How did you start aid climbing?

Hi, I'm a punter from New England, and I am about to start to learn to aid climb.  I know mentorship is pretty helpful, but I don't even know anyone who has stepped in a set of aiders.  I'm currently trying to get all of the skills I need to succeed on some longer valley routes next fall, and I am slowly making my way.

I have bought a set of metulius aiders + adjustable tethers, and have watched all of HowNot2's bigwall/aid videos.  Is it a bad idea to go to my local crag on a weekday and aid up some seldom done cracks with my double rack?  How did you start aid climbing?  Should I bite the bullet and pay for Mark Hudon's course?  Do I make my friends hate me, by making them belay me on an aid climb?

If I were you I’d definitely sign up for his course!!!

On an aid wall you have to make a thousand correct decisions daily. You can trial and error it or, well, I’ve already said it.

PM me if you like for more information. 

Hey Aiden, I was in your shoes in New England a few years ago: a punter with no friends who shared my goals. Then I got it in my head to climb El Cap and ended up scratching my way up the Salathe ~6 months later. Still a punter, but a punter who can aid climb.

1. I learn easily from books/videos so I read and watched a ton. Chris Mac has a great series of Supertopo "How to" books and videos that are a great starting point. Hudon's docking/belay management videos on Youtube were priceless for me (thanks Mark!) and saved me a ton of faff on the wall. From how much I learned from 15 minutes of watching Mark's videos, I can imagine how valuable a course with him would be if you have the cash. If you DM me I can dig up the references I used (I saved most of them) and send them to you. 

2. You have access to some pretty fantastic training grounds. Cathedral has tons of hard cracks that make great aid practice. Barber Wall cracks, North End cracks are good spots - just don't take up a popular route by aiding it. Barber Wall is especially great because you can easily drop a rope and TRS to your heart's delight. Mordor Wall and the Prow make for great multi-pitch final exams to get your aiding and hauling dialed. Farley is good too: Connecticut Crack is where I practiced many laps. Rose Ledge would be also ideal for TRS.

3. As Kevin mentioned, TRS is your best friend to practice the different parts but you will also need a partner to practice the full sequences of belay building, hauling, transitions, cleaning, etc. Find someone by posting here on MP, on facebook, etc. This is the hardest part of the whole thing, but hopefully you'll also find a partner for your eventual wall goals.

4. Plan to spend a chunk of time at your target location. For me it was Yosemite, so I had a month there to do a smaller wall before firing up the big stone. Maybe if you're dedicated in practicing in NE you can just show up and go for it, but I found it invaluable to get comfortable in the area and on the rock before questing up for my first time.

Have fun!

Didn't someone here write a book that would be perfect for Aidan? 

Peter Zabrok wrote:

Didn't someone here write a book that would be perfect for Aidan? 

I was looking to get it, is there a discounted pdf version?  I know the trees are expensive, and already eating beans and rice for my aid rack

Peter Zabrok wrote:

Didn't someone write a book that would be perfect for Aidan? 

This book is what I mainly learned from: https://vdiffclimbing.gumroad.com/l/vdiff-bigwall. It's donation based, I strongly suggest you get it and read it cover to cover. I also leaned from friends here and there (inlcuding Mark and Kevin in the valley) and by throwing myself at it with a partner or solo.

Then my partner and I practiced the entire getting to/leaving the anchor at ground level on the three "bolts" back of my van with the full aid setup, lines and haulbags.

Then we did a two pitch route with full systems to work out issues in an environment that we can escape easily and won't bother anyone trying to climb (please don't do this on the nose, please!)

Then we did an overnight with no portaledge and then Lurking fear on El Cap. We had the luxury to have the time to train together after our work season and we had a lot of fun.

I'd say that the most critical is to be aware and practice ALL there is in this ebook at ground level, in loaded conditions if you can. This way, when you get on a climb, you'll be able to anticipate the flow of things.

A few other things: rope management (don't skimp on this, if you see something, fix it NOW, anticipate, visualize, some simple rope mistakes can take a lot of time to fix or stop you), don't take shortcuts when you start (do everything by the book even of it seems too much, trim with experience and when the situation dictates it), eat and drink well (self care is critical, I did and had a few partners bonk hard) and do things the "aid climbing way" (some practices seem backwards but when you're aiding, you've gotta do it this way, you'll learn from your mistakes or when you follow a pitch that wasn't lead with the follower in mind)

And last (from a friend): Don't Bail! Don't Die! And bail before you die!

Have fun! Learning to aid climb has given me two wonderful seasons and new skills I can use elsewhere

Max G wrote:

Then we did the Double 

There are so many awesome resources now on the technical aspects of big wall climbing: Vdif, Higher Ed, Big Wall Bible, Mark's coaching, and Hooking Up. A golden era for wall info. 

I feel I have some expertise on failing on El Cap. For my partners and I, we never bailed because we didn't know how to do something, that we were too physically weak, or even because we were inefficient. It was all mental. As soon I learned to train for the mental game of wall climbing, it all fell into place. But don't believe me; Tom Evans has stated numerous times that the #1 reason for failure on El Cap is mental. Andy K. touches on handling fear, which is a good start. But learning techniques to visualize and keep your head on is the most essential aspect to wall climbing IMHO. 

Just my Gumby 2 yen's worth... 

Good luck on your journey...

John Shultz wrote:

For my partners and I [SIC], we never bailed because we didn't know how to do something ... It was all mental ... the #1 reason for failure on El Cap is mental."

Yeah, yeah. Now shut up and climb. ;)

my wife bought me PTPP’s book and now it’s held together with duck tape.

I made her belay me once, then switched to top rope, and now I lead-solo.

I found a crack with a small roof and an easily accessible horizontal with mostly bomber placements and then I found shit placements and jumped on them to see what held. 

If you’re not comfortable solo (and happen to be married) I can always get my wife to belay me if I bring her a good chair and a book and promise her choice of restaurant. It’s not like you really need an attentive belay.

I started with a bunch of 10” nails, hammered into a tree.  Then rappelled off a branch about 40’ up.

I made knotted aiders from 1“ webbing as recommended by Robbins in his Rockcraft series.

"It’s not like you really need an attentive belay"

Just wake me up when you need some slack. But don't jerk the rope too hard or you might spill me beer!

Glad you're enjoying our book! Now you know a partner is an option, not a requirement.  

When are you going to join The Club?

Make sure that you actually know what you are doing and start lead rope solo well protected trad climbs. I did my first with a top rope back up. 

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Thank you for adding new information and points of view to this conversation   

Look who's talking.  Re-iteration can help re-iterate the legitimacy of the information 

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

You def do not need a partner to practice all of the parts of the full sequence of getting up a wall. TBH, it's actually better to do everything yourself at first. Unless you're working with the partner you're going to be going up your first wall with, a partner only steals your learning from you when they do their parts of things. More importantly, doing everything yourself allows you to clean up your own messes while knowing exactly what happened to create those messes so you can never make that mistake again.  

Just be sure when you do go up the wall with a partner you talk through every system before you head up to make sure you're both on the same page. You'll actually find when you've practiced everything yourself, you'll be better able to suss out the partners that have done  a few walls where where someone else did most of the work vs those that actually know what they're doing up there. 

This is so true, after a few rudimentary lessons from a friend I went out solo all the time at local cliffs and ended up soloing Washington Column then Zodiac for my first walls. Maybe it was just misanthropic tendencies idk but when I went out with experieced wallers afterwards, I learned a lotttttt. I felt like I could also hold my own, with great inefficiency but also tenacity.

Edit: John's post jogged a memory!

John Middendorf wrote:

I started with a bunch of 10” nails, hammered into a tree.  Then rappelled off a branch about 40’ up.

I learned so very much from the A5 "Big Wall Tech Manual" I picked up from you from a trade show circa...90'??

I just wanna throw in here that lead rope soloing is scary and dangerous. There is a lot to pay attention to and nobody to save you when you make mistakes, and those mistakes could kill you. If you are planning on doing that, think about getting Yann Camus lead rope solo course online and learn not to die.

Otherwise, get a friend, buy them some beer and have them belay you. If you are lucky, they will want to try aiding too.

Also, PTPP’s book is awesome. Lots of great info in it.

Patsy wrote:

I just wanna throw in here that lead rope soloing is scary and dangerous. There is a lot to pay attention to and nobody to save you when you make mistakes, and those mistakes could kill you. If you are planning on doing that, think about getting Yann Camus lead rope solo course online and learn not to die.

Otherwise, get a friend, buy them some beer and have them belay you. If you are lucky, they will want to try aiding too.

Also, PTPP’s book is awesome. Lots of great info in it.

I actually don´t feel that aiding with lead rope soloing is that bad. If you build an anchor your are 100% about and make sure you dont move onto bad gear that could have you deck in the start of the climb it should be safe. When starting out it is good to use some absolute bomber way of belaying one self. Like glove hitch or grigri with backup loops going into belay loop often. Sure, it a major hassle, but it should be safe and it is a good way of starting to learn about all the cluster fucks that one is able to generate with all the gear...

How did you start aid climbing?

Index. In the rain. A very long time ago. 

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Show me one instance of my stating what's already been stated without adding additional perspective or acknowledging that it's reiterating what's been said before. Go ahead. I'll wait. 

no