Overcoming Fear on the Sharp End

[akbeard]

If there is another thread on this I apologize for creating a new one on the topic. That being said, I am in my first season of the rock prodigy method and have just finished my base fitness phase. I will be moving on to the strength phase here this week hopefully if work and school slow down a notch.

Anyway, for the past week I seem to have developed a good amount of fear while on the sharp end of lead climbing in my gym, normally outside I climb well within my limits and now that winter is here in Alaska the gym is where I live. Last week I was climbing on our overhung (lead only) wall and got on a route (5.10) that crossed one half of the bubble with a couple choices for clipping (one above and one below). i figured out after I sent the route that I had clipped the wrong ones (bolts above). This not only led me to feel very insecure while clipping it also lead to some fear of decking (somebody did that the week before albeit on a different route). It took me three attempts at hangdogging on a couple bolts to get to the top of the route. Now I am feeling quite insecure on routes that are within my limit of leading but am overcome with the fear of falling or just feeling that something is off.

When i get back on top rope up through working 5.12 a/b I feel fine and when bouldering I am probably climbing the best I have climbed ever (sending V4's, V5's with some projecting and projecting V6's and occasionally sending). How can I mentally prepare for the lead climbing aspect and come to terms with falling/failing on a route. This is probably the most important aspect I need to work on (I haven't read through the mental preparedness chapter in the book yet).

[climbnkev]

Never top rope in the gym. Seriously. You should be working moves at your limits on boulder problems. Gym climbing should be reserved for energy system training and practicing or actually sending. Whipper therapy can be a good solution for getting the jitters out but really just always leading is the only way to develop a good lead head.

It's important to recognize your fear as a valid response to potentially dangerous situations. Once your mind can accept a level of comfort with being on the sharp end that fear can be categorized and dealt with. Consistancy is probably the most important factor, hence the "never top rope" rule. If every time you tie into the rope you are going on lead you have a much greater chance of changing your response.

[erk]

I'm not sure what the "bubble" is, but it weirds me out that decking is a real potential in the gym... I am all about whipper therapy though! Even on sport routes at my limit that have hard clips, I'll take a practice whipper as if I fell while clipping with slack in the rope. That way I know exactly what to expect, but more importantly that it's safe*

*It's usually safe...

[akbeard]

Thanks for the replies climbnkev and erk. The bubble in the gym is a lead only section that essentially looks like a bubble on the wall, where its vertical till the first bolt ~9 feet, then it becomes overhung at about 40 degrees and stays that way for another 15 - 20 feet depending on how the route is set, and then it becomes less and less overhung as you climb up the route. A picture if you are interested is posted here on the gym website www.akrockgym.com/alaskarockgym360/akrockgym360.html

I guess I also need to qualify the deck in my previous comment. The guy was 4 bolts up and his belayer let go of the rope, so not anything wrong with the gym, just a couple people who need more practice belaying/clipping.

I have the last couple days implemented the mandatory take a practice fall at least 2-3 times a session both last night and again this morning. Also have been climbing lead both days and climbnkev I do have to agree the top roping does change my mindset enough to where it affects me in a negative way when i jump back on lead. I'm in my first season of the rock prodigy method and have extended the base fitness phase one extra week and will be starting the strength phase next week.

[Chris W]

Seth, if you haven't already, check out The Rock Warrior's Way by Arnold Ilgner, great mental training resource.

Regarding lead climbing, it's helpful to lead as much as possible. Ilgner recommends "whipper therapy" be progressive. Pick a good route with safe easy falls (overhanging) and have a good belayer who knows how to give a soft catch. You start by taking extremely short falls, like 6 inches above the bolt. You progressively increase the distance of your falls over several sessions. If you scare yourself too badly by jumping right into big whippers, then whipper therapy can be counter productive.

[mclay]

I just bought The Rock Warrior's Way (Kindle Edition - $10). Looking forward to reading it as I've heard so many good things about it.

Taking falls has been a weird journey for me. I haven't been climbing all that long, but early on I took a few bigger, clean falls and it didn't bother me at all. The more I've climbed, and now the more I've trained, I find I really tend to overthink the risk of falling. I've practiced falling and it's no big deal. I actually enjoy taking a reasonably big fall, as long as it is clean. The weird thing I've noticed in the past year is that I have a real hang-up regarding fumbling clips. Something about a "normal" fall is predictable as in knowing how long the fall will likely be. But when you've reached a clipping point and you aren't sure about how much slack has been paid out...my brain does weird things. The last long route I was on I fumbled a clip from a really solid stance. There was no chance of coming off the rock, but as soon as I went butter-fingers on the rope/draw I went into panic mode - overgripping, accelerated pulse and breathing. It took a moment of intentional self-talk to bring me back to reality - "You can rest on these footholds forever! Get it together!"

One of my main reasons for training and investing time to climb harder is because I want to get on steeper stuff with less ledges to bounce off of.

[erk]

That all sounds like you have a normal healthy brain that just wants to keep you from decking

One thing you may notice in the future is that once you've developed a solid lead head, you will still have to redevelop it at the start of the season.

That's a great reason to want to climb harder too! Haha

[aikibujin]

The mental factor is the weakest link in my climbing. It’s something I constantly work on and struggle with. So I’m by no means expert on this, but I can definitely relate. Here are a few things I do to work on my mental game.

1. Evaluate the fall. Above all else, I don’t want to get hurt. So before I commit to something, I evaluate the risk as best as I could. If I feel it’s too risky, then I’ll back off or bail, even if that makes me feel like a chicken. I’ve also stick clipped as high as I could from the ground, to reduce the decking potential of a low to the ground crux.

2. Desensitize yourself. To me this means taking lots of practice fall in the gym. When I lead in the gym I never clip the anchor, just the last bolt on the route and jump off from the top. If there’s a specific fear you have (ie fumbling the clip), you can also practice this in the gym to desensitize yourself to the fear. The more you lead, the more you’ll get comfortable with it. Last year I was leading all year even in the hot sweaty summer, so come winter time I was a lot more comfortable on lead and commit to moves above a bolt (and take falls). This year I spent all summer bouldering and training. I’m probably stronger this winter, but I’m definitely not as comfortable on lead compare to last year.

3. Work on breathing control. There were a few times when I did a poor job of evaluate the risk and climbed myself into a situation where I really shouldn’t fall, the single biggest factor that helped me is to control my breathing. Once I start hyperventilating, everything starts to go downhill: I’ll get tunnel vision, my technique will go out of the window, I’ll start pulling as hard as I can and claw everything for dear life. In situations like that, I need to constantly remind myself to take keep breath and relax. I think yoga has been helpful in teaching me to breathe deeply in stressful situations.

[tj]

I REALLY struggle with this. The Rock Warriors Way is helpful, although I need to re-read it. A big part of that book deals with evaluation of the risks. If it is a clean fall and you trust your belayer (which you always should right?), then you can assess the risk and deem it ok to take the fall. I do practice falls every time I climb but I tend to stick right at the bolt for them. It is very hard for me to take a fall above there as a practice. In fact, I backed off a climb yesterday because it would have meant a bigger fall than I was willing to take. It is a constant struggle. I know this isn't super helpful but you aren't alone at all. Try Warriors way (I think he has another book called Coffee talk or something like it). And breathing is good as well for sure - at least it helps me calm my mind. Good luck and keep us posted!

[MarkAnderson]

A couple thoughts...

First, this isn't meant to pick on tj, but you bring up a great point that a lot of people could benefit from. And that is, if you don't trust your belayer, you shouldn't step off the ground. That gets back to the RWW concept of Decision Points. The moment of stepping off the ground is a key decision point, and you always have the option NOT to. Once you make a decision, you need to commit fully to that choice, at least until the next decision point. Constantly second-guessing yourself is not helpful, especially when you're stressed. Make your choice, then commit to it. (other good choices might include to toprope, or pick a different belayer, or less complicated route, etc).

Second, related to the first: I see a lot of climbers paralyzed by their fear. What I mean by that is that it seems to rob them of their ability to take action. The result is lots of hesitation, second-guessing, and a general lack of commitment to whatever they are climbing. None of these things are helpful.

Risk is often selectable, especially in sport climbing, so in theory we should be able to contrive situations that suit our desired fear threshold for a given day. However, there is a certain amount of peer pressure (as well as convenience) to always be leading, highballing, taking big whippers or whatever, that we often aren't really stoked about. Sometimes that peer pressure pushes you to go farther than you thought you could, and you end up amazing yourself and broadening your horizons. More often, you just get extra scared, repeatedly whipping off the same move over and over, and then beating yourself up for being chicken, flailing some more until you come up with a satisfactory excuse to bail. The end result is neither achieving your climbing goal, nor improving your lead head.

An alternative to that is to select a climbing challenge that is already within your current risk tolerance. That could mean selecting an easier, less exposed, or better protected route for an onsight attempt, or hauling up a stick clip for your first few burns on a redpoint route. The key in any of those solutions is to not beat yourself up over that choice. You aren't required to be brave every moment of every day. No sane person is. Just realize that you won't always feel super bold and its all part of the growth process. But don't head up something that you aren't committed to, waffling at every bolt over whether or not you even want to be on the thing. There's no reason for that! It's neither productive nor enjoyable. And I absolutely do NOT think it will make you a better leader. It might make you hate leading. You'd be better off having a positive experience on something less mentally challenging.

For me personally, when facing a long runout on a project, my process is to first stick clip through it to learn the moves on toprope. Once I have it dialed, I will try to link it on lead after a hang on the lower bolt. If the fall seems sketchy in any way (risk of hitting something, difficult belay situation, etc), I will climb a few moves up, jump off, then again going a few moves higher, jumping off, etc, until I convince myself it's safe. If its a long-term project I may need to go through this process a couple times before I have the confidence to do the sequence calmly on redpoint. But I see this as all a part of the process and I expect to struggle with this aspect of the climbing. I don't get down about it or feel like it makes me weak or something. I feel like it makes me smart, using my brain rather than bravado to solve a potential problem.

For onsighting, I can usually tell where my lead head is at in general, and I won't waste everyone's time attempting limit onsights if my head isn't up to it. Instead I will select easier routes to onsight, or do some projecting (using the above process as necessary) until I feel my head is good-enough to push myself on unknown terrain.

Anyway, I would be curious to hear what some of the other more experienced leaders think of all this advice. I could be full of crap

[jetjackson]

Nov 28, 2016 19:32:55 GMT -7 MarkAnderson said:

For me personally, when facing a long runout on a project, my process is to first stick clip through it to learn the moves on toprope. Once I have it dialed, I will try to link it on lead after a hang on the lower bolt. If the fall seems sketchy in any way (risk of hitting something, difficult belay situation, etc), I will climb a few moves up, jump off, then again going a few moves higher, jumping off, etc, until I convince myself it's safe. If its a long-term project I may need to go through this process a couple times before I have the confidence to do the sequence calmly on redpoint. But I see this as all a part of the process and I expect to struggle with this aspect of the climbing. I don't get down about it or feel like it makes me weak or something. I feel like it makes me smart, using my brain rather than bravado to solve a potential problem.

Anyway, I would be curious to hear what some of the other more experienced leaders think of all this advice. I could be full of crap

It's hard to imagine that there would be all that many sport climbers that are 'more experienced' than you.

Notwithstanding, it's really encouraging to know that there is still a mental game for you. Recently I've been asking long experienced climbers if they still feel any fear when leading, and the common response is 'when the falls are unsafe'.

There is the 'goldilocks' concept in goal setting that is similar to what you're saying. We excel best at goals that are not too easy, but not too difficult either. Makes a lot of sense that this applies to 'exposure therapy' in practicing lead falls.

As per other thread - I've been looking at different ways to measure physiological signals. At the moment I'm looking at Galvanic Skin Response sensors (the lie detector sensors) to see if I can measure the emotional response to lead climbing falls. I'm keen to set up a test where we take half a dozen climbers and a control group, and try lead fall practice, and see if it has any discernible effect at reducing lead climbing fear. The problem is finding GSR sensors that don't attach to the fingers, so they can be worn while climbing, that don't cost >$1k

[tj]

No worries Mark, I don't feel picked on at all I have climbed with folks that I don't have full trust in and it is NOT a fun feeling. I think most of us have been there. I don't ever lead with someone I don't trust though. Heard too many horror stories. And besides, like you said, being in the mental place of insecurity already sets you up for a not enjoyable climb.

I am one of those climbers who can be paralyzed by fear. It sucks. I have to constantly work on it.

I wholeheartedly agree that we do not have to "be brave" all the time and there is a real pressure out there that is counterproductive. For example, I had a partner once tell me that they wouldn't give me a take, instead they would throw out slack. Needless to say, I no longer climb with them. I know people are trying to be helpful but like you said - if it isn't fun and you are just making yourself miserable, it isn't worth it.

I have a slightly better head when bouldering than on routes. That's due to the fact that a long time ago I decided I would only climb things that I felt ok about (risk wise). Not that I don't push myself, I do. But if a problem scares the crap out of me and has a high risk factor (uncomfortably high ball, bad landing, etc.) then I skip it. I don't beat myself up over it. I find something else that is within my risk assessment while still being a challenge. I am perfectly ok with the fact that I haven't climbed a few 'easy' high balls in our local area. It wouldn't be fun for me and I would only freak myself out, so I know they aren't for me. I am very proud of other sends though and focus on those.

I am by no means an 'experienced leader' (although I've been leading for years), but these are my two cents, for what it's worth

[jetjackson]

Nov 29, 2016 15:15:43 GMT -7 tj said:

I wholeheartedly agree that we do not have to "be brave" all the time and there is a real pressure out there that is counterproductive. For example, I had a partner once tell me that they wouldn't give me a take, instead they would throw out slack. Needless to say, I no longer climb with them. I know people are trying to be helpful but like you said - if it isn't fun and you are just making yourself miserable, it isn't worth it.  

Yeah, I've seen this before, and in the past I've been guilty of this and told a climber I wouldn't take (although I wouldn't give them extra slack - that's just cruel), and then I listened to comments in a podcast where they were talking about this being counter-productive - your climber needs to know you have their back. They suggested instead that you ask the climber if they are sure. When my climber asks for takes now, I ask once if they are sure (while I'm pulling in the slack), and then if they say yes I'll sit down and weight the rope. 

On the other side, my wife and her friends will do 'no take sessions', where the rule is no takes, so they go in knowing that. They seem to think those sessions are helpful, but I've never participated. 

I've also got into the habit of focusing on mental wins vs. just sends. Like at the Red last week, my wife had what I would see as a big breakthrough on To Defy the Laws of Tradition. She had already had one hang, so it wasn't going to be a clean send, but she was about 6 feet below the finish. She said she was crazy pumped and asked for a take - we pushed her to keep going. She calmed herself down, rested on a good stance, and then pushed through to clip the chains. Afterwards she was lamenting that she hadn't had a good day performance wise, and I kept telling her that the mental breakthrough she had was more important than getting/not getting the send. She retorts "alright Zen master'.

[climbnkev]

It's interesting how your history of falling can have a big impact on your risk assessment in climbing. I went on my first climbing trip 23 years ago to Smith Rocks with my girlfriend, her brother, and his friend who were all even less experienced than I was. I had been ticking off a bunch of classic .10's and last day there I pumped out going for the chains on 60 foot route and whipped. I fell and fell and stopped about 2 feet above the ground. I look over and noticed that my belayer had only caught me because his pinky had been pulled into his tube belay device. Fortunately he was not hurt. Anyways that fall impacted my trust with other climbers for a really long time. I was eventually able to push past the fear factor but have always had a certain distrust with new partners.

I only bring this up because this Summer while climbing with my wife, who has been one of my primary partners for the last 15 years, I had another scare and it was interesting to see how my mind spiraled right back to old thought patterns. I was on Kielbasa Run, a 35m .12b at Rifle, and was a few bolts from the top. I was climbing out of sight trying for the onsite, the kids were fighting, and Lauri thought I was clipping when my foot slipped. It was a pretty big but totally clean fall of about 40 feet but there was a moment where I thought "this might be it". Finishing the pitch was some of the most gripped climbing I had done in a long time.

Fortunately I was able to reflect on things, do some easier climbing, and get back on some hard routes the next day. Although the demons were out in full force I was able to focus my mind and remind myself that my fear was unjustified. I reminded myself that she is an amazing belayer who had caught me on hundreds of falls, and within a week I was pretty much back to my "old and bold" self.

My take away with my long-winded story telling is to say that mental training is a process. Some new climbers may lack fear but it's only because of a lack of experience. You need to look at your fear and quantify if the fear is justified or not and train yourself to work through the non-justified fear responses. Part of that is respecting yourself and where your head is at on any given day. The fortress of mind control is built one brick at a time, through positive experiences that you can fall back on when the demons raise their heads. You can't rush mental training, it is a trait that takes years to gain but stays with you forever.

[jetjackson]

Nov 29, 2016 20:12:11 GMT -7 climbnkev said:

My take away with my long-winded story telling is to say that mental training is a process. Some new climbers may lack fear but it's only because of a lack of experience. You need to look at your fear and quantify if the fear is justified or not and train yourself to work through the non-justified fear responses. Part of that is respecting yourself and where your head is at on any given day. The fortress of mind control is built one brick at a time, through positive experiences that you can fall back on when the demons raise their heads. You can't rush mental training, it is a trait that takes years to gain but stays with you forever.

Your second sentence hits home with me. I was very confident on lead when I first started climbing. Then about 2 months into my lead climbing career I tried to grab the chains and clip when I couldn't find a decent hold. Took a big whip and came up about 6 feet off the ground. Was only a short route, but after that it took a while to get my confidence back - youtu.be/xAaKVNj5aQY?t=46s footage of the whip there.