Your very first climb? when, where?

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Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 20, 2018 - 12:29pm PT
Pretty sure it was 1981- Thanksgiving weekend. Joshua Tree. Indian Cove. Near where site 63? is today maybe? Low angle slab split with a crack that was kind of wide and scruffy.

Tennis shoes for footwear. A goldline hip belay above me protected me as I whine'd my way up.

Later that weekend... Short Wall and other climbs would be tried.

later, and much much later, Rubidoux, Suicide and Tahquitz would infuse me with a much needed life long pursuit.

Changed my life.


Jon Beck

Trad climber
Oceanside
Jan 20, 2018 - 12:46pm PT
The Dolphin at JT, 1985, bagged a few firsts

First roped climb
First lead
First OW
Not the first time I almost killed myself
okay, whatever

climber
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:03pm PT
First roped climb? Kiener's, the easy way up the east face of Longs Peak, in August 1971.
Don Lauria

Trad climber
Bishop, CA
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:16pm PT
Spring 1962, Tahquitz Rock. Failed to complete the White Maiden.

Did a lot of bouldering at Stoney prior to Tahquitz, starting in September of 1961.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:26pm PT
Climbing onto a horse at 5 was pretty scary.
dee ee

Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:33pm PT
Other than TRs at Stoney Point, Angel's Fright, Tahquitz with my Dad and Lincoln, 1967/68 (10 yrs. old).
jeff constine

Trad climber
Ao Namao
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:34pm PT
Dave's Deviation to Gallwas Gallop 1981. Tahquitz Rock With just perlon slung nuts.
rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:35pm PT
Sixty years ago as of this past summer, I was fourteen years old on a camping trip to the Tetons. Did the Grand with the Exum guides.

Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
Jan 20, 2018 - 01:43pm PT
Where: An known private conglomerate cliff in Rhode Island, about 50 feet high and 1/4-mile long. Reminds me a lot of climbing at Pinnacles.

When: Early 1970s, I was about 12 years old. A high school friend took me free-soloing.

What: We climbed the cliff, walked along the top about 30 feet, and then down-climbed he cliff, walked about 30 feet along the base, then climbed up, etc.

It was all a game, and I was hooked.

We spent a lot of time learning to climb there throughout high school. The rock was heavily covered with lichen. The cliff wasn't very high, but it was pretty long, so we did a lot of girdle traverses, equally as scary for the follower as the leader.


MH2

Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
Jan 20, 2018 - 02:50pm PT
A guy we took climbing for the first time, with the Brown-Pembroke Outing Club, put it this way; "It puts chemicals into your bloodstream." He was a musician, or at least a good singer, who did a memorable, "Mammy's little baby loves shortnin,' shortnin',..."

Well done, Munge.

edit: and others

Did you receive any encouragement from your mentors?

The very first roped climb I did was Friction Face (5.0) at Quincy Quarries in the autumn of 1967. I remember terror. What I think may have been equally if not more influential was getting praised by the trip leaders later in the day for getting up a 5.4. In my sneakers, but I had no idea that made any difference and it didn't, really.

I am curious about what hooked Don Lauria.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Jan 20, 2018 - 02:55pm PT
Somewhere in Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina in the Summer of 1964. I was with my Special Forces A Detachment doing mission training. Two British SAS were with us. One day they set up a top rope on a small cliff near our camp. I spent a couple of hours top roping and never looked back.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2018 - 02:58pm PT
"Failed to complete the White Maiden."


ah, but what a spectacular place to not complete something.


Same here. We backed off of Hard Lark on an early trip for me.
Don Lauria

Trad climber
Bishop, CA
Jan 20, 2018 - 03:18pm PT
Well, seeing some of the comments above, let me add that in 1939 I used to chimney to the roof of my garage in the space between the garage and an adjacent brick walled hotel in Hollywood.

Incidentally, at that time I was living 8 blocks from Royal Robbins and attending the same grammar school - Vine Street Elementary School. We never met until 1962..
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Jan 20, 2018 - 03:18pm PT
Good topic- Munge

Whilst on a family camping trip at Mono Hot Springs, when I was 5, my cousin Gordon and I climbed a shallow groove chimney thing to the top of a small granite dome. The parents flipped out cause they couldn’t climb up to us and summoned the Rangers to rescue us.

10 years later I was on a ski trip in Garmish, Germany. Because there was no snow, one of the German ski instructors asked if anyone wanted to climb the Zucspitse (sp?) Germany’s tallest peak. I was down immediately and a swami, along with runner and a locker were given to me to use. That was fun and scary, 2,000 feet of exposure will really wake up your senses, and I loved the feeling.

When I was twenty I was invited to come out to Stoney Point and join in a Sierra Club RCS group. I learned how to hip belay and catch the “sierra sow” and how to rap... down the huge face and finally they let us top rope. As the day was winding down I asked about one of the TR’s that was hanging down over by Turlock boulder and I asked if I could try that one. One of the group leaders sort of laughed and said “that’s for experts only”. Anyway they let me try it and I flashed it!

Ever since that day I have been addicted to climbing. And that’s a good thing. I still get the
excited feeling when I tie in.

Climb on.
clinker

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
Jan 20, 2018 - 03:19pm PT
Chockstone Dome, Pinnacles National Monument(Park) 9/80
jogill

climber
Colorado
Jan 20, 2018 - 03:40pm PT
Some obscure rocks in North Georgia in 1953. Before names and ratings existed.
Ksolem

Trad climber
Monrovia, California
Jan 20, 2018 - 03:42pm PT
My French Canadian friend Jean Guibord lead me up Three Pines, at The Gunks. Then, after we hiked back down to the Uberfall he said "Okay, now it's your turn to lead." It seemed fair enough. He pointed me to Horseman. With a few old Clog nuts and hexes, EB's, and no technique, that was something to remember. Looking back at the consequences of a fall after traversing across left out of the corner was motivation enough for me and my totally pumped arms to finish that weird move up onto the ledge. We did it in two pitches.

Did I mention I was instantly hooked?
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2018 - 03:58pm PT
"The First Climbs Are Always Free"

-Climber Dealer to Potential Addict
hellroaring

Trad climber
San Francisco
Jan 20, 2018 - 05:14pm PT
My first roped climb was on some nondescript cliff band just off the Beartooth highway near Cooke City Montana. It wasn't very high and I was pretty freaked out, but I too got bit by the bug...
duffer

Trad climber
Sonora, CA
Jan 20, 2018 - 07:22pm PT
August 1970 on an outcrop near Lake Ediza in the Ritter Range. My brother, Jerry, brought a rope along on our backpacking trip and we tried to rappel with the knowledge (or lack thereof) he had gleaned from a library book. Later, some "real climbers" with ice axes and ropes came through our camp. They showed us how to belay and rappel and we top-roped a short pitch. They were members of the Rock-Climbing Section (RCS) of the Sierra Club. I went home and looked up the RCS in the phone book. Signed up for their basic class that winter and one of the instructors was Armando Menocal. I have been happily hooked ever since.
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