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The way it was ~ aka history for the young ones. 27-Dec-2019 At 12:50:31 PM IdratherbeclimbingM9

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I’ve been doing a bit of holiday reading lately and thought I’d share some historical information from first hand sources so we remember various aspects of our climbing roots.

Here’s a starter... feel free to contribute!

Joe Brown - The Hard Years.
(Abridged from P78/9 - year 1952) - On the use of pitons...

“Pegs were either scarce or expensive to buy. They were made abroad and only a few types were imported because the demand from British climbers was small; their use was esoteric and misunderstood until the climate of opinion changed a few years later.

Pegs opened up new vistas in British rock climbing. By planting them with various attachments in ‘unclimbable’ rock an artificial route could be made. Contrary to the impression of cheating, artificial climbing involved complex and precise techniques and was invariably strenuous. The climbing was also very sensational but usually quite safe because the climber was attached to the rock every few feet by the rope running through snap-links on pegs.
Many prominent faces and buttresses could only be tackled with the peg hammer and artificial techniques. The horizontally jutting overhang, called a roof, could be scaled by these methods.

Proficiency was gained with patience and a lot of faith - driving in a peg completely upside down and swinging into space on it. Swinging about under a roof was very exhilarating; sometimes a peg popped out and one was left hanging from another with shattered nerves.”