What Grade Were You Able To Climb After 1 Yr

phylp phylpwrote:

After a year from August of 1980 in Boston starting at age 28, with zero base fitness, where climbing gyms didn't exist, where outside climbing was limited due to New England weather and proximity, and where, most importantly, I was spending the vast majority of time doing lab research and writing a Ph.D thesis, and barely thought about climbing, I had probably climbed a 5.9 on top rope at Quincy Quarries.  

These two examples, your's and mine, show why "it depends".

Agreed very much "it depends".  Thank you for the contrast. These posts tend to be a bait for a lot of people to humble brag about their incredible rise in progress.  I'm not saying its not possible.  But if your first year of climbing is when you have a lot of free time and pubescent hormones still raging its going to look a lot different then both mine and phylp phylp's first year. 

I would say if you have time focus on just climbing, learning skills, and avoiding injury.  Worry less about grade progression and you'll most likely progress faster.  

Also be ready for disappointment, as areas, and types of climbing play a bigger impact then you'll ever imagine during your first year of climbing.  

Just hit my first year in and: 

Onsight 10b in Lander WY. 

Was leading 11- in the gym and TR (no takes) the occasional 11. Then gym changed their grading and now I'm getting spit off 11- 

When I started climbing I wanted to get as good as possible as quickly as possible. Not to grade chase but to have access to more routes outdoors. A lot of the stuff in my immediate area starts in the 10s. I would climb consistently 3 mornings/week for 2 hours with my partner, then boulder in the evenings a couple times a week. On the weekends I'd go in and hop on autobelay and do up/down climbs on easy routes until I just couldn't hold on anymore rest and repeat for 3/4 hours. 

5.10- trad, 5.10+ sport. All I cared about was climbing easy trad routes so I didn’t get much stronger over the course of the year. Most trad routes 5.8 and up took me a long time due to fear.

Started climbing in college at 23, and it took me about a year until I redpointed my first outdoor 13a.

you are probably already aware of how incredibly impressive that is and how much of an outlier you are 

Dane Bwrote:

you are probably already aware of how incredibly impressive that is and how much of an outlier you are 

I mean, yes, my experience is definitely not the norm, but I appreciate your compliment! And to clarify, I was definitely surrounded by high caliber climbers when I started, who inspired and pushed me. While genetics and training have a large influence, a supportive community and close proximity to outdoor climbing can have a huge impact on climbing progression!

I really believe, the single biggest factor in how hard you climb, is how hard the people around you climb. It's very difficult in isolation, you need a community, for nothing else if for partners who are willing to project difficult climbs. But the beta sharing aspect is also huuuuge.

Imagine the difference between climbing 5.13 on a well travelled popular route, always chalked and ticked, permadraws, as much beta spray as you want from people of 3 different heights.

Versus, the only 5.13 in your area is covered in cobwebs and dirt, and hasn't seen an ascent in 10 years, and it definitely wasn't filmed. You have to literally beg for partners. Your local gym doesn't set any 5.13s, in fact, you are the routesetter, and noone else in your town can climb anything you set for yourself for feedback.

I mean like 15 years ago there was a lot of hand-wringing that North American climbers were weak gumbies compared to Europe, where grandmas in Spain warmed up on 8a. I think that's pretty much gone away, as the US climbing community has bootstrapped itself to a higher standard, and now big communities in North America have any number of 5.14 climbing grandmas as well.

abandon moderation wrote:

Or you show up at the hard sport crag and everyone is sending hard... a few months later you're sending hard. Because you modeled your climbing after everyone else? Or is it because you showed up at that crag when you were finally strong enough to break into the new grades?

Great point.

I think because the population of climbers has exploded as well, it's hard to tell if more people are climbing harder because we have better training and knowledge, or if in fact the *proportion* of people climbing 5.13+ is basically the same, and we simply have more talented climbers taking up the sport.

Like when I started, climbing was a much geekier niche, and new climbers were more likely to be unathletic computer nerds or arty alternative folk who had bounced off school gym and organised sports, for the romantic and risky aspects of climbing. Now new climbers are likely to already be gymnasts, callisthenics athletes, or weightlifters!

Sam Mwrote:

Great point.

I think because the population of climbers has exploded as well, it's hard to tell if more people are climbing harder because we have better training and knowledge, or if in fact the *proportion* of people climbing 5.13+ is basically the same, and we simply have more talented climbers taking up the sport.

Like when I started, climbing was a much geekier niche, and new climbers were more likely to be unathletic computer nerds or arty alternative folk who had bounced off school gym and organised sports, for the romantic and risky aspects of climbing. Now new climbers are likely to already be gymnasts, callisthenics athletes, or weightlifters!

It’s likely what you said. The number of talented climbers has increased and more talented individuals whom may have done gymnastics or other sports are now attracted to climbing.

Sam Mwrote:

I really believe, the single biggest factor in how hard you climb, is how hard the people around you climb. It's very difficult in isolation, you need a community, for nothing else if for partners who are willing to project difficult climbs. But the beta sharing aspect is also huuuuge.

.

I believe this to be very true. They were very few climbers in Vermont in the late 80s and 90s. I don’t think I ever met anybody who climbed harder than 5.11 for the first 15 years that I climbed. We had no guide books. I think that our grades were a little weird here because we did climb in a vacuum and we all thought that we weren’t good climbers. But once you see people, climbing harder, you realize that it’s possible.

I don't remember, but I do remember some of the routes for their quality and/or scariness and all the people who took the time to teach me. Thanks to everyone who does this! And I'm inspired by all the people chasing difficultly and progressing fast! Even with some commitment in the gym when I was young, I never touched .12. We who will never climb remotely hard are out here and having a good time of it.

it depends on which year.. ..        

When I first started climbing I was a bit on the fat side and also wasn't climbing more than once a week or two. One year in I was doing mid-5.10 top rope/autobelay in the gym and having spent most of my time bouldering I'd climbed a few v4s. Hadn't started lead yet or been outdoors. 

It wasn't until 2 years in when I ventured outside and struggled on 5.10a/v3 so who really knows what my grade was after a year?

I bet there's a lot of variation in ability among beginners after a year based on what their starting point is. 

it absolutely depends on  who you are climbing with. at least now you have social media to flood yourself with beta. when I started  in VT early 80s as June mentioned we climbed in a vacuum.  the crew that I started with were really ice climbers but they didnt know how good they were and kept it to grade 3+ ice. some of the stuff they called 3+ was really 4+. on rock they were mostly top ropers and 5.6 and under at the gunks or daks.  it was not untill I hooked up with real rock climbers that I went from leading 5.7 to leading 5.10 trad in a couple months. ice was really mental because the smuggs guide is insanly sandbagged. There are grade 4s up there that are really 5+ and 2/3 that is really 4. Same thing with willoughby. we mostly did the practice slabs/ tablets. they were called practice slabs back then. we ventured on to Renorm which is wicked sandbagged 4.  its solid 4+ /5- in NH and our big accomplishment was Shaker heights which is described as an easy 4-in the old book but is a 5 in the new book. that left us with the impression that we barely survived 4- so there was no way we would be able to lead 4+. that was really detrimental psychologically and held me back for years. it was not untill the flow of information that came with the internet in the late 90s/early 2000s that I realized that I could climb 5+ ice...   

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

it absolutely depends on  who you are climbing with. at least now you have social media to flood yourself with beta. when I started  in VT early 80s as June mentioned we climbed in a vacuum.  the crew that I started with were really ice climbers but they didnt know how good they were and kept it to grade 3+ ice. some of the stuff they called 3+ was really 4+. on rock they were mostly top ropers and 5.6 and under at the gunks or daks.  it was not untill I hooked up with real rock climbers that I went from leading 5.7 to leading 5.10 trad in a couple months. ice was really mental because the smuggs guide is insanly sandbagged. There are grade 4s up there that are really 5+ and 2/3 that is really 4. Same thing with willoughby. we mostly did the practice slabs/ tablets. they were called practice slabs back then. we ventured on to Renorm which is wicked sandbagged 4.  its solid 4+ /5- in NH and our big accomplishment was Shaker heights which is described as an easy 4-in the old book but is a 5 in the new book. that left us with the impression that we barely survived 4- so there was no way we would be able to lead 4+. that was really detrimental psychologically and held me back for years. it was not untill the flow of information that came with the internet in the late 90s/early 2000s that I realized that I could climb 5+ ice...   

I used to ski in Killington as a youth whenever I could. A few locals told me to go down various slopes they said were “intermediate”. They turned out to be ice, through trees, and steeper than 45 degrees. Good thing I hit the trees on the way down, perhaps that what they meant by “intermediate” could be more accurately ans intermittent skiing with stops at every tree on the way down.

What you stated above reminds me of that “Vermont/New Hampshire grading system”.

 I can only think of Bernie Sanders yelling at a teamster boss and ex-MMA fighter to sit down and shut up as they’re prepared to battle.

People of that region are quite tough.

Li Huwrote:

I used to ski in Killington as a youth whenever I could. A few locals told me to go down various slopes they said were “intermediate”. They turned out to be ice, through trees, and steeper than 45 degrees. Good thing I hit the trees on the way down, perhaps that what they meant by “intermediate” could be more accurately ans intermittent skiing with stops at every tree on the way down.

What you stated above reminds me of that “Vermont/New Hampshire grading system”.

I grew up near Narrabeen, a well known surfing destination (it's one of the only non-American spots named in the song "Surfin' USA"), the world junior championships were held there, the three-finned surfboard was developed there, surfers like Terry Fitzgerald, Nathan Hedge, and Laura Enever were regularly out there (Laura being quite young at the time so it was usual to get shown up by a pre-teen girl who was absolutely ripping). 

There was a serious competitve and high performance vibe, this was not soul surfing on quirky second hand longboards, this was people who trained and carefully selected equipment, to go fast and absolutely shred competition turns. When it was good, you paddled out and did not. Stop. Paddling. it was constant jockeying and positioning and if you fell off on a wave you would be judged and shut out...it wasn't violent but just cold and analytical, this person's not very good, they'll waste the wave. They didn't even need to drop in on you, simply every time there would magically be someone inside, because everyone was farken fit and they would just paddle around you.

To be clear I was truly a rubbish surfer (that's why I drifted off to go climbing and play soccer...) but my dad and my brother were good, so that's what we did, I got taken surfing. With like my dads ex-sponsored mates. Eventually with that level of exposure you develop some skill - or at the least you get really good at paddling.

I imagine this is what being a climber in a competition hub like Boulder or SLC is like.

I later found all my climbing friends, thought I was a "really good" surfer. They simply had no idea.

Actually I want to be fair to my dad here. He never pushed me like a bad sports parent, despite it being his passion (the family was moved to Narrabeen so he could surf) but he was always clear he wanted it to be our decision to surf, not his. I wanted to go anyway because of peer pressure.

In fact I used to get annoyed and complain that if he'd started me at 3 years old and trained me, I could be actually good like the other kids, instead of a kook who sucked was always getting hurt.

But in the end it was totally for the best, I would have ended up a comp kid who was good, but not good enough, and burned out at 18 with no intrinsic joy or motivation. Instead I found climbing. And my dad has always been super supportive of that, because he understands the passion even if he doesn't care about climbing itself.

did no one else here start following then leading trad climbs in the first year? say after passing lead tests in the gym? then found an outdoor mentor? then gor hazed by said old school mentor to repoint a classic 3-4 star climb? in a world class area? like in eldo on the route mescaline 

My climbing journey has been slow. and I know many other's who have as well.

In high school gym class of 2015 we had a climbing wall, I'm sure looking back it was probably 5.5's or 5.6's, but I didn't know anything back then.

In 2019 I started climbing at Vertical dreams fairly regularly. Great gym, highly recommenced it. I probably climbed for 5 or 6 months and I was quite happy when I climbed a 5.9 in that gym, I still remember my first project there. I though bouldering was too hard for me because I could hardly touch the V1's there.

In 2021 I started climbing in a gym again, after 7 or 8 months, I moved to Utah for unrelated reasons. I think by the end of my time at The Edge, I had both experienced carpool tunnel in both arms, but had moved up to the 5.10's range.

After I moved to Utah I took another break from climbing, maybe for 3 months. I stuck to going to the Gym for about a year, until I went to Craggin classic and decided I wanted to hit it outside harder. This year I spend most of my time making friends, but usually with lower grade climbers. Now I'm trying to push my own grades and am quite proud I've flashed an 11.a just a few weeks ago. I was probably climbing 10.s not regulatory early this year.

Everyone's journey is different with climbing, I know many people who's climbing journey is as much a fitness journey as anything. It was for me, when I first started climbing it was with a goal to loose weight, not necessarily climb harder. And I remember thinking I would never want to lead because TR was fine, so why introduce more danger. Ha! Now I am looking to start into Trad, and want to push my grades as hard as I can, though I have no mentors and am generally a nervous person so it's hard for me.

The Butt-Shot Whispererwrote:

did no one else here start following then leading trad climbs in the first year? say after passing lead tests in the gym? then found an outdoor mentor? then gor hazed by said old school mentor to repoint a classic 3-4 star climb? in a world class area? like in eldo on the route mescaline 

We don't have good gyms out here and I'm mentoring a kid who went to the gym a few times, top rope soloed a few times on his own outdoors, and then I took him outdoors and he flashed 10b on lead outdoors. He led a 5.11 sport route a couple months later. He has top roped a 5.11 finger crack clean and might very well lead it this winter. He took a fall his very first trad lead, and has taken many lead falls on both gear and bolts since then. 

He insists on leading LRS which seems a little bold to me for how short a time he's been climbing, but I helped him make sure he's got a good rig and I've seen him LRS some pretty bold stuff. Watched him take a 20'+ LRS whipper on bolts when he fell trying to clip the next bolt. He's already a redpoint rope soloist. Kid's insane. In a few years he's going to be leading some seriously badass stuff. Once he gets his crack climbing dialed and builds a base of experience this kids gonna be eating the rostrum for breakfast. 

Also, he's already attempted a big wall. Twice. Again, his first lead was last spring. 

So yeah, people like that exist. They're just not so common.