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First Lead


carolyn

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Hey I did my first lead this weekend (trad, of course)! smile.gif

 

It was AWESOME! fruit.gif

 

I am soooooo hooked!

 

Its been a struggle to get myself in a mental space where I was ready to do this. Ive done a lot of following and a few mock leads last year. I kept questioning..."how do I know when Im ready?" No one could answer that for me. They would just say," ya just gotta try it".

 

Well I cant say how true that is. You really DO just have to try it. Everything people explained to me on the ground in the past (which I wasnt sure sunk in too well) ALL makes sense after going for it. My rope management skills suck, but when faced with the situation of having to set up my own anchor and belay the second up I was able to do it safely.

 

This post is partially to chestbeat grin.gif and let some of you who Ive climbed with out there know Ive finally done my first lead.

 

The other part of it is to encourage folks who are thinking about leading soon. A lot of support, a bit of pressure, basic knowledge, and trusting myself was the combination I needed to give it a go.

 

it must have been an omen to find a n0 9 metolious cam at the base of a climb earlier in the day! thumbs_up.gif

 

 

 

 

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Sphinx said:

There's climbing in Minnesota? I thought it was flat. confused.gif

 

yelrotflmao.gif Its not THAT flat...you must be thinking of Illinois or Iowa! yelrotflmao.gif

 

Pete's got it right. We have cliffs along the shore of Lake Superior. Pretty freaky and intimidating shit. (if you dont get up, you be swimmin' accross that big lake). A few multi pitches, but nothing much over 200ft. Although I really love multipitch climbs, there is some pretty rad shit out here. Bigger isnt ALWAYS better HCL.gif

 

And ice....right again pete...SICK ice in Ontario, especially! Short approaches, no avy danger. Well worth dealing with the cold.

 

 

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way to go chica!

thumbs_up.gif

on a side note:

kitten climbed her first "beckey- obvious 4th class gully" this weekend and then summited her first tower- Easter at Snowtickcrag...complete with burnt sand sidehillin and buchwacking. oh and she learned what "elvis syndrome and booty are...." bigdrink.gif

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Thinker- Last fall I was rained out of what would have been my first trip to Blue Mounds, so I have yet to get there. I hear good things about it and look forward to checking it out this year.

 

Michelle - Im committed to a job this summer, but look forward to a trip in the fall. Possibly the rope up if it is planned enough in advance and flights are reasonable. I will let ya know....I would be happy to be the ropegun this time! grin.gif

 

NorthbyNorthwest - the route was no big deal. Short (40ft?). Mix of face and crack climbing (5.6-5.7). The person belaying (and mentoring) me tends to talk a lot and kept reminding me to place gear (just call me run out queen rolleyes.gif), trying to explain things as I went along, etc. He likes to talk. I told him before I started if he talked to much I would tell him to shut up...and not to be offended. I cant count how many times I asked him to shut up! yellaf.gif I didnt really feel scared, but my legs did...as I experienced the 'elvis syndrome' for the first time. blush.gif Im determined to only use stoppers for now on my leads and I have a pretty good eye for what I need right off the bat, so placements werent too hard. I must confess, I do get confused a bit with which way to clip in the rope, so if anyone has any hints on remembering, please chime in!

 

The route has a bit of nostalgia for me. It was the first climb I tried outside and couldnt make it up. Last year when at the top of the climb with two other guys, some tourists were looking and a little boy asked, "how is the girl going to get down?" So ya, taking this as my first lead was definately a good way to see my improvements over the past year or so.

 

Anyway, I found some pictures via thinkers link of the North Shore if anyones interested palisade head

 

shovel point

 

 

bigdrink.gif

 

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Carolyn,

Just make sure you clip a part of the rope that is between you and the last clip. Draw orientation doesn't really matter as long as you're not using those deadly dogbone draws. If you're really concerned about the rope unclipping, then just clip with gate-opening down, then flip over the 'biner to be gate-opening up. Of course, this would be difficult if you were using those stupid stiffy dogbone draws that hold the biners tightly in their little dogbone jaws of death shocked.gif.

 

Norman,

Elvis Syndrome is explained in the attachment above. You should just buy your kids more flavored sugar water and learn something. cantfocus.gif

176854-xtreme.jpg.4fa163c36fd80c8c9e90ae891dd4f2db.jpg

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carolyn said:

Anyway, I found some pictures via thinkers link of the North Shore if anyones interested palisade head

 

shovel point

 

Check out her link. WTF is the guy wearing??? Well, at least it's better than those leopard spandex pants from the 80's (or ANY spandex pants from the 80's for that matter). I wonder if anyone still has theirs, and what it would take to make them wear them.

 

Great job Carolyn, way to go. rockband.gif

 

bigdrink.gif

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Gaston_Lagaffe said:

WTF is the guy wearing??? Well, at least it's better than those leopard spandex pants from the 80's (or ANY spandex pants from the 80's for that matter). I wonder if anyone still has theirs, and what it would take to make them wear them.

 

you mean like

 

finalfeet.jpg

 

or

 

bottom.jpg

 

or

 

boltladder.jpg

 

perhaps the world would be better served if we all wore BEIGE? no ... it would just be more boring. Even the original Gaston Rebuffat was as well known for his styly loud red+white sweater as anything else.

 

gr14.gif

 

yellaf.gif

 

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