How did the concept of free appeared ?
The interesting point is to see how things change. “God” Perroux, one of the pionneers of water ice, told me that back in the 70’s, they didn’t use wrist loops because they didn’t understand yet the benefits of using them. Similarly, they didn’t hang in their harnesses to place pro, because they didn’t realize that this could be done, and therefore the vertical parts were just ran out. It took them a couple of years to perfect the “old style” technique of placing pro (it is not that obvious to do if you want to be fast). The debate aid/free had another meaning then, when Bugs Mc Keith in the Canadian Rockies used direct aid techniques with aiders (and sometimes four tools ?) to do the great walls like Nemesis or Polar Circus. As a matter of fact, he was most criticized for “bad style”, and his ascents took several days. Using “free climbing” (ie climbing with two tools as we all do now, but hanging to place pro) allowed to repeat the climbs in a day. It is partly the realization that g
