What Was My Problem Last Year?

I’ve done a lot of thinking about what went wrong last year and why I couldn’t bring myself to pull the rope and lead.  The ice climbing days have helped a lot. 

Ice climbing is similar to trad climbing in that you have to place your own gear as you go up.  For ice, you’re placing screws.  For trad climbing, you’re placing gear like cams and nuts.

If you fall on an ice climb, you’re counting on the ice screws to hold you.  If you fall on a trad climb, you’re counting on the gear to hold you.

When I’m ice climbing, I feel secure with the screws I place.  I know they will hold me.  I’ve stopped in the middle of a climb and rested on a screw and it holds my full body weight, no problem.  I know when screws are good and when they’re marginal.

Last year when I was working up to leading on trad gear, I didn’t trust the gear.  I didn’t believe it would hold me.  I always felt unsafe and the idea of climbing without the top rope was too scary.

This year, I decided my first climb would be on top rope but I would place gear in the crack as I went up.  Then I would attach myself to the gear with a quickdraw clipped to the belay loop on my harness.  I would ask Dan for a little bit of slack to slowly shift my weight onto the gear with the top rope for backup in case it came out.  

I didn’t want to carry out this experiment with other people around watching or even worse, waiting for me to finish so they could get on the climb.  I wanted lots of time to play around and get comfortable.

Plan B

I had two alternative crags on my list that were just off the Boy Scout Trail.  We decided to check on the Outward Bound Slab.  I assumed there would be people there because it is a great learning crag for beginners and this was Saturday, the first day of spring break in California.  

I was pleasantly surprised that nobody was at that crag yet.  Last year, we tried to climb there.  We wanted to hike around and set up a top rope above the 5.2 climb called Mastering 5.2.  We hiked up to see if it was possible and when we got back down, another group was setting up at the bottom of the climb.

This year, Dan decided he would just lead it and set up a top rope for me.  He did a great job leading up the climb, finding nice gear placements.

Then it was my turn.

Testing Gear

I tied into the top rope and loaded my harness with cams and a few quickdraws.  I started up.   

The first part of the climb was slab.  Slab climbing can be a bit of a mind-bend for me.  Slab is not quite vertical rock, picture a steep hill.  It can be quite smooth and featureless without obvious footholds and hand holds. 

The slab here is granite with large crystals.  It’s like very coarse sandpaper and when your rubber climbing shoes are pressed against it, they stick. The slab on this climb had undulations like shallow bowls and bulges. It was fun to climb.

Above the slab, I placed my first piece of gear in the bottom of the crack.  The crack flared out a bit, narrower at the back and wider at the outside.  My cam was nicely placed at the back but too open at the front.  I pulled on it.  It seemed surprisingly solid. 

I pulled again and clipped a quickdraw from the cam to my harness.  I didn’t believe this marginal piece would hold me but I asked Dan to slowly let out some slack.  As my weight shifted onto the cam, it held.  I bounced a bit.  It didn’t move.  

I asked Dan to pull in the slack so my weight was back on the rope. Removing the cam, I continued up. 

I placed another piece.  Again, I felt it was crappy, far from the perfect placement I had learned last year.  Again as I tested it, it held me.  Moving higher, I placed another piece.  Couldn’t quite get it perfectly placed but it held. 

Again and again, I tested and every time, the placements were good enough.  The cams held me.

My First Ever Trad Lead

At the bottom of the climb, I pulled the rope.  I was ready to lead.  I loaded up my harness with cams and quickdraws.  Moving smoothly over the slab, when I reached the bottom of the crack, I was ready.  It wasn’t too steep and I was comfortable with the climbing moves.  I placed gear as planned and reached the top with no issues.

5.2 crack

5.4 crack

After a celebration at the bottom, we moved to the next crack over, a 5.4.  Dan led again and set a top rope for me.  This time, I didn’t want the top rope practice run.  I had watched him climb it and I felt confident I could lead it on my first try.  I pulled the rope.

Again I went up with no problems.  I kept breathing, stayed calm and placed gear at good intervals.  Knowing that the gear would hold me if I fell, I moved confidently up the rock .

I was pleased with my climbing and so proud that I finally managed to lead something, even these easy climbs. I was ready to call it a day.  My work was done.

Dan wanted a shot at a 5.6* that went up to the same anchor as the 5.4.  He climbed it on top rope.  Then he pulled the rope and led it.  I was proud of him.  The hardest climb he worked up to last year here was 5.6* and he was right back at that level again on our first day.

I decided to try it on top rope too.  The moves were a bit of a challenge for me at that point in the day and I decided to clean the anchor and rappel down.  It had been a great first day of climbing on our 2024 trip to J-Tree.