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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Dec 22, 2011 - 04:17pm PT
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It was 20 years ago on glacier point apron..a one pitch 5.7 R that went up and then straight left(what is the name???hmm) I agonized over some slab move forever and had to do it cause Helga was down there watching and I didn't want to look any geekier than I already did by backing off...I made it!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Dec 22, 2011 - 05:57pm PT
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I wish I could remember style bump
not unlike other things...
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NigelSSI
Trad climber
B.C.
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Dec 22, 2011 - 06:14pm PT
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Pretty sure it was Dung Fu. I was too stupid to be scared back then.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Dec 22, 2011 - 06:22pm PT
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Looking at my old pics, this might have actually been my first lead, but I don't recall exactly when I accumulated enough gear to feel I could lead something. Obviously not noteworthy as I never would have remembered the climb if not for my dad's photos.
It was a chimney somewhere in Squaw Valley that it looks like I really should have just done as a boulder problem.
But I did place gear and was belayed.
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Dec 22, 2011 - 08:26pm PT
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Reddish brown, in a left facing corner.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Dec 22, 2011 - 08:42pm PT
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K-man, I remember that trip! I led a party of 7 up Corrugation. I was topping out while the last student was just starting. Lars, you and a bunch of coeds. I was like 21 or something leading a group up a bunch of climbs, driving Cal State Vans. The evenings around the fire are memories to cherish.
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hairyapeman
Trad climber
Fres-yes
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Dec 22, 2011 - 08:51pm PT
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Elephant Walk 5.7 slab at Tollhouse Rock in spring of 2004. It was so epic...or so we thought at the time. Me and my friend kept on taking videos of ourselves at every belay station saying things like "I love you all in case we die" and "Done with P2 now going to start P3, wish us luck!". So fun to watch those vids now!
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Dec 22, 2011 - 08:57pm PT
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Truth is this is hard for me to remember. The first lead I recall was the Hand at the Pinnacles. I was very fearless at the start of my climbing career. There may have been something in the Valley before this.
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kc
Trad climber
the cats
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Dec 22, 2011 - 10:27pm PT
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I'm sure it was the 5.5 on the Hogsback at Lover's. Nothing terribly remarkable about it except that it was a multi-pitch.
War--Deflowered, really? Your first? That is a total sandbag at 5.6. Plus it has chimney, off-width, crack, face, flare, a little bit of everything. Quite the start!
Cragman--with no experience, Double Cross was a coup! I love that climb, plus it takes some balls to do the start before you get to the crack. Can't imagine racking up for that for my first one!
And who said Dung Fu--on Hemmingway? A cave hike, chimneys, rope drag, awkward. Man, you guys make me look like a wimp!
Can anyone tell I'm excited to get back down to Josh next week?
:)
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
nevada city, California
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Dec 22, 2011 - 10:52pm PT
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knapsack crack, hogsback, lovers leap for trad and captain cheese dog, indian springs for sport. did knapsack crack a couple times right at start, great practice there me thinks.
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Stonedeaf
Social climber
misreading rock everywhere
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Dec 23, 2011 - 12:27am PT
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The Groove 5.8 lovers leap...No one told me to set nuts...1/3 self cleaned and fell down the rope...Partner didn't want to freak me out by yelling up instructions..I was climbing it well..probably the right decision..I wouldn't have decked...just been surprised by the big fall..
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Pennsylenvy
Gym climber
A dingy corner in your refrigerator
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Dec 23, 2011 - 12:49am PT
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Ooops, here come a train wreck. Gonna 'fess up and say, even though I loath it!, that my first lead was completly 'sporto'. Having toproped some 5.7 boulder problem at Upper Blacktail Butte near Moose, WY my cluesless friends and I found ourselves looking up at a line of bolts at the nearby Hoback Shield.
I fell on the second bolt, and then somehow got up it. 10b (sporto). To this day I remember this climb because we really had no idea what we were doing. Dumb kids having fun. Since then there have been many a 10b that I wish I could float up seeing I had 'climbed' that grade 20 years earlier for my first lead.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Dec 23, 2011 - 12:54am PT
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Right Angled Gully , Ben Arthur (The Cobbler), Scotland June 1975.........I think the climb was about 5.2...something like that......stoppers and hexes......awhile ago...
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Dec 23, 2011 - 01:17am PT
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First real leads I remember were Bishop's Terrace and then the First Pitch of Serenity in the same day. I just started up Serenity without even knowing what it was rated with a couple friends and tons of wired nuts that I used too many of. I don't know what I was thinking.
My calves were on fire when I got to the belay.
Back in the day, sandbagging was a way of life, but I had nobody to blame but myself cause I brought along a girl friend to belay me.
Peace
Karl
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MH2
climber
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Dec 23, 2011 - 01:34am PT
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As to the question of memory good or bad, and speaking from 10 years of working at a nursing home, it is notable that no poster to this thread has told the story of their first lead more than once, here. So far as I can tell.
Mike M asked his question politely and has repeated it. I like to help where I can.
I remember my first roped climb: Friction Face, 5.0, at Quincy Quarry in the autumn of 1967. A dry-mouthed fear claimed me as step by step I walked a dubious bridge over a great chasm, my life depending inescapably on my fingers and toes and airy nothing threatening to snatch me despite reassurances from the natives that their crude construction of vines and knots would save me. I remember following my first longer route: Rusty Trifle, 5.2, at the Gunks on 20 April, 1968.
When I saw the thread title I remembered that in the early days of climbing at the Gunks, I had written the routes I did on the backs of the daily permits we bought. When I remembered where those notes were kept, I had a look. My first lead was probably part of Northern Pillar, 5.2, on 19 May, 1968. I don't remember it as such, though. The way we viewed climbing was different, back then.
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ClimberDave
Trad climber
The LBC, CA
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Dec 23, 2011 - 10:04am PT
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1st lead was The Trough at Big Rock, 5.5 but its a waterchute and very slick, 1st trad lead, I think was Mikes Books 5.6? on Intersection Rock in JTree. Good times.
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GuapoVino
Trad climber
All Up In Here
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Dec 23, 2011 - 10:35am PT
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S-Wall 5.9 Quartz, Oklahoma 1988
Friction slab - one bolt halfway up the first pitch. One bolt part way up the second pitch. Didn't need much gear obviously. I think the joke is you just need a couple quick draws and some "nuts" or something like that.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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I remember seeing a guy, who I won't name, who fell off of S-Wall right before the belay.
Yep. Cheese gratered the side of one leg. I mean, he was bleeding big time.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Wow. S- wall? Shudder!&%$#@
Quartz is wild!
Bourbon street takes big gear....or nuts.
Man, oaklahoma slab, rattlers and concealed carry...good place to retire.
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