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thedesertnomad
Nov 27, 2004, 6:30 PM
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My first climb ever was Hounds of Baskerville (set up TR) 5.7 @ The Gunks
the following week led trad 5.4 (Gelsa)
Same day led trad 5.3 Yum Yum Yab Yum & Layback 5.5 (Gunks)
Following week 5.8's (Broken Sling, Mainline, Disney Land, A Farewell to Arms, Fat Stick) all Gunks
First Sport lead - some random 5.8 (Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT) 3 years later
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calvin1564
Nov 27, 2004, 6:32 PM
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Sport: The Trough, 5.4 (5.5?) at Lake Perris, CA. Stupid move! Was TopRoping, and following friends on 5.8s earlier, and had been for some time. (More than 1 year, going out monthly). Friends encouraged me to do my first lead. All assumed I'd followed up the Trough before. Hadn't. Too stupid to know better. Slick, and no fun. First ever lead was an onsight? DUH! NOTE TO SELF: if introing a friend to leading, make sure they've followed or TR'd the route FIRST!
Trad: (Just recently moving into this) Scaramouch, 5.2 at Indian Cove Joshua Tree. Also onsight, but this time friends KNEW it. Conversation went something like this: "For crying out loud, you just followed us up a 5.10b pulling gear, led a 5.10a sport, both clean. I think you can lead a 5.2. You just need to get over this fear of trad and do it." Thanks guys, you were right.
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sgt_squatlow
Nov 27, 2004, 6:53 PM
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my first lead was a 5.10a with i think 6-8 bolts, i had been climbing for less than a week. it was fun
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brad84
Nov 27, 2004, 8:37 PM
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in theory i was a great climber, and im still alive so, maybe...
my first lead was moonlight at the gunks.
it was my first time outside.
you see, i learned from a book.
i dont recommend this method for noobs, you could kill yourself real easy. you should probably get real live instruction.
be safe kids
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cracklover
Nov 27, 2004, 9:40 PM
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I started leading trad, after I had done TRing for a while. I had only cleaned maybe two leads at the time, and never done a multi-pitch climb. Anyway, it was a short clim called Blue Route 5.4, at Crow Hill, MA.
A year later, my first sport lead was some climb I don't remember at Rumney. My first aid lead was Jane, also at Crow Hill, MA.
GO
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kreate
Nov 27, 2004, 11:08 PM
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my first lead was "please dont feed the triceratops" a 5.7 at the Red. my belayer had never belayed before EVER. Sketchy stuff if you ask me. i have wised up a tad more.
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grinspoon
Nov 27, 2004, 11:31 PM
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Kreate wrote In reply to: my first lead was "please dont feed the triceratops" a 5.7 at the Red. my belayer had never belayed before EVER. Sketchy stuff if you ask me. i have wised up a tad more.
Same here. My first and second trad lead I was belayed by somebody who had never belayed before. The first lead was a 5.3, after that I thought I should have no problem leading the 5.9+ fingercrack to the right..yeah..should be no problem...I climb 9s at the gym all the time. Ahahahha, how stupid I was. I ended up taking a 15ft+ whipper. I didn't see my belayer had stepped way back from the wall to sit on a log. He went for a ride, but managed to hold on. I stopped 4ft off the ground :shock:
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bustinmins
Nov 28, 2004, 12:06 AM
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My first lead was a super simple 5.4 called Gumby Cat on the Catslab in Clear Creek Canyon, CO. A 50' route that was a great starter. My first trad lead was West Crack on the Whale's Tail in Eldorado Canyon, CO. Truly a great climb and hardly a 5.2. Mind you, my climbs were easy but this was about 4 months and three climbs after my first outdoor top rope experience on Happy Hour Crag in Boulder Canyon, CO. That was March/April of 2003. First sport lead, 6/03 and first trad lead was 8/03. Life is good.
The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun! Lowe
JD
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mheyman
Nov 28, 2004, 12:29 AM
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In reply to: in theory i was a great climber, and im still alive so, maybe... my first lead was moonlight at the gunks. it was my first time outside. you see, i learned from a book.
Moonlight has a couple of scary moves for most peoples first time outside -- let alone leading.
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cracklover
Nov 29, 2004, 5:53 AM
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cracklover
Nov 29, 2004, 5:53 AM
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cracklover
Nov 29, 2004, 5:55 AM
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cracklover
Nov 29, 2004, 5:57 AM
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cracklover
Nov 29, 2004, 6:00 AM
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cchildre
Nov 29, 2004, 5:32 PM
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[quote="blueeyedclimber"]There's a whole lotta sprayin' going on here! I find it hard to believe that people's first leads were 10' and 11's, but whatever.In reply to: I'd tend to agree, but in this day and age I can see it happening. The introduction of the gym climber and bouldering could develop a great climber that avoided sport and trad for awhile. Having experience under their belt and leading a 5.11 as their first lead is not unheard of. Further, if you worked a route excessively on TR before your first lead then I would understand. The first route I climbed was a 10 on TR with a very low crux. I pulled through the crux and needed a good yank to make the chains. However, I am a bit of an anomolie being that I have been climbing in caves since I was 12, I just never took it outdoors on a dynamic rope. Come to think of it, I think my first lead was on Breakfast Flake 5.7 at Last Chance Canyon. My early days are a bit fuzzy at times. Oh well, I still see ratings as a reference and not a firm classification, and the numbers are there to keep me off climbs that are harder than they look and that I should aviod till more experience is realized.
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climbersoze
Nov 29, 2004, 5:39 PM
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First sport: One of the colored routes (I think red) on Mt. Yonah, GA
First trad: First pitch of Sundial Crack, Looking Glass, NC (scared the piss out of myself)
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abouttopeel
Nov 29, 2004, 5:47 PM
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First Sport: 5 Gallon Buckets at Smith Rock (5.8)
First Trad: Summer 2005!
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jeffstephan
Nov 29, 2004, 6:48 PM
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In reply to: Trad: Edward's Crack at Vedauwoo (5.7) --J
Giddy-up! Ditto on trad and sport was on the clamshell (5.7 I think) on the same day.
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robdotcalm
Dec 1, 2004, 6:41 PM
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I did my first traditional lead in 1973, long before the terms “trad”, “redpoint”, etc. existed. It was almost my last lead. I was in Berkeley (California) in the spring of 1973 on sabbatical. I saw an announcement that the Sierra Club was holding a practice climbing session at a local park. I attended. As I recall, some topropes were set up. At the end of the session, we were told there would be a climbing trip to Lover’s Leap the following weekend and that having attended this session we were eligible. In those days, there was no campground at Lover’s Leap and no guidebooks. I signed up for the trip.
We drove to Lover’s Leap on Friday night. After breakfast on Saturday, our leader, Willy, told us that we would be doing a route that had recently had a first ascent. As I looked up from the ground, the route appeared very vertical as it followed a somewhat meandering dihedral corner for a long ways before the angle eased over. Willy said that it was 3 pitches along the vertical section and then an easy exit on the low angle top section.
Willy, was 57, which at that time seemed a bit old to me, about 5’7”, which was OK, but weighed about 200 lb., which was not OK. We would be a party of four (which I now realize was not OK). Besides myself, a fortyish mathematician, there were two young graduate students. I felt relieved as soon as I saw Willy start climbing, since, despite his bulk, he move gracefully and securely up the rock. Except for Willy, we were all wearing hiking boots. I found the climbing troubling at first but the moves were repetitious, and I got into the swing of it near the end of the pitch. It was a warm day but as heat never seems to bother me I felt comfortable. Also, from regular running and weight lifting I kept in good shape—a thing relatively few people did in those days. The next pitch went smoothly for me. Given that there were four of us, the climbing went slowly. We belayed on a ledge. It appeared that there were about 40 feet remaining of the vertical section before the angle eased over, and, as we all assumed would provide an easy exit.
At this point, Willy announced that he was too tired to continue leading, and that since I was the only one who seemed to be holding up OK, I should lead the last pitch. I protested that I had never led anything. He said there was only about 40 feet of the corner left, that it was climbing I wouldn’t have any trouble with, and then the angle eased and that was it. Looking around at my three exhausted partners, I agreed. The climbing up the corner was easy and before I realized it, I was just below where the angle eased over. Looking up I panicked. The upper section looked as smooth as a billiard ball. And then I realized that I hadn’t placed any protection on the lower crack. I screamed at Willy that I couldn’t complete the pitch since the rock above was a smooth as a billiard ball. He tried to convince me to go on, but I refused. Somehow, I managed to climb back down to the ledge without any protection.
Willy then announced that we would have to rappel. I think it was two raps. It’s the last one that I still remember. We were on a little ledge, and Willy pounded in a piton. The three of us were appalled that was only gear to be holding the ropes. “No problem,” said Willy, “I’ll go first since I’m the heaviest. That will test the system.” He said if it failed somebody would eventually rescue us. It held.
Later in Berkeley, I might a fellow who knew something about climbing and had a magazine showing the route. The crux (5.7) was where I had backed off.
Seventeen years later in May 1990, I returned to Lover’s Leap. I had to figure out which route it was since I had forgotten the name. Using John Harlin’s “West Coast Rock Climbs” I decided it was The Bookmark. It was now very easy for me to lead to the upper section where the angle eased over. Yes, the billiard ball face was still there. Still no way I would lead that. It looked like 5.9 slab and no protection. But on the left of the slab was an offwidth. I guess I figured when I was first there that the offwidth was unclimbable. It went at 5.7. I had certainly made the correct decision in backing off years earlier. No way I could have climbed the slab. Later that summer I had trouble on 5.4 slab at Vedauwoo (where I participated in what might be considered my first ‘real’ lead).
It was very emotional and satisfying to finish the climb after 17 years.
Cheers,
RobKelman.calm
30 November 2004 22:16 MST (-6 UMT)
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davidji
Dec 1, 2004, 7:30 PM
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In reply to: It was very emotional and satisfying to finish the climb after 17 years.
What sort of pro were you carrying on that first lead attempt?
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robdotcalm
Dec 1, 2004, 9:16 PM
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«What sort of pro were you carrying on that first lead attempt? »
I really don't remember. My guess it was hexes and some small slung nuts from the hardware store. Of course, Willy had some pitons. As I recall, the only one he used was for the rappel.
cheers, rob.calm
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sarcastico
Dec 1, 2004, 9:36 PM
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My first trad lead was also the first pitch of Fruit Loops at Rumbling Bald, NC, last Saturday. I've lead a little sport at Crowder's in NC but I'm not really interested in sport climbing.
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olejeff
Dec 2, 2004, 6:51 AM
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Desertnomad, wow, that's pretty ambitious...the third week of your climbing career...you were leading 5.8 trad in the Gunks? Impressive.
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yamama
Dec 2, 2004, 8:06 AM
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The first lead i ever did was at Jamestown crags or East Cherokee crag. It was "Flashflood" a 5.9, near Batesville Arkansas.
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crackrn
Dec 8, 2004, 5:29 AM
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Oy. Kinda embarrassed to admit how easy my first lead was but it was mine and I'm proud of it. It was a 5.3 at Holcomb Valley Pinnacles at Big Bear, CA; Fever Pitch. I was having an absolutely horrible day, was sketched out on everything and was falling off all over the place. I had to have ONE accomplishment that day so I did this climb that wasn't much more than a steep scramble. I threaded the anchor and rapelled down (first for that too) and the day became not a total loss.
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