In response to the "early photos from your beginning" thread, what stupid things did you do before you knew better?
I had one friend that climbed Rainier in jeans, his first climb ever - he started up with another buddy after a ranger lent them ice axes and crampons because they didn't have either! They summitted (sans rope)! That must have been in the 1970s or so.
Another friend used to carry an iron skillet, and never carried a sleeping pad - until he froze his a$$ off on San Gorgonio sleeping on snow! "Something must be wrong," he thought haha.
And then there's me, on my first hike ever, Mt. Whitney. Picked up a used suitcase at REI (it had shoulder straps, looks good to me I thought), and carried that thing into camp. Well, I wheeled it the last few hundred feet...
We summitted, but boy was I clueless. I won't even mention the gear we carried. It was early season, and there were only 2-3 other parties on the mountain. A pair of older guys came over and gave us a few pointers. At the time I thought they were just nice guys, but looking back on it I bet they thought we were gonna die. We had a great time, and learned quickly after that.
For those that grew up hiking and/or climbing, I imagine it may seem impossible to be so naive, but some of us had no outdoor mentor, picked up a pack (or suitcase) and went for it.
Somebody please come up with something more embarrassing...