How did you get started climbing? What led to climbing? What type of climbing do you do? How did you learn climbing techniques? Just wondering how people make the jump from hiking to mountaineering and climbing.

It first started with hiking. Summited my first mountain at sunset during winter when I was 12 years old. Never looked back.



Then came along a slightly known web site.



The next step was getting an ice axe to travel on steeper snow terrain to do more snowy mountains.



With Mount Rainier a few hours away from home, it was always taunting me to come. Glacier travel skills were required to be obtained for this.



Photography itself along with other people's amazing trip reports added another boost to my enthusiasm. Even when I was 14 years old, the photos posted here inspired me to go to South America. I knew it wasn't just a beautiful place.



And boy was it a worthy investment!



Being told at a young age that I was not worthy of being a mountaineer certainly spurred me to prove them wrong.



Anyways as for types of climbing, I'm into snow climbing and moderate rock climbing.



As for getting these skills, the best thing to do in my opinion would be to set up a network of friends who can help you along with your alpine quest. One friend of mine knew how to rock climb, so he showed me the ropes and taught me how to lead. Another one was well versed in glacier travel, so we did simple things like practicing on a lawn (eventually on a real glacier) and reading up on books like "Freedom of the Hills". More specifically I read up on glacier travel and crevasse rescue. That same friend showed me how to arrest with an ice axe followed by more practice with my boyscout troop. The mountaineers and other various organizations work for some people to learn these skills, I personally liked the flexibility of not having a group rule over me. As you get more serious with it, practicing what you've already learned becomes important. For example with glacier travel I typically refresh each year to stay sharp. Also practicing knots once in a while is a good idea. The more bag of tricks and ways to save time in the mountains, the better off you are.

Even with an established set of skills, to continue doing it often you still would benefit much from having a network of people to go on trips. Posting partner requests on local hiking & climbing sites has been very helpful with getting partners. Posting trip reports, photos, and even mountain pages further helps you get partners by gaining credibility within that community and is a good way to give back. The best partners I've ever had the opportunity of going in the alpine with I've gotten through these methods. Getting quality partners can be a lot of work, but is a worthy investment. I'm not claiming to be really picky with partners, but I will say that I try not to choose good climbers over good quality people. You never know when you might get ditched from a highly skilled partner at 15,000 feet while feeling tired out of your mind in the dark. This has happened to me. My theme being that I choose people who are good people to be around over great climbers for safety reasons and to have a good time.

Another word of advise, trust your instincts even if the issue is subtle in the mountains. In other words, if you see evidence for something being wrong you better do what you know you ought to do. I went against mine, and it turned out really horrific (broke my back, permanently messed up my finger, 8 screws in my arm, really bad concussion, ect). I'm a great believer in Murphy's Law despite my optimism. What doesn't kill you only makes you messed up and broken. Okay, so maybe eventually I'll be less broken. The point is, in the mountains a few subtle mistakes can stack up swiftly and turn into your worst nightmare.

Awesome pictures Josh! Sorry to hear about your injuries. I know what you mean about listening to that inner voice. Though I don't do anything technical, when I was younger, I certainly did a lot more stupid things. Now I'm more interested in having an enjoyable outing than risking life and limb to obtain a goal. So far, no bouts of summit fever as I begin a second go around at mountain climbing.

Love to hear all the stories. Keep 'em coming.

It started here for me back in late September of 2007:
http://www.summitpost.org/chikamin-peak/151849

Where I took this photo of Spectacle Lake:


From 2008 - 2011, I hiked, backpacked and got into off trail scrambling with my college roommate. I also got an ice axe on December 20, 2010 (The day before I met Josh Lewis for the first time when we climbed Granite Peak up I-90 on winter solstice, 2010). I slowly got into snow travel in 2011. In 2012 I learned rock climbing at North Table Mountain with friends from college (North Table is walking distance from Golden, CO). In August 2012 I did my first alpine rappel on Granite Peak in Montana, and later that same month I did my first 5th class alpine peak called Grand Teton!

Have been slowly progressing ever since

My parents were backpackers, spelunkers, and cross country skiers. I remember backpacking in the Spanish Peaks Wilderness when I was 5. Then came Boy Scouts and monthly camping trips and Philmont Scout Ranch.

Then I went to college, got a job, got married, had kids and forgot the mountains.

In 2001 my dad suggested we hike Touch Me Not Mountain as a first climb for my son. We did, and I was hooked. We begin to plan to climb Denali when he turned 18.

Mountaineering isn't a thing in Texas. My son forgot and turned away from the mountains but I did not. I got certified as a rock climbing instructor with the Boy Scouts. I spent weeks of vacations in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. I spent weekends at local crags: Paradise on the Brazos, Lake Mineral Wells State Park, Enchanted Rock, Barton Creek Greenbelt. In August 2005, we took a vacation to Disneyland. We had to drive right by Joshua Tree National Park. I couldn't pass up world class climbing. Although campsites were plentiful, toprope route were few and far between without gear. We climbed for 3 ours in the early morning on the crisp monzonite until the temperature reached 120F in the sun and we moved on down the road.

Finally, in 2007, I lost 40 lbs and went to Eldorado Peak for a glacier mountaineering class with Alpine Ascents.

In 2008, I introduced myself to the Sierra Nevada. While on a 3 month assignment in California, I took fathers day weekend to hike Mount Langley. Looking at the east face of the Sierra from the visitor center while picking up my permit was awe inspiring. As I dropped into the Cottonwood Lakes basin, I realized that this is where they shoot the outdoor catalogs. That night, I was amazed by the clear skies and the stars. I didn't summit but had a great time anyway.

I continued to try to find ways to steer family vacations to the mountains. In 2009, I decided to get high and to sign up for Summit for Someone to benefit Big City Mountaineers. My goal: Iztaccihuatl and El Pico de Orizaba. Successful summits on both peaks were great motivation to continue mountaineering.

I'd always joked with my coworkers that if I got an opportunity to move where I could climb, really climb, on weekends I would take the opportunity. In 2010, the opportunity presented itself and we moved to Los Angeles. It wasn't a month before I was on top of Baden-Powell and four months before full on winter on the summit of Mount Baldy. Summer 2011 I joined Bob Burd's Sierra Challenge and got exposed to remote Sierra backcountry on super long day hikes.

Today, I climb a Joshua Tree several times per year and make at least one annual pilgrimage to Yosemite (not the valley). I spend at least one weekend per month in the San Gabriel and San Jacinto Mountains hiking or climbing. Summer weekends are spent in the Sierra; sometimes solo, sometimes with friends, sometimes with a specific goal and sometimes just to get away. Memorial Day weekend will find my wife, daughters and me backpacking somewhere in the Sierra; it's tradition now.

Of my three kids, only one has truly caught the bug. She took an ATC and biners from me when she went to college. With a climbing gym a 5 minute walk from the dorm, she is very proud that she can climb 5.12 while daddy flails at 5.10. It's time for her to be on the sharp end.

I grew up caving, white water, mnt biking, and rock climbing in the Appalachians. I had a great climbing and rafting mentor who took me under his wing and introduced me to some of the top NC climbers and got me on some great rapids. I started rock climbing at 9 and climbed my first multi pitch trad route at the age of 10. First lead was with all stoppers, hexes, and tri cams at the age of 13-14. Came out west a few times and got hooked on the big mountains so eventually moved to WY. The end.

bump

Must be something to do with our distant ancestry, this instinct to climb things. When I was a kid, it was big old oak and elm trees. You just climbed them (as someone famously remarked) because they were there.

Then, nearby was an old limestone quarry where we were forbidden to go, so yeah, that's where we went. Tobogganning down the spoil heaps in winter, which of course involved climbing back up. Bit of "buildering" involved too as there was old industrial infrastructure in there. The cliffs around the quarry edge were no good for climbing though as it was basically layers of soft limestone interspersed with layers of rubbish that was somewhere between clay and rock.



Trips home to South Wales were great for scrambles up the "mountain" behind where my grandfather lived. We used to take an old sheet of cardboard and slide back down on the soft wet grass, not realising that we had more or less learned to use glissading as a means of travel which might come in handy later.

Somewhere along the line I read Heinrich Harrer's "The White Spider" which really captured my imagination. However before any advantage could be taken of our relative proximity to the European Alps, the family emigrated to Australia.

All was not lost by any means though. The backdrop to my new home city (Wollongong, NSW) was scattered generously with sandstone cliffs, one of which was right behind my new High School so it only took as long as it takes to make a couple of new friends before we headed off up through the bush to have a crack at these cliffs. Brokers Nose, Mount Keira and cliffs further south around Avondale and Macquarie Pass(Radson might know these areas?). No ropes or any other suitable gear at first so falling was not an option.

Later, one of the boys got hold of this horrible hawser-laid stretchy greasy-feeling rope (not sure if it was polypropylene or nylon) Felt more like a bungy cord than a climbing rope. Then came a part time job at a service station (gas station). Suddenly I could afford a proper rope, some carabiners, a descender,some nuts and some rock slippers and later a car.


Brokers Nose


Mount Keira

To be continued......(maybe)

My Mom introduced me to some old climbing friends of hers when she found out (the hard way) that I was hanging out with a bunch of bad city kids. I was growing up in Prague, Czech Republic and the kids I was hanging with were up to no good. After I was detained by police the first (and only) time, Mom told me about this group of older, but totally crazy people who scaled vertical walls and cliffs. Would you not want to go with them for a trip to the Bohemian Paradise next weekend? I was about 14 years old and I thought that was absolutely the coolest thing I could do. So I went once and that was it. Today at almost 67, I still climb any chance I get. The activity still feels awesome, even after 50+ years. Thanks Mom...

Started on Sandstone towers in western Bohemia, couple years later climbed in Tatra Mountains in Slovakia (granite), later in Slovenia (Julian Alps) on Limestone and Stubai Mountains in Austria. The older folks always stressed that one should first learn how to use ropes and technical gear on local grags before one should venture into mountains. That served me very well in all these years. At age 22, I emigrated to California and the rest as they say is history.

It all started with a book in our middle school library and went from there - the story here:

http://www.summitpost.org/celebrating-5 ... ing/852377

Your hairstyles progressively improved over the years, Fred!

There was a cliff near my home that about 40 feet high and 1/2 mile long.

When I was about 13 or 14 years old, an older friend asked me to go scrambling up the cliff with him. In retrospect it was probably class 4.

We turned it into a game. We climbed up the cliff, walked 30 feet long the top and then down-climbed, walked 30 feet along the base and climbed back up. Up and down, up and down.

Eventually we started looking to steeper and higher cliffs and bought a rope.

Hi all,

I just have started climbing. Hope it will be fun for me as well. You guys are inspiration for me.

Its all about the mountains themselves

Just one encounter, just one glance at their majestry

Just one touch of glacier's cold calm air

and you are jaded

you can't quit

you never ever breather without these feelings