LISTEN: [RealPlayer] [Windows Media] (Requires a FREE media player to listen) Click for Photos MountainZone.com: From Kelly in Jackson, Mississippi, we get a good question: What would your advice be for a beginning climber to advance his skills at a quicker pace? Weihenmayer: I would say, and that's a great question, and I thought about that when I was first starting to climb. First, I'd recommend that you join your local mountaineering club, and you can take all sorts of classes for very cheap, I mean, hardly any finances. Just anchors classes and rock-climbing classes and leading classes, rope-management, alpine climbing classes, even ice-climbing. And every community has their own local mountaineering club or alpine club, and that'll surround you with good people who have more experience than you and can really help accelerate your own climbing. Get out there with those experienced people. Also, join your local rock-jam and get climbing a lot. You'll meet a lot of people and from there you can branch out and climb a little bit outside. And take it step-by-step, no reason to push it too much, 'cuz it can be dangerous in that heavy learning curve. Go to Question 4 » [Top] [Climbing Home] [MountainZone.com Home]