Terror and Falls
- January 2011
- Climb
Hi Steph, my name Jose Antonio from Spain, my age 45. First to say to you that you are great, one of my heroes. I want to climb, i love climbing but i am afraid of a possible fall. How could i avoid the terror to fall?
Dear Jose,
Thanks for writing to me!
I’m not sure how long you have been climbing. But I think it’s familiar to most climbers, being held back by the fear of falling. I’ve noticed that there are generally two approaches to fear (whether in climbing or any sport)–some people need to get all psyched up and just “GO FOR IT (dude)!”. This gets them out the door, and is one way to overcome nerves. For others, just going for it is the opposite of their approach….they prefer to take things bit by bit and work up to the thing that has been intimidating them.
I have tried both. My personal experience, and also my observation of watching others doing it, is that the first approach is generally counterproductive for best performance. Either it’s too scary, and it just scares you more. Or else you “just go for it” and you do things in a sloppy, adrenaline-blurred fashion. It gets done, but it does not get done well. This can be counterproductive too, because bad habits can start to get built in with even just one poorly executed effort, and the frustration of poor performance can also be bad. However, it’s undeniable that the first approach does at least get you out the door, which some people may feel they have to do to even do anything at all. If you are motivated, and you are determined to eventually get out the door somehow, I believe that using the second approach is more enjoyable, safer and yields better results, actually more efficiently in the long run. It may appear slower to do things incrementally, however I have seen for myself that you will actually get better results in a shorter time period this way.
When you are being ruled by fear, take a small first step towards dealing with it, whatever that step might be. The most basic climbing example would be that you are afraid of taking a lead fall. So you get on a sport climb, and you climb a few bolts up, and when there is a quickdraw at your nose, you let go. That’s not a lead fall, but it’s a fall with the bolt at your face. Now you will get back on and climb til the quickdraw is at your chest and let go. And just keep doing this until you have fallen with the draw below your waist, below your feet, etc. Your belayer is also going through this with you, and is getting more and more familiar with catching you–and both of you are gradually getting more familiar with the sequence of this together.
With anything, the more you practice it, and the more you become used to it, the less scary it is. If you just practice the thing you are having a problem with, very gradually, you will definitely get better at it, because that’s just how things work. The important thing is to avoid terrifying yourself, instead, break apart the process so that you can do small, slightly scary things, and you will finally find yourself doing the thing you were afraid of, and doing it well through this focused, gradual practice.
🙂 Steph
Allow me to regurgitate something that I’ve read, written by climbers much more skilled than myself. There are two kinds of fear; rational and irrational.
Rational fear is one that is, well… rational. Fear of falling and getting hurt because you placed a piece of pro that was sketchy and you know it; that’s rational. Fear of falling on some jagged stuff that will be within reach of your falling distance; also rational.
Fear of falling to the deck to your untimely demise when you’re clipped into solid bolts or gear; irrational. For beginners, this is probably the most common.
We watch vids and we see other people do it, and we want so desperately to claim that send glory, but more often than not, we do not all the factors entailed in said glory. How can one know without actually doing it? You can’t.
You probably shit a meat axe on your first job interview. The loss of your virginity was most likely awkward too. You’re not alone. Climbing is no different. Many people that have gone on to become insanely successful climbers, such as the host of this site, probably peed their pants the first time they got more than ten feet off the ground. I know I did.
Just as climbing is the best training for climbing, falling is the best medicine for fear of falling. Try it a few times. Start in a gym top roping if you can. Trust me, when you’re a newb, a top rope fall can still be daunting. This will inspire both trust in your gear, and your belayer.
Eventually you’ll progress to a point where you’ll trust in your abilities, gear, and belayer and you’ll be able to take a lead fall without staining your skivvies. Falling is a part of climbing. You shouldn’t be scared of falling because known fall situations or “planned” falls present a much lower chance of injury. Knowing HOW to fall and when a fall is coming is just as imperative as knowing when to drop a knee or flag a foot.
I think you read my mind. Wow. I’ve been climbing for a while now, but have hit the wall of fear many times that stops in my upward tracks. (Jake, you hit it on the head too – my fears are mostly irrational.) Only in the last year, did I learn that while practicing the movements of climbing and how to place gear are key but that falling also takes practice. You would’ve thought I discovered fire, with how revolutionary that idea was to me.
I am lucky to have patient belayers who encourage me to practice falling (huge thanks to rock climber girl!). And as the next season of big ideas and goals comes around, I know I will battle this tooth and nail still. But, little by little its getting fractionally easier to let go (and therefore climb higher). And, I’m also comforted by the realization that, to your point Steph, this is something everyone deals with too and I am not completely bat-crazy for feeling the fear.
Thank you for the reminder to keep getting after it, and keep falling. (even if that is entirely un-intuitive.) And isnt it really about the process anyways, rather than just seeing the view at the top?
Thanks for a brilliant post!
Yes, another good post. Good advice. Being able to be scared and remain positively motivated, calm and mostly controlled at the same time is really difficult, but also where it’s at in dealing with fear. IMHO:)
I’ve just set up a new company (Active Mind Coaching). Part of my work is helping climbers with performance anxiety and fear of falling.
One of the most common symptoms I’ve seen is ‘the freeze’ they reach a high point and that’s it, everything becomes too much, the mind becomes blank and its all very scary even next to a shiny new bolt!
There are many ways to help people with fear and I use everything from traditional sport psychology through to hypnosis!
A few simple things that may help when scared are: Breath! Slowly through nose, out through mouth, using words such as ‘Relax’ at the same time can help. If you notice your mind running away with negative thoughts try thinking or saying “STOP”! imagine the words in neon lights 10 feet high…
Everyone has different fears and cope with fear in different ways.
Craig
[…] advice on practice falls to make sure it isn’t fear that holds up your climbing progress: http://ht.ly/3GG7n – Icicles, rock, angles, crevasses? All present in the latest climb Will Gadd is working on: […]
Approach to fear depends on your personality, and maybe your gender (level of testosterone, anyway). For me, the ‘just go for it’ approach has always worked wonderfully. I used this mindset to get on my first 5.9 trad lead after 2 weeks of rock climbing, and I used the same technique last summer to lead 5.11+ multipitch in the bugaboos with rocks coming down all around me. Rock climbing is about pushing myself, and if I’m not ‘going for it’ with everything I’ve got, then I’m not pushing myself …
“The fear is the danger…” –Steph Davis
(one on my all-time favorite quotes)