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clymber
Feb 16, 2002, 12:14 AM
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Am I the only one who gets a fear of falling at times. Sometimes Ill down climb thru the cruxjust so i wont fall. Any idea how to get over this fear
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blackaven
Feb 16, 2002, 12:22 AM
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I personally find that to be part of the fun
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jt512
Feb 16, 2002, 12:36 AM
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I have what I consider to be excessive fear of falling, too. What helps me the most is to take planned falls. Find a route where the falls are clean and take falls from progressively higher points above your pro.
-Jay
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kevinwaldock
Feb 16, 2002, 12:50 AM
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yup like said above i'd take a big ol 10-15 foot fall on some bomb proof pro. then don't think about falling. it's all part of it, half the fun. i think once you stop stressin about fallin yull be a much better climber cause yull be more focused.
kevin
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poorclimberboy
Feb 16, 2002, 12:56 AM
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at first I didn't have a fear of falling, then I cratered from 40 ft after that I was afraid of falling like a little child. I eventually got over it by climbing up without a rope like 15 or 20 feet and getting use to being up without any safty backup. Now I have almost no fear till like 100+ feet on a rope.
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poorclimberboy
Feb 16, 2002, 12:57 AM
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and yea black it's all part of the fun of climbing
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miagi
Feb 16, 2002, 1:04 AM
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Why dont you stage a fall? Make sure everything is safe and at your own digression and simulate a fall. This might help. Might make you a little bit more comfortable knowing what the fall feels like
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elcapbuzz
Feb 16, 2002, 1:37 AM
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I agree. Get on some overhanging route and go for it.
Take the whipper.
Although I have NO fear of hieghts or falling, I am sometimes nervous when slackline walking a first gap. I notice that if I just go for it and whip, then I become more calm afterwards.
Some poeple have gotten into Rope Jumping (off bridges, cliffs, etc.) because of their fear of falling.
I think this will pass for you. Keep climbing.
Cheers, Ammon
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kaptk
Feb 23, 2002, 6:37 PM
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I had a fear of falling when I first started climbing. I finally got rid of it and my climbing has improved because of it. Before, if I couldn't make the move static I was afraid to go for it. Now, I just go for it and if I fall I try again. I would recommend taking falls on purpose also, so that you can be thinking about what you need to be doing when you fall. When you take an unexpected one the actions you take will be automatic.
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apollodorus
Feb 24, 2002, 12:15 AM
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I don't know about anyone else, but for me the "planned fall" thing would NOT be the same as that first real pop-out and whip session. Part of the whipperist's artistry is to fall cleanly to the tie-in, and not have the rope wrapped around your leg, or fall sideways or overbackwards. This is easy when you take three deep breaths, and push off on four. If you are actually climbing, especially on something awkward like a long stem, when you come unstuck you have to perform Fall Management very quickly.
So, try this: go up on a well protected route, and have your belayer yank you off at an unexpected moment. That'll be more realistic. And great fun for him, too!
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maculated
Feb 24, 2002, 1:21 AM
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Heheheh, I was just up on a wall and my buddy took his second whipper on this climb - can't say he loves it. I kind of think that's part of the interesting thing with climbing.
I'm a huge wussy, to the point where I don't like to top off on our local boulder - my theory is: as I get better, I won't worry so much. Same goes for you.
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rockjock04
Feb 24, 2002, 2:17 AM
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I never been lead climbing, but I can understand what your talking about. Although its not quite the same, when I top-rope, I have my belayer not take the slack. I then climb about 5 more feet up and jump. it is so fun. I'd climb higher but it is only a 20 foot wall and I dont wanna deck. Its good fun it is. I'm kinda lookin for an old bridge out here and jump off of it. But seriously, falling has to be the funnest part of the sport. In spanish, were making a little video about excercise, and I'm going to have my group do climbing. Then I'm gonna have the cam(era) looking down at me from the top then Ill say something like, "escalar montanas no es dangerouso" Then I'm gonna scream my face off and fall, and then Ill haave the camera guy put it on the ground real fast and pretend to come help me. That would be funny. I cant get enough climbing. OH YEAH, I just remembered, Im going climbing this weekend. YEY!
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bulldog
Feb 24, 2002, 5:07 AM
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One of the reasons I rockclimb is my fear of heights. Didn't used to have it - skydiving and bungee jumping were no problem. But as I've gotten older, I've gotten more fearful. I climb in an attempt to overcome that fear.
When I'm toproping, the fear is minimal.
When I'm leading a trad climb and that last cam 15 feet back isn't high on my confidence list, the terror starts to set in. Sometimes I think the only reason I was able to get through a climb is my absolute terror of falling. I'll scratch and pull and bloody myself on the rock to avoid that fall. This is stupid, the fall would have caused me much less damage, but its hard to rationalize that when the fear sets in.
Bulldog
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catga86
Feb 25, 2002, 9:27 PM
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Expose yourself to your deepest fear. After that your fear has no power. Your fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
-Jim Morrison
Think about it.
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climberstephen
Feb 25, 2002, 10:04 PM
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I've taken some major wippers in the couple of years I've been climbing, even one that landed me on the ground. But sometimes, even for me, the first fall the day is always lurking in my mind. If I'm on the crux and feel as if I'm going to come off, I'll have that last second panic to down climb to my protection point.
I recommend just doing it... try to pull the move on overly pumped arms. Chances are you'll fall, but the next time you're at that move, you'll pull into it without even thinking of the fall. This will free your mind to think about the sequence of moves THROUGH the crux, not to it and back down again.
Overcoming the fear of falling is part of the mental aspect of climbing, which is just as important, if not more so than physical strength. Just yesterday I climbed a 40' crack that ended up having no pro past the first 15'. Boy did that suck, but I topped out by consentrating on the next move up and putting out of my mind all the moves below me. If I hadn't been able to remove myself from my fear, chances are I would have had a very hard time climbing a sequence rated far below my normal ability (in fact, when I finished, the book rating was 2 grades higher than what I thought it was).
For fun at our gym, we would lead up to the top of the overhanging wall and not clip the last bolt. Then we would hang from the top, look down to make sure our belayer was ready, and let go.... Our belay, locked off, would jump up and we'd get a good 20-25 foot fall through space. This was good practice for falls and fun, too.
So, my recommendation is to take the first fall of the day by doing the move you fear fall from. Then the rest of the day will most likely be "fear of falling" free.
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stickit
Feb 25, 2002, 10:19 PM
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Don't worry, fear of falling is a natural primate reaction to being high-up on unfamiliar terrain. Funny thing about primates and our ancestors is that they had an innate fear of falling, that is so they'd stick the next move on a branch. This fear has found it's way through many many years to you. To put things in perspective about falling lets consider a monkey 30 meters up a tree. If that little dude lets go he'll deck at about 87 kms/hr. Now that's a powerfull lot of speed to be walking away from, ergo the monkey is not about to let go. Well how fast do you drive your car on the freeway? Probably faster than 87 kms/hr, yet you experience no fear about such speed. Granted if you fall (not being properly secured) you WILL deck, but there are many potentials for accidents when driving. Kinda weird that we don't translate the fear of speed (that gained from falling) to driving.
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camhead
Feb 25, 2002, 10:30 PM
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It's weird- I'm pretty used to whipping on sport routes, but I've yet to take a big fall on gear. It still kind of scares me, even if I know my gear if bomber. I'll even hang on a cam if I feel I'm getting pumped rather than risk a whipper. Someday I'll get over it, I hope.
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tomshamon
Feb 27, 2002, 5:57 PM
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If you have a feer of fallin when you climb then you should not be up there atall
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hendicrimpin
Feb 27, 2002, 7:14 PM
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i still have a fear whenever i do the first or second lead of the day - but once i start concentrating on climbing, the fear becomes poart of the fun and exileration of climbing. concentrate on the challenge and you'll be amazed at the improvement in your climbing.
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