Learning to rock climb – beginner to trad climber

A few weekends ago I spent my Saturday with the Texas Mountaineers helping instruct a beginners climbing clinic. We had a great time teaching them a lot of basics such as belaying, rappelling and simple anchor set up. We set up numerous climbs so they could get accustomed to different styles of climbing. The climbers were able to climb cracks, chimneys, slabs and face climbs. They definitely got a variety of styles in that day.

Every time we put on these beginner’s climbing trips I am reminded of the first time I went climbing. It was on a Jr. High Youth Group lock-in at Stone Works climbing gym. It was my first time to ever climb and was instantly addicted. Soon after that we took another trip to Mineral Wells State Park, this was my first exposure to outdoor climbing. Not to long after that I bought my own harness, carabineer and figure 8 belay-rappel device.

I didn’t get much use out of the harness until years latter though. I only climbed periodically, mostly indoors with the rare outdoor trip; in college I never really meet anybody that climbed, at least not that became consistent climbing partners. It wasn’t until a couple years after I finished college I finally decided to just dive headlong into the sport. I friend of mine had just bought a rope and another one expressed interest in getting into climbing; the latter being John, who went to Colorado with me this past summer to climb the Flatirons and summit Longs Peak. The other friend is now my roommate and although he doesn’t climb as much as I do he still graces me with his presence from time-to-time.

My intro into climbing was not as formal as the new members we recently trained. I wasn’t given formal instruction on how to set up a top-rope. I simply remembered a few things from watching people set up top-ropes on my first outdoor trip and things I read online and in books. Needless to say I made a few mistakes in my formative years of climbing, but for the most part I think I knew what I was doing.

Being the “self-taught” kind of guy I pretty much taught myself how to sport climb as well. Aside from the quick gym course on leading I learned how to clean an anchor on my own, perfected my belay technique, learned not to let the rope go behind my leg and many other essential skills required to stay safe. But with trad it was a different story!

Once I finally decided to start trad climbing, I sought out formal training. I knew how a cam functioned, I even knew how to place them for the most part, but didn’t feel safe pursuing it on my own. There was A LOT I didn’t know and sought out formal training needed to stay safe. I had already been involved in the Texas Mountaineers for about a year at that point so attended their intermediate climbers clinic where climbers learn to “second” a route, clean gear, work on gear placements and anchor building.

I still remember the first climb I did with my trainer Carl. After arriving at the second pitch of the climb we pulled the rope through so he could lead the second pitch, but as I looked at it I saw how easy it was and told Carl I wanted to lead it. So my second pitch of formal training was my first trad lead. It was an easy climb, but still lots of fun. The second climb I did after that day was even better. It was a long deep crack up a slab on Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountains. I had somewhat of a hard time because I was nervous, having to stop and place gear, being unsure if my placements were good and fiddling with them over and over until I was happy with them. But I finished the route without falling and even set up the belay station successfully.

Since then I have become quite an avid trad climber. Most of the time I would rather spend my days on long easy trad climbs getting high rather than working hard 40-80ft sport climbs. It’s kind of funny because when I first started climbing I told myself I would never sport climb, once I started that I said I would never trad climb and now I catch myself saying I will never ice climb, but I guess we know what that means!

To any readers out there considering getting into climbing I would recommend getting involved with a local climbing club. It will be your best resource for real training. I also highly recommend the book How to Rock Climb. It was a book I read when I first started climbing and it helped tremendously. For those of you wanting something more focused on training and improving your climbing abilities I suggest The Self Coached Climber – This book really helped me a lot with my form and was essential in helping me improve and break out of my rut of not being able to climb anything over 5.9.