clutch troubles?

So I was going up a pretty steep hill today, not going very fast and I shifted into 3rd gear (bad idea). As I was shifting I realized that I wasn't thinking and should of stayed in 2nd, but instead of shifting back I decided to ride out. I stayed on the clutch a little longer in order to get it going. I finally release my foot completely off of the pedal amd it still isn't engaged. Takes about half a second to fully engage after released it. It was then followed by that "oh shit" smell that I know all of you have encountered at least once.

So the question is, do you think I need a new clutch? I've never had a problem before with slipping and I didn't the rest of the time I was out. I mean I have around 50k miles on my car, but I was expecting the clutch to last a little longer than that. Or...has something like this happened to anyone before and it was only an isolated incident. It was a rather steep hill and I was getting on the gas a little more than I probably should have while engaging the clutch.

Thanks,
Daniel

Edit: Alright so I just read JTs drivetrain basics thing, sounds liek it'll probably be alright as long as I don't keep doing that. Still would be interested in everyones thoughts though.

 

well i got 93k on my stock clutch and i did the same thing similar except backing into my garage with a steep dropoff(house isnt finished yet). Anywayz and mines fine. Check the fluid i guess?

 

I abused my first clutch on my legacy and it died at 20k. I'm trying to be nicer to this one but like alex said, the more you slip it in traffic and hills the higher the engagement point goes up till it starts to slip. As long as it's holding in the high gears under load you should be good to stay with it.

 

Mine just slips at high boost right now. First stick car = bad for your clutch. Alas, It shall certainly be fixed in no time.

 

Yeah, I beat the shit out of my car when I was learning on it.

 

anyone know of a local shop (downtown) that'd replace my clutch cheap?