By Keith Sharples.

So that was 2000, the much hyped Millennium year. The so-called Y2K bug failed to strike terror into the heart of the world and life, as we have come to know it, went on largely without a murmur. But what of the climbing world? Has it been a year to remember, who has been shaking a stick at what and where's it been going down?
So where do we start then: the latest 9a; B/V13/Font 8b: E10 or M9/WI9? And that's just the problem, now a days there's more to climbing than just climbing. Back, way back, when I first started climbing 27 years ago (Don Whillans had just invented his harness and a baby MOAC was considered a micro nut!) there were only EB's or PA's and now look at the choice of footwear! The point I'm making, of course, is that nothing stands still for long. No longer do we just climb, we face a multiple choice of sport or trad. climbing, bouldering and indoor on plastic/wood. And then, of course, there's the white stuff that lives up in the hills in winter, as well as frozen waterfalls.