[cgh]

That's simply untrue. Climbing technology is fundamentally unchanged from the early '80s. Since then it's been a process of refinement, with the big exception of shoe technology. I acknowledge that TC Pros are tremendous shoes compared to eg '80s-era Fires.

[tomxor]

Untrue of the parent comment perhaps, but the article is talking about going back two centuries.

Regardless, the 80s was the inception of most modern climbing gear sure; but the intermediate years were not only refinements but improvements through the culture assimilating that gear to the point of maximum utility - much the same could be said about personal computing, although the technological advances are larger, much of the advances are cultural, learning how to best utilise it.