Despite having lived within a few miles of Pembrokeshires cliffs, I had never even heard of rock climbing until I went to a well known northwest university and even then I only joined up for the free toothbrush (still not sure what to do with it!)

My first lead was Highland Fling (HS 4c). I'm sure plenty of people may have comfortably learnt to lead at this grade, but I'd only seconded about six routes on uni climbing trips and had zero grasp of the grading system. You could perhaps say the club guy who was teaching me the basics had a tad too much confidence in my ability.

Either way, it was me who decided to attempt the route and it was a sickeningly stunning day down at Stennis Head, the kind of day when you cannot fail but have a huge sweaty grin on your face. The climbing club had loads of freshers but perhaps not enough gear so I was given what I now realise is about half of what I'd call a basic rack. I was feeling a little nervous but dead confident having seconded Sea Mist and Pink'un and why wouldn't I when I had my best mate (who'd got the same brief experience as me) as my belayer.

For some illogical reason I immediately put in a piece of gear at head height whilst still standing on the deck, but it felt good. The climb went well, it wasn't the physical or technical difficulty that got me, it was my complete inability to place decent gear. It may have been the fear but I remember the crux as being getting over a large flake type thing right near the top. As I was pulling up to it I felt some sudden jerks on the ropes followed a few seconds later by some little chinks and immediate silence from the previously chatting crowds on the deck. I knew that all my gear had popped out. No one said anything, and I just stayed there within two metres of the safety of the top. And I stayed there and started shaking. Well you've heard of disco leg, but I swear you've not seen it spread throughout a whole body. I called down to my mate that I couldn't move any further and was losing grip and within a few minutes a screwgate on the end of a rope was lowered down, I only just managed to clip it onto my belay loop then trounced the last few moves. By the time I calmed down the guy who had basically saved me from a full height decking had wondered off.

So that's it, my first lead. I suppose you can't even call it a lead as i didn't complete the route. But a lot of good did come out of it. I immediately learnt to respect the sport and vowed to work up from the bottom.

Incidentally. I was talking to my mate about it and he'd said he didn't have a clue what to say when the gear popped (he wasn't sure if I even knew) so he quietly asked a guy standing next to him whether or not to say something. The guy quite sensibly said "He's your friend, you know him" not realising we'd only known each other since we joined the club ten days before!

Oh yeh, another silver lining was that at least my mate didn't have to second it to retrieve the gear!

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Write approximately 500 words about your first outdoor lead and supply an image of you climbing (not necessarily your first lead) and submit to: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/send.html

The competition will be judged by us here at DMM and the winner announced on Monday 24th December and will win a complete DMM rack worth £500.

But more than that, everyone who submits an essay will receive a spot prize.

More details HERE