Traditional climbing

thumb|A traditional climber leading the route, Super Crack , in the [[New River Gorge, West Virginia]]

Traditional climbing (or trad climbing) is a type of free climbing in the sport of rock climbing in which the lead climber places temporary and removable protection while simultaneously ascending the route; when the lead climber has completed the route, the second climber (also called the belayer) will remove this protection as they ascend the route. Traditional climbing differs from sport climbing where the protection equipment is already pre-drilled into the rockface in the form of permanent bolts. Traditional climbing is still the dominant format on longer multi-pitch climbing routes, such as on alpine and big wall routes.

Traditional climbing differs from sport climbing which has in-situ climbing protection already pre-bolted into the rock on the climbing route, and the lead climber just has to clip their rope—via quickdraws—into the fixed bolts as they ascend. As a result, sport climbing is thus a much safer and less stressful or physically demanding form of free climbing than traditional climbing. Traditional climbing is distinct from free solo climbing where no climbing protection is used whatsoever.

Around the turn of the 21st century, traditional climbers began to introduce the derived term 'greenpointing' (from the Grünpunkt movement, as a play on the sport climbing Rotpunkt movement), to describe completing an ascent of an established pre-bolted sport-climb but only using "traditional protection". In some cases, the sport-climbing bolts would be physically removed—or 'chopped'—to restore the route to its natural un-bolted state as a purer form of challenge to the climber.

History

As 20th-century rock climbers began to free climb (avoiding any form of aid in overcoming the challenges), they often used traditional climbing techniques for their protection. Early traditional climbers relied on crude—often unreliable—forms of homemade "passive" climbing protection such as pieces of metal or chockstones attached to slings, which eventually became replaced by professionally manufactured passive protection in the form of nuts and hexes from specialist climbing equipment manufacturers.

With the development of "active" traditional climbing protection in the 1970s—typically 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,

thumb|[[Jonathan Siegrist on The Path 5.14a R, 8b+, at Lake Louise]]

Durning this era, French climbers such as Patrick Edlinger began to pre-drill permanent masonry bolts into the almost "blank" faces of Buoux and Verdon for their protection—but not as artificial aid—which became known as 'sport climbing' (e.g., it was climbing for the pure sport of it with minimal risks to the climber). 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 became—and remains today—the most popular form of single-pitch rock climbing, with traditional climbing more popular in mountainous multi-pitch climbing situation, such as in big wall and in alpine climbing.

Traditional single-pitch climbing returned to public prominence when in 2003, Swiss climber Didier Berthod greenpointed the notable bolted sport climb, Greenspit , to create one of the hardest traditional crack routes in the world at grade E9. In 2006, Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter greenpointed The Path , 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 leading sport climbers who themselves 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 the world's first E12 grade traditional route with Bon Voyage in France, the first repeat was by leading sport climber Adam Ondra. 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).

Grading

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").

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".

Hardest routes

Pre sport-climbing era

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 with 's Grand Illusion, while female traditional climbers were climbing to , with Lynn Hill on Ophir Broke.

Post sport-climbing era

thumb|North West face of [[Dumbarton Rock. Rhapsody and Requiem follow the line of the thin and tallest crack in the centre of the face. Rhapsody holds the line to the top, while Requiem veers right]]

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 grade milestones. As of May 2026, the following traditional climbing routes are considered to be some of the hardest-ever ascended (in increasing order of difficulty):

Century Crack (E10 7a, 5.14b, 8c) in Canyonlands, Utah, FA by Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker in 2011.
Cobra Crack (E10 7a, 5.14b, 8c) in Squamish, British Columbia, FA by Sonnie Trotter in 2006.
Echo Wall (E10 7a, 5.14b, 8c) on Ben Nevis, Scotland, first ascent by Dave MacLeod in 2008.
Magic Line (5.14b/c, 8c/+) in Yosemite, pinkpoint by Ron Kauk in 1996, redpoint by Lonnie Kauk in 2018, FFFA by Hazel Findlay in 2019.
Blackbeard's Tears (E11 7a, 5.14c, 8c+) at Redwood, USA, FFA by Ethan Pringle in 2016.
Meltdown (E11 7a, 5.14c, 8c+) in Yosemite, USA, FFA (and FFFA) by Beth Rodden in 2008.
Recovery Drink (E11 7a, 5.14c, 8c+) in Jøssingfjorden, Norway, FA by in 2013.
Rhapsody (E11 7a, 5.14c R/X, 8c+) in Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, FA by Dave MacLeod in 2006.
Crown Royale (5.14c/d) in Jøssingfjorden, Norway, FFA by Pete Whittaker in 2023.
Bon Voyage (5.14d, 9a, E12) in Annot, France, first free ascent (FFA) by James Pearson in 2023; repeated by Adam Ondra in 2024.
Tribe (5.14d, 9a, E12) in Cardarese, Italy, FFA by Jacopo Larcher in 2019; repeated by James Pearson in 2020.

In film

A number of notable films have been made focused on traditional climbing including:

Hard Grit, a 1998 documentary film about traditional climbing on extreme gritstone routes in the British Peak District
Valley Uprising, a 2014 Sender Films documentary film about rock climbing in Yosemite that includes traditional climbing

References

External links

Trad Climbing 101: The Complete Beginner's Guide, 99boulders (2020)
The Hardest Trad Routes, theCrag (2024)
Hardest Trad Climbs, HardClimbs (2024)