>>870023>free soloing HARD is incredibly rareyou also missed a word there. 5.0-5.9 is pretty damn common in my area, especially for long, easy ridges and traverses in the 5.4-5.8 range. i know more people who do that than who rope solo. not me, though. i'll simul easy stuff, but i have a kid, i stick to a rope
>>870025via ferrata's gay. might as well just hang a ladder over the crown of your roof and go up and down it. gym's better. good place to make friends with climbers, learn to belay, get a feel for weird body positions, learn knots and stuff, some gyms organize outdoor trips.
>>870034>tfw want to get into trad but all of my climbing friends are at my level and none of us have any trad experiencelearn to build bomber anchors, then climb shit way below your level to practice placing gear, and have your second fuck with all your placements before they clean them to see how solid they are. swap leads so they get practice placing pro, too.
>dat money sinkyeah, that part sucks, but if you buy half a rack and a partner buys half a rack you're each out only about $400, and shit lasts a looong time.
>>870156eh, fake rock is fine. it's not identical, but it's similar, and is a good, controlled place to learn safety fundamentals, and get an idea about moving vertically.
but i agree 100% with not trusting randos to belay you.
and just for giggles, here's a pic of my dream climb
>multiday approach through grizzly country>2500'>goes free at 5.10c or pull on one piece past a roof to drop it to 5.9 c1 