Traditional climbing

Traditional climbing, or Trad climbing, is a style of climbing that emphasizes the skills necessary for establishing routes in an exploratory fashion. Before the advent of sport climbing, the normal style of unaided rock climbing was what is now referred to as "traditional". Trad climbing usually involves the leader ascending a section of rock while placing their own protective devices as he/she climbs. Route finding, effective gear placements, self control, and good climbing skills are essential. Normally, such climbs are not previewed or rehearsed on a top rope (with or without tension), and emphasis is placed on passing difficult sections on the first try. As a form of free climbing, only the limbs and body of the climber are used to effect upward progress, and protective devices are placed solely to catch the climber in the event of a fall.

Types of Protection

The majority of the protection placed while leading a traditional line does not consist of permanently installed bolts, but of removable protective devices such as

* Spring loaded camming device
* aluminum or steel nuts
* hexagonal-shaped chocks
* Tricams

Carabiners and slings are then used to connect the protection gear to the climber's lead rope, so that in the event of a fall, the rope can be used (by the belayer below) to 'catch' the falling climber. Modern traditional climbs very rarely have placed bolts, except in the case of difficult lines that lack the features necessary to place adequate removable gear. It is also considered extremely bad style to install new protection bolts on existing climbs that can be completed without them.

Commonly used Knots

A number of knots are required for traditional climbing, to create anchors, to tie in the climbers and even to be used during the climb.

* Figure 8 is commonly used to tie in the climbers at both ends.
* Inline Figure 8 is mostly used for anchors.
* Clove Hitch is sometimes used to make a climber safe quickly at a belay ledge
* Alpine Butterfly can be used to tie a climber into the middle of a rope.
* Munter Hitch is commonly used to belay without a belay device
* Slip Knot can be used during a climb to sling a protrusion of rock known as a chickenhead

Anchors

When a climber has reached the top of a climb an anchor must be set up to allow the leader to bring up the seconder safely. An anchor has a number of different components which should be put together in a redundant way to make the anchors safe.

* Protection - An anchor typically consists of 4 pieces of protection with the minimum being 2 pieces.
* Cordelletes/Web-o-lettes/Rope - These are used to tie the pieces of protection of the anchor together using

the above mentioned knots

* Carabiners - Are used to connect the pieces of protection to the rope and also to attach the belay device and lead climber to the anchor.

Bailing

In some cases a traditional climb may be to difficult or time may be running out before it gets dark so the lead climber decides to bail off the climb and descend to the ground before reaching the top. To do this an anchor is created mid climb and protection is left on the rock after the climbers abseil back down to the ground.

An example of how a Traditional Climb is performed
* Leader places gear on his/her harness
* Leader ties into the rope using a Figure 8 knot.
* Seconder ties into the other end of the rope.
* Seconder puts the leader on belay using a belay device or munter hitch.
* Leader climbs up and places the first piece of protection. The first piece of protection should be directional, which means that it should not be able to be pulled out if it moves up or down.
* Leader uses a quick draw or extended draw to connect the first piece to the rope.
* Leader climbs upwards and places the second piece of protection and repeats until the top of the climb.
* Leader creates an anchor and clips into using a screw gate carabiner to become safe.
* Seconder takes leader off belay
* Leader pulls up all the rope until there is no slack between the leader and seconder.
* Leader puts seconder on belay
* Seconder climbs up and removes the protection the leader has placed on the way up.

Types of Rock

A number of types of rock are climbed on each with a varying degree of suitability for traditional climbing. Some examples are Sandstone, Granite and Limestone.

Ethics of Traditional Climbing

While it may be more dangerous than sports climbing traditional climbing leaves little or no trace of climbing, which preserves the natural environment of the cliff face.

By leaving the ethics of traditional climbing; the original ethics, sports climbers divided the climbing community.