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jakomait
Jun 15, 2006, 3:27 PM
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Like the Rock Warrior's Way states, I feel falling is a great way to ease up and be more relaxed to face the challenge simply as a challenge and not a life threatening ordeal. Anyone have tips on how to gently encourage a climbing partner to fall as a warmup?
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rockguide
Jun 15, 2006, 3:35 PM
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1) Make sure they want to and see the value. No pressure. 2) Fall in a safe place - high on the route (to reduce fall forces), steep, no ledges, slabs, or corners 3) They need to drop off, not push off. 4) Make sure they want to and see the value. No pressure. 5) Start with falling below the bolt, with slack, then at the bolt, then slightly above the bolt. 6) Change rope ends after a sequence of falls to let the rope recover. 7) Make sure they want to and see the value. No pressure. Oh, and make sure they want to do the falls, and see the value in learning to fall. Don't pressure them into it. They need to feel in control. Challenge by choice, and all that.
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bivyledge
Jun 15, 2006, 3:38 PM
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short rope him until he pumps out and falls. i'm only kidding of course. be a good role model, get on the rock first, and take a nice clean fall. then encourage your partner to do the same. falling practice in the climbing gym is also a good idea.
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csgambill
Jun 15, 2006, 3:53 PM
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Push them off a ledge.
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jakomait
Jun 15, 2006, 5:34 PM
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absolutely no pressure, understood. I forgot to mention too that my partner climbs top rope after I lead a route. She's a good climber but I know she will enjoy climbing even more feeling more relaxed but even on a top rope she will never be willing to fall. If things get tricky I'll be instructed to belay so tight I cant even tell if she is on the rope or on the rock. She really wants to get better and I want to say positive things to encourage it and I really believe if she can trust the rope she will. Keep the tips coming.
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caughtinside
Jun 15, 2006, 5:38 PM
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1) Taunt and berate. My personal favorite. 2) Shortroping. A funny trick on redpoint burns! 3) Penalty Slack. Like when they do something you don't like. Such as call 'take.' Or chalk up. Or climb past your high point. Or whatever.
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shanz
Jun 15, 2006, 5:41 PM
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Feed alot of slack out when they are on TR just before they top out -- wait for em to pump out voila problem solved - though it dont make many points when its your wife who wont take the fall
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flyinglow
Jun 15, 2006, 7:20 PM
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Discuss it before you get to the crag. Agree on the steps to be taken. let em know it's OK to be scared the first couple times teasing and belittleing(although maybe fun for you) are not likely to be productive. try to be calm and supportive at all times. don't think twice about getting up and demonstrating something if your partner isn't totally comfortable with it. don't rush the process, it may take several days before they're comfortable with even relatively short falls.
In reply to: rockguide wrote: 1) Make sure they want to and see the value. No pressure. 2) Fall in a safe place - high on the route (to reduce fall forces), steep, no ledges, slabs, or corners 3) They need to drop off, not push off. 4) Make sure they want to and see the value. No pressure. 5) Start with falling below the bolt, with slack, then at the bolt, then slightly above the bolt. 6) Change rope ends after a sequence of falls to let the rope recover. 7) Make sure they want to and see the value. No pressure. Oh, and make sure they want to do the falls, and see the value in learning to fall. Don't pressure them into it. They need to feel in control. Challenge by choice, and all that. try to find a route that is safe to fall on, but not too difficult for them to be comfortable climbing, the idea is learning to be comfortable with a fall, not forcing a situation that they know going in that they will have to fall somewhere on the route because they aren't able to climb it(as this would probably increase the stress of the situation) If practicing on tr, short falls can be safely taken a bit closer to the ground(just remember, there's a lot of rope out, so it's gonna stretch, be sure to leave plenty of space, as decking would be very bad for the learning process) The intimidation of being high on a route won't be as bad. once comfortable with short deliberate falls on tr, try climbing easier routes with a foot or two of slack in the toprope just to get comfortable moving w/o feeling the rope at all times. work on developing their ability to evaluate a fall rationally and be comfortable with it at least intellectually. eventually cut back on the use of the word TAKE! particularly on TR and be sure to cover the why's and hows of what not to do on lead or when there's slack in the system(such as not putting your foot behind the rope on lead) once the initial fear of falling is taken care of, they may even discover they like falling, i know i did
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rockguide
Jun 15, 2006, 9:45 PM
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Here is the wrong way - a story that still is both funny and tragic. Certain climbing gym in Western Canada (name withheld) had a problem client. He was a wingnut and cult leader who sometimes went climbing with one of his (many) kids. Always sketchy, and when called on it by staff would try to smooth things over with "the jedi mind trick". You know, stare hypnotically and deny. Worked with the flock, not with the staff. One day kid is approaching the top of an overhanging wall and is pumped out. Take Climb through" Take! Please Take! Climb or fall! This went on, and was drawing attention. Kid is in hysterics, Wingnut is cold and unsympathetic until suddenly he feeds out a whack'o penalty slack, grabs the dangling rope, tugs on it, and says "got" The kid lets go. Was he ever surprised! Not as expected! The scream resonated. Kid swings in even with wingnut (low gym , almost a ground fall). Wingnut looks in the kids eyes (easy to do as they are a little bit wide) and Jedi-mindtricks a "not so bad, was it". Then he turns to the bounding gym staff coming from all directions and makes repeated eye contact and says "nothing to see here, return to your business" Lifetime ban. I question Wingnut's approach here ... not so effective.
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bivyledge
Jun 15, 2006, 9:46 PM
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In reply to: once the initial fear of falling is taken care of, they may even discover they like falling, i know i did There's nothing like that tingly feeling you get in the stomach when pitching off for a nice big whipper. Tell her it's like the big O, only smaller. :wink:
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devils_advocate
Jun 15, 2006, 10:05 PM
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You're never going to be comfortable on lead until you've taken a couple of falls and learned that it's not so bad (if done properly). Take them on some sport climb, slight overhang, nothing protruding or sharp, and let them take the plunge. They'll be fine. Just make sure you're not at Pipeworks :lol: Oh, hey, hey, hey... now that was just in poor taste. Shame on you D.A.
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zeke_sf
Jun 16, 2006, 2:24 AM
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In reply to: You're never going to be comfortable on lead until you've taken a couple of falls and learned that it's not so bad (if done properly). Take them on some sport climb, slight overhang, nothing protruding or sharp, and let them take the plunge. They'll be fine. Just make sure you're not at Pipeworks :lol: Oh, hey, hey, hey... now that was just in poor taste. Shame on you D.A. :lol: I think that's hilarious because I used to go to Pipeworks and they are semi-climbing Nazis about safety. They are LOOKING to bust ass, and then some inexplicable crap like this happens there. Must have sent management into a class V shitfit!
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james_climber
Jun 16, 2006, 4:31 AM
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I dont find the way to encouraging , i have done lot of things , i have climbed the next route and talk t o them , i gave up on it and , i think there was no solution , Cheers. some guy told me that they should smoke pot before what do u think?
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escalabrasil
Jun 16, 2006, 5:17 AM
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I would add something, but I think rockguide pretty much nailed it
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kricir
Jun 16, 2006, 5:34 AM
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pull in the slack, then jump off the belay ledge? seriously though, I once got a friend to take his first outdoor whip by questioning his style of climbing. I think the most annoying thing ever is when people grab a bolt or draw sport climbing. I said, “ hey, you cheating bastard! this is sport climbing you whimp! its better to just take the whip than pull on bolts!”. So he did!
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devils_advocate
Jun 16, 2006, 3:34 PM
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In reply to: I dont find the way to encouraging , i have done lot of things , i have climbed the next route and talk t o them , i gave up on it and , i think there was no solution , Cheers. some guy told me that they should smoke pot before what do u think? I don't know about helping a fear of falling, but smoking large quantities of pot my help make your post resemble some form of the english languange.
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mother_sheep
Jun 16, 2006, 3:50 PM
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Why not encourage your partner to push him/herself instead? I would also suggest having your partner take practice falls on TR. I get the impression that your partner does not lead that much? If that is the case, not only is he/she probably a tad nervous about being on the sharp end but also the thought of falling is probably really freaky to them, especially on lead.
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microbarn
Jun 16, 2006, 5:03 PM
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Everyone seems to be answering for lead falling. You mentioned that there are problems when she is seconding though. So, before taking rockguide's advice: top rop climbs in the gym work the confidence up to fall off at all heights of the wall without hesitation Change from belaying tight to belaying close, but not holding any of the climber's weight. repeat falling at all heights and points of the climbing wall. take this outside and do the SAME EXCERSIZE start tight and increase the slack. from there, increase the slack to be as much as the knees (don't want their feet to go through the dangling loop) This can be done in the gym or outside. then follow rockguide's advice. through all of this, the climber is the one that has to decide about how much slack is there and when to move to the next step. You should do no more then point out a road or way to reach a confident level. They have to decide on all the steps.
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slimper
Jun 18, 2006, 2:05 AM
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Before falling you may want to get your partner to climb without any weight on the rope. An easy way to do this is to go bouldering. (I know weird to be well rounded) but it will allow them to feel the movement of climbing without a rope tugging them up the rock. Thet'll realize how small of holds they can/can't hang onto. Also, she will take short safe falls. I find this helps alleviate some of the stress new climber fell when they're roped up.
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