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MisterE
Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 4, 2010 - 03:49pm PT
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I actually did a search for this, and couldn't find anything. Apologies if it is a rehash.
I was 28, burned out on skiing, just finished 2 years as a bicycle courier in Seattle and was cooked on riding too. My courier-girlfriend at the time got me a pair of shoes and a chalk-bag for Christmas and pointed me in the direction of the UW climbing wall. I was hooked. Went there for a year and a half constantly (as much as the weather would allow), before I even roped up. That was 20 years ago.
What's your story?
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cintune
climber
the Moon and Antarctica
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Mom kept the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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I wanted the goodies in the cookie jar that mom kept in the cabinet above the fridge. I wasn't even three yet.
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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Divorce...
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dave goodwin
climber
carson city, nv
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I started in the early nineties. After working at Sierra Ski Ranch ( as it was called back then) I got a summer job working at Strawberry Lodge which has great access to the leap. I was always curious about climbing but did not know anyone who did it.
so two of the employees there (Mike Strosheim and Colin Hupp spelling?) both were avid climbers and had recently located there from Arizona to ski in the winter. They were new to skiing so being an instructor/coach said I would like to do a trade for lessons.
So Colin tells me to be at the lodge early and he would take me out for my first climb. I showed up and off we went to the East Wall. We did East Crack and I have been hooked ever since. I remember the harness was old and rainbow colored (Strwberry Mountain equip?) and the shoes were size eleven (I wear 8.5) but he had big wool socks to make up for the size. The experiece was awesome and it sure was better than laying on Zephyr cove beach all day drinking beer which was my main summer activity back then. It changed my life for the better.
Looking forward to hearing about how others got started.
Also does anyone know if Mike or Colin still live in Tahoe?
take care
dave
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snakefoot
climber
cali
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out of bed first, then natural ape progression
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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As an adventurous kid, trying to scale dirt cliffs with closeline. . .
didn't get far, especially when the rope broke. But we weren't using
it for protection. . . .
then on to trees. . .
and finally at a community college course that was supposed to
be for backpacking. . . and changed my life.
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go-B
climber
In God We Trust
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Peak bagg'n while backpacking!
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nevahpopsoff
Boulder climber
the woods
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I was always into hiking, backpacking, had read all the books about Himalayan expeditions, but I thought you had to live near some real cliffs to climb. Then I read an artical in Outside about bouldering. Shortly after, I was fishing at Lincoln Woods and saw some chalk on the boulders, and the bulb went on. I bought some shoes and a chalk bag, met some people while I was bumbling around and have been at it ever since. That was 25 years ago. Met most of my best friends through climbing. I don't climb hard, but I have an awful lot of fun, and don't see myself stopping any time soon.
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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It was 1975, and my brother John and I had just gotten done watching "Solo" starring Mike Hoover. We looked at each other and said, "We gotta do that, too!" So we went off to Woodson, and with my cowboy roping rope proceeded to teach ourselves. When we realized we had no idea what we were doing, we bought Robbin's two books, and then we were experts. It was that quick.
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Skeptimistic
Mountain climber
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Around age 5 I used to love to climb up on top of my dressers and leap off into a pile of pillows.
1974 (age 14) my dad took me up to Horse Flats/Chilao with a group from the youth center. We were taught how to hip belay and rappel with the rope wrapped around our bodies. We went out to some boulders and practiced our new found skills. Then the "guides" pulled out some "special shoes" and soloed!!! up a large boulder face. Wow.
I fell into competitive water skiing at that same time and that won out throughout college. Moved to Dayglo and my new roomie was a total Jtree rat. Having disposable income, I ended up buying every piece of gear that looked cool and became a rat myself. Now I pass the infection on as often as grad school allows.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Because of a guy. With a twist.
I did online dating and answered an ad from a guy who, among other interesting things, wrote he had "climbed 6 CO 14'ers." I thought - IF I hit it off with this guy, I'll get to go mountain climbing!" and so I answered the post.
We did meet, and he was quite interesting, but not much came of it. And I found myself feeling depressed. Finally, I asked myself "Self - why are you depressed over some guy you barely knew?"
And self replied, in a sad little whimper: "Because I wanted to go climbinggggg...."
So, Self said to Self "Having no one around to do something for you has ever stopped you before, so go get it yourself."
I started to read online about climbing, to see how I could start. In the interim, I answered another ad from another guy and when we spoke on the phone he asked what sort of activities I like to do.
"Uh Ohhhh"....I thought. "All my activities are solo ones, like reading, working on art projects and such." And, to the rescue, Self jumped in with "Well - I've been thinking about trying rock climbing!"
It wasn't a lie, and it nicely kept in check what a lonesome spinster-to-be I might have appeared as by listing the things I DO like to do!
This guy said "Hey! I know how to climb! We'll go to Chelsea Piers for our first meeting!"
And so, we did.
The guy was icky, and kept trying to touch me affectionately, but I wasn't feeling affectionate for him and thought I was pretty clear on that. He kept getting worse, though, and finally he got mad at me I guess, because he was lowering me off a route and "jokingly" dropped me the last few feet. Not a "real" drop, but enough that I couldn't get my feet set as I touched down.
He laughed. I dropped jaw. And said "Well. Thanks for taking me climbing. I love it! But I think we're done now."
Meanwhile, the moment I had all 4 points on the holds and had to decide what next, it was as if I had found the absolute most wonderful thing ever. And I was hooked. I saw climbing as if the wall was a gigantic one of those CrackerJack games where you rolled the little silver ball into the holes and I was the sliver ball. Only vertical.
Then I went to a climbing gym on my own, and then I took an outside workshop because nobody was offering to take me to the cliffs.
And I have been out about 100 days a year since.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Fritz opened his store in Moscow, Idaho in the early 1970's. We bought a copy of RR's Basic Rockcraft, a goldline, some nuts, biners & webbing. It was winter so the choss was frozen enough to climb
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billiegoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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I was madly in love with a climber, and hence became his climbing partner and girlfriend, starting on the sketchy rock at the Pinnacles
and now we climb the Nose in Octoberish/Novemberish!
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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yeah.. it's been a while since I told this one..
I lived in Santa Clara, Ca.
Behind my back fence was a creek. Many summers as kids were spent walking the distance of this creek as far as it would go. The sense of excitement would rise at every turn the farther we would travel. Eventually though, we would meet the "as far as we can go" finish line and start our journey back.
On some of these trips back we would sometimes make a half-hearted attempts to scale a dirt slap to reach the top, or use tree roots that were sticking out the top of a small case that was dug by the rain waters that flowed down the creek.
Eventually, this climbing activity became fun enough to walk the length of the creek in search of more vertical walls which to climb.
The thing was, once you reach a certain angle on dirt, it becomes much more difficult to climb using natural features (there were no natural features... it was compacted dirt). So we decided to get a few items to pick out hand and foot holds which could be delicately stood on to eventually ascend the cliff.
Progressing in a what I now know is a ice-climbing ethic, we made our ways to the tops of the cliffs, some 15-20 feet above the creek bottom.
These are the earliest memories of climbing.
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Paulina
Trad climber
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When I was eleven, I met two 14-year-old girls at summer camp who went backpacking and played crazy romantic mountaineering songs on the guitar. When I asked my parents for a backpack and to go on a trip, I was informed in no uncertain terms that I was too fragile a little girl to carry a pack like that, and that I wasn't going anywhere.
Fast-forward many years, at orientation week in college I signed up for the Mountaineering Club, which turned out to be a rock climbing club, and here I am still.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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In a gym in high school.
: /
I know.
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yedi
Trad climber
Stanwood,wa
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1972 read an account of the Italians on K-2 in the 50's. Knew climbing was something I wanted to do. It took until 76 and my then girlfriend( my wife now)and I took a class in Idyllwild(sp?). Off and running after that.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Couldn't help it, all the kids in Chicago in '63 were into it, almost like banstand....
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MisterE
Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 4, 2010 - 11:15pm PT
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Great stories! Keep 'em coming!
Funny that 2 of the first 4 posts were cookie jars on the fridge! LMAO!
We had molasses cookies and carob bars - not much incentive there.
Meh. ;/
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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I was a member of a 7th Special Forces "A Detachment" stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1964. We were training with some British SAS guys who broke out a rope and set up a top rope. It was just for that day but I had so much fun I pursued climbing when I got out of the service in 1965.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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You didn't start till '65? Slacker.... ;-)
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murcy
climber
sanfrancisco
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My then 11-yo son went to a birthday party at Mission Cliffs. I think I've been there almost 1,000 times since. Originally only with him, but he's moved onto other pursuits.
Unfortunately for my climbing, his other pursuits still require my chauffeuring and such on the weekends, so actual climbing has suffered greatly. But not for long.
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utahman912
Social climber
SLC, UT
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In 1960 my Dad took me to the Yosemite. At 11 I did Reds Meadow to the Valley on the JMT with him. Spent time that same summer with my Grandfather at Joshua Tree, They did it so I did it. Nature or nurture... I don't know... but my kids do it too.
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deano
Trad climber
sonora
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age 12 near the top of Sonora Pass with my dad. we had a rope and some nuts but no second harness or belay device. my dad just held the rope in his hands (hand - one taking pictures!) when I got to the top, I just walked a circle around a small tree then had him lower me off. sap all over the rope...
didn't know there were "routes" with names and junk so I'm pretty sure it was a ground up first ascent.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Took a Sierra Club Course on snow climbing and self-arrest on the Baldy bowl back in 73...A Trip to joshua tree , Rubidoux and the test piece trough on tahquitz...5.0d...yee haw...RJ
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pocoloco1
Mountain climber
The Chihuahua Desert
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I found a complementary copy of the local social rag in my drive way. On the way to the trash, I scanned the cover photo. The photo caption read, “ Rob R spots Swiss Climber Tony L at Historic Hueco Tanks”.So, a few days later, I called Rob. A few weeks later,Rob showed me how to put on a harness, he tied me in to a top rope set up on Uriah’s Heap, pointed to the anchor and said,go touch that carabiner.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Didn't have a lot of climbing in Chicago but we made do.
It was good training for the cold which has never bothered me...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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South suburbs?
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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My family went camping for a couple of weeks in YNP every year since I was born, so it was a sort of natural progression from hiking and bouldering. I learned about pitons and carabiners in Junior Rangers in the early 1960's, and found Roper's Red climber's guide in the library in about 1966. I started roped climbing the next year, but didn't feel sufficiently competent to lead in the Valley until 1969.
John
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WBraun
climber
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If you sit in a corn field in Kansas and can watch corn grow you're climbing .....
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Reilly, I love the summit shot! People and cars must have looked like little ants from there!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mooser,
They did in my mind's eye! A couple of years later I read Annapurna
and the rest as they say...
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Strider
Trad climber
one of god's mountain temples.... ಠ_ಠ
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I just woke up one day and thought, "Hey, I want to do that." And I did.
And thanks for reminding me. It was 6 years ago on this day (July 4th, 2004) that I slept my first night on my first big wall, West Face of Leaning Tower. Cool.
-nick
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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all horizons converge at me.
i am the nucleus of my dream.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Parents said I was climbing before I was walking. Tipped a high-backed chair through a picture window when I was three and was off from there on. Grew up in Chitown like Jaybro and was on buildings and in trees the entire time we lived there. Should have been a second-story man, but became a climber instead.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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In Summer of 1958 at CU in Boulder, 2 of my house mates took the Rock School at the CU Mountain Recreation program from Cary Huston. They waxed so enthusiastic about how much fun they were having that I became interested and met one of their fellow students and became good friends with him, since we were both chemistry majors at the University. His name was Bob Culp, and he actually became my close friend and mentor in rock climbing. I learned how to belay, rappel, handle ropes, and drag my fat a$$ up some real climbs. Prior to that, my activity had been backpacking and some peak bagging. Now, almost 52 years later I still climb whenever possible. Bob still operates the Bob Culp Climbing School, and guides professionally, worldwide.
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ncrockclimber
climber
NC
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I started in '89 or '90. I was in school at UofA in Tucson. A friend spend the summer working in Yosemite and came back totally stoked about climbing. He had a rope and some gear, and took a bunch of us out to Mt. Lemmon. I was hooked, as were a number of my friends. We started going regularly, but really had no idea of what we were doing. Looking back, I cringe at some of the absolutely stupid stuff we did in total ignorance.
One day, while we were taking turns flailing on a 5.8 top rope problem, we notice this "old" guy sitting on a boulder. He was watching us and smiling. After a while he walks up and offers some advice about using our feet (or something similar). One of my more rude friends (or was it me?) said something to the effect of "Why don't you show us what you mean... if you are such a great climber." The "old" guy didn't ever pause. He jumped on the wall unroped and in his hiking boots. He walked up the route, then down climbed it. When he got to the bottom, he just looked at us and smiled. From that point on he was my mentor. He was a great climber and teacher.
I loved climbing from the first time I touched rock, but it was only after I met Ben (the old guy) that the world of climbing really opened up for me.
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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i finished growing up in Tahoe, and back packed starting at age 12.. that led to winter camping and climbing crags and boulders while backpacking..
in those years tommy thompson (T2) and Rick Lovelace and i were all the same age/grade/school.
So we went from scrambling to Rick getting a rope and hexes and setting up our first tope ropes @ age 14/15.....1979
Ball buster rock was the my first time on a rope, we set up easy route then a 5.9. we all thrashed on it! a few years later we all soloed it!
My first climbing trip to the valley- 1980- just got my drivers license and talked my parents into letting Rick and I go down for spring break.. I took a 2 day class from Yos School so my parents would be chill. Don Reid was my instructor and took me under his wing that week. He showed me a bouldering circuit by swan slab after class and opened the door for me to follow..
that trip changed my life forever, i saw how climbing would lead to endless adventures and i wanted that more than anything...
the rest is
history,,
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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For me it was a need to continue on from places I went.
I was an avid backpacker/fisherman/hiker. It would take me my buddies to places where we could no longer pass without technical gear. So finally a buddy and I said, "F*#k it! We need to learn how to use ropes!!!".
And we did. That was about 10 years ago. Never had a lesson....but I don't really climb hard, I just like having fun.
First route...
First technical route, iceaxes and gear along the rock face next to the snow gulley.
How do you spell couloir???
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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"I don't really climb hard, I just like having fun."
I can identify with that!
I think that's why it gets ingrained and we keep coming back....
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mazamarick
Trad climber
WA
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Worked at REI in '72 with a guy who ran a climbing school, Al Givler was one of his instructors who taught a rock climbing segment. Didn't think I'd like it(vs. mountaineering), ended up being my passion for the next 30+ years. RIP Al, I can't thank you enough for making an impression on an impressionable kid..
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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MCA ice climbing festival in Alaska was actually the first time I tied in... then a few months later I was living in Heidelberg, Germany and went by the German Alpine Club to talk to them about doing some ski tours. The woman behind the counter suggested I try the new climbing wall that had just been built. She introduced me to the guy who did most of the instructing. I started going every Tuesday and the rest is history. I had one maybe 3 month period when I only climbed a few times, other than that it's been solid at least twice a week :-)
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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.. the infamous Harrison Hood sparked my climbing in 2001.
Like bluie my lifestyle from childhood on developed out of wilderness exploration in the alpine and forest environments. I had used ropes in alpine scrambles, sailing, ski mountaineering, and one day found myself high off the deck on a fingertip ledge in hiking boots. It occurred to me I should know something about protection and rope systems, just so I could get into more interesting terrain and my little school age kids could go along. Hence the call to H for some classes and guide service. I've climbed all over the world, rock and mountaineering
Now those little kids are big and my 20 year old has just caught the bug, so I'm taking him and his buddy on their first climbing adventures this summer. Motherhood..the best.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Had already reserved/paid a deposit on a ski cabin only for there not to be enough snow to ski (but went to hang out/party). Some friends of friends, also staying in the cabin, asked in the morning if anyone wanted to go out climbing with them.
I was like, "well, umm, sure, why not..." Had no idea it was about to take over my life...
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pc
climber
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Met Laurie Skreslet at a talk he gave on his Everest Summit. (as the first Canadian) He told me about some frozen waterfalls he and some pals were doing in eastern BC.
Got the bug, bought some shoes and a rope, and headed out to Buffalo Crag, Niagara Escarpment.
pc
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Looking for love in all the right places...
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In the early 90's I was doing a lot of solo backpacking in the Sierra. I was gravitating toward non-trail hiking and peak bagging. Some of that peak bagging was starting to get a little "airy" for me (probably was 3rd class mostly). So I decided I needed to get some more skill so I'd feel more confident and be able to decide what I was getting myself into.
My pal and I played hooky from work a few times and took a bunch of classes at YMS over a spring and summer. On a lightly rainy April day Doug Nidever showed us how to boulder on these invisible (to me at the time) "rugosities and nubbins". What the heck, it worked! Next day, Dave Bengston showed us different kinds of crack techniques and some very basic anchoring. Then took us up Oak Tree and Bay Tree Flakes.
I was hooked and have been an avid n00b ever since. Thanks guys!
Eric
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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My folks thought getting rid of the kids for the summer was a great idea, so we went to summer camp. My counselors were avid Adirondack hikers, so that's what we did. Most of the kids hated it, but I really enjoyed it.
Then my folks sent me on a trip out west in 1958 and, after a day of climbing school at hidden falls, I did the Grand Teton via the Owen-Spaulding route with the Exum guides (in fact, with Glenn Exum).
That did it; I was totally hooked, and 52 years later I am still at it.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
climber
from the Leastside
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"I don't really climb hard, I just like having fun."
I can identify with that! ~ Jaybro
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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i was under my car one day, and i said to myself,
"wow, i feel just like scuffy!"
and that was that.
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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My adopted parents were really sedentary, but they got it that I was hungry for adventure even as a little kid, so they sent me out with some friends of theirs who were into skiing. I was blown away by my first experience skiing at Homewood as a 6 year old (1969), the next year got to join a ski club and went every weekend for a few years. The ski club promoted a summer outing program called Wilderness Experience which was run by some ski patrol folks from Alpine Meadows. They took us rock climbing on some crags above the 5 lakes area, between Alpine and Squaw, I was 9 years old, and totally loved it. I remember the fear, the thrill and the pain of a vertical body rappel on gold line rope, a rite of passage that few get to experience these days. The next year I went to Yosemite Valley with a YMCA trip, one of the counselors climbed and I told him I had belayed before, we went and did the first pitch of Monday Morning Slab right side. My parents divorced and a year later my father moved to a house in the Berkeley Hills, first weekend visit I wondered a few blocks and ran into the Sierra Club Rock Climbing Section at Pinnacle Rock. They invited me to tie-in. Toward the end of 6th grade, I moved in with my dad, and became a regular RCS kid. In 7th grade I started hanging at Indian Rock and was heavily influenced by Mike and Amy Loughman, Fred Cook, Scott Frye, Steve Moyles, Chris Vandiver and many others. I had the best of both worlds, learning rope craft and anchoring from some old Sierra Club masters, and technique and footwork from some of the smoothest climbers of the day.
Peter
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Looking for love in all the right places...
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These are some great stories... it's very interesting to see where you all started out.
eric
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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As a kid I wanted to climb everything around. At 17 a friend asked me to go with him down to Corona del Mar and I saw Bachar bouldering. Didn't know who he was then but when I went back I saw him again and he danced on the rock. Decided then and there, this was cool! Went to Ski Mart in Newport and bought some shoes, EB's(John told me what shoes he was wearing) and went damn near EVERYDAY after that. Met Dan Leichtfuss, Maria Cranor, Randy Vogel, the regular crew there in those days, then it was off to Josh and Yosemite...the rest is history. Still love it as much 35 years later as I did the first time I flailed up the lay back on the beach!
Peace
Edit: Funny x15...all the streams I crossed years ago on approaches in the Sierra, I now go back to fly fish them...opposite of you, but tons of fun just the same.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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ours relationship is one-sided, me and those mounts.
you see, i'm just rambling along minding my own secrets, and those mountains keep puttin' themselves beneath me.
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MisterE
Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 5, 2010 - 07:46pm PT
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Thank you all - beginnings are such an amazing period, I hope more folks will weigh in!
Erik
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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A really good friend that I was in the Navy with turned me on to it.
He just suggested it & showed me a couple pics.
I'd just been laid off from a job, so I gave away my furniture & headed for The Valley. I figured the Center would be a good place to learn.
He's gone now(miss you Quinn), but I still thank him every day.
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jstan
climber
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Little did the parental RGolds realize they had given their only begotten son into the hands of degenerates.
Just as I did not realize when I started climbing with him
he was but a kid.
No one that strong and confident could possibly be a kid.
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wbw
climber
'cross the great divide
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I had climbed a couple of times, so two weeks after finishing school, and having moved to Wyoming, I tell my buddy Wes I wanted to be a climber. Wes, 18 years old at the time, with a bunch of attitude and experience from previously living in Mammoth, tells me "if you're going to be a climber then we're going to Yosemite in the spring." So we built a crack machine, leaned it up against the place I was living in Teton Village, and I learned to jam cracks outside during a Jackson Hole winter.
In April, we bought a bag of potatoes and a case of Milwaukee's Best and went to the Valley. I remember feeling completely overwhelmed by the scale, and totally impressed that The Kid and his buds were always smokin' up in their van earlier in the day than we were.
After that trip in '84, I bought Yosemite Climber, and that sealed the deal. The skillz and time-spent are not always constant, but I've been a climber ever since.
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Porkchop_express
Trad climber
Springdale UT
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I went to high school in AK for a year where rappelling and climbing were part of the PE curriculum. As a young lad in upstate New York I was always into climbing trees and the rocks that were in my back yard--my father was a structural steel worker so I suppose thats where much of the initial desire came from...
Anyhow, after discovering "real" climbing in HS, I was very interested but I always thought it was far beyond me. I wound up getting into soccer and baseball but I still thought of learning to climb. I tried pricing out some guides but I didnt have disposable cash to blow. In college, I came across the Nat Geo magazine about Alex Lowe and his expedition to Baffin Island and I made a commitment to learn if it killed me. I shredded that magazine and posted every piece of readily available climbing literature within my personal space to remind me of what I was working towards.
In the mean time I honed my outdoor skills by backpacking for a few months after college on the Appalachian Trail and when I got back, I bought some shoes and chalk and headed for the local gym. I soon realized that this scene would not provide lasting entertainment, but I did manage to make friends with some good climbers who also taught me a lot about leading and placing gear.
Once I knew how to lead and place gear, I hit the road and now I have taken a bit of a side path into the realm of canyoneering, but my commitment lies in climbing and someday I will go to Baffin Island, even if only to trek around and take pictures.
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zeta
Trad climber
Berkeley
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i was living in northern new mexico working as a ski instructor, in my early 20s...two of my roommates were climbing partners and they built a short climbing wall in our backyard. They started taking me out on day trips, where they would lead or set up a top rope. I loved it immediately but thought it was a crazy hard sport, because neither of them thought to give me any tips (like straight-arming, learning how to rest, etc.). So I would hang and flail, struggling to inch my way upward.
I had thought sandstone was fantastic, but then I moved to Colorado and started climbing on granite and limestone. I started climbing with people in Colorado who gave me tips on technique, learned how to read a topo, and started learning how to build anchors and lead. Suddenly climbing became a huge part of my life.
Here's what I remember though...
After every climbing roadtrip my old New Mexico roommates went on, they would carefully organize their gear, hanging cams a certain way, making sure the gates of the biners were facing the same way, etc. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous how particular they were with their gear, saying to myself, "i would never be like that!" And of course, now I am exactly like them! Now it's me who is always planning the next climbing roadtrip, fixated on how I organize my gear, and maybe a bit too attached to my rack.
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rich sims
Trad climber
co
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Ok like most of you I climbed most anything
One fun thing was to climb up onto the barn roof, below our house. Then run across and jump off on to an ice plant hillside.
It was till at thirteen I went of the side head first.
Ok so climbing took a backseat for a year or so.
Then I ran with some falconers' or so they thought of them selves. By then I had the fear of height mostly in check again. So they would send up me to rob the nests.
As I got into it and started read about falconry I realized what I was doing, robbing the nests was really messed up and broke away from them.
I got really involved in backing.
On a trip through Yosemite 74ish, if the interaction with the first climbers I met had been different perhaps I would have started climbing sooner.
My tent was along side Columbia boulder and when one of the crowd came forward and asked if I would move my tent I did . That was after some sh#t comments from others (climbers) that at the time made no sense put me off.
I ended up living in the Ozone , spent the night on Half Dome but climbing still did not register.
76 Hiking up to do a winter (Thanksgiving) accent of Whitney we base camped with two climbers Gary Rule and Pat Nay. Pat showed me some bouldering moves but what I really remember was the rock hurts your hands when it cold.
Returning a pack I barrowed from Gary he suggested I not got party in IV but go to Jtree and climb.
I said thanks but the girls in IV… We met up and Gary insisted I had to see JT by the full moon then I could go to IV the next day.
Driving in to the park the domes shining by the full moon will be with me forever. The next morning the rock was even more amazing looking.
Gary and his friend Dave Nettle took me up Mikes book , the Hobbit Roof and North overhang by-pass .
What a day, I hurt in the most wonderful way. I knew then I was hooked for life.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Spider: Thank you for remembering me for supplying gear to you for your “climbing habit.”
Fritz opened his store in Moscow, Idaho in the early 1970's. We bought a copy of RR's Basic Rockcraft, a goldline, some nuts, biners & webbing. It was winter so the choss was frozen enough to climb.
I swear! I never sold goldline.
However: I was ready for my intro to roped climbing in summer 1969.
I was a “Forestry Student,” wore hiking boots, and loved the mountains.
When I finally had my half-day introduction to belaying and climbing from a friends older brother-------I was "possessed & motivated."
I bought a goldline, steel biners, and soft iron pitons from REI-------grabbed my friends and said “we are going to learn to climb.”
Oh yeah! I also bought and memorized: “Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills."
I am so amazed that all of us here have lived through the Sh#t we did!
(moment of rememberence for those we have lost)
And the real secret for "getting into climbing:" was that “women dig climbers”--------or at least some of them do!
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The Wedge
Boulder climber
Santa Rosa & Bishop, CA
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Boy scouts lead to caving, that lead to climbing.
Got tired of being cold dark and wet, much of the rigging carried over nicely.
Then a friend took me to crescent rock in VA along the AT. Climbed in my wrestling shoes with 1 foot of snow on the ground.
Then got busted by my school teacher reading freedom of the hills, who gave me Auther Kerns (now owner of seneca rocks climbing school) phone number and the rest was history.
Thanks for Auther taking me under his wing, I did not die or kill anyone else.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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I've got my dad to thank. Took me to castle rock and the pinnacles. We climbed East Buttress of Middle Cathedral when I was 14. Thanks Dad.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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When I was but a wee-Skippy I did like to climb the boulders outside our Mammoth home, so I guess you could say I got my start there. Years later there was a lot of scary teen-aged late-night scrambling at Stony Point. My intro to roped climbing was a bit dull. It happened another decade later when a BF got me into it. I got obsessed and he quit for good. Here I am.
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10b4me
Boulder climber
The End Is Near Retirement Home
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started off reading mountaineering, and rockclimbing books. I said I think I can do that. Took a course(BMTC) thru the Sierra Club. I met some people who were into mountaineering, and rockclimbing. The rest is history. That was thirty-one years ago.
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brett
climber
oregon
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1987, a high school friend asked if I wanted to go "climbing" with her and her father. We get about .5 mile from the trailhead and they start pulling ropes and crazy metal crap out of their packs and I'm like WTF? I thought they meant hike up some Adirondack hill. I'd never heard of rockclimbing.
I flailed on some 5.4 topropes. I was the most terrible beginner I've seen. But we went to the Gunks a little later and I was hooked. The next few years are some of the best memories of my life. I wish I could touch those feeling again.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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There was a little stream named Lena Gulch in the neighborhood I grew up in. I used to build dams with mud and generally "play army" down there during those elementary school years.
This tiny creek went under a semi-major road that was supported by a wall of large concrete blocks and stood about 50 or 60 ft high. There were small ledges on the wall ranging from 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide covered with dust and crap from the road above. I was about 10 or 11 and had just read an account of an Everest climb in National Geographic. Inspired, by the photos of these guys "clinging to the rock face", I made a traverse over the creek, where it went through the wall, about 25 or 30 feet up. The adrenaline was certainly flowing as, more than once, my sewing machine leg caused undo slippage on the gravelly covered ledges. Over the period of that summer I climbed numerous routes on my "Mount Everest", taking many of my friends down there to experience the fear and joy that I had found. None of them seemed to appreciate it the way that I did, so I pretty much continued on on my own.
First roped climb? Wind Ridge June 1972, on the final pitch the leader climbed over so that I could finish up by a pull up on Ivy Baldwin's cable that still stretched over to the Bastille. Looking across that cable and imagining him out there made my cojones shrink up tight!
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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*Climbed trees and bouldered as a kid
*Moved to Cali for the skiing at age 20, discovered great climbing as well
*Found a good local bouldering spot and free soloed choss in the Sierra
*Ski team friends took me on my first roped climb in Yosemite Valley
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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ONCE UPON A TIME, IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY...
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EP
Trad climber
Way Out There
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1984 took the class in Yosemite with Herb Swedlund. Went back to Orange County and climbed local stuff using the Hunk's Guide and warehouses with rock cemented on. Moved to Berkeley in 1986, where I sprained my ankle severely within 15 minutes of visiting Indian Rock/Mortar Rock for the first time.
After a protracted healing time, went with the Sierra Club RCS to Split Rock and then to Cragmont. I met TM Herbert at Split Rock, and Chuck Ostin at Cragmont. Chuck and I climbed together about three times a week. He said I should climb Farewell to Arms, so I did it second try. Then he said I should climb I 12, and I did it first try. Pretty much downhill form there as I transitioned from TR to leading. Fell out of Double Cross on lead and lost my mojo for a few years.
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Sunshinesmile
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Some random guy sent me a message on Myspace to climb at the gym. I figured it was a public place and went. Liked it so much I got most of my friends climbing at the gym but no one had any outdoor experience. Made sure my next boyfriend was a climber, he took me a few times. Dumped him and found another climber boyfriend who took me all the time! Pure happiness for exactly a year. Now have a full rack with doubles, three ropes and a 4wd truck, don't need no stinky boyfriend to climb now!
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Sunshinesmile
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Dumped him because he was emotionally abusive... nothing to do with his climbing skills.
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BrianH
Trad climber
santa fe
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I guess backpacking with the Boy Scouts got me started, then bagging peaks in the Presidentials, and a lot of northern New England skiing and touring. One winter I was 34 and I visited my little brother in Santa Fe NM. We did a ski tour up Santa Fe Baldy and I had a Spiritual Experience(tm) and decided I needed to learn how to climb big mountains. So back in DC I signed up for a top-roping course (with a guy who was to become a rock star guide in the Himalaya, but then he was teaching out of his trunk). I progressed through a leading class and started chewing up easy leads at Seneca Rocks. Eventually I moved out west, to be closer to "real" mountains.
Now I'm recovering from surgery and realize that aside from a few dabbles in the past 5 years I haven't climbed much at all. Burningman was a lot of fun though!
But to incent my recovery I'm planning a long roadtrip starting April '11, Red Rocks, the Cascade volcanoes and the Sierra high country here I come. I want to regain that feeling of power, joy and rightness I feel on a really good climb. It's now or never, bubbelah!
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Great Thread Mr E. Total fun reading so many of your stories !!!
Many of you know mine, so I'll give the short version.
Husband Dan, a good climber bitd, died @ two years ago. All my life I feared alot of things, but when I saw death and dying suddenly many of my fears died too.
I needed adventure and to create a new life since my best adventuremaker/ friend died. My best friend jesus suggested I try climbing. The incredible climbing community helped make it happen. Still is slowly happening thanks to All you folks out there. I love you and can't thank yo all enough. lynnie
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dfrost7
climber
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Sespe Wall 1985. So much fun. I was dating a climber and told him I had wanted to since I was little (We might have actually gone to Mugu Rock first). I would see climbers in Yosemite on family camping trips and was fascinated. Living in Ventura at the time, I asked him
to promise, if we broke up, he would take me climbing no matter what.
He kept his promise - thanks Joe. I kept climbing, now and then, for several years. Didn't get very good at it, but I had so, so much fun. Never forget that day.
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mooch
Trad climber
Old Climbers' Home (Adopted)
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Twenty years ago.....this little bitch made me do it!
Tagged teamed "her" with Munge a few weeks back. HAHA!!
WHORE.
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Thinking myself too old (mid 50s) and ending up constantly being Sherpa to my partner and his climbing partner (both over 40 years experience) one day at the bottom of some climb at Lover's Leap I just started climbing up because I was bored (also the few rattle snakes slitering around at the base were an incentive). The boys were long gone several pitches above me. I thought "geez...the up part wasn't too bad...now how to get down" (about 12 feet off the ground). I groveled around, ripped my knees and ankles but made it down. I said I want to do this! So I've been working hard at it...absolutely love the rappelling; figuring out how to override some body foilbes such as "fused" large toe joint due to 40 years of soccer; and just some of the other things that pop up when you gain life experiences...some of you know what I mean! I do the gym time, and we get out quite a bit. This fall will be on El Cap (errrr...bridge for me as partner does an El Cap solo). I'm probably hard wired as my Astro sign is Capricorn "Sea Goat" and we also do extensive off shore sailing. Plus I've always been a late bloomer. So it goes...
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noshoesnoshirt
climber
Arkansas, I suppose
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I climbed on top of a rock. It seemed like fun so I did it again.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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1976, when I was 13, my buddy and I started climbing the Eucalyptus tree in his front yard after seeing "Solo." About a month later, we were walking by the old Holubar store that used to be in Santa Ana and they had a flyer up in the window for climbing lessons. It was a two day class at Mt. Rubidoux and Big Rock. After that, it was all over. The Beach. Weekends at Josh. Idyllwild. The Valley during summer break. Good times.
I climbed pretty much exclusively with the younger O.C. crew after that--Eric Held, Bob Cox, Bob Critchfield, Andre Olibri--all of whom have pretty much disappeared, though they probably have thought the same about me.
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Auto-X Fil
Mountain climber
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I've climbed everything I could for as long as I can remember. The transition to roped, technical climbing was a revelation, but really insignificant in my enjoyment of upward movement.
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Johnson
Trad climber
North Bend, WA
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My buddy took me to a local climbing area when I was living in Spokane. I wasn't hooked. We went a few times and it was no big deal. We then did a multi pitch route on Chimney Rock in Northern Idaho and the hook was set. Deep! I moved a couple months later to southern Cali for graduate school climbing at areas such as Josh and Tahquitz. I owe my buddy, Greg and my buddy, X15 for teaching me the ways.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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When I was five or so, I realized my parents were storing my older brother's pills in the top cupboard. I thought it was candy. Pushed a kitchen chair to the countertop, did a high step and then mantled the top of the fridge.
There was no going back, even after my Dad was done shoving his finger down my throat.
Looking back, I rate it A0, Sierra 4th class. With an X if my Dad had not caught me in the midst of enjoying the spoils of the ascent.
I was a mischievious child. Gave my folks no end of grief.
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cragnshag
Social climber
san joser
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Circa 1975.
I suppose I have always loved chossy slabs...
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mooch
Trad climber
Old Climbers' Home (Adopted)
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weschrist -
Damn straight I did!! Especially after 32 other parties mounted her! Put on Tyvek....whether she liked it or not.
TRAMP.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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I grew up in Colorado and used to ski at Aspen Highlands for the special locals' rate of $2 a day. My father and I explored all the old mines under Aspen Mountain and in the summers we went horse camping in the Snowmass Wilderness Area with my uncles and cousins. We could be out for ten days and not see another woman in those days. In the summers I worked at a dude ranch in the old ghost town of Marble, next to the wilderness area and hiked on my days off. During winter vacations I would stay alone in our cabin up there and cross country ski.
I then went to college in Boulder. The last thing my father said when he dropped me off was, "I don't want you up there on those Flatirons". Never being one to turn down a challenge, I joined the CU hiking club where I met my first rock climbers. Three weeks later I was doing the Third Flatiron with a guy named Joe O'Laughlin. Within two months I was climbing with Layton Kor, Larry Dalke and Pat Ament. After my sophomore year, I moved to California and spent the summer of 1965 in Yosemite.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Stony Point 1965, my mountain loving world changed by being introduced to climbing by a junior high school friend. Our supportive parents would drive us there, Pacifico and Tahquitz before we could drive. How we survived is a story of dumb luck. He since moved to Florida and I moved to the mountains many years ago.
Ken, I remember an article in the LA Times when we got into high school about rock climbing in Southern California which featured some photos of you and friends from UCLA or USC? It's amazing I can draw of picture of you from a photo in the article climbing an aid route at Tahquitz and can't remember what happened just two weeks ago. We should be thankful we pick up and remember content while forgetting the static moving through our lives. I suppose many of my climbs are forgotten as well but I've always remembered and appreciated the people I did them with and the community that we are.
Berg Heil,
Charlie D.
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MN_SlowTrad
Trad climber
MN
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Wow, small world. I also started climbing in the military. Like Donini I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC from 1984-88 in the 7th SFGA...bunch of guys were going climbing and invited me along. I was already into the skydiving thing and thought this would be the same rush. Did sporadic climbing when not TDY with various partners around the mid south.
After I got out I moved back to the flatland of MN, and didn't climb again until 1998, when I discovered that MN does have some short climbs, and I have been doing it ever since, with short breaks for reconstructive surgeries(knees, back). Every year I have to plan a trip out west to give me a reason to train. This year it is Boulder CO for 10 days, and I do JTree every other February for a week.
Most of my buddies started climbing because they got a divorce, and I think they just wanted to do something that would make them focus on something else....
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mn_Slow Trad,
I'm sitting here watching the monsoonal rains wash out my climbing day. After my stint at Bragg I went to Mpls. to visit my best Army buddy and actually did my first climbing at Taylors Falls. Talk about a small world; same scenario but 20 years apart.
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Marisa
climber
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I went to boarding school in Idyllwild from 1980-82. While I was there, I took an extracurricular class called "Wilderness" and did a lot of hiking and rappelling. It was my first taste of what would become a passion! I left California and fast forward 16 years, I ended up in Yosemite on a family reunion trip. The trip was life changing; started climbing, fell in love with the valley, and have returned 1-2x a year ever since! Can't wait for September and another Yosemite adventure!
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MisterE
Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2011 - 08:01pm PT
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Bump for BrokedownClimber.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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I deleted my erroniously posted thread.
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MisterE
Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2011 - 08:36pm PT
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Still like to hear your story, BDC...
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gonamok
climber
sez me
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I love the mountains. On backpacking trips climbing was the natural thing to do, and me and my friends always talked about learning to use ropes so we could climb through the riskier terrain that was now turning us back.
I had a winter trip to Mt Whitney planned with my friend Greg, and about a month before that trip Greg learned to climb from one of his friends. He was stoked about it, and he told me he would teach me how to climb while we were in the sierra. Greg bought a rope and a little gear, and he had me buy 20 feet of 1" tubular webbing and 6 carabiners for the trip.
We hiked the whitney trail on snowshoes, camping at 10,200 feet the first night. The snowpack was around 30 feet deep at that elevation, and what looked like bushes to us were actually treetops. The next morning we were awed at the walls of granite all around us. The sky was bright blue and everything else was blinding white snow and ice. We ate breakfast then I received my instruction. Greg showed me how to use my 20 foot sling to make a "swiss army seat" harness, how to tie the sling with a water knot, and how to tie in with a figure 8 knot. I practiced these 2 or 3 times, then we snowshoed over to the base of Thor Peak.
We stowed our packs and Greg showed me the hip belay, then he took off up the rock wall with the rope coiled around his shoulder and I followed. We both wore heavy leather mountain boots with vibram soles, which worked pretty good. We worked our way up ledges and easy gullies for about 300 feet, then it got steep, so we traversed along a ledge that turned into a flake, which ended as a free standing finger of rock about 3 feet off the wall. Below was a 300 foot drop straight to the talus. The rock right above us was overhanging, everything else around us was vertical.
Greg told me to wait here, that he would scout the route, then he climbed up the overhang above and disappeared from sight. The wall was pushing me outward uncomfortably, so I sat astride the flake like a horse, listening to Greg make terrifying grunts and wheezes as he climbed above. After about a half hour Greg yelled down to me to put my harness on. I got out my 20 feet of webbing and wrapped it around me as taught, soaking one arm and leg in the freezing meltw#ter. I tied the water knot over and over until i was pretty sure I had it right, then the end of the rope slid down from above. I had to lean way out to grab it, which freaked me out. I wondered what I was getting into.
Now im standing on this finger of rock, with a 300 foot drop under me, vertical rock all around me, half soaked and going numb on that side, and Greg yells for me to tie into the rope. I tied a figure 8 for the 3rd time ever, and just stared at it. Then there was a tug on the rope and greg yelled that I was on belay. Holy cow. I looked at the harness and knots again, swallowed hard and started climbing.
The overhang was easy, and soon I was climbing 5.3ish ramps and flakes and loving it. The sky was so brilliant and the blue sky, white snow and gray granite all around me was stark and beautiful, surreal. And there I was on the side of a vertical cliff in the midst of it all. When I got to gregs belay I looked around and let out a whoop that rang off the cliffs. I was hooked for life.
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JohnRoe
Trad climber
State College, PA
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Clambering around sea cliffs on Sark,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sark when I was a kid. Caves, choss, and granite.
Did a little climbing, backpacking, sailing over the years but when I was 35 a friend took me up Gashed Crag on Tryfan and I was hooked.
JohnR
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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My start in climbing was like many others---"I had a friend..."
I was an outdoors oriented sophomore at CU in Boulder, living in a rooming house with several other guys who had just taken the Summer Mountain Recreation Department rock school from Cary Huston. They were always talking about rock climbing and I became intrigued with the topic. One of their friends named Hans Claassen was familiar to me through classes we mutually had taken, and he was one who "had climbed" some... Needless to say I got dragged out to the Cookie Jar Rock on Flagstaff Mountain and jokingly put on the infamous Cookie Jar Crack. Hmmm? Didn't fare well, so next week went to Holubar's and bought a nice new pair of Kronhofer kletterchhue for $5.00. Tom Haig then took me up the Amphitheater and taught me to rappel, and from that point on I began going on the late afternoon bouldering jaunts.
Hans was also a close friend of Bob Culp, who was just beginning to make a name for himself as a decent climber, and we also hit it off pretty well, both being chem majors in school. So I got an invite from Bob to climb Cob Rock one afternoon after class--"Empor" was the route. After that, it's all history. Hooked for life.
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NigelSSI
Trad climber
BC
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I had a girlfriend that was into climbing, and consciously avoided it so as to leave her space. A trip to Josh with some local climbers came along, so I decided a few weeks in the desert might be fun, and invited myself along.
They liberated some old school shoes, and a harness from our volunteer run community climbing wall just in case the gumby felt like following something easy. After driving for 20 something hours, I tied in only to feel the glorious sensation of bleeding knuckles, and going for a week without showering.
She moved off for a biomedical engineering degree, and is on to being an over paid doctorate student (her words) with no time to climb. 9 years later I'm still at it (though there have been lulls), and diving in a little farther with 6 months of unemployed road time planned this year.
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jstan
climber
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I believe I started with my right hand.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Grand Teton summit register, 7/26/1958, Owen-Spaulding Route with Exum Guides. Now lookin' forward to year # 53...
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jstan
climber
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This is cool stuff:
Yeah, and Jeff did not even say hello.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Same as many of you- my parents had me backpacking longer than I can remember.
My mom says that my dad would lead us along by placing M and M's in little nooks along the trail. Mostly this was in the Trinity Alps.
As I got older, I started "hiking up to get a view," with my dad and my grandpa's friend.
In third grade, I made a diorama of Mt. McKinley and Hudson Stuck.
Scouts and Explorer Search and Rescue, taught me the basic ropes. From there, a good friend and I teamed up to learn with every bit of money we had and Mountaineering Freedom of the Hills.
After school and on weekends we'd head to Castle rock, handley, or beaver street.
Another early influence was Mt. Shasta. I'd see it all the way up the valley on the way to my grandparent's house, which was my favorite place in the world when I was a kid.
Shasta always looked like the "Lonely Mountain," from the Hobbit.
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this just in
climber
north fork
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I learned at trapper dome in Courtright. I remember getting to the anchors and yelling "now what?"
"Just lean back now."
Then I thought what the fuk, why would I want to do that?
When I touched the ground I was hooked, thanks Kenny Rose for showing me the dark side.
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RtM
climber
DHS
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There was a garage sale down my street, they were selling a rope, two pairs of climbing shoes, and two full body harnesses. We bought, then went to Sport Chalet and scored a copy of Royal Robbins Rock Craft. That very weekend we found ourselves at Suicide trying to lead Valhalla!!!
...good times
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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rTm- how did Valhalla go?
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Tweeder
Social climber
Indio Hills, Ca
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I was ten years old in 1980 when my parents moved to Joshua Tree. My dad volunteered at the fire dept. and ended up taking a rock rescue course. He started taking me climbing after that. It's always been the thing that I can go to when I need to get back to reality. Now I've got my boys climbing.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Started climbing trees pretty early. Bigger the better. Then my step dad, John Wolfe, took my bro and I climbing in '69-70 at JT. First climb was Sotheast Corner on Intersection when I was 12. Froze my a** off, but changed my life.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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John, that entry for me on the North Face of the Grand from 1965 brings back some memories. Jim Swallow was a doctor from the UK working that year in the Mayo Clinic. We were about half-way up the North Face when I tested a huge flake in a crack by banging it with the heel of my hand, causing the flake to fall about three feet onto my left foot, crushing the front of my boot and the tip of the second toe.
I managed to extract my foot. I was in pain and a starting to get scared about being incapacitated in this location. Jim was a veteran of the Alps and was considerably less impressed than I was with our situation. I removed my boot for Dr. Swallow, who inspected my toe, which from that day on has looked like a mushroom because of the crushed tip.
He barely glanced at the ghastly wound before offering his considered medical opinion:
"It'll probably turn blue and fall off in the morning, mate---shall we finish up then?"
In the absence of a shred of either concern or sympathy, I laced up my boot and we finished the route. My toe did not fall off of course, although it inevitably hurts after an hour or two in tight climbing shoes.
Remembering the good doctor, I suck it up.
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nature
climber
Tuscon Again! India! India! Hawaii! LA?!?!
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I took a 15 foot header and cracked my skull open.
Finally..... we now understand. Did Gerty know? I'm guessing KNOTT
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jstan
climber
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Amazing how all the people one has known show up on these summit registers. As in:
Who would have thought Tom was capable of a political comment?
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Kalimon
Trad climber
Ridgway, CO
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Thanks to the Boy Scouts . . . Don Roach took us backpacking in the mid-seventies Sierra, Harry Crags (no pun intended) showed us a Cathedral Spires climbing slide show and his climbing gear, then Steve Letts took us rapelling at Mt. Diablo. I was hooked at fourteen after seeing climbers on Pywiack Dome in Tuolumne. I even remember approaching Maysho in the Tuolumne store parking lot and asking what he was going to climb . . . "On the Lamb" was his reply, he was just a kid too. Bob Landfear really got me started by taking me to the Pinnacles on weekends and on my first trip to the Valley in 1977, where we climbed the Royal Arches, rotten log and all!
What a long strange trip it has been.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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My Dad was a climber and took me to Stoney many times in the '60s with his bros. My first roped climb (other than tr's) was either Angels Fright or the Frightful Var. in 1968-69. We did my first 14er in '69 which was Middle Pal.
After my Dad died later that year my Mom took my sister and I to San Fran. We stopped in Pinnacles, camped and went hiking. We saw some guys climbing and they invited me for a follow on the route they were doing. I had to sprint back to the car for my boots, PAs. I followed the route and was stoked. It was the Monolith Direct.
Later my cousin Ken and I went camping with my Mom at Josh in '71. Our first climb and our first leads was Mikes Books.
After that it was an addiction.
The boots are Pivetta Muir Trails.
Oh yeah, also went to Indian Rock when we lived up there with my Dad when I was in 1st grade. It was the same year Kennedy was shot.
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dogtown
Trad climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
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I was living in my parent’s summer cabin at Tom’s Place working at the gas station ( I was sixteen ) and I met this short little dude who just did a first on Half Dome him and his friends. The next day I was on the volcanic boulders outside my house.
DT.
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roadman
climber
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I've always believed what Chinard said about your first climb.. that you are shaped by it. I've tried to take first timers out on long fun routes like cathedral peak or royal arches get them on something long and with good ledges and views.
My first climb was ice in 1996 in Alaska. A creek along the highway just north of Denali called Fox creek. About a 1/2 mile up there was a small flow that I hacked my way up with no idea what I was doing, borrowed boots, crampons, and axes. I got to the top and called down "how do I tie this webbing stuff?". Did a few "small" peaks in the range that summer and was hooked for life. After years of being obsessed with ice climbing (lived in ouray 2 winters) I've come to find that ice is best left for mixed drinks')
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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The year is 1958, Jeff Foott and I were working together at Camp Judge Bray, a winter camp for the Contra Costa Boy Scout Council. One of the other workers had learned how to rappel in the Tetons that past summer and happily showed us the technique.
Soon, it was off to Indian Rock with our new hemp rope, steel shackles as biners and lots of bravado. Fortunately, we met Roper and Al MacDonald and they quickly impressed upon us that we were close to killing ourselves.
Before long we were climbing every day at Indian Rock and weekends with the Sierra Club Rock Climbing Section. Summers we headed to the Valley for the duration and my life has been screwed up ever since.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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The excerpts from the Teton summit register are quite fun - thanks!
Especially the one showing that jstan and Jello were on top on the same day, in 1967. Talk about a small world!
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nature
climber
Tuscon Again! India! India! Hawaii! LA?!?!
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In 1987 I had a choice - either become a professional Heroin addict or go rock climbing. I chose the former. A few years later I bought Learning to Rock Climb and kicked my habit (at least for a little while).
In '87 I went to A16 in San Diego and bought a #4 Hex, a #9 Hex, and a #3 Rock. I also bought 2" webbing for a swami as well as the aforementioned book..
Somehow I didn't die trying to figure out (by myself) how to use these things. The toe rope I used for my car functioned as a rap line. good times.
I moved to Humboldt a year later and took up being a professional stoner. In 1988 I bought a pair of Fire's and a Bod Harness. I burned through the rubber on those shoes fast! Moonstone Beach was my home any day I could make the Journey.
Papa Joto and I became partners early on. We hit up smith rock and Tuolumne that year. Three years later we did our first El Cap route.
I've given up being a professional stoner (I just do a little contract work here and there). I quit climbing and started slicing fish. Though Today I did purchase a new pair of TC's so it looks like I have a climbing Job again.
Everything about my story is true except for the Heroin part.
Where is the Tuna?
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Ricardo Cabeza
climber
All Over.
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I had toproped a few times, but when I was 13 I took the train up to Klein Sheidegg(sic).
Slack jawed, I convinced my Dad to buy a rope and some draws. We had both brought our harnesses and shoes. The local in the shop told us how to get to a scrappy sport crag near the base of the Eiger.
I remember being out on my first lead and maybe my tenth climb, not knowing what to do, and hearing glaciers calve into the cyn. The whole time, the sound of cowbells from local grazers was gonging.
I finished the route and went back to the hotel.
I've been climbing with sincerity ever since.
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socalbolter
Sport climber
Silverado, CA
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Short version:
A friend of my Dad's was into it and they let me tag along.
Mom was adamant that I could not go until I was 8 years old, so we celebrated on my 8th Bday with a trip to Joshua Tree. My Grandparents lived in 29 Palms during my youth, so I was in the Monument (now Park) quite a lot.
I'm 44 now, so am 36 years into it and loving climbing as much as ever...
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Gal
Trad climber
a semi lucid consciousness
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Didn't start until I was 27. This may be a similar story for some-broke up with a dude, needed to get my mind off of it. Thought this would be a good way to scare the pain away. Took a class. Met some really hilarious people. At first climbing was just a by-product, I was more into hanging out with the cool people I met.
Then once I started leading, and the addiction was complete. The experience of climbing, using intellect and strength, balance, feeling of competence & accomplishment, the beautiful things I've seen, became the other major component. Deep connections are formed when your lives are relying on each other. I'm still great friends with some of those people from my class to this very day. Even some that didn't continue with climbing. My life improved significantly. Thank you to dude for being a dud!!!
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blackbird
Trad climber
the flat water trails...
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hanging out with one of you stinky-boy-types
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jstan
climber
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I have never broken up with a dude but I did start climbing at 26. Over the hill aready but no matter. It was fun.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
The Seas of Stone.
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I started at 30, Jstan. Better late than never, eh?
Stinky boys Rule!
;-)
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Indian Rock, Berkeley Summer of '01
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Boy Sprouts field trip to the Gunks, Spring 1971. A clear memory of climbing in knickers and hiking boots with Mr. Arthur, the patrol leader's Dad, as the qualified leader. Thank goodness for Boy Scouts! Otherwise, I'm sure I'd be a complete social deviant....... ;-)
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MN_SlowTrad
Trad climber
MN
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Bunch of Army buddies took me to some rock in NC for some drinking and scrambling in the 80's. Seemed much safer than the jumping I was already doing. After moving back to the flatlands I hooked up with a bunch of skydivers and some of them climbed as well. They showed me the ropes and where in MN you could actually find rock. Now I am pretty much a middle aged road tripper.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Fun stories!
It seemed like everywhere I went in the Sierra, Mt. Humphreys was in view. It is a beautiful peak, especially in alpenglow. I had to go.
I signed up with Bob Gaines and took some lessons. Found out the SCMA had a class and took that. Then took a four day lead climbing seminar through Bob Gaines with Scott Cosgrove. That's where I met his cool dog, Rio. That class was a trip and an eyeopener. Scott is an original thinker.
So finally, made it to Humphreys, still my favorite peak.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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A nod to The MisterE!
Kinda a boring story--a long-time buddy of mine took me to the Winds to go back packing when I was but a Sophomore in High School. I began scrambling over the rocks.
The next Spring, on a trip to Yosemite, I saw some dudes coming down the Falls trail, ropes and all. They'd just done Lost Arrow.
I said to myself "Boy, using ropes and stuff, that looks Dangerous!"
Later, when I took an introductory climbing class, I found out that ropes can make it SAFE, especially compared to the scrambling I was doing on my back-packing trips!
I bought my first pair of EBs from the One and Only, Marty Garrison--a real Yosemite Hard Man. They were classic, with Speedy-Stitched leather uppers and holes in the toe knuckles from all his crack climbing.
To my mentor Mr. Garrison!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 28, 2013 - 09:37pm PT
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Family vacation from Chicago to the Tetons 1963. My older brother, Chasbro, took a class and climbed the grand. Hooked the rest of us; mom dad y yo, ( Barry bro was only two, but eventually succumbed to the bug) folks joined the Chicago mtnerring club, monthly trips to Devils lake went on for a decade with the likes of the stettner bros, bill widule, ole swartling, what's his name, the super pin guy, etc. a move to California, didn't hurt, fifty years later, still at it, and pushing myself.
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covelocos
Trad climber
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Oct 28, 2013 - 10:09pm PT
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A visiting Earth First tree sitter showed my then 8yo son how to ascend his rope swing with prussics made from cloths line. Nothing was ever the same.
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jfailing
Trad climber
PDX, North Slope, The Open Road
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Oct 29, 2013 - 12:08am PT
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I was 11 years old when the Lower/Anker/Krakauer/Wiltsie expedition to Queen Maud Land was published in National Geographic.
That article is what inspired me to climb. The incredible beauty of the formations, the seemingly blank walls, and not to mention all the cool looking gear - sleeping on a portaledge!? I had to do that.
Went in to the Portland Rock Gym (at it's first location) shortly thereafter, and never turned back. It wasn't long before my school binders had cut-outs from climbing magazines on them.
Almost 15 years later, I found myself on a portaledge on the side of El Cap with one of my best friends. Childhood dream fulfilled. Now I want more.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Oct 29, 2013 - 12:48am PT
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Caving.
Once I got some of the toys to go down I used them to go up with the help of a climbing friend.
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L
climber
California dreamin' on the farside of the world..
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Oct 29, 2013 - 09:36am PT
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Was buying a tent at REI and saw their indoor climbing pillar.
Got up a 10c on my first try.
The belayer asked me how long I'd been climbing.
I said 3 minutes.
He handed me a brochure for Vertical Adventures in Joshua Tree.
Two days later I was there...a bona fide climbaholic.
I was 41 and originally from Misery...er...Missouri.
We don't have cliffs in Missouri, we have trees.
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Leggs
Sport climber
Tucson, AZ
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Oct 29, 2013 - 09:49am PT
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I was spotted by Kevin Carmichael when I was 22 at the same hospital we worked at here in Tucson.
He asked me if I climbed (due to body type), I said No, he said you should give it a try, he and his wife gifted me shoes and a harness, taught me to climb and the rest is history.
~peace
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storer
Trad climber
Golden, Colorado
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Oct 29, 2013 - 09:57am PT
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1960 high school Sacramento. I was into backpacking, Desolation Valley, JMT, etc. I saw a trip listed in the Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter schedule for a rockclimbing trip to the Gorge of Despair. With a name like that I had to go even though I had never climbed. I said to the leader, Jack Rankin, I can't climb but I am pretty good at carrying loads. So I went along. Sure enough I was soon on the end of a rope (Goldline w bowline) Sears work boots, etc. on El Corporale Turret. Hooked. Went to U.C. Berkeley rather than Stanford because of Indian and Cragmont rocks. so studied physics and many more turns in life to today.
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