Leading trad on sight is definitely my favourite style of climbing. Started trad climbing in 1969. Have no comprehensive record of the routes climbed in the early years but was climbing on the East and West Gritstone edges weekly year round between 1969 and 1973 and twice weekly in the summer with bi-annual weekends in North Wales and the Lakes. Started with nylon hawser laid ropes, hemp waist lines, steel carabiners, drilled out nuts and the odd Moac Original and waist belays! Those aged under 60 won't get any of this!!!
I had a traditional (for the time) apprenticeship of loads of mileage seconding up to VS and then going back to the easier climbs for the first leads through to on-sighting climbs up to VS within a couple of years. I introduced and led fellow pupils at novice level once I was leading at VS. Climbing all year round outdoors, no indoor walls then, so became confident dealing with adverse conditions. Very much a product of the leader never falls age which made transition to sport climbing later a challenge.
I progressed to climbing extremes around the age of 20 and maintained this for a while, my standard dropped with young children and developing career but my best years grade-wise were in my early to mid-forties.
