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slevin
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 4, 2010 - 05:38am PT
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I wanna learn to aid climb. How do I start?
PS. Assume right away that finding a master locally is nearly impossible - I am splitting my time 50/50 between the New York City and Moscow.
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Prod
Trad climber
Dodge Sprinter Dreaming
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Watch some of C-Mac's videos. Buy some aiders, dasies, and loads of stoppers. I'd start with clean aiding. Head to a crag with crack in it, and start placing gear. My first aid line was maybe 70' and it took me about an hour and a half to two hours on what would be considered C1/ C2 kind of stuff. You'll get faster.
Prod
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Bill Mc Kirgan
Trad climber
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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Until you find your aid mentor you can simulate on toprope. Sure not as exciting, but safe and easy to do (boring for your partner...so take turns).
Go cheap and tie your own aiders at first.
You don't need to buy daisies either.
Just use long slings instead.
Do checkout the aid climbing vids on ST as recommended. Also search youtube for other similar vids.
People who see you practicing may approach you and ask about your activity, or heap ridicule upon you. The latter may have the knowledge you seek.
I'm doing this kind of thing in my area and getting to the point where I need to order some appropriate aiders.
Location question: Moscow=Russia? We have a Moscow in Iowa...nah, you mean Russia of course.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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I am splitting my time 50/50 between the New York City and Moscow.
I believe there are hookable edges along the overhead luggage compartments on most, if not all, international flights.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Peenemunde
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I soloed the Prow and never had a mentor. Just do Er.
But then again I am a mechanical engineer and have a very high IQ.
Juan
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slevin
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2010 - 04:28pm PT
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Buy some aiders, dasies, and loads of stoppers. Got plenty of cams (probably 3-4 of each size) , biners (maybe not as many as required, but like 20-30) and two or three sets of stoppers. I guess will buy aiders and a daisy chain.
I think I am gonna give it a try at the local crag. Maybe bouldering or traversing using aid on my rest days would be a decent idea.
Some buildings have great straightforward crack placements for beginners. Yeah, I usually end up buildering up these things.
Location question: Moscow=Russia? We have a Moscow in Iowa...nah, you mean Russia of course. Nope, it's Moscow - Russia, unfortunately. Flat as a pancake, this place. Closest real rock is either Europe or Kyrgyzstan.
The latter got some granite walls that put Yosemite to shame, but it's cold and totally wild. I have done some 10-pitch crack climbs there that were a total blast, but I knew that should something happen, I'd have to ask my buddies to put me down right there and then.
But then again I am a mechanical engineer and have a very high IQ. I am a derivatives trader. My IQ is asymptotically approaching zero.
I believe there are hookable edges along the overhead luggage compartments on most, if not all, international flights. Every time I am flying I keep thinking that traversing the full plane along those edges would go around 5.11, but I have yet to try it.
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Prod
Trad climber
Dodge Sprinter Dreaming
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If you can set up a top rope at your local crag, get a mini traxion or us a gri gri and top rope practice alone. If you are unsure of the set up send me a note and I can walk you through it pretty easily.
When are you thinking about doing a wall?
Prod.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Aid is soooo much fun and, think about it, you can drink beer, get fat and still climb A5.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Just a caution on buildering. If the cracks are from where concrete forms are removed, i.e the surface is smooth concrete, you'll likely find that cams won't even hold bodyweight, they'll just pop right out.
Basically anyplace you can place clean pro provides the potential to learn aiding. If you have a mix of cracks and edges that you can hook that's great. But be forewarned hooking puts alot of stress on features and you can end up popping small edges off a route, which isn't teribly popular wit the folks that want to free climb those routes.
I taught my boys the basics of jugging a line in a our hallway, the opportunities are limited by your imagination.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Start TR soloing, use hooks, hand place pins, make marginal placements, see what works/doesn't.
YOu can do it anytime, rain or shine.
Try hooking an entire face, do this 20 times and when the real deal comes you will have built up the technique to move efficiently.
Keep the psyche, and it will happen.
Mucci
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Where and when Jeremy?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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slev,
be sure to understand that placing cams in a buildings structure, like in cement, is not necessarily a good idea. Cement may not have sufficient crystalline structure to deform the crystals in a cam surface to have sufficient holding power. I learned this the hard way.
other good ideas here to.
tear it up!
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slevin
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2010 - 05:52pm PT
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When are you thinking about doing a wall? To be honest it all started from me blowing a tendon and thinking that I need to do something climbing-related while I am resting and icing. With stupid medications that I am being pumped full of, things heal rather slowly, so I've got time to practice. Aid sounded like a natural fit, given that my main strengths are crack climbing and thin face.
I was thinking about doing something serious the coming fall, initially it was going to be Free Rider, but I am just not sure if I will have any strength left by that time. Now, I am pretty psyched to do some reasonably scary aid route.
YUR GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Affirmative.
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dktem
Trad climber
Temecula
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I am a derivatives trader.
So you are the one to blame!
Problem with learning aid when working 9-5 is that you have to give up precious free climbing time.
Don't forget to practice jumaring - esp. on overhangs.
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slevin
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2010 - 06:05pm PT
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So you are the one to blame! Yes, that's me. Pinkie, what are we doing today?
Problem with learning aid when working 9-5 is that you have to give up precious free climbing time.
Well, there are rest days and I am starting to take more and more of 'em. If I climb full bore Saturday, I am usually resorting to real easy stuff on Sundays. So instead I could learn to do aid.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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"Aid is soooo much fun and, think about it, you can drink beer, get fat and still climb A5."
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeYES!
I have a degree in chemical engineering and business management. I graduated last in my engineering class both alphabetically and arithmetically. While the latter could mean that I am not very clever and barely passed, it could also mean that I am extremely shrewd and did no more work than I absolutely had to, spending as much time as possible caving and climbing.
I think my old boss, whom I lovingly referred to as Peckerhead, said it best:
"Peter, you show occasional flashes of brilliance, but most of the time you are just plain dumb."
I became self-employed a few months later, and have been so since 1986.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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You need to learn two different skills:
1. Moving in aiders; and
2. Placement.
Any bolt ladder works for the former. For the latter, I know of no substitute for placing lots of stuff and learning to tell how much or little something will likely hold by putting your weight on it and seeing what happens. As others have said, you just need to do it -- a lot.
One word of caution: Experienced aid climbers think of C1/C2 as pretty easy stuff. For a rank beginner, it can take a rather long time. My first aid leads where I was placing gear took several hours each. Even easy aid can also be somewhat dangerous to the newbie.
Before it was freed, Dynamo Hum, behind Camp 4, was a popular beginner's aid climb. Although I can't see how, since every placement could hold a truck, a beginner hurt himself pretty badly around 1969 on it. Bottom line: aid climbs tend to be steep, so make sure you have solid placements frequently until you've climbed long enough that serious injury becomes inevitable simply because of the laws of probability.
Have fun. In the 43 years since I first tied aid slings, I've never lost the enjoyment of going slowly enough up a wall to really savor the experience.
John
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Aid climbing is a completely different mind game then free climbing. In free climbing you generally re-assure yourself that the gear is there to protect you. In aid climbing you fear that it won't.
There is a zen like state when you've placed multiple placements that you just don't think will hold a fall, and while dangling from one of those placements, you are working on testing another placement, with fear that your testing procedure will pop what you are currently hanging from. Aid climbing gives you a buzz unlike what you get in free climbing.
The best advice is to learn to get as high in your aiders as possible and really stretch out each placement. Having your feat in the 3rd steps feals plenty safe, but you'll place 50% more pieces and take drastically longer then if you stretch out each placement. Also aiding can be a suprising workout on your core muscles (and sphincter)
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Gene
Social climber
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Having your feat in the 3rd steps feals plenty safe...
Could I buy two of the letter E, Pat?
Good post. Just messing cuz I'm bored and a jerk.
Carry on........
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