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Rexi
climber
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Started around 12, me and my brother where interested and had started experimenting on our own so our parents got an older bloke to teach us proper rope work. The guy was really reluctant to teach us, thought that we were too young. - so main emphasis in that course was safety safety safety, be humble and that this stuff could kill us.
Next couple of years my main climbing involved cycling about 40 minutes out of town where we had found small cliffs and there we put up first ascents protected with our rack of 10 nuts or so :) Looking at it now itīs more like high ball boulder problems but it was fun :)
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Lollie
Social climber
I'm Lolli.
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Freesoloing (that a word?) a wall at the age of four. We made our headquarters halfway up. Disappearing from the world from up or down to our own place. Good thing no adults ever saw us.
City kids do not have this advantage.
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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About 10 years ago but I still suck
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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1966. I was 19 years old.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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well i lost my teddy bear when i was young enough to care, found the remains/performed the recovery from the top of a 30 foot tree in a yard that we moved away from on my seventh b'day, so revisiting summits by six. surprised i ever gained the trust of another partner.
arboreal life continued. the neighborhood gang convened as a matter of course in the upper branches of a sprawling valley oak. the branches no longer gleam, but you can tell they were once polished. same with the 2x4 top rail of the fence that connected our various yards.
i became aware of the sierra club while in scouting, made the transition at 12 but got struck down by the R.C.S.age limit of sixteen. eventually completed their check list in 1967 at castle, but by then my peers had turned me onto free hanging rappels off goat rock. they had a caving mentor two years older who could even drive a car
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=942170&msg=942240#msg942240
before castle was a park, it was a certain pullout, a saggy spot along the barb wire, and a trail to an solid apparition emerging from the forest floor. not unknown, i took long awaited sierra club RCS training there in '67, but the non-climbing public showed up after it was "saved." our mom's had been dropping us off there for years and an adolescent mind can conjure up the illusion that the "fort" was sanctuary enough to sustain. so i came to pass a few truant foggy, drippy days and nights in the cave with my journal and primus. my two wheeled steed waited ensconced at the fence line for me to sort out the universe.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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1970 at JT. My brother and I froze our butts off with my stepdad John on Intersection Rock, before they moved it to the other side of the road. 11 or 12.
Next year I got to lead my first dripping slot on a Sierra peak.
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john bald
climber
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1969
My home town was Altadena, like the OP.
Early days at Millard Canyon, Williamson and Eagle Rock
Progressed to Stoney Pt, Rubidouix, Taquitz and JT.
Still plugging away at it.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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I started climbing when my feet left the ground at the base. Twelve years old, Rumney NH, 1991. First half of 'Flesh for Lulu' on TR. I was immediately hooked.
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Mary Moser
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, CA
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Strangely, I remember the exact day! It was 11/12/1995 and I was taking a climbing class at Mission Gorge in San Diego with Adventure16.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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1974, my dad took my brother and I climbing at Williamson Rock. Back then it was just known as Eagles Roost. I have been climbing ever since.
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chefer
Trad climber
Altadena, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 9, 2017 - 01:27pm PT
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John, was that aid line next to the waterfall in millard there BITD? Some of those bolts look like there been around that long...
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OnsightOrGoHome
Trad climber
Fair Oaks
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1978, Joe Brown Boulder at Mt Rubidoux.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Either Fall of 1958 or Spring of 1959. Went to the boulders on Flagstaff Mountain and Cookie Jar Rock. First "real" climb Fall 1959: Empor on Cob Rock, Boulder Canyon. Second climb: Cozyhang, Dome Rock, Boulder Canyon a week later.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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17 in 1977
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john bald
climber
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Chefer....Recall doing three aid lines there
two bolt ladders on the left and a nailup on the right
came back after I had my free climbing honed and freed the two bolt ladders
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two-shoes
Trad climber
Auberry, CA
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For me, I might consider as my first act of climbing venturing up into the trees. It must have been 1952, at the age of 4, I climbed up into my great-grandmother's maple tree. No one even noticed me the first day. I can remember the feeling of danger, and mental focus that I felt. I'm sure that my little hands must have been slippery with sweat, for it certainly had that feeling, that I can remember to this day. The next day I climbed up again. My mother saw me, screamed my name out loud and told me to get down from there. I don't know how high I was up in the tree but I would guess several 4 year old body lengths. After I had gotten down she wanted me to promise to never go up in the tree again. I felt that it was a little bit of an unfair promise to have to make. Perhaps, I never did climb in that particular tree again, but I was hooked on tree climbing, and my parents couldn't keep me out of them.
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
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19 in 1971...Monolith at Pinnacles in Mountain boots
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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About 9 AM ..
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EdBannister
Mountain climber
13,000 feet
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Todd wins with best answer!!!!!
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Apr 10, 2017 - 09:07am PT
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1970 age 14, Yosemite Valley.
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