Jan 9, 2007, 6:01 AM
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How did you learn to trad climb?
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This point has been coming up lately, so for all you folks either crying "mentor! mentor! mentor!" or "do it yourself, you pu$$y" to "waaaa, I wanna learn to trad!" kinds of questions... how did you learn trad? Lets see where the vast majority really lies.
For me, it's poll option 3, I followed a buddy on half a dozen routes and then set out on my own. Also read a buncha books.
(This post was edited by ihategrigris on Jan 9, 2007, 6:03 AM)
None for me, I joined a climbing club. We didn't have guides just people who knew their stuff...I seconded a bunch already knew anchors from a class and then lead on easy stuff.
My partner and i top roped for years (learning anchors), then ballsed up and started leading easy stuff late last season and all this season. This along with reading hasn't got us killed yet. If you can afford a guide and lessons then go for it, but for me it just wasn't an option due to lack of funds.
This point has been coming up lately, so for all you folks either crying "mentor! mentor! mentor!" or "do it yourself, you pu$$y" to "waaaa, I wanna learn to trad!"
HAHAHA....that struck me as extremely funny. Thanks.
Like I mentioned in the other thread, I was a bit of a hybrid. I took a course, read, followed a exp climber, etc. The reading was probably the most valuable, the course ending up confirming I was doing things properly.
I had two excellent mentors that I followed for about 6 months of climbing 2 - 3 times a week. They were crazy and it was an excellent learning process. My first lead was the crux pitch on an eight pitch .10a. I appreciate the knowledge that I gained from them. Paired up with meticulous book work I felt confident to go on my own. It's ever evolving and I don't think that anyone will ever know it all.
(This post was edited by epoch on Jan 9, 2007, 2:00 PM)
I picked "c" (intro from experience person) but it really was a combo of following various local leaders as in one climb each with several of them, taking a one-day trad course from a certified guide, and leading one week here and another week there with a relative who lives out of state (plus reading books and lurking in RC.com!).
I feel that the best way to learn to lead is indeed climbing steadily with one mentor. But in my case, that was not available - made do with a patchwork of methods.
Well I fall into the foolish category. Maybe six months of sport climbing and I set off with my partner into the trad world after some light reading. 5.10 climbers we should lead 5.8, right? Two and a half hours of sweat, one fall, and four lead changes later we put up a 60 foot route with 17 placements. I know very lucky to walk away. So we took things really slow from there on, till I took a climbing rescue class about 8 months later. Then everything seemed to come together, as confidence was instilled. Real breakthrough was in Joshua Tree for two weeks, when I really came into my own. I would never recommend that anyone follow my lead. So glad no one got hurt.
I taught myself through books. I had never followed anybody before I started leading. Eventually, I climbed with an experienced leader and he said I was totally safe. It is possible to learn in this manner and be safe..
I think there should be another option because a lot of people started aiding before trad. so two aid climber going off to lead for there first time is diffrent that two people who don't know what they are doing
1 - Learned to put on a harness, tie in, belay, some movement - in a gym. 2 - Learned a little about the different disciplines of climbing from the gym instructor. 3 - Climbed outside on the gym instructor's TR. He showed how the TR was set up. 4 - Learned how to set up TRs through a combination of books, questions asked to the gym instructor, and my more experienced friends. TRed outside for a year. 5 - Practiced placing other people's gear. Got gear critiques (aka ground school). 6 - Bought the JL anchor books, read them cover to cover and then back again. 7 - Followed two pitches. 8 - Bought a small rack. 10 - Practiced building anchors (more ground school) 11 - Led a couple easy pitches. 12 - Took a lead class. 14 - Practiced building anchors some more(more ground school). 15 - Started leading with a mix of other noobs, and some more experienced folks - all of whom I traded leads with. - Repeated step 15.
Probably pretty typical, except that it wasn't until step 15 that I started doing much seconding. In place of that, I did a lot of self-learning (ground school). Also, I didn't learn to sport climb until much later.
A friend sold me a set of old cams and told me to go out and plug gear in boulder problems. So I did that and figured out what worked and what didn't. I then bought a set of nuts and started leading easy climbs. Then as I got more confident in my placements I started leading more and more. Two years later I'm still in the learning process, but am still loving it.
1. Toproped and learned to sport climb from buddies. 2. Started seconding a friend at Seneca and digging it, but didn't want to lead for a while. 3. Decided to bite the bullet and put a rack together with my housemate, reading various books, etc. 4. Gave a friend a lift to a placement/anchoring clinic he was running and sat in, did a little more ground school with another friend. 5. Did a couple super-easy single-pitch routes with inexperienced/slightly experienced friends. 6. Started swinging leads on easy routes at Seneca with the guy from #2, partners with similar experience, and my wife (me leading all pitches).
So my learning was a mix of 'mentorship', reading, a bit of ground school with various people, and climbing with people at my level and below. The word 'mentor' can chafe some people, and I don't think it's often a stated relationship. My more experienced friend wanted more partners, and started introducing a few of us to traditional climbing. As years have gone on, it's become a more balanced partnership.
I think it was really valuable to climb with a variety of people once I had confidence in my placements and systems. On some routes I had the confidence of a better climber to back me up. In equal partnerships, we put faith in our combined abilities and made decisions as equal partners. Once I had a bit of experience, it pushed me mentally to take on more of the leadership role. Each provides different lessons.
1- climbed in the gym for a while. led some stuff. 2- tr'd once outside 3- led an easy sport climb or two 4- followed Frogland 5- started leading trad with my first mentor
I had a great mentor to start out with- got me out there, tossed me onto lead within a month of starting to climb outside. After that partnership sort of faded, I found a new mentor who, for two years straight, was the best partner i could ask for. we both would push our limits both on established routes and first ascents (ground up, no bolts).
These days, I find myself back to climbing established routes and occasionally mentoring others. Mostly, though, I just seem to be the guy with the gear who's stupid enough to lead shit other people won't!
I went down to the crossroads Darkman waited for me there I went down to the crossroads Darkman baited me unfair Axed if I wanted to trad climb Sold my soul on a dare...
I think there should be another option because a lot of people started aiding before trad. so two aid climber going off to lead for there first time is diffrent that two people who don't know what they are doing
I also learned to aid before doing any serious trad... I didn't include the option though because I didn't see it as relevent. The point is not to find out HOW you learned, but rather WHO you learned from, whether it was independantly or with lots of help/teaching.
i took a toprope class twice over and practiced building anchors for about a year. then one day i was climbing with some friends and we were missing one of our leaders. so one of them gave me the gear i needed for the route, and i climbed it. first trad lead, 5.7 onslight flash
i never did stop to learn sport climbing in between. i've since tried leading some sport routes and i find i just can't keep my head in it
i first took a general mountaneering class as a prequist for rock climbing school in my region than i learned to climb rocks with my noob friends bye toproping.after this i learned to make placements.after spending enough time with the classmates i went to trad to Aladaglar and climb some single pitch routes.so i am hre now...
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