Is rock climbing hard or easy to learn?
At my gym, I have new families come in on a daily basis. As long as they arent afraid of heights, I have a high success rate of first time climbers getting to the top of the wall on their first visit. As I tell people questioning their physical ability: If you can climb a ladder, you can rock climb. Addressing some of the other answers: Falling/landing on rock: When use of safety equipment (harnesses, ropes, etc) is coupled with the knowledge of using it correctly, the risk of seriously injury drops below getting in a car accident. Most injuries in climbing are due to user error. That could be attributed to fatique, improperly training, or equipment in disrepair. "super hard": As I said before, if you can climb a ladder, you can rock climb. Use your legs to push yourself up the wall. Do not do pull-ups, or your arms will be burned out before reaching the top. You can either continue your advancement through formal classes offered at the gym, or by finding an experienced climber/group that is willing to take you under their wing. "expensive": First timers at a gym can rent the gear rather than buying. First visit which includes a class and rental gear usually runs between $20-30 per person. If you decide to buy your own gear, shoes, harness, belay gear can run $150+ depending upon brand and quality. This basic gear will offset your costs for renting gear at the gym. A some gyms, a membership or punch card could drop cost to $5-8 per visit. Climbing is a great sport. It challenges the mind and the body. The social aspect is quite unique as well. It is one of the few sports where everyone is on the same team. It is us vs it, not me vs you. This community mentality leads to complete strangers providing suggestions on how you can improve. Give it a try and see if it is for you. -Good luck
How do you learn trad climbing?
I’ll try and explain how I got into Trad Climbing First, and then offer up what that taught me, and what I would recommend doing.When I was in University in the UK I was part of a mountaineering club. After lot’s of top roping in the gym and outside, I did my first lead outdoors at a sport crag. Following that I did plenty of indoor leading. As the weather improved in the spring I started to follow up the routes others had lead on trad. I would clean the gear, and starting to build an idea of how pieces went in, how they came out, and what good versus bad placements looked like.Experienced members of the club eventually had me do a “mock lead” where you lead the route, with a loose top rope. The second was an experienced climber who evaluated your placements and discussed what could be improved on each one.I led a few pitches on my own after that, growing a little more careful, always with more experienced climbers around. But the reality was that they were mostly university kids, with second hand knowledge themselves.In the fall I got to go on one of Glenmore Lodges phenomenal Student Mountain Skills programs. The first day covered navigation and emergency self rescue. On the second day I was lucky enough to do an intro to trad course with a guide. The guide this time jumared up the rope beside me as I placed gear, offering advice, pointing out places the put gear that I totally missed, and offered corrections in the moment, allowing me to find better solutions. I also dramatically improved my, what turns out was a bit Jive-Ass, anchor building skills. Coming out of this my skills were vastly improved, my confidence was higher, but more realistic about my limits. But in one weekend I learnt more then I could have in a year of friends teaching me, many of whom had given me conflicting or terrible advice.My RecommendationsFollow, follow, follow. Clean, clean, clean. The more time you spend cleaning gear the more you will learn. But once you’ve done some sport leading, go for a course. While experienced climbers are great, it’s hard to know what they don’t know, and they may miss details on what is most important to teach. Their methods are not necessarily informed by techniques developed to counter the most common accidents. This is so important with trad in particular where there are hundreds of little details and challenges you just don’t face in other types of climbing.
Rock Climbing vs. Leading?
If you are nervous, this suggests you are not ready. Do not let anyone pressure you into leading - if you do it now and struggle because you weren't ready, it may put you off it forever. The decision must be yours. Hope this helps - happy climbing!
When should i start lead climbing lessons?
Right away. Especially if someone will teach you, and it sounds like it's indoors so really there are only 2 or 3 things you need to learn... it's easy, and 99% mental. The grade you climb at says nothing about when you should be leading. Just lead something easy for the first couple leads so you can concentrate on your leading. Oh yeah, don't be afraid to fall, no "take!" and rest on a bolt allowed!!!!!!!! : ) Especially indoors... and by the way, I must reccomend that you try outdoors, even just sport, it's wicked fun compared to indoors! One more thought, you say "classes" (plural). I don't reccomend you take many classes, it sounds like a rip-off. You may be better off if you can get someone to teach you (just stand beside someone you know who is lead belaying and ask them to explain as they go). Then just take the leading "test" at the gym. Like I said it's pretty basic, but gyms are famous for overpriced classes. Basically it's just don't backclip the rope, and don't reach too high clip, learn hoe to belay in reverse from top roping, and don't stand too far from the first bolt. A bit over simplified but there's really not much more to it. Have fun!
Lead climbing (gym) ATC vs Grigri?
The gym is going to give you an option of which device they will be teaching you to use? That's pretty neat. Most gyms I have been to teach lead belay only with an ATC. The technique is more widely known. Also, a lot of people view lead belaying with a gri-gri as a more complex process to the point that they refuse to be lead belayed with a gri-gri. In the end, however, it boils down to comfort, and willingness to put in the time to be come proficient and confident with the gear. If you are not sure how to properly use your gear then you will be less likely to react appropriately for a particular situation. You can hear stories of people getting hurt lead climbing no matter the belay device used. It comes down to the belayer's understanding of the device and how to use it correctly. I've added a link to the Petzl poster for lead belaying with a gri-gri. I've also added a link to the video Petzl produced back in 2008 on how to lead belay with a gri-gri. I've been climbing since 2001, been an instructor since 2003. Climbing TR, lead, sport, trad and bouldering. -Good Luck
How do I learn to alpine climb as an experienced trad climber?
You already know the hardest and most dangerous part. I'm assuming that as an experienced climber you also already know multipitch and rescue techniques. If not, learn them. If you don't know the Munter hitch, learn it in case you drop your rack.You'll need to learn glacier travel: crampon use, ice axe arrest and crevasse rescue. If you know how to set up a Z-pulley and ascend using prusiks, you'll only need to learn snow anchors, crampons and ice axe arrest. Depending on your goals you'll probably want to learn ice climbing, screw placement and V-threads. Also navigation and nutrition, if you don't know them yet.The best way to learn is through a climbing club. They will likely have a course focused on glacier travel. If you're lucky they'll have a few seminars focused on exactly what you want. If you talk to them they should be able to tell you exactly what to do.Second best would be either an experienced friend or a guide. Learning from friends is a mixed bag - you don't know if they really know what they're doing, and it can strain your personal relationship, but at least it's free. Learning from a guide will be effective but expensive.When you climb alpine, drop your technical grade about two levels from where you crag, at least. You'll be tired from the approach, you may be carrying a heavy pack, and rescue is far away.
What should I know before I try trad climbing for the first time?
From your question I am assuming you aren’t already a well established climber.Since few people just start trad climbing on their own it’s most likely you will be climbing with someone more experienced than yourself.In this case the most important thing to know is that your partner is skilled enough to both manage the climb and handle an inexperienced climber.If you aren’t confident that your friend has these skills, or know how to evaluate what those skills are then your best option is to hire a guide or seek instruction.If you are an experienced sport climber then Jacob Ward’s advice is more relevant. Although things like being able to do finger jams and such might not be relevant to where you’re climbing.Also, no need for advanced climbing skills if your first trad climb is some 5.4. :)