Traditional climbing (or trad climbing) is a type of free climbing in rock climbing where the lead climber places the protection equipment while ascending the route; when the lead climber has completed the route, the second climber (or belayer) then removes the protection equipment as they climb 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 trying to ascend the route), or there may be few opportunities to insert protection equipment (e.g. on very difficult routes). Traditional climbing was once the dominant form of free climbing, but since the mid-1980s, the sport climbing (and its related form of competition climbing) has become more popular, and all subsequent grade milestones in rock climbing have been in sport climbing.
Description
Traditional climbing (or "Trad" climbing), is a form of free climbing (i.e. no artificial or mechanical device can be used to aid progression, unlike with aid climbing), performed in pairs, where the lead climber places climbing protection into the climbing route as they ascend. The second climber (or belayer), removes this temporary climbing protection as they climb the route after the lead climber has reached the top. 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 which has climbing protection pre-bolted into the route (the lead climber just clips their rope into quickdraws attached to the bolts). Traditional climbing differs from free solo climbing where no climbing protection is used whatsoever.
First free ascent
With the greater popularity of sport climbing, traditional climbing evolved to embrace some of its redpointing techniques in making 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. Traditional climbers subsequently introduced the derived term "greenpointing" (or the Grünpunkt movement, as a play on the sport climbing Rotpunkt movement), to describe making the first free ascent of a pre-bolted sport-climb, but only using "traditional protection".
History
As 20th-century rock climbers began to free climb (i.e., avoiding any form of aid), they 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 (or "friends"), the grades of technical difficulty that traditional climbers could safely undertake increased dramatically, and new grade milestones were set. However, by the mid-1980s, the leading traditional climbers were again facing technical challenges with minimal possibilities for traditional climbing protection, 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 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 were 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 the most popular form of rock climbing.