Most Meaningful Firsts in Climbing

What was your most meaningful first? First lead? First multipitch? First 5.12? 

I remember my first mountain project post

I think my first "big" send was an indoor v6. I had some preconceived notions that v6 was "a set above the rest", for some reason it was incredibly satisfying

First whipper that resulted in a visit to the ER

First-ever summit: Appistoki Peak in Glacier National Park, a Class 2/3 walk-up. Legitimately changed the course of my life. It was my first summer working seasonally in Glacier; I'd just graduated college in Pittsburgh, PA. I decided on that summit, looking down onto Two Medicine Lake, that I was going to live in Montana forever. Fourteen years later ...

wonderwoman wrote: I remember my first trad fall.  Brand new stretchy double ropes on a very moist pitch 3 of Diedre on Cathedral Ledge, North Conway.  I fell on a #1 BD.  I remember being surprised and very relieved to discover that it is, indeed, okay to fall on gear (as long as the fall is clean and the gear is good, of course).

This is for sure it for me. I just had this first a few weeks back.

 Made a little gear nest of 2 small cams and a peenut in a super thin crack below a #6 sized offwidth. My foot slipped out of the crack just as I was rocking on to it to stand up in it.

 A grey 0 DMM dragon that was my top piece held me. Took a little like 6 foot whipper but I was super stoked when I saw it hold!

First trad lead and first lead overall. Orangahang in Santa Barbara on nuts and tricams. 

Tyler Johnson wrote: First whipper that resulted in a visit to the ER

How many have there been? 

My favorite firsts were the first alpine multipitch climbs topping out on a summit or ridge. Still my favorite type of climbing.

First climbs I helped develop and then didn't post to MP.

Ryan Pfleger wrote:

How many have there been? 

My favorite firsts were the first alpine multipitch climbs topping out on a summit or ridge. Still my favorite type of climbing.

Just the one! A very memorable experience that really helped me slow down and focus on ways to keep from repeating it in the future.

Learning to back flag. Game changer.

First 5.10. It felt big league compared to what I had been climbing. It was a two pitch called Fresh Garbage at Table Rock, NC. No falls for me or my partner. Still stands out to me.

Second place would be my first lead fall, an 18-footer on gear at Eagle Rock NC. The fact I was unharmed after dreading it for so long emboldened me greatly. Started taking falls routinely after that, and started improving more as a result, so it broke open a boundary for me.

Artem Vasilyev wrote: First true big whipper on a big wall. Figured I'd be terrified, but the reality was that I didn't even have time to react and I was in the air. 20 footer on a red nut on middle cathedral when I hit a slick patch in a finger crack. Felt pretty annoyed to fall given that I had just onsighted the crux pitch and this was easy climbing. I almost didnt place that nut for rope drag purposes, and if I hadn't (or it had ripped) I'd be in for a huge 50+ foot fall. That being said, the wall was so featureless I don't think it would have hurt me.

Also my first completely unexpected fall on something easier than 5.11. Gave me some thinking to do about big runouts and solos I had done in the past.

Spray

When I was really new to climbing, one of my partners once told me, "One of the things I like climbing with you is that every day there's a new first," haha.

Anyway, the one that stands out to me right now is my first trad 5.9, on The Start at Pawtuckaway. It's a short climb and definitely easier if you have small hands (or at least that changes where the crux is...), but it still felt pretty cool for me, especially since I decided to go for it onsight. It was also my first time trying 5.9 on trad lead, and right before starting up it I told my partner something like, "I think I have about 3% chance of sending, 32% chance of making it up relatively uneventfully without sending, 50% chance of making it up with a lot of hanging/falling/complaining, and 15% chance of bailing and having to rap down to get my gear." In retrospect I think I underestimated my chances a little.

After doing that climb, something clicked and I started feeling happy trying harder trad, especially when it's continuous cracks. Still pretty much a wimp with face trad, though.

Gumby the White wrote:

Spray

I mean in fairness isn't this whole thread mostly an excuse for spray? :P

Artem Vasilyev wrote:

Pretty much. I'll spray if it's solicited. 

You sound like a 25 year old kid.....

Etha Williams wrote:

I mean in fairness isn't this whole thread mostly an excuse for spray? :P

It could be seen that way, but these firsts also mark milestones for us, and therein is the meaning. Some of the inspiration from these firsts will inspire others. 

The post called spray, above, for instance, gave a guy a lot to think about, and frankly it is good to know that a fall can happen unexpectedly. Many people don't realize it can happen to them. It happened to me once due to not paying attention to my gear, and nearly another time when I got very dehydrated.

Artem Vasilyev wrote:

Yup. I think the biggest whipper I've taken is 20-25 feet so for me this significant. I'm sure this personal definition will change with time. Anything >1k feet is a big wall in my mind. My big wall experience is limited to EPC, and RR so I haven't quite jumped anything truly huge. I'm sorry I'm not as rad as you. 

Plz keep digging.

The first time I went climbing was a graduation climb in a R.O.P.E. program when I was 12. I still remember doing the TR and the rappel. The same people who ran the program also took us outside during middle and highchool, and in the Winter, would take us to one of the first gyms in the country as part of a highschool climbing club. I really owe a lot to my town's youth social services dept. It made Connecticut just a little more bearable. THANKS!

The first time I climbed sober. Never again. 

Reading about a professional climber that I'd met dying. I only spent a couple hours taking an ice climbing clinic with him, but I could tell in that short time he was a great person.