Purity is an overused word in climbing circles and what constitutes a pure approach to climbing has been the subject of endless debate. Sport climbers would assert that climbing on fixed protection allows them to fully focus on technique and the experience. Those daring enough to take a free solo approach would point to the purity of being alone on the wall. Trad enthusiasts extoll the ethical superiority of fixing your own gear to protect a climb, as well as the focus and skill such an approach requires.
It's this quality that sets trad apart. In essence, any wall, cliff, crag, buttress, rib, crack, overhang, chimney or ridge can be a trad climb. With the faff comes the freedom to climb where one will. The world’s greatest trad climbers have tackled some of our planet’s most fearsome lines, leaving behind little trace of their conquest, unlike the bolts left in the wake of a sport climbing project or the emotional toll that free soloing undoubtedly takes on a climber’s loved ones.
