s on Yosemite's granite big walls led by pioneers such as Royal Robbins and Warren Harding, and later Jim Bridwell, and was where Robbins' ethos of minimal-aid, and Yvon Chouinard's ethos of clean aid climbing, became dominant.

In the 1990s, the traditional A-grade system for rating aid climbing routes was expanded at Yosemite into a more detailed "new wave" system, and with the development and growth in clean aid climbing, the A-grade system became the C-grade system. The grading of aid-climbing routes is complex as successive repeats of the route can substantially change the nature of the challenge through the continuous hammering and also the build-up of large amounts of in-situ fixed placements from each ascending party. It is not untypical for a new A5-graded aid-climbing route, to migrate to an A3-graded route over time.

Aid climbing is still used on large big wall climbing and alpine climbing routes to overcome sections of extreme difficulty that are beyond the difficulties of the rest of the route. A famous big wall climb such as The Nose on El Capitan is accessible to strong climbers as a partial-aid route graded VI C2, but only a tiny handful can handle its grade as a free climbed route. Aid is also used to develop "next generation" big wall routes (e.g. Riders on the Storm on Cordillera Paine, or the Grand Voyage on Trango Towers). Extreme C5-graded aid-only routes are also still being established, such as Nightmare on California Street on El Capitan.

Description

thumb|left|Climber standing in [[aiders while ascending aid climbing route, The Shield (VI 5.7 A3), on El Capitan]]

Aid climbing is a form of rock climbing that uses mechanical devices and equipment for upward momentum. Like traditional and sport climbing, aid climbing is typically done in pairs with a lead climber making the "placements" into which ladders (known as aiders) are clipped, thus enabling them to ascend. After the lead climber has reached the top, the second climber (or belayer) then removes the placements as they jumar up the rope. and has been advocated as useful training and building up of experience in the placing of traditional climbing protection.

While the sport of aid climbing has waned as the free climbing movement has grown, elements of aid climbing are still a regular feature of many major big wall climbing and alpine climbing routes. These routes are long multi-pitch climbs where it is possible to find specific sections that are considerably above the difficulty level of the rest of the route. For such sections, aid climbing techniques are accepted even by free climbers.

History

thumb|[[Royal Robbins resting on his aiders during the 3rd pitch of the FA of the Salathé Wall (VI 5.9 C2)]]

Aid climbing traces its origins to the start of all climbing, with ladders used on historic ascents such as the 1492 ascent of Mont Aiguille, the 1786 ascent of Mont Blanc, or the 1893 ascent of Devils Tower, and with drilled bolts on historic ascents such as the 1875 first ascent of Half Dome.

1970 saw one of the most infamous events in big wall aid climbing with the creation of Cesare Maestri's Compressor Route on Cerro Torre. Messner's and Chouinard's essays marked the end of the excessive aid techniques. Many big wall aid climbs were freed, with the most notable being Lynn Hill's 1993 free climb of The Nose on El Capitan at 5.14a.

Equipment

Modern aid climbing typically uses most of the equipment used in traditional climbing and particularly the protection equipment of traditional climbing (e.g. nuts, hexcentrics and tricams, and spring-loaded camming devices) that are needed for clean aid climbing.

A number of unique items of equipment are also used in aid climbing:

Fixed placement equipment

Before the introduction of clean aid climbing, placements were hammered in by the aid climber as they ascended, with metal pitons hammered into cracks being a common placement (and the various piton types including Lost Arrows, bongs, angles and knifeblades), but also including copperheads (or heads); aid climbers may also use bolt kits to place fixed bolts where there are no suitable cracks for pitons while ascending.]]

The grading of aid climbs is regarded as being complex and in a state of flux. Aid grades can change materially over time due to improvements in aid equipment and the impact of repeated ascents that subsequent aid climbing teams make to a route.

A5. First 5 teams to ascend: The new route has very little installed or fixed in-situ equipment (e.g. copperheads, pitons, bolts), and the rock is weak and fragile in places.

A0: "Occasional aid moves are often done without aiders (etriers) or climbed on fixed gear; sometimes called French free".
A1: "All placements are solid and easy".
A2: "Good placements, but sometimes tricky to find".
A3: "Many difficult, insecure placements, but with little risk".
A4: "Many placements in a row that hold nothing more than body weight".
A5: "Enough body-weight placements in a row that one failure results in a fall of at least 20 metres".

New wave A-grades

thumb|Climbers aiding on Zodiac ([[Grade (climbing)|VI 5.8 A2+), on El Capitan]]

In the 1990s, Yosemite aid climbers created the "new wave" aid grading system that expanded the range of the original system to A6, introduced an intermediate (+) grade from A2 onwards for specific strenuous sections, and gave detailed definitions for each level. As with the original system, the main focus is still on discerning the number of "bodyweight placements" on a route, and therefore the consequences of a fall. It was freed in 2024 at by Siebe Vanhee, , , and Drew Smith, who said conditions makes it feel a 5.14.

1992. John Middendorf and climb The Grand Voyage on the East Face of Great Trango Tower in 16-days with 33-pitches, VII 5.10 A4+ WI3; at over 1,340 metres in length, The Grand Voyage is the world's longest 'vertical' rock climbing route, and at a very high altitude.

North America

1957. Royal Robbins, Jerry Gallwas, and Mike Sherrick climb the Northwest Face of Half Dome in Yosemite in 5 days with 25-pitches, 5.7 A3, 275 pitons and 20 aid bolts. Birth of modern US big wall climbing; historians split the climbing history of Yosemite into: "before and after Half Dome". was the hardest big wall aid-climb in the world at the time, with its infamous "Hook or Book" pitch, the first "you fall, you die" pitch on El Capitan and even decades later is still A4+; considered Bridwell's greatest route.
1995. Steve Gerberding, Lori Reddel, and Scott Stowe climb Reticent Wall on El Capitan in 21-pitches, VI 5.7 A5, considered at the time as one of the hardest aid climbing routes on El Capitan (and the world), and still remains an A5/4+-graded route.
1998. Warren Hollinger and Grant Gardner climb Nightmare on California Street on El Capitan, with 17-pitches, VI 5.10 A5, often considered El Capitan's hardest aid climb (alongside the controversial 1982 route, Wings of Steel); still remains unrepeated (2023).

In film

A few notable films have been made focused on aid wall climbing including:

Assault on El Capitan, a 2013 documentary film of Ammon McNeely's 2011 repeat of the controversial 1982 route, Wings of Steel, on El Capitan.