[peterbeal]

Chalk. Hand friction pretty much beats any other factor in determining climbing difficulty. Climbers owe a huge debt to John Gill for this adaptation from gymnastics.

[jwi]

another thing I was thinking of is strong snap gates. Before reliable carabiners where introduced, climbers untied and threaded welded rings for intermediate points. For technical difficulty that's maybe not a huge deal, the routes they did were not sustained anyway so there should be plenty of places to stop and untie and tie back in, but to be able to climb efficiently and to get up long routes before the weather turn it must have made an enormous difference.

I am almost completely ignorant of climbing history before the second world war, was there a period of huge improvement in the alps after the introduction of the snap gate? So about 1920s or so?

[Johnny Brown]

was there a period of huge improvement in the alps after the introduction of the snap gate?

I don't know, but I doubt it. My understanding is Karabiners improved significantly during WW2, but the older ones I've seen tend to be steel screwgates. As much as that made it easier to place runners I would guess the stiff ropes, limited protection options and lack of extenders etc all limited their impact. The more time passes the bigger the revolution of the 1970's seems: kernmantel rope and aluminium snapgates , sit harnesses, wired nuts then camming devices all in about 15 years. My Dad's rack from the late sixties/ early seventies was a hawser laid rope, hemp waistline, steel krabs, machine nuts and pitons. By the mid-eighties you basically had a modern rack with gear from RPs to big cams and plenty of quickdraws. Since then it has only got lighter, in fact you could argue there are generally less options on the shelves as items like tricams, amigos, ballnuts etc neever really took off.

[Will Hunt]

When writing the history section for Northern Rock I came to the conclusion that the story of rock climbing history is the story of technological advancement: the two are inseparable. Ropes that wouldn't snap were clearly critical - it didn't matter how good your other gear became if the thing you'd clipped it to broke.

Obviously I wasn't there and didn't experience it but I'd say it's difficult to point at one particular development and say "that's the most important" because the developments came close together from the late 60s. Nuts had been around for a while but they started to improve, the Whillans harness, proper ropes, belay devices etc. All of that combines to start the modern era where The Leader Shall Not Fall becomes much less relevant.

The other part of the equation, which isn't technological improvement but is part of the positive feedback loop driving it, is the number of active climbers. In the days where leading was just barely safer than soloing, climbing understandably had a limited appeal and a lot of its practitioners dropped out when they had families or otherwise lost the boldness of youth. As better kit made climbing safer it not only increased the ability of current climbers to push themselves, it increased the appeal of the whole sport meaning a larger pool of climbers. Greater numbers not only increases the number of exceptional climbers but also drives the commercial development of gear.

[Fultonius]

I am almost completely ignorant of climbing history before the second world war, was there a period of huge improvement in the alps after the introduction of the snap gate? So about 1920s or so?

For your reading pleasure:  https://www.bigwallgear.com/

[Fultonius]

The other part of the equation, which isn't technological improvement but is part of the positive feedback loop driving it, is the number of active climbers. In the days where leading was just barely safer than soloing, climbing understandably had a limited appeal and a lot of its practitioners dropped out when they had families or otherwise lost the boldness of youth. As better kit made climbing safer it not only increased the ability of current climbers to push themselves, it increased the appeal of the whole sport meaning a larger pool of climbers. Greater numbers not only increases the number of exceptional climbers but also drives the commercial development of gear.

I was mulling over something similar when facing a crux move on and HVS/E1 in Glencoe, a classic Robin Smith route. The gear was a sling draped over a spike at your feet, with a bit of a nasty looking fall onto a slab. "Pretty pokey" I thought, for HVS (as the move was 5a/5b).  However, back in the days when these were done, that was probably thought to be a more "well protected" move seeing as they were more soloing between the odd island of security in those days.

[Fiend]

Might need to add "RPs" as they can drop routes 2 full grades if you actually place the available gear, and "Guidebooks" as they can drop routes 3 full grades if you actually read them and realise what route you're climbing 

[Dexter]

What about cheap flights. Pretty much anyone can afford to travel to most prime locations these days, and pro climbers go all over the world trying the hardest routes.

[Fultonius]

What about cheap flights. Pretty much anyone can afford to travel to most prime locations these days, and pro climbers go all over the world trying the hardest routes.

Not reckon that particular "Golden Age" (of cheap travel) might be behind us now / soon?  40c predicted this week. 

[Muenchener]

I was mulling over something similar when facing a crux move on and HVS/E1 in Glencoe, a classic Robin Smith route. The gear was a sling draped over a spike at your feet, with a bit of a nasty looking fall onto a slab. "Pretty pokey" I thought, for HVS (as the move was 5a/5b).  However, back in the days when these were done, that was probably thought to be a more "well protected" move seeing as they were more soloing between the odd island of security in those days.

I read an interview years ago with Jack Longland where he was talking about Javelin Blade - 1930s contender for first E1 in Wales - and he said the crux felt ok because he was only about twenty feet above his belayer. I recall being only about zero feet above an Idwal-typical questionable sideways wire in a shallow pocket and not feeling particularly ok

[Will Hunt]

I am almost completely ignorant of climbing history before the second world war, was there a period of huge improvement in the alps after the introduction of the snap gate? So about 1920s or so?

On a bit of a tangent, because your question is more specific to the Alps and I'm thinking of climbing in the UK, and it's also just my personal musing, but my view is that advances in climbing prior to some time around the 60s was more dependent on remarkable individuals than gear.

In the absence of a proper safety system, and with relatively few climbers playing the game, climbing standards were being driven forward principally by a few extraordinary individuals. On Yorkshire Gritstone the void that is left when Frankland is killed on Gable Crag is palpable - I don't think his standard was bettered for 10 years after his death.

This reminds me of something Dan V talked about in his Jam Crack podcast, of how you can trace the development of early years climbing by the rail network. Wasdale Head seems an oddly inaccessible choice to us now to be one of the crucibles of English climbing because it's a complete fuckabout to get to in a car, however in the early days before widespread car/motorbike ownership and decent roads that was the valley most accessible by train.

[jwi]

Pierre Allain introduced the aluminium snapgate around the 2nd world war, and the down jacket and the down sleeping bag some years before. They certainly helped improve the level quite a bit in the Alps.

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,20046.msg542953.html#msg542953

[Wellsy]

It's interesting that technology and certain things like extremely hard bouldering where training specificity and slivers of percentage points hugely matter are intersecting in new ways. Like Aidan 3D scanning burden of dreams on his phone to build an exact replica on a board and suchlike. Obviously only really relevant to those on the cutting edge like Aidan, DWoods, Fiend and so on, but it's an example of pushing the limit further being possible in part due to technology that even ten years ago was basically just not commonly available

For me I think its the bouldering pad, chalk doesn't feel like a technological advancement I guess, but if it counts probably chalk

[seankenny]

I am almost completely ignorant of climbing history before the second world war, was there a period of huge improvement in the alps after the introduction of the snap gate? So about 1920s or so?

On a bit of a tangent, because your question is more specific to the Alps and I'm thinking of climbing in the UK, and it's also just my personal musing, but my view is that advances in climbing prior to some time around the 60s was more dependent on remarkable individuals than gear.

In the absence of a proper safety system, and with relatively few climbers playing the game, climbing standards were being driven forward principally by a few extraordinary individuals. On Yorkshire Gritstone the void that is left when Frankland is killed on Gable Crag is palpable - I don't think his standard was bettered for 10 years after his death.

This reminds me of something Dan V talked about in his Jam Crack podcast, of how you can trace the development of early years climbing by the rail network. Wasdale Head seems an oddly inaccessible choice to us now to be one of the crucibles of English climbing because it's a complete fuckabout to get to in a car, however in the early days before widespread car/motorbike ownership and decent roads that was the valley most accessible by train.

Good post Will, it’s fascinating the interplay between individual agency and culture/outlook being downstream of technological advances. My grandfather had a car from about the mid-20s and reading his diaries from the time it’s clear what a massive effort doing a road trip around the U.K. was back then. Even just in daily life he was always stopping to help people who’d come off the road, his car was always breaking down, etc. Going to Cumbria from Yorkshire was like going abroad - his words not mine and he had actually been abroad so it’s not as if he was completely naive. There’s a palpable sense of being cut off from the rest of the country, with the papers not arriving until late and really strong accents and dialect.

Something else that might have helped rising standards in the 1970s… People used to get  married much earlier and had kids earlier so perhaps we can thank the revolution in contraception for giving us longer, pre-family climbing careers.