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brandon_foto
Feb 4, 2007, 2:45 PM
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Registered: Sep 28, 2006
Posts: 12
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want to get into big wall and Alpine climbing. I am trad/sport climber about 5.8trad and 5.10 sport. I have a full trad and sport rack. I want to get into aid climbing then later alpine. I live in Texas for now and might be moving to Cleveland,ohio for school. are there steps I can take now to help me progress in my goals. I have a BD Blizzard harness. Been thinking about getting a Yates shield harness for big walls and climbing photography. I was wondering is it better to just get more of an all around alpine/trad harness or a Shield is the way to go. What other things i need to do as for conditioning or training. Sorry about posting this twice I just want info from people of both disciplines.
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giza
Feb 4, 2007, 4:22 PM
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Registered: Oct 22, 2003
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Dude, you won't want the Yates harness if you're doing anything in the alpine - it's heavy and bulky. Just use a regular harness for the time being.
More importantly, heed this advice from Tradgirl.com:
A good friend (and strong free climber at that) recently expressed interest in getting into aid. I gave the beta I had, then sent him the following disclaimer:
1) Aid is addicting. You can expect the addiction to begin slowly, then grow rapidly to horrible proportions in no time at all. Like otheraddictions, you'll enter a period of denial and bury your depression in another aid lead.
2) Aid is expensive. Expect to spend loads of money on nuts, biners cams, etc. Till you have at least 5 sets of each. You will have to buy all thetrick goodies. If you aren't one already, you will probably become an ice climber which of course means you will need MORE GEAR. And a bigger truck to haul it all around in.
3) Aid is slow. Your speech may begin to take on a southern drawl. You may be sweating through an A4 section, only to look down and see your partner sleeping at the belay. Go up to point 2 above and add a Gri-Gri to the list.
4) Aid is infectious. It gets in your blood, then other forms of upward mobility are contaminated. You no longer worry about grabbing gear on free routes, using bolts for footholds on sport routes, etc.
5) Aid breeds complacency. You no longer care if your partner takes 4 hours to lead a 60' pitch - or if your lead takes 7 hours. You'll quit working for a redpoint on a hard sport route and instead, like the French, celebrate getting to the anchor regardless of how you got there. You'll watch the sand trash your gear and instead of being bummed, you'll lookforward to buying more gear.
6) Aid changes your outlook. Short routes become intolerably boring. Everything in life begins to look different. Part of that is probably because your body begins to take on sort of a forward curl and you find yourself often staring at your feet.
The bottom line is that you should avoid aid climbing unless you look forward to being a broke, infected, complacent, slow-moving gear junkie with a monster rack (sing along) with a faraway gaze in your eyes and a bit of a drawl.
(This post was edited by giza on Feb 4, 2007, 4:23 PM)
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tattooed_climber
Feb 4, 2007, 7:42 PM
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Registered: Dec 13, 2003
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well said steve
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rockprodigy
Feb 12, 2007, 11:31 PM
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Registered: Sep 10, 2002
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brandon_foto wrote: are there steps I can take now to help me progress in my goals.
Yes, get outta texas and don't go to ohio.
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