UKC

I thought it might be interesting to share stories of how we all started climbing - where, what type, how old we were or whatever. People might have some very different experiences!
For my part, I started climbing indoors with school age 12. I absolutely hated it - think panicking less than a metre of the ground, refusing to go up or down etc. Toprope was terrifying! The teachers made me keep coming, and eventually I realised just how great climbing actually is and now I can't imagine not doing it!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Soloing in plimmies in Markfield Quarry

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I don't actually remember starting to climb, though I remember stopping on a few occasions.

Started on picnics at Wharncliffe, I remember doing the skylight climb at the dragons cave when I was about 8. I have always stayed at a croft between Alligin and Diabaig on Loch Torridon since I was new born and used to spend weeks there as a very young child, right next to the house is a slab about 15 ft high and of Mod-Diff standard, I lapped this in wellys, clogs and bare feet from about 6.
I got my first rope at about 16 and started on Stanage, Wharncliffe and Millstone.

In reply to ClimberGirl:
Carved into my memory. Saturday 13th February 1965 when I was 19 at what we then called Brindle Quarry (now known as Denham) outside Preston. No guidebook, just rumours of routes. First climb was the 60 foot back wall off the quarry which we knew as "Main Wall" and thought of as a Diff. (now Concave Wall and graded Severe). I repeated it on the same Saturday last year exactly 50 years to the hour after that first day, when we had tied on direct to the fat stiff hawser laid rope and I climbed in my Dad's Munari of Cornuda Italian Alpine walking boots, as well as his Blacks ventile anorak and my Levis.

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the old schoolfriend who dragged me there. He switched on a light that's still shining for me.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Age 14 (1965) - I used to have to wait for a bus home from school in Richmond, North Yorkshire and started 'playing' on the walls of the Norman castle. One thing led to another!

Chris

In reply to ClimberGirl:

University, which I'm sure is pretty common.

Two of the chaps I went climbing with on that day are two of my closest mates...not a coincidence.

I started to rid myself of a fear of heights, I think it's only increased it! But I've learnt to control it.

Scratchmere Scar was the crag.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I wanted to find an activity to do with my girlfriend. we started going to herts sports village every Friday(beginner climber night).

several years on we have climbed in Canada, new Zealand, Australia and over England as husband and wife.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Pex hill 1979 for rock climbing....then a walk up Cader Idris on a geography fieldwork trip which was a massive life changing experience....I knew then that I would be spending my whole life in the hills...

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Aged 13 (in 1976) as an army cadet at boarding school. Top roping around Llangollen area with a waist belt & old, ex - army, 'ammo' boots (stiff leather soles with metal studs - made loads of sparks & a great noise as we marched!!). Loved it then & ever since

In reply to ClimberGirl:

As a girl from East London I'd never even been up a hill never mind a rockface when a boyfriend took me climbing in his old EB's.

At Almscliff.

I think it was Fluted Columns and I kept saying "I can't find anything to hold on to..."

Ditched the boyfriend but grabbed the sport with both hands and ran with it joining a fabulous London climbing club who have been my best mates for years now.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

1984, I was 8. My Dad took me to The Roaches and literally dragged me up some of the easier climbs there. No harnesses, the rope was tied around my waist and I had a pair of Clark's leather sandals on my feet. Some old geezer with a patch over his eye came over and talked to us - this was none other than Dougie (who used to live in what is now the Don Whillans Memorial Hut) a real character.

In reply to ClimberGirl:
Got into outdoors stuff through Exmoor Challenge and then Ten Tors. Dabbled in climbing with the occasional school trip. Then fell in with an 'interesting' crowd at college and added climbing and running to my existing love of hill walking and wild camping. I suppose I just saw climbing as an extension of what I already loved about being in the hills.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

A VS on Llanberis slate in very baggy borrowed shoes! I was pretty much hauled up it as a second. Really enjoyed it though.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

"I didn't start. I've never stopped"
Arne Næss (1912-2009), norwegian philosopher and climber.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Ilkley Quarry 1958 (aged 10). My Dad, uncle and all of our friends were climbers and I had been dragged all over the UK to watch my Dad climb but he had always refused to take me climbing so I just used to boulder and solo what I thought were easy routes. One day in the quarry he just threw me the end of the rope and took me up Josephine (HS) in two pitches. I suppose that he thought that it would be safer than me doing my own thing. He took me out for the first few years until I joined the scouts and found my own partners. By the age of 14 I was climbing grit VS and then I could take him climbing! I spent most of my early teens on Shipley Glen and what preparation was that. It scares me witless now when I go back!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Age 7-8-9-10 I used to climb trees, walls, small rocks anywhere - just compelled to climb anything whatsoever - before knowing about roped climbing. When I found about ropes I got a 120-foot nylon rope and dragged my brother up Lliwedd [no runners] on a family holiday.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

My childish love of climbing on things never left me like it's supposed to at the 'moody teenager' stage. Rock climbing is my elaborate cover story so's people don't notice.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

In 1960 as an Army Cadet (aged 16) at boarding school went on a summer camp in the Lake District where they hired the services of the guide Jim Cameron to teach 4 of us rock climbing. Like your other poster we wore Army boots with vibram soles and tied on round the waist with a bowline.

Day1 was an ascent of Middlefell Buttress, on Day 2 he got us leading V Diffs and Severes on Lower Scout Crag (no protection in those days other than a sling and a stubai steel crab round the holly tree near the top). Day 3 we were leading multi pitch on Upper Scout crag. Day 4 we went to Shepherds Crag and all led Little Chamonix. Then more on the Scout Crags followed by an ascent of Bowfell Buttress as 2 ropes leading through.

To be honest I found the leading scary (I had serious thoughts about my mortality) due to the long run outs and virtually no protection but we all survived and I got the bug!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Aged 17 at Ogwen Cottage on an Outdoor Course run by Birmingham City Council during a gap year which hadn't yet been invented. A lot of good and quite famous instructors and I have been climbing, with a lot of hiatus, ever since.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Yes! Exactly what I think...though I think people do still notice. Kind of hard not to, when I'm halfway up a tree.....!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Much to other peoples embarrassment I still show off my trick of finding a tall tree with a thin trunk, climbing as high as possible then rocking it over so I land gracefully on my feet before letting go of the trunk to watch it ping back up right.

In reply to ClimberGirl:
From the age of three, wild camping by Crumoch Water twice a year with my Folks for several years on the trot. Every morning before breakfast I'd climb up Rannerdale Beck for about half the height of Grassmore to a special rock in the middle of the stream where I'd sit and take in the view before going back down again for breakfast.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Brim ham rocks and Kinder in the 70's as a kid. Baseball boots and lack of fear. Finally got introduced to using ropes in the 90's

In reply to AlanLittle:


+1

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Ahh the usual: took my Mums washing line and went out to the local grit edges. God it was hard. Every route took hours as we climbed round and round to the limit of the line and round again.

Maybe in retrospect we shouldn't have used the rotary one.....

In reply to Bulls Crack:



This is brilliant. Genius. Maybe my favourite UKC thing ever?

In reply to ClimberGirl:

My cousin met her (future) husband on an outdoor climbing course and I remember seeing the pictures and thinking 'Id love to try that!' Since we live about 1000 miles apart they couldnt really take me out but after splitting with my ex I put an ad on a dating site asking if any guys there would want to take me climbing. One answered (apparently I was the only person with a word 'climbing' in their profile and thats what he put in 'search') and took me to our local climbing wall. This was almost 7 years ago and I never looked back; we are still climbing and got married a couple of months back

In reply to ClimberGirl:

This is always a good subject.

I got into hillwalking in my early 20s and thought I should learn a little climbing so I could go to the Cuillin and do some classic alpine mountaineering. I quickly became totally obsessed with rock climbing and didn't go hillwalking much for several years.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

1980, in a shared house in Nottingham, the doorbell used to go every Saturday morning around 8 a.m, and my mate Dave used to head off with a huge rucksack (even though we had sometimes only just got in from the Friday night out), returning Sunday evening after a "great weekend". Inevitably I succumbed and went with them, and fell in love with rock climbing.
That weekend I watched one of our team deck (unscathed) after ripping the gear on Old Friends, Sex Dwarves soloed by the same person in trainers to impress a prospective girlfriend (unsuccessfully), drank my own bodyweight in Marstons Pedigree in the royal Oak in Stoney, had tea from Stoney Chippy, slept on the petrol station (on a diesel tank, later called The Land of the rising Sun by the Woodshed habitués) and had my first stoney cafe breakfast. I had a Whillans harness and a borrowed pair of EBs. Dave and his mates all climbed in the upper E grades (E5/6 at the time), so I served a bit of a baptism of fire as an apprenticeship. They'd throw me a bone with the odd VS, but mostly I was the perennial second, taking monstrous swings while collecting their gear on the way up. I remember seconding Lichen at Chatsworth (E2 I think) within the first few weeks being particularly harrowing as I took ground swooping falls. At the time we would stop off at High Tor in Matlock Bath on our way out on a Friday night, where I think Original Route and the second pitch of Robert Brown were my first proper leads.
Still best mates with Dave 35 years later.

In reply to ClimberGirl:
About 1966 a chap wandered into our youth club in Wrexham and asked if anyone fancied going up Snowdon. He toured a few more clubs and eventually managed to fill a coach. His advice before we left was " It's going to be cold so when you get dressed leave your pyjamas on " It was February and he was right, it was fu***ng freezing.
We got off the coach in Capel Curig and went into Arvons the climbing shop where every third person hired an ice axe and some kids hired boots. None of us new what an ice axe was but we practised with them on the coach between Capel and Pen y Pass and managed to remove ash trays, light fittings and assorted pieces of upholstery so felt confident enough to tackle what lay ahead.
From the car park at Pen y Pass we set off up what I think was the PYG trac ,a snake of youngsters wearing assorted plastic macs, gaberdine school coats and cycling capes. I remember passing through a tunnel through a cornice at some point and summitting shortly after then heading straight back down .Two hours later the coach dropped us back at the youth club followed by a three mile walk back home. Two months later the same guy took a few of us climbing at Worlds End and I have been hooked ever since. I lost touch with he guy soon after but his name was Garner Williams, if anyone knew him I would be interested in hearing from them.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Chatsworth edge, toproping with the Venture Scouts, about age 14 or 15. I had been on the Hesley Wood climbing tower but that wasn't much more than a fancy ladder. This was my first time on proper rock and I learned how to back and foot a chimney on my first go. I grunted and thrutched my way up like an asthmatic cow but the sense of achievement was exhilarating.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

When i was a young boy (don't remember exactly when) In the old lime stone quarries in Weardale (as featured in current Beowolf tv series).

Borrowed an old pair of EB's and just played around on the rock - never looked back.

Marc

In reply to ClimberGirl:

First climb was at a place called Teggs Nose when I was about 9 years old - me and a mate free climbed some chossy shale. Big lump came out with both my hands on it. I ended up with a broken arm and a bruised pelvis. Put me off for a few decades until I got into trekking in the alps, when I decided I wanted to get off the beaten track and so I started to learn to climb. Still learning and climbing is a huge part of my life. Just gutted I missed out on those 30 years in between!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Firstly through high trekking in places like Nepal, Pakistan and China. Got some basic mountaining skills from crossing many passes. Nearly always independantly, often alone. Always been adventurous and keen to explore. Did a couple of guided Alpine climbs in the Karakoram and Tian Shan. Also soloed a couple of less technical summits (Damavand, Kazbek). First climbing in the UK was Scottish winter (the Runnel). Learned how to place gear on the live end and from observing others. Led grade III/4 within the week. Grade IV a couple of months later. Headed off to Pakistan the following summer to climb more summits without any sort of guiding. Managed a first ascent as well as a few other peaks. Didn't properly get into rock climbing until a few years later. Again or the sharp end from the off. Reading books primarily taught me how to place gear. Never any formal teaching. All very unconventional. Glad I never asked for advice for UKC in my early days as would probably have skipped some great experiences for a PYB course.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I started at 16 thanks to an awesome teacher at The Lakes School who as well as encouraging me in woodwork, provided loads of outdoor ed opprtunities for pupils – overseeing climbing, kayaking and caving trips, DofE expeditions and the like. On a Wednesday afternoon in the 6th form we were allowed to choose from a range of options such as sports, community work, volunteering and general studies. On the first week I dutifully attended General Studies – it was the one and only time I went, and I got an A two years later without going to another session – and from then on I went climbing instead. A few of us would load the school minibus with hardwear and drive up into the Langdales, or to Hodge Close (or to Kendal Wall if it was wet) and climb anything we could. Style of ascent was very much not an issue. Looking back, the gifts climbing gave me were more about confidence, teamwork, friendship and trust than about grip strength or footwork!

My dad’s business partner was a fantastic climber who also took me out onto the crags once my interest was establish, as well as donating me some pieces of gear and a copy of Classic Rock. I still have a very old stich plate with his initials scratched into the metal (!)

So I introduced my boyfriend to climbing at Kendal Wall. He was already very sporty and strong, and he took to it quite quickly – although, because he was basically a knobhead, he soon told me he didn’t want to climb with me because I was a girl, he wanted to climb with his friend Jason, a beefcake who could do about 3 moves with no feet at all then get pumped and fall off.

That was another lesson climbing taught me: choose better boyfriends.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

For me it was a very traditional hillwalking - scrambling - rock climbing progression. My dad used to take me walking in the Lakes and Wales, and we did a few of the classic grade 1 scrambles like Crib Goch etc. I wanted to do some of the classic ridges like Liatach on my own having seen pictures in books and I did a scrambling course with the YHA in the Lakes - they showed us some basic ropework, but that didn't really stick. After that I went scrambling on my own, which goes up to soloing Vdiffs in boots once you're on the more difficult ones. I did do some climbing at school (with Chris Craggs' missus in fact) but that didn't really get me bitten by the bug.

I put some crampons on once to climb a peak in Bolivia. Good experience, except all the vomiting and dizziness, but never again.

I came to rock climbing in my twenties when I was in Sheffield with some mates who did a bit. After toproping and seconding a couple of routes on grit I did a PYB learn to lead course, after which I went out leading routes on grit. My mates had convinced me that VS was the easiest grade (because they usually toproped E1s) so I started out leading grit VSs and falling off quite a few, but it was a good accelerated start to trad climbing. It was only after leading for a while (including in the middle of winter - why?) that I started climbing indoors and bouldering to get better.

I've got vivid memories of my first mountain routes - 'F' Route (VS 4c) and later a weekend of Kipling Groove and Arcturus/Golden Slipper; and first sea cliff Toiler on the Sea (E2 5b) many years later.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Probably started a form of bouldering while running around the sandstone outcrops round Tonbridge Wells with my cousins, mainly High Rocks and Toad rocks, when we were small.

First "proper" climbing was with the Scouts on a weekend at Dancing Ledge, but then really took off when my parent's next-door neighbour moved in. One evening, he popped over and said he was going to Guildford Uni wall with some friends and did I fancy going too - and the rest is history

In reply to ClimberGirl:

In my mid teens I used to walk a lot of the more demanding walks of the time in the Peak and Yorkshire. On one of them I wandered along Stanage and watched someone climbing and thought "I wouldn't mind a go at that". A couple of my neighbours were thinking about taking it up as well. Luckily, that same summer 1965, and as part of my apprenticeship, I was sent on an Outward Bound type course and was taken up my first climb, Black Hawk traverse at Stanage. My friends and I bought a book of knots and a 60 metre hawser laid rope and taught ourselves from then on. The rest, as they say is history. 3 or 4 years later I ended up instructing at the same centre. No certificates back then just a day out climbing with the chief instructor who watched what I did and asked a few questions before pronouncing me competent.

Al

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Started climbing trees with my brother out the back of my parents house as a kid, which progressed to the local youth club building. I think Dad realised we were a bit bored so started taking us on family holidays to Scotland and the Lakes walking and scrambling and eventually took us to Keswick climbing wall where we learned top roping.

Around the same time I remember Alison Hargreaves death. I was fascinated. I just wanted to know how and why someone could get themselves in that situation. I just couldn't comprehend it. So that started several years of, what now strikes me as, 'research' (as much as a 10 year old child can do). Asking my Dad questions, looking through the Ellis Brigham magazines at all the pictures and wondering where they were, what the kit was for. I remember thinking that it would be good to own one of everything in the magazine and knowing how to use it. I used to spend hours looking at the ice axes.

Climbing was always a side-line to rugby until uni where I started heading out with a mate. I climbed more and played rugby less, then one year I took a trip to the Cuillins with my brother and climbed the Inn Pinn. It was wet, cold, foggy and we got horribly lost. I absolutely loved it. After that it was all uphill really. At first I wanted to climb higher, then when I realised that was boring (pretty much on the summit slopes of Mont Blanc) I just wanted to climb harder.

20 years later, I'm still hooked, and still enjoy climbing trees. Although that's getting a little less acceptable!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I started later than most at 31.

My now husband, has been climbing since he was a teen and a couple of months prior to getting married he suggested going to Lawrencefield to meet up with his old climbing friends and give them invites to our wedding. I went along in my best attempt at outdoor wear; a pair of baby pink Fred Perry plimsoles and was roped (literally) into having a go.

We went a couple more times prior to the wedding, and a swinging fall from Gabriel and the pearly gates almost ended in cancelling it!

I'm so glad that I went that day. Although sometimes I bemoan the fact that I didn't start in my teens, I know what my life was like before climbing... And it's much better for it.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

1987, bouldering at Shipley/Caley and then soloing easy stuff in the Rocky Valley. Bought a pair of Joshua Trees shortly after and have been useless ever since.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Found John Hunt's "Everest for Boys" in my parents bookshelf at the age of 11. Thought it looked exciting, so recruited a friend and headed up to the limestone quarry above our town, along with 20m of power cable I had found in the cellar to use as a rope. Bowlines were practiced and practiced until we made a successful 150 ft accent moving alpine style, connected around the waste by coils of copper and plastic. I shudder thinking about it now.

My mother was less pleased with my initiative and dragged me into school on Monday morning to ask if there was a mountaineering club that I could join and might teach me safer technique...

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I was introduced to climbing on a Prince's Trust course, when I was about 21, so would've been 1993, or there abouts.. Started on an indoor wall in Cornwall, then did some top roping on Dartmoor and finally a bit of top roping, and lead climbing, at Sennen Cove (sp?).

In reply to Trangia:
That takes me back, Jim Cameron as too nostalgia about those routes. I once put a rope on when based at Carlisle for basic training in my National Service and escaping to the Lakes whenever I could. Some kindly people at Seatgwsite asked if I wanted to do a climb and we did Arrow Head easy way on Gable New Year's Day 1953. Wind on until June 1962 when I had been working in Abu Dhabi aged 28 and had to take my leave in the Summer prior to a Uk posting. Bored, and overweight at 15 stone I took a guide and did the Rimpifischhorn. Took up rowing again, followed an eat fat grow slim diet and at the start of September did the Rothorngrat and Matterhorn. Posted back to Uk and totally bitten I was sent on a course to Leeds prior to being sent to Laos and discovered Yorkshire grit and the Lakes that summer. Didn't think it very much more dangerous to solo all those climbs on Ravens Crag behind the ODG as to climb them with a rope, given the protection we had. And that was the start of a climbing career that has continued, just, to today.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

1969 I was with the YMCA in Patterdale on a duke of Edinburgh award and 1of the lads took me up a HVS in my bendy boots,there and then I thought wow I like this so called climbing, an extension of my gymnastics, then next weekend I was took to Froggot and top roped great slab with other Barnsley lad Dennis, and 46 years later still one of my best mates, mean to say he took me to all the best crags and best routes.
Keith s

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Spring 1965 at age 17. Soloing at the Wainstones with my brother and a mate from school. Went on a Mountaineering Association beginners course in Skye that August to learn about ropes n' stuff and to placate my mother. Instructor was one Al Harris. Ist day, taken up Cioch Direct. 2nd day taken up Cioch West but a couple of us were then told to lead through up the Cioch slab. That's it really.

In reply to ClimberGirl:
I was a well established wimp at school in PE - nearly always had a note excusing me from 'Games' - Sport was clearly not for me. Out of school I climbed trees as a teenager but my first rock encounter was on a small crag at Red Wharf Bay on Anglesey. I was doing fieldwork from Uni and one of the other students (already a climber) was traversing round this wee crag. I tried to follow out of curiosity and did quite well. 6 months later we both ended up in Norwich at UEA and he suggested I join the climbing club (Yes there are no rocks in East Anglia so I got quite good at escaping) I went on a meet to the Lakes and the same guy led me up Savernake with Bilberry Buttress finish - S but VS on last pitch. In plimmies I found it OK so I decided to give climbing a try. Emlyn - you have a lot to answer for (nearly all good!)

In reply to ClimberGirl:
August 1966 aged 16, Riffelhorn, Zermatt (first roped climb after about 4 years of hillwalking). Realised we had to learn how to rock climb, so intensive training at Harrison's followed because near to our school in Kent (supplemented when on holiday by a lot of very strenuous tree climbing in Knebworth Park). Like Adam Long, we went on a Mountaineering Association beginners' course in March 1967, learning everything we needed to know about rope work from an extremely good instructor. As soon as we left school in 1968, we went to Snowdonia. By the end of that wonderful month of v good weather we were climbing HVS *quite* competently.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

1962 aged 11. I was led up Scafell Pike from Langdale by my scout leader. On the way down we "lost" a member of the group for around an hour. Much later I realised how serious this could have been.

1963 aged 12 I walked up Snowden with my Dad. My second mountain - his first - and last. I ended up carrying the rucksack for the final section.

Then lots of visits to Harrisons Rocks with my school and scouts. But the big break was driving myself and a couple of mates to Stanage Edge the weekend after A Levels finished. Big boots, no harnesses, waist belays. Between us we led 36 routes in two days.

I've climbed every year since apart from two off for injury - but never at high grades. I was a middle grade climber in my early twenties at VS and I'm a middle grade climber today at E1. Enjoyed almost every climb.

Martin

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Last year I got into it properly as a way of overcoming what I thought was a fear of heights but actually is more about when I didn't have confidence in the kit or the people belaying. I'd abseiled before and had no problems especially as I started the abseil out facing out from the edge! I tried climbing on work adventurous training in 2007 in Wales and it didn't go well; I decided I'd gone as high as I wanted and wanted to go back down (I didn't trust any of the people belaying me but I had no choice in the matter) but then one of the lads decided that shouting abuse at me was the way ahead. Long story short, anger turned to frustration and I got scared in the end that I refused to come down as their attitude sure didn't make me trust them any better. I'm the sort of person who would fight rather than flight but that's hard when you are suspended up a rock face with people who won't let you descend. So I tried climbing a few years later to see how I got on in a place where I could take my time, get my confidence in the kit and the people I climb with. I enjoy it a lot more and I confirmed that it's not the height that bothers me it's the trust and confidence in the kit and my belayer.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

At the age of 41 my wife suggested that climbing would be a good hobby for me,
- she rues the day....

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Only two years back. I bought a voucher for an indoor taster session for two for my SO's birthday as I thought it would be the last thing she would expect (me being seen as a saftey conscious yellow-belly round these parts).

We sat on the voucher for a few months, never finding the right time to go. We mentioned it in passing to a mate who had just taken up climbing and he dragged us indoor bouldering followed by a few roped up trips outdoors. We haven't looked back.

One baby later and the missus is just starting to get back into it. Luckily my mum practically rips our arms of at the chance to babysit and we got to climb together for the first time in over 16 months tonight.

Glad to have my favourite belayer back again

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Collecting firewood along the coast of Rum many decades ago, tide came in......

In reply to ClimberGirl:
This is a good thread which makes for a very interesting read!

I came from a rather unconventional climbing background which began around 13 years ago when I was about 13 yrs old also. I was taught privately by my parents and some of their friends who had been climbing for decades. They took me outside and I began climbing trad on the real rock from the outset, as opposed to the usual procedure nowadays which may include learning the tricks of the trade indoors, followed by a few sport trips outside and only then maybe onto trad climbing. I guess this is why I seem to have circumvented any mental issues many climbers encounter when they first make the transition onto trad as its all I've ever known.

I first began seconding trad routes and learning how to take out runners In order to better understand how they are placed. I visited many crags in the Peak District during this spell but if my memory serves me rightly I think the first crag I ever Climbed at was Castle Naze.
By the time I was ready to lead I found myself at the Roaches. I'll always remember my first ever lead climb too, which was called "Chicken Run".

Needless to say I still believe climbing to be one of the most infectious activities! It's certainly the best excuse to get out into the countryside for a day!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Heavens, there's a short question with a long answer.

Whilst I was at University (1981 - 84, Lancaster) a book came out about scrambles in the Lake District. I'd been a keen walker before going to University and carried on whilst there, getting out as much as I could with the hiking club. But that book piqued my interest, and I started ticking off as many as I could, usually on my own. I'd gone out with the climbing club once but a day spent at a gritstone outcrop and quarry hadn't really got my attention.

My final exams were all in the first week of final exams so while I was done and dusted, all my friends were still studying hard and nobody was available to do anything, so I took myself off to the Lakes for a few days. While there, I rather scared myself scrambling on Honister Crag and at that point I remember thinking to myself that I must find out what these ropes were all about.

Graduation was followed by the dole but there was an evening class on climbing run at the high school round the corner. It used a climbing wall that, by today's standard, was laughable; a wooden sheet that could be tilted from being a slab to being vertical and into which metal holds could be placed into drilled holes. Nevertheless, I learned the basics about knots, belaying and the like and we had a few trips outside - Wilton 3 on a damp November day and Helsby on a freezing day in December. And that was pretty much me hooked; my first lead outside was at Easter 1985 (the weather was utterly foul, but the flame burned bright in those days), my first VS lead (Samarkand, at Anglezarke) was in October that year and in between I was at Pexhill as often as I could get there and had been on a few trips away with the St Helens club.

It all seems a long time ago, now; but some of the memories still shine out, clear as can be. Good times...

T.

In reply to Rocknast:

Sounds like the experience of many/most pre-wall climbers!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Family holidays in North Wales as a child. My parents weren't climbers, or even walkers, and we never ventured very far from the car, but I fell in love with the mountains and I was fascinated by the climbers on what I now know to be Dinas Cromlech. I spent the next 10 years reading everything I could find on climbing in the local library, until I went to university and immediately joined the mountaineering club. A couple of weeks later I was at Froggatt, in Green Flash plimsolls and tied onto a No 4 Viking rope, and wondering why I was finding a "Very Difficult" quite hard, when my reading had led me to be believe was actually very easy.

I quickly realised that I had neither the aptitude nor the bottle to become a good climber, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, and 43 years later I still do.

In reply to Bulls Crack:

It does exactly! Much more of an old fashioned introduction than a modern one.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Still seems strange to me, but I always liked walking in the hills and mountains, - I can remember throwing a strop on a family holiday in Edinburgh when I was about 12 and the folks wanted to sight see and I wanted to get to the Highlands!

I started climbing on a school trip to the Hebrides, when I got back that autumn I was totally addicted - bit of a shame because I was 15 and living in Malvern; I compensated by reading everything I could lay my hands on, hitching to Wales every holiday and climbing all the quarries in the Malverns! (Not recommended.) The excitement of tying on to a rope at the start of a route which leads who know where has never left me.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

My dad took me in my early teens. He was in the Rockhoppers. When he died I inherited his guidebooks (most of which speak of VS as hallowed ground). Inside them are routes ticked with a date and "+ J". Some of my most treasured things.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I asked a friend to take me and my son climbing, shortly after the Reading wall opened, when my son was 10 and needing a sport. Obviously I was only going to provide moral support and obviously I was going to fade out after a couple of visits because obviously at 48 I was far too old and unfit to climb.

How wrong I was, and how hugely and happily my life changed as a result.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I watched the film '127 hours' and decided I wanted to start mountaineering. No joke!

It was the bit at the end which shows what the guy is doing now and I thought... 'if that guy can do all that stuff with one arm, there is no reason why I can't do it with two arms!' so I bought some winter gear and booked a course

In reply to crayefish:

Uncanny!

I watched Cliffhanger and decided that, from then on, I wanted to be a criminal mastermind!

In reply to JJL:
Put a list or something in tribute to him, in an article in UKC or somewhere. You owe it him

In reply to ClimberGirl:

It all started after a school holiday to Whitehall in Derbyshire back in 1982.

In reply to Bulls Crack:



Are you writing that message from your volcano lair?

In reply to ClimberGirl:



I still have days like this age 52 and more than 25 years after I started!

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Was taken on Fellwalks in the Lakes in the early 60's as a young teenager. Camped at Langdale with family at the same time - saw 'climbers' with ropes and was invited to join them but too scared.
A little later - walking in the Lakes in summer , then in winter and eventually my Woodwork Teacher took me up a very easy snow gully on St Sunday Crag. We had a rope, one ice axe each and bendy Vibram leather boots. Enjoyed it. Next he took me up Curving Gully [V/Diff] on Hutaple Crag on a wet, cloudy 'atmospheric' day - frightened the sh1t out of me. On the route I swore to God that I'd never put him to the test again if he just let me live long enough to get off the climb. We made it of course and then started to walk back away from the crag. The mists cleared and I looked back at the 500 ft high cliff face that I'd scaled and somehow all that fear turned to pride and passion.
Been hooked ever since. Its now been more than 55 years.
The Gift that Keeps on Giving.
One very fond memory is catching a train from Penrith to Kewick [you haven't been able to do that for a very long time ] and buying my first wooden shafted Aschenbrenner ice axe in 'Fishers'. It should be hanging on my Living Room Wall along with my first ever hawser-laid rope but it was savagely cut down and the pick angle altered when we discovered 'front pointing' - back in the 70s.
Now I have a pair of Nomics and Monopoints and I'm an atheist- geeeze.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Climbed out of my cot before the age of 1 in 1994 and got hooked. Been climbing almost everything in sight since, furniture, trees, rocks, scaffolding etc

In reply to ClimberGirl:

My Dad taking me up the roaches (aged 10 maybe)tying and old rope around my waist then solo'ing the route and telling me to climb up!

Never really gave it much thought but went most weekends for the 4-5 years then discovered messing about with mates at the weekend, booze and football.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

for me it was a progression from general mountain walking to exploratory scrambling (i.e getting lost), then enjoying the scrambling which became harder and bolder and realising I could do with learning some climbing skills. Did a group course with some friends at the church in manchester and continued from there.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

About 2.5yrs ago me and my then 6yr old daughter were sitting at home bored. I see an advert for Eden Rock recently opening and ask her if she fancy going. I have an intro lesson to ensure i am safe to walk about and i take my daughter and then off we go. We spent the next few months playing, giggling and falling inside the 'Castle' play area. Not enough dads do that. They are so keen to climb themselves they dont realise the kid doesnt like just wandering about the walls while they do the good climbs. Anyhow, after a few months of 'the castle' we progress to the proper walls. She gets better and better and i get, well i am rubbish. I cant climb, i wont ever be able to be much of a climber but she is amazing. She is now 8 and i no longer help her on the walls. I cant, i dont know how to anymore. Her brilliant teachers look after her now and i just gawp in amazement.

We live 5mins drive away from the wall, she has a home practice wall, she would climb every day if given the chance. We are off to Fontaineblueau soon and she will be having a good pop at the YCS again this year.

Climbing is a fantastic sport both to carry out but also to be involved in.

Oh and this year I am being taught how to do things properly outside on real rock so despite all my moaning about how difficult it is to get 'into' the climbing scene we are really progressing.

In reply to ClimberGirl:
Had been hillwalking for a few years, enjoying it but scared of scrambling. So, husband and I decided to do a climbing course to see if that would help.

We hired an MIA instructor for a day and headed off to Pass of Ballater with him. By the end of the day, we had both done our first trad lead and were hooked. We got hold of some basic gear and got on with it on our own.

19 years and 3 kids later, we both still climb, and so do our children.

In reply to ClimberGirl:

I started at the age of 55 (17 years ago) & am totally hooked (albeit to a fairly low-level standard). I can honestly say it changed my life in so many ways. I've travelled all over the UK to climb, as well as 6 or 7 european venues (Greece & Spain are probably favourites) I've led up to VS (trad) (well, one HVS which was promptly downgraded ;-(- and up to 6a sport.
I've met some fantastic climbers of all ages, and made great and lasting friends. Although my ability decreases as I get older I can't see myself hanging up my boots in the near future - not without a fight. Love it!

In reply to l marsh:

What a great post. It was a gutsy thing to start when you did especially as, 17 years ago, generally there was far less support than there is today.

Just carry on. If the standard drops, well who cares? There are great routes at all grades. My favourite is the aptly named Heaven Crack - V Diff and accessible to nearly everybody.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:

Thanks for your reply, Mick. Yes, Heaven Crack is also a favourite of mine (and Amazon Crack once I've got over the bouldery start) Other favourites are Sea Mist at Pembroke & Tension at Holyhead Mountain. Not done the last couple for a few years, but hope I could thrutch up them somehow. Off to Kaly (again) in May. Can't wait. Lin

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Since my first trip to Mt. Egmont and the southern alps, NZ, I loved mountains. I remember traversing from window to window outside our third floor flat at age 10. Now, I am still rock climbing forty odd years later and have always enjoyed helping others to develop as climbers. My two year old is showing the same tendency.
P

In reply to ClimberGirl:

Local School wall 14 years ago this Thursday.