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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Oct 11, 2018 - 08:22am PT
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My first was a 5.6 at Wasootch slabs. Was also one of my first climbs.
Soon after I graduated to 5.6 on Yamnuska, which is longer but less daring than 5.6 at J Tree
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Oct 11, 2018 - 08:36am PT
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I was 12 y/o, scrambling along the base at Stoney Point one day; I came across a few Sierra Club R.C.S. guys in mountain boots and wearing helmets, who were sieging a 5.7 route up the main wall. They called me over, saying "hey kid, come here".
At the time, I had yet to tie into a rope, but I wandered over anyway as they looked like harmless old duffers. The leader of the group offered me the end of the rope and asked if I would like to give it a try. I knew how to tie a bowline, so I tied in and took the meager rack they offered. The move that had stopped them in their mountain boots was low down and I cruised through it in my new PAs. I remember vaguely trying to figure out how to use the gear as they called out advice and encouragement, and I somehow managed to get some gear in and made it to the top. I clearly recall placing a tube chock sideways like a giant stopper. Obviously I survived, and from that day on led every climb I did for the next few years.
When I look back now, I realize that nobody would consider offering an unknown 12 y/o the sharp end for many reasons, insurance, liability, etc. and no 12y/o would go near a bunch of strange looking old guys hidden in the rocks, but it was a different time.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Oct 11, 2018 - 09:26am PT
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One friend took me top-roping a handful of times, teaching me to make natural anchors with nuts and cams. I bought a #4 Camalot to supplement his rack. I read Freedom of the Hills. I bought my first set of hexes because they were much cheaper than cams.
Then I went out with a different friend, and on-site led the 5.9 Galwas Crack at Mission Gorge (San Diego area). A bit sandy/silty!
I haven't progressed much in the last 23 years.
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rick sumner
Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
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Oct 11, 2018 - 09:40am PT
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Goldline rope, a few pins and biners, mountain boots on verglas slab (unknown to us but rated 5.8 in dry conditions) December 1969.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Oct 11, 2018 - 09:54am PT
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The guide told me my gear suk'd so we spent the rest of the afternoon on the ground placing gear. I free soloed the thing before leaving for the day. 3 years later I did my first A5 (so rated) El Cap route.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Oct 11, 2018 - 10:29am PT
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1980 at Williamson Rock. I was 14 and I had just bought my first kermantle rope, I had been using my dads goldline for top roping prior to this. I had a few hexes and a number 3 stopper I bought at The Granite Stairway in SLO a few weeks earlier and was excited to use it. We climbed the main face of Williamson from the Mushroom Boulder up a gully to a headwall near the top. Anyone who has climbed at Willy knows there are not too many cracks so it was pretty runout at times but I didn't know any better. The last pitch is up a short headwall and that was protected by a star drive bolt and a homemade hanger, possibly one my dad had placed when he climbed there in the late 60's, who knows? I led the final headwall pitch at probably 5.8 and wedged myself in a depression and gave my partner a hip belay up. I probably weighed 120 soaking wet and my partner at least 180, I always made sure I found a big rock to sit behind or some other way to prevent getting yanked off the mountain. I was a fairly new climber and I didn't remember much about anchoring yourself while belaying or maybe I just skipped that part in Basic Rockcraft. Anyway, I survived.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Oct 11, 2018 - 10:39am PT
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A juicy 60m of plastic WI3+ on a perfectly gorgeous day.
Oh, and at least 12 screws.
Didn't lead rock until a few years later.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Oct 11, 2018 - 10:41am PT
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Yes, because it was a 5.8 Tobin Sorensen slab route and I didn’t know any better.
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jbaker
Trad climber
Redwood City, CA
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Oct 11, 2018 - 10:42am PT
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My first lead was Fingertip at Tahquitz. My mentor, Virgil Shields, had led me up a few climbs and then handed me the rack and said it was my turn. I wandered a bit and created an amazing amount of rope drag. Partly because of that, I was a few feet short of the anchor at the top and had to Macgyver things with some slings. I was pretty pumped when I got to the top. Someone I later figured out was Clark Jacobs also topped out after soloing Left Ski Track (I think). He was completely pumped for me finishing my first lead.
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Dick Danger
Trad climber
Lakewood, Colorado
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Oct 11, 2018 - 11:36am PT
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Classic Dihedral 5.7+, Bucksnort Slabs, South Platte area near Pine, CO. Circa 1990.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Oct 11, 2018 - 11:46am PT
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Yes, and I was scared out of my f'n mind....
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Oct 11, 2018 - 11:52am PT
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My first lead was Fingertip at Tahquitz. My mentor, Virgil Shields, had led me up a few climbs...
You did more than one route in a day with Virgil? I ain't buyin' it! :-)
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Oct 11, 2018 - 12:42pm PT
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Actual photo of my first lead - late May 1972 - East Slab, The Dome - Boulder Canyon. One of our party ran around the back and took a pic from the top.
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Don Paul
Social climber
Washington DC
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Oct 11, 2018 - 12:55pm PT
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My first lead was with a rack of about 3 stoppers, maybe six biners, a machete, and 150' of gold line I used for caving, on a 5.1 in the new river va. I guess I thought I would be chopping a lot of plants on the route. Almost dropped it on my belayer too, when I pulled over a small roof and it started sliding out of the sheath ...
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Iamjus10
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 11, 2018 - 01:10pm PT
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A machete!? Damn... I've been climbing with the wrong protection for sure!
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Oct 11, 2018 - 01:19pm PT
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I don't remember my first lead, but I remember my first fall and that wason a friction route TwoShoes put up at tollhouse.
My first lead was pretty boring. I did laps on the first pitch of Jamcrack on a toprope and then lead it.
My second lead, we had walked up to a climb my partner hadn't done before. There was a short lieback, flake before it mellowed to what looked like easy terrain. My partner said I should lead it, not knowing better, I agreed.
I got my feet ~8 feet off the ground, was struggling mightily, grabbed the biggest stopper off the rack, blindly put it behind the flake and pulled down until it stopped, got a sling on it and clipped the rope, and then, while trying to take a peek to see if it actually looked any good, fell off. Flipped upside down, from the rope behind my leg, and came to a stop with my head a couple feet off the ground.
I didn't finish the lead.
But my placement skills were perfect.
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Iamjus10
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 11, 2018 - 03:27pm PT
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The climb you're describing sounds a lot like "Lemon" which is a shitty crack/flake just down from Jamcrack. Was that the one?
That sounds a lot like my second lead too! I was about 15 feet of the deck in Mt. Woodson on some dumb flaring crack and flipped upside too..
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Oct 11, 2018 - 03:56pm PT
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"The Ramp" in Mission Gorge, San Diego. 5.7, One hex, two stoppers, one original Friend.
NutAgain!
Been awhile, but I remember Galwas Crack as being kinda greasy slick. That's an impressive first lead. Your climbing progress since then probably surpassed mine, heh.
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Iamjus10
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 11, 2018 - 04:51pm PT
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Larry Nelson // NutAgain!
Surprised to see so many first leads at Mission Gorge! Im not far, I did some of my first TR's there. Slippery mess that place is..
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Matt Sarad
climber
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Oct 11, 2018 - 06:16pm PT
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I think it was Initiation Crack at the Kern Slabs. I skipped the 10a part and started at the 5.7 part.
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