What Grade Were You Able To Climb After 1 Yr

Assuming that you haven’t climbed before. Feel free to add how much climbing you were doing during that yr 

Specify lead or top rope.
climbed clean or hang dog.

Any beginner can hang dog a top rope on 5.13.

Actually climbing it is a completely different story. 

Well of course I mean a clean climb. If on top rope without ever weighting the rope. 

I’m just over a year of climbing, and it varies.. here’s my complete sends; 

Indoor Lead - 5.10+
Indoor TR - 5.12-

Outdoor Lead - 5.10a/b
Outdoor TR - I guess also 5.10a/b 

I’d like to point out that there was a point during my first year where I was hitting the gym or the crag 3 to 4 times a week, and eventually burnt myself out. I took a long break. I’m back climbing now, about once or twice a week. I’m focusing much more on the at-home training side of things, technique, eating right, the slow and steady type of deal. I’m not quite back up to where I was before, but my results are wayyyy more consistent and comfortable. 

I was able to get my first outdoor V7 after 7 months

At the end of my first rock/ice season I was leading 5.9 trad and WI5 ice. Like 5.11 sport but that doesnt matter Mind you we only have single pitches in MI

I literally have no idea. There were no rated routes where I learned, no gyms, and no other climbers. We did have rock though, limestone and sandstone. I was young and dumb and could pull down like a disease, but it took a while, in that vacuum, to find my feet so to speak. So strictly speaking I wasn't climbing at any grade level at all, after that first year. But I was already way down the self-sufficiency road, having taught myself to rappel (from books), now to set up a top rope and recruit my friends. That self-sufficiency served me well in the following decades. Turns out, whatever grade I may have been pulling at, wasn't important at all. The important part was that self-sufficiency, bootstrap. It was an amazing, and dangerous, way to start. I'm neither envious nor jealous of today's ways to learn. I can see the results and its stunning.

Just finished my first year. Climbed 5.11a top rope indoor(no takes) , never lead, project v4 indoor and project v2s outdoor . Started climbing 3 times per week from a very sedentary lifestyle at 29 years old. I'd say I'm happy with my progress as a newer climber so far and in the past few months I've started training a little more intentionally and taking things more seriously. 

Just finished my first year as well (climbed as a kid but never seriously). Indoors I’ve been TR at about 11b clean, leading sport indoors and out at about 10b. Just got into trad so hardest I’ve lead clean there is about 5.7.

Before sport and gyms were things...all "trad" at the time, led some 5.10 followed some 5.11

After one year I was leading 5.8 sport outside, and leading 5.10b in the gym. 11a on top rope felt very hard, but could sneak one out every once in awhile. I was probably climbing on average twice a week for that first year. I also started climbing later in life (somewhere around my 37th birthday).

After about 6 months I've done plenty of 5:10 a b c and d and a few a couple of 11 on lead all outdoors and v6 in the gym with plenty of topping in the 11 12 range but no lead indoors 

V5 and 5.11+ Tr, 5.11 Lead (Indoor); V4 5.10c Lead, 5.11c Tr (Outdoor)

End of first year, first outdoor climb on top rope 5.10a 

This thread needs a little more punter representation, allow me to contribute. 

After about a year of climbing I had just started leading. I was top roping 5.10+/5.11- in the gym, leading 10- in the gym, and would have led about 5.8 outdoors, and had top roped some 5.10As but not anything much harder. 

Led 1x 11b sport one year after first outdoor climbing. Lots of volume in the 10/+ range. Not sure about any gym climbing much prior to that. Trad was around 5.8/9.

mostly held back by mental constraints and fear of falling vs actual physical limits. 

Houghton Gremlin wrote:

At the end of my first rock/ice season I was leading 5.9 trad and WI5 ice. Like 5.11 sport but that doesnt matter Mind you we only have single pitches in MI

Why doesn't 5.11 sport matter?

I find this to be pretty interesting thread. So much variety out there. Frequency of climbing, quality of partners, what is actually safe / responsible etc.

I had my first full season of outdoor climbing last year. My introduction to outdoor climbing was Trad climbing in the Gunks. The group I originally learned from was quite conservative when it came to pushing difficulty and for good reason. Fundamentals were critical. That being said I found myself very driven to try hard and push grades. But only after really understanding gear safety, proper risk taking, and understanding my physical limits. I was able to onsight several 10bs after my first full season. But this is largely in part because I got roughly 40 days on rock, I did not find anything more helpful to grade pushing than just climbing more. 

End of my first year I led the North Chimney on Castleton, a few 10+ trad leads, lead 11+ sport redpoint, and bouldered V4.

Now at the end of year five; WI5+, M6, V9 redpoint, V7 flash, 12- sport onsight, 11+ trad lead. 

Maybe an unpopular opinion but grades are fairly meaningless across a continent

Are you just curious or looking for something to measure your progress against? If it's the latter, it can be a foolish endeavor.

Indoor grades vary from gym to gym(usually almost always soft).

Outdoor grades also vary depending on location and climbing style. 

A teenager climbing 3-4 times a week will progress differently than a 30 something with a job and family.

People tend to overestimate their climbing level. Just because you did that 11a in 20 tries doesn't make you an 11a climber.

Also, some people are just naturally better suited for climbing movement.

So as you can see, an accurate comparison can be quite difficult and can lead to new climbers feeling frustrated and discouraged with their lack of progress compared to others. The best thing new climbers can do is just keep climbing and monitoring their own progress.