|
TarHeelEMT
Oct 15, 2009, 4:00 AM
Post #101 of 114
(2142 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 20, 2009
Posts: 724
|
Mccohenster wrote: TarHeelEMT wrote: jt512 wrote: TJGoSurf wrote: First lead was a single pitch sport route, 5.7(in NC). North Carolina has sport climbing? Jay There are a number of sport routes at Pilot Mountain, but nobody likes to acknowledge the place's existence and it's not in any guidebooks. It's the climbing equivalent to a landfill, where we concentrate all the trash to keep them out of our wonderful trad wonderland. I don't know what guidebook your looking in, but the one I borrowed from a friend while living in NC had loads on Pilot, can't remember the name unfortunately. Maybe my dad does...
It's probably out of print. The Climber's Guide to North Carolina, maybe? That's one of the old ones that you can't get anymore. None of the new guidebooks have included Pilot for years (Selected Climbs is about the only thing going these days).
|
|
|
|
|
csproul
Oct 15, 2009, 11:09 AM
Post #102 of 114
(2139 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 4, 2004
Posts: 1769
|
TarHeelEMT wrote: Mccohenster wrote: TarHeelEMT wrote: jt512 wrote: TJGoSurf wrote: First lead was a single pitch sport route, 5.7(in NC). North Carolina has sport climbing? Jay There are a number of sport routes at Pilot Mountain, but nobody likes to acknowledge the place's existence and it's not in any guidebooks. It's the climbing equivalent to a landfill, where we concentrate all the trash to keep them out of our wonderful trad wonderland. I don't know what guidebook your looking in, but the one I borrowed from a friend while living in NC had loads on Pilot, can't remember the name unfortunately. Maybe my dad does... It's probably out of print. The Climber's Guide to North Carolina, maybe? That's one of the old ones that you can't get anymore. None of the new guidebooks have included Pilot for years (Selected Climbs is about the only thing going these days).
|
|
|
|
|
TJGoSurf
Oct 16, 2009, 2:48 AM
Post #103 of 114
(2114 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jul 17, 2008
Posts: 280
|
Or pick one up at the office at Pilot.
Pilot I learned so much about climbing. Oh well I will be at Stone Mountain this Saturday. Woohoo!
|
|
|
|
|
TarHeelEMT
Oct 16, 2009, 6:11 AM
Post #104 of 114
(2110 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 20, 2009
Posts: 724
|
TJGoSurf wrote: Or pick one up at the office at Pilot. Pilot I learned so much about climbing. Oh well I will be at Stone Mountain this Saturday. Woohoo!
Yeah, I've got a couple copies of those. I've been to Pilot a few times, but only when Moore's is too wet to climb.
|
|
|
|
|
josiahdood
Oct 20, 2009, 6:41 PM
Post #105 of 114
(2080 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 4, 2005
Posts: 51
|
I started practice aiding a while back on a top rope with a gri-gri for backup. Try doing this - it's a fantastic way of learning how to place gear and also to trust (at least) your weight on the piece.
|
|
|
|
|
Wrench_Spinners_Inc
Nov 12, 2009, 1:11 AM
Post #106 of 114
(2033 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 28, 2006
Posts: 1
|
my first lead, was very memorable it went like this, my climbing partner and i were at the local cliff, it started to snow and neither of us were in the mood for climbing hard. so He asked me if i wanted to try trad climbing i said sure. gave me all the gear put me under a classic 5.7 hand crack and said climb. so i did, and have been hooked ever since.
|
|
|
|
|
dugl33
Nov 12, 2009, 3:29 AM
Post #107 of 114
(2021 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 6, 2009
Posts: 740
|
If memory serves...
1st lead, partner clipped the first bolt on a 5.8 slab, lowered down, and said "you're up". This was about my third or fourth time climbing anything. I made it to the 2nd bolt, no prob, little run to the third. I was reaching (over reaching) to clip, foot skated on the friction and I slid, catching a leg on the way down, and flipping over. So, first lead was also first fall.
2nd lead was 5.7 trad, which went of without any falls, although it was scary enough I left some gear on a block most of the way up.
Advice would be to get some ideas from friends on routes to try. Pick something that is well bolted or takes plenty of gear, is below your top rope abilites, do the best you can with the sets, stay cool, and keep going...
Be aware of so called easy routes. There are plenty of awkward, sand-bag, poorly protected 5.4s to merit caution. Ask friends or do routes you've already followed for a while.
If you start getting freaked, slow your breathing, and perhaps use a mantra, like "I am calm, cool water, flowing effortlessly. I am solid and focused" or whatever works for you. You can also work on visualizing the ascent going smoothly before you leave the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
jiriarte
Nov 12, 2009, 3:00 PM
Post #108 of 114
(2004 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 18, 2008
Posts: 17
|
Ok, so i did my first 5.10 sport rute, a random sunday
The next sunday mi partner-mentor-cussin, said hay wana go and try a multipitch?
i Said shure, got there he handed my the rack and smiled....
a long nice 5.7, a couple of weeks ago i did the same rute, surprised i didn't fall.
good times
|
|
|
|
|
chrisJoosse
Dec 19, 2009, 2:35 AM
Post #109 of 114
(1940 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 16, 2009
Posts: 150
|
My buddy, who I'd been seconding for a couple of seasons, suggested I get on lead on something where the climbing wouldn't be my problem. We'd been discussing placements and I'd been doing ground-level practice placements with his gear for a while, so we figured it was about time for me to start.
I'd been following him on trad to the high .10s, he sent me up a pitch called 'ultrabrutal' that is rated 5.7 and told me to sew it up. I took forever, as I was slow in getting the right pieces for each placement, but I was comfortable at the grade so I took my time and practiced placing gear. He then followed, inspecting my placements and providing feedback on each placement as he cleaned each piece.
We did that a few times, and I got more efficient at placing gear and the feedback on placements got less and less frequent. After a few pitches like that I started leading easy stuff for other folks, and after a few months of that I started pushing toward higher grades.
All that happened this spring and summer, and I've led to 5.10b cleanly now (with my mentor buddy as my second, what a stoke that was to get clean!  ).
That first lead I considered doing something closer to "my grade" and doing it with a top-rope, but my buddy told me to back off the grade to a level where I didn't need that, so I could focus on learning the skill set that I needed to focus on- don't make it about the climb, make it about placing pro and doing the thinking that a leader has to do.
This worked out to be perfect advice for me- the easier grade meant I had more time to think, and I was better able to develop the set of skills I was looking to develop. At the same time, the fact that it was a 'for real lead' made it heady and that provided the kind of pressure that made it both fun and required some concentration.
|
|
|
|
|
foreverabumbly
Jan 6, 2010, 8:14 AM
Post #110 of 114
(1887 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 7, 2006
Posts: 88
|
I had been toproping for a while, was way to scared to commit to leading. THought I was never going to make the leap, cuase trad always seemed to be a higher level.
anyway I found out my Fiance was cheating on me, I went climbing to get away from things, grabbed my mates rack and headed up.
I cant remember what I climbed, or its grade and Im pretty sure the gear was all mank.
A really stupid thing to do that I dont regret at all cause since then Ive been hooked.
|
|
|
|
|
evanwish
Jan 8, 2010, 4:17 AM
Post #111 of 114
(1850 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 23, 2007
Posts: 1040
|
foreverabumbly wrote: since then Ive been hooked.
to the fiance too?
|
|
|
|
|
foreverabumbly
Jan 8, 2010, 8:21 AM
Post #112 of 114
(1833 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 7, 2006
Posts: 88
|
evanwish wrote: foreverabumbly wrote: since then Ive been hooked. to the fiance too?
nah, that was one fish better thrown back than kept.
|
|
|
|
|
evanwish
Jan 8, 2010, 9:35 AM
Post #113 of 114
(1827 views)
Shortcut
Registered: May 23, 2007
Posts: 1040
|
foreverabumbly wrote: evanwish wrote: foreverabumbly wrote: since then Ive been hooked. to the fiance too? nah, that was one fish better thrown back than kept.
|
|
|
|
|
wallwombat
Jan 31, 2010, 2:53 PM
Post #114 of 114
(1751 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 17, 2003
Posts: 727
|
I'd grown up reading Chris Boningtons books about his climbing adventures with the likes of Joe Brown and Don Whillans. Then I read a few instructional books like Royal Robbins Basic and Advanced Rockcraft, bought myself a pair of climbing shoes and then a harness and a sticht plate and bit of rope to practice setting up belays and stuff.
Then, when I went to at university in 1987 I conned a guy into taking me climbing, by telling him I'd been climbing before.
We went to Boorooomba Rocks, a trad crag in the Australian Capital Territory and picked a nice looking two pitch grade 16 (5.8) crack. The guy asked me if I wanted to lead. I said I did and that was that. I didn't have a problem and he never found out that that was not only my first lead but also my first roped climb.
I was 18 at the time and full of bravado. I don't recommend learning to lead like I did but I also don't go for all this mock leading, namby-pamby crap and seconding a hundred climbs before you take the sharp end.
But that's just me. If you do feel the need to second a hundred climbs before you lead, by all means do so.
Somehow, I knew at the time I could do it and backed myself. It was probably foolish but it worked.
One weird offshoot of this was that since then, I generally feel more comfortable leading climbs than seconding them.
And for some reason I'm a crap sport climber and my trad leading grades and sport leading grades have never been very different.
(This post was edited by wallwombat on Jan 31, 2010, 2:57 PM)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
