Ladies picking up trad climbing - how to make that the best transition possible?

^^^ +1

Not sure why this is gender specific, but when learning to lead on gear (with sport climbing experience) I think one of the biggest things is Macro/Micro judgement, assessing the quality of rock before considering a placement. The photo of the cam behind that loose block is the perfect example of why this is important... Having more than the recommended “standard rack” allowing for sewing it up is a big help for learning as well as pushing your grades.
Not sure where you're climbing to say it’s rare to see women leading on gear, but that certainly isn’t the case where I climb. There’s plenty of ladies crushing hard gear protected pitches every day here.

Franck Vee wrote: Hi there,

So my sweet half has started leading on gear. That was on her own initiative (not any push on my part to make that hapen). Not going to lie, I'm pretty stocked about that. While we could still trad before (she'd be happy to second me), going in a trad-only destination was less of an option then, because we both prefer to lead. She did half a dozen lead so far, easy grade for her, got '' type 2 fun '' scared. Other than that she's a confident 11/11+ sport climber.

I'm currently wondering what can I do make facilitate this transition/learning process. My goal is basically just to make sure that this initial interest translates into a style of climbing that's natural, that we can just practice regularly as we do sport climbing right now. I don't want that to be a fad that's been tried but kinda died out for whatever reason.

 I'd be happy to hear about ladies in here who have already gone through the process of becoming, say ''reasonnably confident leading on gear''. What where the main obstacle in your process? What did you do to make this easier? What are you looking for in your belayer/partner? Does that differ significantly from what you're expecting/looking for in sport climbing partners?

It might also be nice to hear from those who have NOT picked up trad. What's preventing you from doing so (other than just not interesting in the style, say)?

Thanks for the input!

Hmmmm.....if I may, perhaps the shorter version is:

"Hey, ladies? I'm not sure how to talk to/support/ act around my lady with this [ostensibly climbing] thing. She matters hugely to me, and I don't want to mess up! Help me, pleeeassssse!!!!"

If it's kinda like that? Don't worry sir. You have the gist of what matters to us. And we love that you care. ;-)

Best, Helen

Okay okay, so wrong forum I get it.

That being out of the way, thanks for the feedback. I did get useful tidbits of information.

But no, no everyone learn things the way or feel the same way or need the same things. Introspection can get you some ways, but I'm still limited by my personal perspective. I personally have been thinking about trad for a long time. It didn't happen earlier for a host of reasons, by I think I would have need a pretty terrible partner/belayer to get this idea out of my mind. It just fits really well with the person that I am & why I climb. But then there are many activities I've tried before in my life but didn't keep up. Some of them I might have kept, had things turned out differently. I'm not saying I'm not skying anymore strictly because people I skied with did it wrong - but I could imagine myself still skying. That's kinda where I was coming from.

Old Lady H: That's a much more concise version that gets the gist of it. I've never been good at keeping my comments shorts....

Loling to infinity.   

... which is why I mentioned having got it ;)

Ok, I pretty much never post, but I'm going to jump in here because I actually liked your question. I'm more of a sport climber, but I do trad as well, and I ran into two particular problems getting into trad that I think are somewhat gender specific.

The first relates to crack climbs in particular. I found that the grades for cracks were largely established by men, who clearly were much larger than me. Which means I struggled horrendously on "easy" climbs with "perfect hands" which weren't perfect for me at all. I almost quit because of how frustrating I found the whole experience. Then I finally found a crack in my hand size and realized I could hand jam. So, my advice to you, if you're climbing cracks, try to avoid body-specific descriptions (like fist-sized) and try to use gear sizes (like BD #3). Also spend a bit of time playing on different sized cracks to see how they feel to both of you.

The second problem I found is that occasionally well-meaning guys tend to want to help a little too much (maybe women do this too but I've never experienced it). When I'd get scared it would be "hey, maybe you should come down and let me lead" and when another guy was climbing it would be "you got this!" So, try to be encouraging and listen to your partner. Obviously if she says she wants to come down, that's different. But maybe don't suggest it before she does because being scared is part of the process.

Good luck!

What is "skying?"

Hi Morgan!

Would you create a similar forum post if one of your male friends was learning to lead?

Franck Vee wrote:  ... which is why I mentioned having got it ;)

​This has been an informative thread for me as well. 

Good point about the crack sizes Morgan. Much better to use gear size, instead of body part size. Though everyone learns the conversion-to-personal-size eventually. I dread hearing "perfect fist-size" coming from an average guy. But if they tell me it's "cupped hands", I'm like, yay, fist jams!!! 

go to red rock (or whatever destination that has super fun, straightforward moderates for days), pick a route you are both stoked on, have the best day out ever, and you both will always want to lead and work together to get to the top of something wild and beautiful.

Franck Vee wrote: Hi there,

So my sweet half has started leading on gear. That was on her own initiative (not any push on my part to make that hapen). Not going to lie, I'm pretty stocked about that. While we could still trad before (she'd be happy to second me), going in a trad-only destination was less of an option then, because we both prefer to lead. She did half a dozen lead so far, easy grade for her, got '' type 2 fun '' scared. Other than that she's a confident 11/11+ sport climber.

So, you might think about minimizing this, unless that's really her jam (I mean, I love a little "type 2 fun" even a little type 3 sufferfest on occasion but a number of my more sport climbing oriented partners think I and my multipitch/alpine buddies are nuts, YMMV)
 

I'm currently wondering what can I do make facilitate this transition/learning process. My goal is basically just to make sure that this initial interest translates into a style of climbing that's natural, that we can just practice regularly as we do sport climbing right now. I don't want that to be a fad that's been tried but kinda died out for whatever reason.

I know you have the best intentions here, but at least in my experience the best thing you can do is back off and let her take the lead on this.  The more pressure she is feeling from you, whether or not you realize you are laying it on, is going to make it less fun and possibly more dangerous.  Also consider having her do some pitches with a guide or another experienced Trad climber who she can work on technique with with no pressure for speed, objectives and ask questions of a neutral party.

 I'd be happy to hear about ladies in here who have already gone through the process of becoming, say ''reasonnably confident leading on gear''. What where the main obstacle in your process? What did you do to make this easier? What are you looking for in your belayer/partner? Does that differ significantly from what you're expecting/looking for in sport climbing partners?

It might also be nice to hear from those who have NOT picked up trad. What's preventing you from doing so (other than just not interesting in the style, say)?

Thanks for the input!

My spouse doesn't climb so I took up Trad because I love alpine objectives and climbing in remote wacky spots (see type 2 fun above) so sport for me was just a side objective on the way.  In order to spare my mentors the hours of gear placements on the ground, I went out with a guide a few times for this.  Now I'm back to climbing mainly with mentors/partners but still like to go out with a guide for time to time to make sure I'm not picking up bad habits.  Otherwise I just climb, as often as possible and pick objectives to work towards.