Too early to start?
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So I've been climbing for about a year, sport leading for half that. Being new to the Northwest, I'm very interested in getting on long, moderate routes with a peak to summit and beautiful views to take in somewhere with an approach that is more than 10 minutes. Essentially, I need to learn to place gear. |
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Nope, never too early. Learning trad is mostly about finding a good partner. Get that, and the rest will follow. |
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Never too early. Get started whenever you can. |
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I think I led sport for mayyybe 5-6 months before I started leading trad. Find someone that knows their stuff and is safe, and start climbing :) |
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Yeah, this isn't ice climbing, learn to place gear from an experienced trad climber and then go have fun |
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Your hesitation about whether you should start trad leading is already too much hesitation. |
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Get a rack, learn to place gear on the ground, then go up and place gear at Every stance you can find. Place more than two for belay anchors. Boom! |
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doug rouse wrote:Get a rack, learn to place gear on the ground, then go up and place gear at Every stance you can find. Place more than two for belay anchors. Boom!That is kind of bad advice, Doug, especially not knowing the persons mechanical sense. Not everything that could get one killed is super obvious to a noob. It is best to find some experienced people to lead you up a bunch of climbs and explain things. Following and taking the gear out teaches you a lot and having a number of mentors helps you learn more tricks of the trade and also lets you see where maybe they aren't doing things the best way. As a noob you may not be able to recognize when somebody is not really qualified to be teaching you without others to compare them to. No need to sport climb before learning trad at all. |
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M Sprague wrote: That is kind of bad advice, Doug, especially not knowing the persons mechanical sense. Not everything that could get one killed is super obvious to a noob. It is best to find some experienced people to lead you up a bunch of climbs and explain things. Following and taking the gear out teaches you a lot and having a number of mentors helps you learn more tricks of the trade and also lets you see where maybe they aren't doing things the best way. As a noob you may not be able to recognize when somebody is not really qualified to be teaching you without others to compare them to. No need to sport climb before learning trad at all.+1 In lieu of having a good mentor (and how will you know if they are good or not?), I think that hiring a QUALIFIED and EXPERIENCED guide is your best bet. Combine that with a lot of reading and a following a lot of climbs. The typical gym - sport - trad progression is a more recent phenomenon, and not the only way to get into climbing on gear. |
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Awesome, thanks for all the advice. I also didn't want to go out and drop a bunch of money right away. I did have a partner when I first moved here, but he had to relocate out of the country last month so following him on routes is not really a viable option at the moment... Either way, it's been really wet lately. |
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Where I started there was no sport. It was trad from day one. We called it climbing. |
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Sack up, Rack up and have fun! |
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You are going to die. |
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I climbed Traditionally for 6 years before I learned how to sport climb. Initially I had a good mentor, though. That's recommended. |
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clay meier wrote:You are going to die.I was waiting for it! |
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And that is not the worst of it. You will then have to spend eternity spotting Clay. |
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It's never too early. My first hundred or so leads were all trad. I grew up in CT where bolts are virtually non-existent. The 'Gunks were another favorite stomping ground (again, no sport climbing). It was a year or two before I even made it to Rumney. |
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There are no hard-fast rules. Everybody has their own comfort zone and the progression of leading sport first before leading trad is somewhat logical from a safety perspective. |
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I led on gear for over a year before ever sport climbing. Nothing is stopping you, go out there and do it. |
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I just went through this process myself-- I'd been scrambling up steeper and steeper mountains, and it seemed like it was time I learned how to use a rope. I started climbing in the gym last summer, then climbed sport outside. |
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Just get out and climb. |