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Start out car camping. My progression was:

1. Avid day hiker (10-16 mile hikes every weekend, 5-8k ft gain)

2. Car camping in Ojai (near Los Angeles). Drive in, setup your tent, chill, sleep, leave next morning.

3. Backpacking around LA on the trails from step 1

4. Thru-hiked PCT

5. Mountaineering / alpine climbing

Lots of people do the PCT with little hiking experience and are fine though. It's just walking, and there are tons of people to help you.

2 comments

I made it through step 4; could you speak more to the fifth step in your progression and how you really been picking up those advanced skills?

Start rock climbing, take an intro to mountaineering course with a guiding service (lots of them in WA, OR, CA), or find someone to introduce you to it.

^^ this!

Don’t overthink, go and enjoy.

(trips in bear country take a bit of additional preparation, but also that can be done w/o too much hassle, lots of info online)