[andy popp]

I had only just bought a new pair of boots - Contacts, in fact, as I remember - only a couple of weeks before Fires suddenly appeared in the shops (obviously we'd heard all the rumours about them). Despite one pair of shoes already being a huge outlay for a poverty stricken student, I had to immediately go out and buy the Fires too. I'm not sure the Contacts were ever worn again.

[Fatboyslimfast2]

Mine were 1985 from Wye Kayaks in Hereford, my Dad bought them for me as a birthday present. As for most important decade, can I go split of 1978-1988

[Fiend]

If you're going for that sort of split you should have to specify the starting months too, say May 1978 - April 1988 

[SA Chris]

surely 80 to 90, with ascent of Hubble marking a high point in the progression of the sport over the preceding decade..

[Wellsy]

I'm going to say... the current one just for sake of argument.

Reasons;

-Standards have never been higher and some of the strongest British Climbers of all time are operating right now (McLure, MacLeod, Caff, Shauna, Hazel, Emma Twyford, MTS etc)

-The next generation coming up are showing truly incredible ability and are not even really in their prime yet (Aiden, Will, Ibbotson boys etc)

-We're climbing now and this is our time, respect the past and be inspired by it but there's never been so many people training hard and trying to do hard stuff IMO.

-Social media, less of a straight positive but it's a huge definer of what the world of climbing is moving towards and how the community interacts. Its a massive change. Maybe not for the better, but still.

[User deactivated.]

Ignoring the fact that this is supposed to be about the 20th century and not the 21st century, how can the best time in British climbing history be any other time than now?

Naturally, things progress, so we now have more/better of the following:

more developed crags/boulders/routes
better equipment (this one is massive encompassing shoes, mats, modern trad gear, etc. I've enjoyed bouldering in temperatures above 25°C this year thanks to my portable fan!)
access to better indoor climbing
more climbing history and culture to draw inspiration from (plus forums like this and other online platforms)
better training knowledge for those who care for it
easier than ever to document your own climbing
you can wear a kneepad and only be ridiculed by a minority of dinosaurs

So now is the best time in British climbing history, and the present will continue to be the best time, unless something big happens like mass access problems.

The most important decade may differ but I think it is a much less important quality and don't really care.
 
 

[Fiend]

Reasons why this current decade is nowhere near the best and arguably a fair bit worse than previous decades:

1. Very little revolution in physical climbing standards, more of an evolution and consolidation.

2. (Social media driven?) obsession with physical climbing standards, "hard" and numbers, rather than quality, exploration, diversity.

3. No progression whatsoever with climbing ethics, in fact given the continued advancement in both equipment and information, it seems to be a regression in ethics.

4. A constant detrimental dichotomy in outside climbing with honeypot stuff that is massively overpopular overchalked and eroded, and unfashionable stuff that is massively neglected and returning to an unclimable state (across the genres).

5. Shit parking options.

6. Worsening / less stable weather.

7. Imminent threat of Saint Greta curtailing travelling for climbing.

8. Ken being right about the thin end of the wedge.

9. Homogenous semi-domination of Rockfax (and UKC?)

10. 4 hour videos about sticking an egg up your bum (actually this may be a positive).


Conversely there are a few improved things:

1. People who post videos / photos / information about diverse / exploratory / unfashionable stuff to try to spread the load.

2. Online groups when they're used well to share information, promote good practise, organise clean-ups etc.

3. Modern Ground Up / BMC / Wired / YMC etc guides.

4. The vast amount of indoor walls giving diverse training options in shit weather.

[SA Chris]

Compare the demise of the great printed magazine vs the amount of high quality climbing literature available (most notably via VP).

[Nutty]

I'm going to say... the current one just for sake of argument.

Reasons;

-Standards have never been higher and some of the strongest British Climbers of all time are operating right now (McLure, MacLeod, Caff, Shauna, Hazel, Emma Twyford, MTS etc)

-The next generation coming up are showing truly incredible ability and are not even really in their prime yet (Aiden, Will, Ibbotson boys etc)

-We're climbing now and this is our time, respect the past and be inspired by it but there's never been so many people training hard and trying to do hard stuff IMO.

-Social media, less of a straight positive but it's a huge definer of what the world of climbing is moving towards and how the community interacts. Its a massive change. Maybe not for the better, but still.

Personally I'd pick a decade where I didn't have months of being confined to my house or ill-defined local area, the indoor walls didn't all shut and where I was free to meet and climb with people outside my household.

[Neil F]

Great accounts Neil. On-sighting Piranha is a fine effort. The Firés may have been better than the Hanwags Quent is wearing in Rock Climbing in Britain  I think The Snivelling was my first outing in (Firés).

That's a coincidence Dave, as my first ever E5 was The Snivelling, climbed 24/5/83 on sight in (wait for it) Handwags 

They were a bit like wearing a pair of snug fit wellingtons, though with slightly worse friction.  I'm wearing the same pair on Edge Lane in Ex Rock. That was my second E5, again on sight. A month later I on sighted The Cad in the same pair - which was my fifth E5.

Isn't is funny how the psychology of these things works?  Clearly, looking back, Hanwags were like wellies, but I'd seen Ron wearing a pair in Gordale in 82(*) and was determined to get a pair for myself.  When I finally did, up went my grade 

* - my logbook at the time reads '27/4/82 Gordale, Face Route, Mild XS. Brilliant route climbed in ideal conditions (very hot and quiet). 1 fall on pitch 1 due to loose rock. Followed up by Ron!!'   

[andy popp]

Wad points to Wellsy and Liam for the stern defences of climbing today, whenever that is.

[SA Chris]

The 10 years up until the date of the start of the pandemic, as Nutty points out! This will also exclude the Olympics then

[moose]

The 10 years up until the date of the start of the pandemic, as Nutty points out! This will also exclude the Olympics then

Maybe not the "best" era to be a climber but probably the easiest (lots of decent walls, rockshoes to suit every foot shape and situation, pads, clipsticks, cheap travel etc.).

[Wellsy]

I'm going to say... the current one just for sake of argument.

Reasons;

-Standards have never been higher and some of the strongest British Climbers of all time are operating right now (McLure, MacLeod, Caff, Shauna, Hazel, Emma Twyford, MTS etc)

-The next generation coming up are showing truly incredible ability and are not even really in their prime yet (Aiden, Will, Ibbotson boys etc)

-We're climbing now and this is our time, respect the past and be inspired by it but there's never been so many people training hard and trying to do hard stuff IMO.

-Social media, less of a straight positive but it's a huge definer of what the world of climbing is moving towards and how the community interacts. Its a massive change. Maybe not for the better, but still.

Personally I'd pick a decade where I didn't have months of being confined to my house or ill-defined local area, the indoor walls didn't all shut and where I was free to meet and climb with people outside my household.

Fair but also if you said okay the last ten years leading up to today, then I'd say the majority of that has been great and that modern British climbing has never had higher standards or been more accessible for punters like moi.

[Yossarian]

'83-'93

Dawes, Lycra, Slate, Buoux, Gogarth, Huber, Stone Monkey, Wolfgang, Ben, Jerry, Porsches, 205s, Bedford Rascals, Malham, Parthian, Free Salathe, Hubble, Reve D'un Papillon, Verdon, Pritchard, 8a - 9a, comps, walls, Jibe, Masters of Stone, most of the greats still alive, etc

I pretty much concur with this, and am going to be a curmudgeon about a number of modern developments...

- Walls were fairly shitty in the 1990s, but felt fairly hardcore and underground, compared with (quite) a lot of modern ones which are like tube-socked CrossFit / hipster magnets with an emphasis on latte art>Instagram dads>giant blobs>SUV parking>guys in their 40s who like to reminisce about One Summer

- Generally feeling like being a member of a kind of counter culture (albeit one largely made up of long-haired physics graduates) and normal people looking at you like you're slightly unhinged when you tell them you're a climber, as opposed to to everyone today replying yeah I love bouldering we read about it in the guardian and can't wait to try some speed climbing.

- Energy drink sponsorship

- Men looking rad wearing tights / moustaches / experimental haircuts vs distinct lack of personal style identifiers

[SamT]

I'm with you Yossa!!

[SA Chris]

Me too. You left out walls being places where you went to get strong an doing hard stuff, rather than avoid showpony parkour style boulderers jumping about.

[User deactivated.]

- Walls were fairly shitty in the 1990s, but felt fairly hardcore and underground, compared with (quite) a lot of modern ones which are like tube-socked CrossFit / hipster magnets with an emphasis on latte art>Instagram dads>giant blobs>SUV parking>guys in their 40s who like to reminisce about One Summer

I wasn't there to see the walls in the 90's but I'd bet the house they weren't as good as Manchester Depot, which has at least 5 boards and all the hardcore training equipment you'd ever need. The coffee/art/clientele has zero impact on my enjoyment of climbing.

- Generally feeling like being a member of a kind of counter culture (albeit one largely made up of long-haired physics graduates) and normal people looking at you like you're slightly unhinged when you tell them you're a climber, as opposed to to everyone today replying yeah I love bouldering we read about it in the guardian and can't wait to try some speed climbing.

I get this, but it shouldn't affect the enjoyment of actually climbing.

- Energy drink sponsorship

zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing

- Men looking rad wearing tights / moustaches / experimental haircuts vs distinct lack of personal style identifiers

zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing

1. Very little revolution in physical climbing standards, more of an evolution and consolidation.

zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing

2. (Social media driven?) obsession with physical climbing standards, "hard" and numbers, rather than quality, exploration, diversity.

Zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing if you don't worry about this stuff yourself.

3. No progression whatsoever with climbing ethics, in fact given the continued advancement in both equipment and information, it seems to be a regression in ethics.

I don't even know what this means. New equipment like kneepads mean I can kneebar up some dinosaurs old project? sounds like a win to me for the enjoyment of actually climbing.

4. A constant detrimental dichotomy in outside climbing with honeypot stuff that is massively overpopular overchalked and eroded, and unfashionable stuff that is massively neglected and returning to an unclimable state (across the genres).

Yeah, this is real, but there are as many quiet spots to choose from than ever. I seldom see anyone when I'm out climbing.

And so on....

I think the positives of the present day massively outweigh the negatives.

[Bonjoy]

- Walls were fairly shitty in the 1990s, but felt fairly hardcore and underground, compared with (quite) a lot of modern ones which are like tube-socked CrossFit / hipster magnets with an emphasis on latte art>Instagram dads>giant blobs>SUV parking>guys in their 40s who like to reminisce about One Summer

Yes, but i'll wager most of the SUV parking/guy in his 40s/Instagram dads, reminiscing about One Summer are what became of the young things in the 90s walls. And you could justifiably add - men in there 40s droning on about how walls used to be more underground in the 90s to your list  .

I for one don't miss vertical brick walls with concreted in lumps of polished rock and no pads hiding at the back of a squash court.

[Yossarian]

Sorry - I thought this was a vaguely light-hearted fun-poking exercise about retro wads, rose-tinted beer towels-for-feet and stories about van cornering speeds and scrunched up malt loaf, rather than a legally-binding manifesto to be presented in front of an arbitration panel.

(although I did have a really good time aged 14-16 taking more and more irresponsibly long falls onto various pieces of second-hand trad gear on a concrete climbing wall with bits of rock stuck into it, so there.)

[Johnny Brown]

I also had a really good time aged 16-17 taking more and more irresponsibly long falls onto a big pile of gym mats we'd dragged under the wall. Zero supervision, not like today's police state where it's hard enough just to sneak in for free.

[Bonjoy]

Sorry - I thought this was a vaguely light-hearted fun-poking exercise about retro wads, rose-tinted beer towels-for-feet and stories about van cornering speeds and scrunched up malt loaf, rather than a legally-binding manifesto to be presented in front of an arbitration panel.

You thought right, but you do still have to submit to the arbitration panel, obviously.

[Bonjoy]

To respond to the OP. I do think there's a lot to be said for now, but I think it was probably easier to have fun and also be a 'top level' climber in previous decades. I.e. you could train less; party as much as you wanted; be as unPC as you felt like; and not have to live exclusively on a diet of eggs and raw beef.

[Yossarian]

Also in the 90s - insane levels of syke (especially for a kid in the south east) every time a new issue of OTE came out. Reading the Nose in a Day article completely blew my mind. Ditto turning on Transworld Sport on a Saturday morning (generally focused on French people on mono skis and prehistoric mountain bikes) and suddenly seeing Jerry in all his colour-coordinated fleece and cotton-lycra glory complaining to Lynn Hill that all the French people put their quickdraws in little nylon pouches...

[SA Chris]

I for one don't miss vertical brick walls with concreted in lumps of polished rock and no pads hiding at the back of a squash court.

They were pretty much defunct by the start of / early 90s surely? Aberdeen Beach Leisure Centre one managed to persist slightly longer.