What is Reddit's opinion of Traditional Lead Climbing: Surviving the Learning Years?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

By popularity on Reddit, this product is:

#381 in Hiking & Camping Excursion Guides

3 reviews of this product found across Reddit:

Yeah, as I left my comment I realized what was lost was a "good on you, OP" for getting out there.
So, nice work OP. Most people are a demonstrable shitshow on their first lead. I really, really reccomend this book from Heidi Pesterfield if you plan to keep leading, even sport climbers will benefit from this info. She is a badass climber and good writer, and her book fills in a lot of gaps that other sources leave out. And its cheap!!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Lead-Climbing-Surviving-Learning/dp/0899972551

Sorry if I came off assholish. I've actually left places watching terrible practices, so I'm a little keyed in to mistakes and bad practices. I taught climbing for over a decade.

I'll start with . . . he's watching you really well, which is good. There's something to work with to improve.

Some specific examples: 1. When you start, have him pull lots of rope (several arm lengths) through the belay device,so you have a giant loop between you and his belay device. This is what you use to get to your first clip, and why I say it should be like a bouldering spot rather than a belay. There is nothing to belay at that point, and novices sometimes have the rope too tight and pull the climber! 2. His arm motions should be shorter and more defined. There is virtually no advantage to having his arms very extended. Some ground practice may really help. 3. He needs more slack. Lead climbers don't need a taught belay (neither do top-ropers, either). Communicate to him that being too "good" of a belayer will ultimately pull you off the wall. It's hard not to be mad when that happens, and it's very avoidable.
4. I highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Lead-Climbing-Surviving-Learning/dp/0899972551 It tells you all the stuff that nobody taught you when you were learning.

Hope you guys have fun.

I highly recommend this book to any new lead climber. It rounds out a lot of what you learn early on. And written by a badass climber chick.

https://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Lead-Climbing-Surviving-Learning/dp/0899972551