i wana know what advice or tips you can give me to help me learn

Climb as much as possible on everything and anything you can find

Welcome to the light! Rock climbing is the greatest sport I ever took up. The physical and mental challenges that you endure are unparalleled, I think mainly because your life and limb are the consequences of a mistake.

Agreed. Climb as much as possible and climb everything. I think for beginners, footwork tends to be a problem and it's something you can work on straight out of the blocks. Something that helped me when I began, was to climb slabby boulder problems no-handed. It resembles the footwork needed to climb overhung stuff. It teaches you how to use and trust your feet.

Breathe. Coming back to the breath (belly breathing) helps you move more efficiently, effectively, and calms you when you get nervous.

Don't allow negative, self-defeating thoughts to enter your mind. Don't get discouraged. Stay in the moment. It's not always about getting to the top, but what you learned on the way there.

Get with safe, reliable, experienced climbers that can guide you and teach you from their mistakes. You will form some of the most meaningful relationships through rock climbing because after all, you place your lives in one anothers hands.

Above all else, be safe, have fun, and explore your mind, body, and all possibilities. Happy climbing!

Before you do anything else, become a rock solid belayer. Then, buy a harness, helmet, belay device, and shoes. This is what you'll need to have to go climbing with a partner.

I'll extend Will's advice to say "...with anyone who is willing to take you and safe." There are so many knowledgeable people, you should learn from as many as you can. Just make sure that they are responsible. Remember that there is more than one way to skin a cat, so be inquisitve, but not accusatory.

How do you know they're safe? Well, read a quality book(I'd recommend Luebben's Rock CLimbing:mastering the basic skills), and/or take a good intro class. This should give you a general sense of what good safety practices are in terms of climbing. Then, use your common sense. A safe partner will have good reasons for doing what he is doing and won't get defensive if asked politely.

Evan

Finding someone who enjoys mentoring a beginner would obviously be good.

Learn how to lead climb and lead belay as soon as possible.

Read how-to-books. Books on knots. Books on rappelling. Books on placing gear and building anchors. Books on self rescue. I realize this type of reading can seem a little dry but it will pay dividends when it comes time to put it into practice.

Many people neglect the wealth of written material available and rely solely on others to teach them everything. Having some general knowledge obtained from reading climbing related how-to-books will make your mentors job so much easier and he/she will be much more willing to include you in their climbing plans.

Look for partners with high I.Q.'s. I believe that is one of the best pieces of advise I could give you. You will benefit in a bunch of areas if you do that, saftey being one of the most important.

Feet feet feet feet feet - can't be stressed enough. Not finding a hand-hold is a good sign you are forgetting to use your feet. It is easier to stand up on your feet than to haul yourself up by your arms...

every time you clip a bolt god kills a kitten

Go to the Rock Gym and find a hot, sexy rope gun, you will find out soon enough that most men climb for the chicks, Remember to talk about yourself as much as possible and take your shirt off when your yelling beta at the hottie in the sports bra. It works everytime, ask any homelsess, jobless, broke climbing bum, Follow this advice and you will be well on your way to rock stardom.

If that doesn't work, hire a guide and read a bunch of books, but education doesn't work without application, so get some miles under your belt and use common sense.

Absoultly do not get/keep a job. Seriously.

Drink copious amounts of beer.

Don't get mad and upset when you can't climb something you think you should be able to. Climbing is hard. There will be times when you feel weak and will not be able to climb well. Instead of getting mad and being in a crappy mood, give the rock some respect and laugh at the fact that you are in the middle of the woods climbing on rocks.

At the end of the day, it should be about having fun. And in my short two years of climbing experience i have seen too many people out there have their climbing day ruined because they got shut down on something. Curse, complain, and b*tch all you want , but remember, no one is making you climb these rocks.

Have Fun!!..I would recommend learning to set up top rope anchors before learning to lead climb.

Don't fall.

1. take a belay class because to be a good climbing partner, you need to be a good belay
2. find a mentor, someone who has been climbing for years and is happy to help you learn the ropes (no pun intended)
3. read as much literature on the sport as possible
4. trust your feet! they are your biggest asset!
5. try all types of climbing and dont buy into the trad vs sport argument just go out and climb
6. develop solid ethics that make you comfortable
7. dont take stupid risks and develop your own definition of stupid
8. drink lots of beer after climb (thats optional but suggested)
9. have fun
10. and only climb with safe people and trust your gut feeling.

don't ever climb with me, I kill kittens from time to time



always, always, always keep the brake hand on the rope when you belay your partner.
Be the most attentive belayer you can be.

Do as Mr. Bolt says.

A much more sensible plan, and one some of the guys that climbed with the Stonemasters used, was to boulder to gain strength and route finding ability. Any climb can be broken down into a series of moves like a line of boulder problems. You can get very strong doing that. Then, when you go out and lead something, you aren't falling at all.

You don't want to fall on gear, ever, intentionally. That's where "The leader does not fall" comes from. People have died this year falling on gear. Some didn't have enough gear and others pulled their gear. So as a new leader, you should not be testing that part of your system with falls.

If you are falling at the cruxes, you should probably boulder a little more.

my advice is to take anything you read on MP.com with a grain of salt.

Climb yourself silly, and absolutely with safe, patient mentors. Ask skrillions of questions every time you go out. Do slabby climbs that will force you onto your feet; the South Platte taught me to climb with my feet.

Buy yourself some cheap life insurance: a day with a really good instructor. Bob Culp at Boulder Mountaineering, and Jack Roberts, have been doing this forever. Go on this lesson with a favorite partner. That way, you both know the same things, and you each know what the other one knows how to do. You won't find yourself in a dire situation, blindly assuming that your pard knows how to rescue the two of you while s/he's thinking the same thing.

Know that the days when you climb like an eagle will far outnumber the "goat with a broken leg" days. It just gets better!