| Gear - Then and Now |
|
Let's do a comparison. I found a picture of a modern climber kitted out on the same route as the picture below. I found the picture on the WWW - I have no idea who it is.
| Gear | Modern Climber | Tim and Dick - 1977 |
|---|---|---|
| Rope | Lightweight super-dynamic 9.8mm | 11mm "stretchy" |
| Protection |
| |
| Trousers | Nice breathable trousers in quick drying fabric | Woolen Breeches |
| Helmet | Super-lightwight ventilated helmet | No helmet |
| Shoes | Sticky rubber and especially shaped for steep climbs | Essentially baseball boots with thich smooth rubber soles. Very painful! |
| Hydration | Special hydration bladder with tube | Perhaps an old plastic orange squash bottle kept in a rucsack |
| Rainproof | Breathable hard-shell | Non-breathable p.u. coated nylon "cagoule". (Dick would often just wear his woollen cardigan!) | Belaying | Aluminium friction device | Bare hands. Falls are painful for the belayer too |
| Karabiners | mix of wiregate and solid gate carabiners 3 sigma rated at around 25kN | Mix of Clog and Camp carabiners. 3 Sigma rated? What's that? |
| Quickdraws | Lots of them | None |
So, are they any safer nowadays? Probably not... at least not on such an easy route. With all of that gear, the bloke in the picture thinks he's climbing something huge!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
| Dec Feb | ||||||
