Beginning Climber Totally Lost

I don't think Sir chufs a lot got your joke(s) Em. Or, you know, trollz lol.

That's ok, it can't all be A material. Sarcasm is hard on the internet.

Though, I do find it disturbing that what I was saying could be interpreted as plausible...

Your post was funny as hell Em. Chuff boy just can't pass up an opportunity to hate on Boulder, or Colorado in general. Even if it makes no sense whatsoever.

Glenn Schuler wrote:Your post was funny as hell Em.

So just to reiterate.
Climb with humble people, buy gear I notice is what competent climbers use and I like, lead when I'm comfortable, meet a lot of people, and Boulder may or may not be a good place to live (still up for debate.)
Any other advice?

Welcome to the club Bobby! I can't really add on to what's already been said. Great advice! Definitely find the guy above on Facebook and go climb with him.

I will add one thing though. MP and everyone can flame me all they want for it. :) As far as gear goes, one thing that should be on the top of your list besides shoes, harness, belay device, any number of locking carabiners and rope.....is, a helmet. Especially as a new, young climber. As a young man, we're filled with "piss and vinegar" and just want to go for it! This is where our ego-check comes in. I started climbing about 2yrs ago(I'm 27) and like everyone else, got absolutely f***ing hooked on it. I was raised in the outdoors(backpacking, mountaineering, etc) and climbing just came to me naturally.

I work with my climbing partner & his wife. He's been climbing since he was a boy, he's 30 now.
He took me under his wing and showed me the ropes(pun, not intended). This is where safety & ego comes in. My climbing skills started out REALLY well and he had me leading 5.9 within a few weeks. We'd climb about 3x a week and damn near every weekend, all day. There was a 5 pitch route about 20 minutes from where we lived.

In October 2014, My buddy and I hiked into an area we knew we could top-rope. It was an easy 60ft climb, maybe a 5.6 or 5.7? We climbed for hours, he told me with absolutely no problems. None of us took any whippers(Climber lingo for a fall). I have no recollection of this ever happening and my buddy has told me many times so I can remember it. I apparently decided to do a solo climb because I felt It was so easy, when I could lead a 5.10 w/out problem. Guess what I didn't wear that day? My helmet. And guess what happened? I fell 50ft because my handhold broke off, according to my buddy. My head hit the rock about half way down the fall and I fractured my skull and C7 vertebrae. The result was a severe traumatic brain injury. I have pictures if you want to see them. I'm not telling you this to scare you off....But, a heartfelt story that can help new climbers learn, as I made a life threatening mistake doing what I love. NEVER climb without a helmet dude. Weather that's bouldering, or at the gym for training. Just make it a routine piece of gear, like shoes. I'd hate to have a fellow climber bash their brains in because they overlooked a detail, as simple as tying into the rope and putting a helmet on. ALWAYS do a safety check with your belayer. If they get pissy with you.....climb with someone who wants you to be safe and go home at the end of the day. Its one thing to take a whipper between a bolt while leading, Its another to not check your ego when you park your car and say "Oh yeah....We can solo this one! I got it." Just some humble help to keep you safe. Enjoy the journey!

Bobby, hire a guide through Torrent Falls down in the red. When I first got interested they're who I went through. Out of all the guiding services in the rrg I found them the most knowledgable. The guides will TEACH you at Torrent, versus when I hired a guide from KRAG. Since you're close to the area, hang out at Miguel's and simply ask to climb with people. There's guide walls and practice walls in Muir Valley if you're absolutely dying to be outside.

I would do what Jessica says.

KRAG is a great guiding service, if you want to be taught vs. go on a guided day of climbing you need to be explicit about that when you sign up. Both of the owners have an immense amount of Trad experience and teach a trad clinic if that's what you want to do.

Glenn Schuler wrote:Your post was funny as hell Em. Chuff boy just can't pass up an opportunity to hate on Boulder, or Colorado in general. Even if it makes no sense whatsoever.

Well, after shooting fish in a barrel at least you have pureed fish parts and a leaky barrel. What do you gain from this?

Em Cos wrote:Well, after shooting fish in a barrel at least you have pureed fish parts and a leaky barrel. What do you gain from this?

Stagg54 wrote: The people in Boulder just make it so easy. it's like shooting fish in a barrel with a howitzer...

Stagg54 wrote: Hopefully the fish can no longer reproduce more annoying fish...?

I didn't say all of Colorado. it's really just boulder that is pretentious.

lots of different people here in the Bubble. haha most of my friends are like myself, long time New England transplants just trying to make it in a town no longer designed for middle class folk.

Lots of Dbags, but Boulder still most days is a great place to live. Hell I can climb a flatiron before work!

1. Complete your profile, along with a friendly-looking photo of yourself.

2. Go to the "partner finder" on MP.com

3. Do all that other stuff.

4. Read books. John Long "How to Rock Climb" series got me started.

5. Gym climb a lot. Become an expert belayer. Get hard.

4. Move west. Colorado is nice, but keep in mind, it currently is in the throes of an epidemic of Reefer Madness. Everyone there is stoned outta their skulls and won't give you a good belay. Utah is better, IMO.

Hey my Boulder belay is just as...hold on....wait...where was i? Oh yeah, boulder is...hey pass that over here woodja? Yeah yeah, your still on belay, gotcha!