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sbclimber
Aug 27, 2003, 1:05 AM
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Hey I dont want to be soliciting beta or anything like that but I was wondering how all you guys got into aid climbing? I mean like before you could afford all the gear and knew all the tricks.
Just a question because I really want to start. I gotta get up El Cap someday. Thanks.
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calamity_chk
Aug 27, 2003, 1:15 AM
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i dated an aid climber and fell in love after the first pitch (ricketedly old bolt ladder in crumbling sandstone) .. i mean, seriously, how could a girl resist ?!?
as for the gear, i borrow what i need in exchange for beer and driving/gas money.
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moabbeth
Aug 27, 2003, 1:55 AM
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My boyfriend is a big wall climber so I have an amazing teacher in him. He even bought me ascenders for my last birthday! I'm still in the process of getting good rhythm jugging before I start learning how to place & clean the gear and work the haul lines. But it'll come. Every time I'm at the base of one of the Captain's routes with him I look up and think "dammit, I gotta get up on this thing" so that's good motivation for me to keep learning aid.
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peas
Aug 27, 2003, 1:57 AM
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I was working at an outdoors store at the time and had access to really cheap rock climbing courses. A coworker and I took an aid climbing course together. After that, we had enough gear and enthusiasm between the two of us to get up a some climbs. I've slowly been building up a rack since then, but still can't get up anything serious without someone supplementing my rack.
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bigwalling
Aug 27, 2003, 2:10 AM
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Peas, I got the rack! I have so much friggin gear. It's all because of of aid climbing. You need tons of gear dude. When you think you're done, buy twice what you got.
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ricardol
Aug 27, 2003, 4:45 PM
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beg, borrow and steal .. actually i just got a new CC and went to town..
what got me hooked was jugging up fixed lines on bermuda dunes in may with pete and tom .. sleeping up on a ledge 250' off the deck ... seeing the cars stream into the valley all night .. then waking up and having a great view of the valley + the endless sea of granite looming above.
I then knew i had to figure out how to get up this thing .. hopefully soon it will happen ..
-- ricardo
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epic_ed
Aug 27, 2003, 4:47 PM
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Me and the boys got into aid as a combined natural progression of our love for multi-pitch climbing and our prolific gear buying fetishes. One day we arrived at Paradise Forks with the intention of trad climbig and realized we had enough combined gear to sew up the cracks with various pieces of pro ever 4 or 5 feet. And suddenly a group of aid climbers was born.
Our epiphany led us to clean aid up thin cracks we could never even hope to free climb. Soon we set our sights on some of the easier grade IV walls in Zion on Yosemite, and wadda ya know -- now I'm in neck deep into the aid game, my rack is worth more than my vehicle, and have an unhealthy obsession with pilgramages to the two North American big wall Meccas. I'll be in Zion this weekend. :roll:
Ed
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sbclimber
Aug 28, 2003, 3:25 AM
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Thanks everyone. Hopefully I will be running into you all in the valley someday. I'll be there soon.
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apollodorus
Aug 28, 2003, 3:48 AM
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You don't need that much gear to get into aid climbing. Just get (or tie up) a set of aiders, and go up an easy crack climb with your existing trad rack. You can back-clean the pieces you stand on, leaving about as much pro as you would if free climbing. A set of jugs is nice for the second, but a single jug and a prusik/klemheist knot above will work. Or you can belay the second up, if the route is within their freeclimbing ability.
Later, when you want to do long, hard aid routes, you'll need all that bizarre stuff like pins, heads, hooks, 20-foot cheater sticks, portaledges, haul bags, etc.
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camhead
Aug 28, 2003, 4:21 AM
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they're all lying. you really get into aid climbing by hangdogging and pulling on gear a whole bunch. finally you just leave your chalk bag and rock shoes at the base of the climb, gain thirty pounds, and voila... AID!
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moabbeth
Aug 28, 2003, 4:29 AM
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In reply to: my rack is worth more than my vehicle, and have an unhealthy obsession with pilgramages to the two North American big wall Meccas. I'll be in Zion this weekend. :roll: Ed
There is no such thing as an "unhealthy" obsession for Zion and Yos, babe :wink: !! Those places are the sheeit! You and I are lucky we live in cities in which our healthy obsession allows us to be there in a matter of hours. Ahh, only 5 hours from my house to Camp 4. Have a good on in Zion Ed!
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epic_ed
Aug 28, 2003, 4:53 AM
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True, true. I'll trade ya? I'd give a body part to be less than 5 hours from Yosemite. Well, a small body part...one that's really doesn't get much use anyway...like...oh, just shut up...
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sbclimber
Aug 28, 2003, 5:26 AM
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yeah I dont live far from yosemite, but wish I could get there. I got no one to climb with and been forced to train at the rock gym but I will make it and see you all at there soon.
I'll also be in Indian creek soon to try my hand at a few of those great cracks. No later than march, I'll be there. The incredible hand crack and Quater of a man are 2 I reall want to do in particular. They look like great lines to try. I cant wait. If anyone wants to climb during that time I would really love to meet some people in that area.
P.S. If anyone ever wants to climb at tahquitz I've been looking for a partner for a while. I really want to get into some granite again. Thanks ya'll.
Robbie
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brutusofwyde
Aug 29, 2003, 12:37 AM
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In reply to: they're all lying. you really get into aid climbing by hangdogging and pulling on gear a whole bunch. finally you just leave your chalk bag and rock shoes at the base of the climb, gain thirty pounds, and voila... AID!
Camhead speaks truth. My first "big wall" was the East Buttress of El Capitan. I gravitated toward aid because I can't free climb worth beans, and because aid allows me, nevertheless, to visit some of the most fantastic places on the planet.
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andypro
Aug 29, 2003, 3:13 PM
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I suck sooo bad at aid, but it's so much fun :D . Years ago there was an article in Climbing, I think it was, about clean aiding compared to nailing. I thought, ya know what? That looks like a good idea. so I beg borrowed and stole all the tiniest pieces I could get my hand on. 've got probably a hundred nuts smaller than 1/2" now, and I'm sure it's lightweight compared to most other guys on here. I started aiding everyhitng I coudln't free. My longest "aid" route up until now has been about 120 feet, but it scared me more than being 1000ft off the deck free climbing, that's for sure. I was hooked 8) . Though, I could probably turn a IV C2 into an epic VII C5 jsut by walking up to it. but I have so much fun doing it :wink:
--Andy P
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maculated
Aug 29, 2003, 3:30 PM
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I am getting into aid for a few reasons:
(1) I have a hard time finding a steady partner that I want to climb with regularly. Thus, I can climb by myself.
(2) I want to learn as much as I can about climbing, so it figures Aid would factor into it.
(3) I had a nasty accident this summer and I want to REALLY get solid placements with pro, aid is one way to make myself confident that I am doing that.
(4) I have a famous aid climbers' name. I am getting tired of people asking me if I aid, too. I figured, what the hell, I'll live the dream. (Just kidding, wouldn't that be laaaaaaaaaaaame?)
(5) Aid climbing is so X-Treme. I'm tired of feeling the same as the other hundreds of climbers swarming all over the rock. Nobody my age aids, therefore it must be X-Treme. I love the Mountain Dew. Heck yeah!
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atg200
Aug 29, 2003, 3:46 PM
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just accumulate that massive rack gradually - mine has been building for 10 years now, and it is starting to get pretty good. things will be better when you have a job and can afford gear. in the meantime, walk around the base of el cap and collect booty.
i learned by reading the long/middendorf how to climb big walls books about 30 times cover to cover, and then going out to devils tower the day after christmas(my aiders and daisys were christmas presents). it was a mixed climb to get to the base of the route, but we didn't care. it took me hours and hours to lead the pitch, and then it took my friend hours and hours to jug the pitch. we froze, and i had nasty bruises on my shoulders from the 24" slings i had looped over my shoulders to use as a double gear sling. i loved it because i had finally found a sport i could excel at without being particularly athletic, and like brutus says i can go to some of the most beautiful and unlikely places on the planet.
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sbclimber
Aug 29, 2003, 8:40 PM
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I finally know what you mean. I did my first big wall about two weeks ago at Tahquitz (is that a big wall?). Big enough. Anyways, know I just want to go higher and higher, which led me to the realization that eventually I really want to climb El Capitan.
I think getting a good job will be crucial to afford gear as atg said. I think within the next 6-8 months I will have become fireman which should allow me plenty of time to get on some grade V and VI's eventually.
I am just ab out broke, but I cant seem to stop from spending money when I get it on gear...it is so fun. Oh well.
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atg200
Aug 29, 2003, 8:59 PM
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tahquitz is not a big wall. not even close.
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sbclimber
Aug 29, 2003, 9:03 PM
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yeah i figured...
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iamthewallress
Aug 29, 2003, 9:06 PM
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I drove into Yosemite for the first time and knew that I had to climb El Cap as soon as I saw it. A friend helped get my inexperienced arse up it the first time, and I was hooked on the entire process of living vertically. I acquired most of the gear that I needed by assuming a massive credit card debt. The rest was obtained through gainful employment and a well-racked boyfriend.
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epic_ed
Aug 29, 2003, 9:42 PM
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In reply to: The rest was obtained through gainful employment and a well-racked boyfriend.
Are you saying he has man boobs? :? :shock:
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mewalrus
Aug 29, 2003, 9:42 PM
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In reply to: a well-racked boyfriend.
The perks of being a female climber...
I wish I had that deal.
I am off to buy some aid gear tonight.
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iamthewallress
Aug 29, 2003, 9:57 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: a well-racked boyfriend. The perks of being a female climber... I wish I had that deal. I am off to buy some aid gear tonight.
My rack is bigger than his. :shock:
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mewalrus
Aug 30, 2003, 4:48 PM
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In reply to: My rack is bigger than his. :shock:
I would hope so. :wink:
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