Looking for trad climbers!

I desperately want to get into the world of trad climbing. Since I began climbing, I've always wanted to learn how to trad climb. It seems like rock climbing in its absolute purest form and that is the way I want to climb. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody that trad climbs. Please, would someone be willing to help me out? I'll buy lunch and beer (or soda if you don't drink!) and I'll belay you like a champ in exchange for hands on training. I live in the Salt Lake Area and I'm not too proud to learn.

Hey, this might be a long shot, but I am looking for a partner to climb Psycho Tower (south of Moab in Colorado) in a couple weeks. Most likely on the 26th or 27th.
If yer interested, I can give you more details. mountainproject.com/v/psych…

I will be up around SLC every other week through July, if you really want to learn I could help you out. Just pm me. What's your experience climbing so far?

Danny, I would love to climb the tower with you. Although I don't think I could climb Nameless Face, I do think I can handle Psyco Path (5.9). When will you be down there?

Luke, I sent you an email - let me know if you didn't get it. Thanks!

Hey Wic - I'm nowhere nearby and therefore not much direct use to you; however, I'll take a minute to disseminate some advice that I think often goes unsaid, but I think is very useful for new folks to consider...

In a sense, it's easier than ever to get into traditional climbing, because so many more folks are doing it (as with nearly *all* disciplines of our sport), but it's also harder in some ways. With crags/routes more crowded than ever, experienced leaders are sometimes very protective of their time, and less willing to take new folks out and teach them how to not get themselves killed.

Long story short, you can go a long way toward learning by making yourself into the ideal partner. Not just in terms of *climbing* but also in terms of logistics. Know how to coil a rope and manage your rope at belays. Know how to properly set up alpine draws. Find out how your prospective partners like their gear racked and be prepared to prep gear accordingly after you've cleaned a pitch. Own your own nut tool and know how to use it to retrieve even the most welded nut.

There was an old post from the heyday of rockclimbing.com, written from the perspective of a prospective teacher, that outlined a lot of this stuff in excruciating detail, but I haven't been able to find the post in years. Anyway, the most important part was at the very end - after suggesting that you work your ASS off to make life easy for your prospective partner/teacher, it said (I'm paraphrasing):

"Do not mistake any of this for laziness on my part. In a day of climbing with me, you will do a thousand annoying things because as a beginner, you CANNOT HELP but do these annoying things. However, learning how to make my day of climbing smoother in every way possible BEGINS to make up for all of the annoying crap you will do, and will make me MUCH more likely to take out out climbing a second, a third, or even a fourth time."

Chris,
That is some great advice and I appreciate you taking the time to disseminate it to me. First thing I'll do this weekend is go buy a nut tool. Hope to see you on the wall some time!

Wic, I sent you a pm about climbing did you get that? I have over 20 yrs of experience Trad climbing and am not apposed to taking people out that want to learn.
I agree with the above post by Chris. You might not have the experience but make up for it in other ways and make sure people want to climb with you again.
Dallen

Chris nailed it. I'm a new climber and the whole reason I started climbing was to get into trad. I started at the gym and took several classes, then practiced building anchors on my own, before taking some of my top rope friends out. I then got on meetup.com and have met a lot of really cool, fun, and safe people to climb with. I have my own equipment and make it a point to start flaking the rope first or setting an anchor while most others are milling about. I've now got several people to climb with and did my first trad lead yesterday.

As a side note: I was very spectacle of meeting random internet people and would always offer to belay first. I would then watch everyone and figure out who I didn't feel comfortable belaying me. (so far it's only been a couple of very new climbers)