ExcitableBoy wrote:On anther note, I noticed that you live in Reston. I lived in Herndon during my high school years and had a quite a few classmates who were from Reston. I've heard that there is single pitch climbing along the Potomac, but I suspect Seneca Rocks may be the closest good crag to practice 5th class climbing. Again, a couple weekends camping out and climbing with a guide on 5th class routes will help a lot.
Oh, I didn't see he's in Reston.
Tbaranski, I just moved away from the Herndon/Reston area after living there for a long time. Seneca is awesome but probably more than you need right now. However, you have a great resource just 15 minutes away: Great Falls. In the gorge there, there are numerous crags and probably something like 200 routes from 5.0-5.13. In addition, there are many outcrops on which one can put together Class 3 and 4 scrambling routes. And across the river just past the American Legion Bridge is Carderock.
http://www.summitpost.org/great-falls-c ... rge/283338It's very easy to set up topropes since there are lots of trees and boulders and the approaches are from the top. I would get the local guidebooks and look at some of the pages here and jump on some of the 5.0-5.2 routes. After all, many feel that Class 4-5.2 is all about the same. If you want, I can recommend some that are good to free solo if you find the nerve for that. Then, yeah, get solid by doing 5.6-5.8 on a rope as EB suggests, and Class 4 will come naturally to you. 5.2 on a rope will quickly become very boring.
Carderock is also good for bouldering as well because much of it has a flat dirt base. Great Falls is not so good because the crags are mostly by the river and the bases are rocky and uneven.
You might also check out the Mountaineering section of the PATC. They do meetup groups at Great Falls, Carderock, Sugarloaf, and out in Shenandoah. I don't know if you need to be a member in order to go, but check out their website if you're interested.
Gyms often offer outdoor classes at Great Falls and Carderock, but I'd be wary, as I've seen some pretty sketchy things by the gym leaders. Once I even overheard one telling his group it was his first time climbing outdoors. Years back, I took some courses with REI on basics and on anchors, and the instructors were very good and what I learned, particularly about anchors, was invaluable.