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	Stoppers on wire "hexcentric" hexes on dyneema lightwight dyneema slings cams	Camp hexes on self-tied cord Self-tied slings in heavyweight "Super-Blue"
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!)
Chalk	Yes	No
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!