How do I keep my head straight?

i personally climb for the rush if that goes away then it wouldn't be as exciting. being afraid is natural response to clinging to the side of a sport, there is NO reason humans have to climb but it's addictive. the more you climb the better you'll be. push yourself to the point you do something you've never done and one day you'll wake up sick!
Andrew
climbersconnect.com

Trust your gear, trust your partner and most importantly trust yourself. If I start to freak I just slow my breathing, look at my next move and keep heading up.

I used to carry a fortune cookie in my chalk bag and open it before a stretch I knew might be particularly runout or sketchy... The time taken to eat the cookie allows a bit of mind clearing, and sometimes the fortune can be inspirational.

Patrick Pfeifer wrote:I used to carry a fortune cookie in my chalk bag and open it before a stretch I knew might be particularly runout or sketchy... The time taken to eat the cookie allows a bit of mind clearing, and sometimes the fortune can be inspirational.

Until one day the fortune reads, "You will deck". That's when you pass the lead to your partner!

This helps me out.

"Just because you're scared doesn't mean you're being dangerous."

-Tommy Caldwell

I've grown considerably since this original post and have become much braver with each new lead. What fascinates me, though, is my 11 year old daughter. We'll go out and climb, and when I can set up a TR on something 5.8ish that makes me sweat, she clambers up without a hitch. She'll struggle at different points and occasionally lowers in order to try again. But when I asked her later after climbing a tall crack outside of Asheville, she said she simply didn't get scared. "Occasionally I get tired, but I don't really get scared."

And, watching her climb, I believe her. I climb like my 7 year old, clinging to the rock with wistful backward glances to the ground. But my youngest and I are growing together.

Darren B. wrote: But my youngest and I are growing together.

Darren; glad your climbing is going where you want it. I've decked out a few times...some worse than others. When my daughter was newborn, I was out toproping, and decided to solo a short 5.6 crack (in the Sierras); by the time I got to the top, I was totally horked! The terror was intense, and I've soloed a bunch. Now that she's a teenager, I'm ready for some radical third classing...

Darren, a good lead to "push" your limits (when you are ready of course) on steep but moderate terrain is "Zoo View(7+)" at Moores wall. Make sure you are feeling strong but all the holds are good but the exposure is mind boggling and falls would be clean. Make sure your gear placements are good. It is one of the most fun climbs ive done to date. Maybe follow it 1st to see how positive the route is.
Adam

Also I may add, if you take a longish winter break or something I always find I loose a little confidence. A good example... Last spring my wife was leading a 5.7 sport route at North Table Mountain and ended up lowering well before the chains...and then this summer(late) we rock paper scissored for the 1st lead on the Petit Grepon(not familiar?,look it up) and she ended up getting the crux pitch of a classic 8 pitch alpine 5.8.

Josh Olson wrote:I'm upset nobody has mentioned this...FALL, FALL, FALL, and FALL again.

Maybe, and probably very helpful for sport, but I find that nothing help my lead head like long, high, easy free solos. Things that I know I can climb safely, but which have significant exposure.

swm

"Easy climbing is easy climbing whether its ten feet or 400 feet off the deck"

I tell this to the new ironworker apprentices all the time.

Brian Snider wrote:Sometimes I poop myself. This always takes my mind off things.

so does this guy HHAHA
youtube.com/watch?v=gHVLdhX…

and

youtube.com/watch?v=A8JdvIV…

Josh Olson wrote:I'm upset nobody has mentioned this...FALL, FALL, FALL, and FALL again...After you can take a two foot fall, make it three, then four, then ten. If you can't take a controlled fall, how are you going to take an accidental one?

No matter how many practice falls I take, the prospect of taking a fall, controlled or not, still scares me. My solution? When I get to a part that makes me nervous, I start talking to myself like a crazy person. "You can do this, you've got this, noooo problem..." etc. I whisper so no one can tell that I'm a loony, but talking myself through it works. Sometimes.

habla wrote: youtube.com/watch?v=A8JdvIV…

Thank you for that!

habla wrote: so does this guy HHAHA youtube.com/watch?v=gHVLdhX… and youtube.com/watch?v=A8JdvIV…

Seems kinda stupid to climb with someone so hungover and at the same time not wearing a hard hat on trad lead. Maybe I am old and maybe I take safety too seriously but this dude, and this situation is not funny.
These partners of his should rethink their safety protocols. Hopefully they were pulling these stupid antics on private property where their negligence will only affect them and not responsible climbers.

roger fritz wrote: Seems kinda stupid to climb with someone so hungover and at the same time not wearing a hard hat on trad lead. Maybe I am old and maybe I take safety too seriously but this dude, and this situation is not funny. These partners of his should rethink their safety protocols. Hopefully they were pulling these stupid antics on private property where their negligence will only affect them and not responsible climbers.

Helmets work great in offwidths, ease up.

Fritz,

If you only knew... This guy is safe, just not in the pants.

He is a good guy, and an awesome climber. I would not use a
helmet for an ow crack, especially when it is solid granite!

I would also guess he is more worried about safety when he is trying to free the Cerro Torre in Patagonia, not the hostage in his pants.

ya... if your feeling psyched out... just stop when you find a decent rest spot, hang on a good hold and just slow your mind down. be aware of your surroundings and get comftorable with your position. this way you'll get used to being up there. that said, another really good technique is "having your eye on the prize" kind of thing. dont think about the ground, go for upwards movement... focus on climbing upwards instead of thinking about lowering off, or falling, or irrational fears, looking upwards will keep you going.

Skyeler Congdon wrote: +1 Everyone is scared of heights. Its just that we're all on a slighty different place on the fear spectrum. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't been on the gnar, yet.

Except Honnold! That cats insane! Freesoloing moonlight butress, and el Cap crazy!

I'm a firm believer in the experiental/de-sensitizing learning process. I think the books and related psychobabbly wankery about how to think about things, mental "processes" to go through, etc are a waste of time.

I've found 3 things that really helped and I was one of those people who started out absolutely TERRIFIED of heights.

1. Mileage. There's no substitute really. You just get desensitized and it becomes "normal" to be hundreds of feet off the deck for hours at a time.

2. Aid/wall climbing. You really have to give yourself over to trust in your equipment and the idea that it does not fail. This is a different thing than trusting gear placements, this is more getting used to the idea that even when you're way off the ground, you're basically safe and the systems work when used properly. Being lashed to a hanging belay on the 9th pitch is no different than standing on the ground, except the view is better.

3. Fall. Often, after a period of not climbing outside (which is normal in my training cycle...I don't climb routes during my hangboard phase), I climb stiffly and overgrip and won't commit to any move that is even slightly less than positive even when the fall is completely safe (i.e. a bolt with nothing but air to hit). If I purposely climb above the bolt and take a good 10-12 footer early in the session, it usually then allows me to concentrate on making the moves instead of climbing overly static, not committing etc. Same thing at cruxes of routes, if I just take the crux fall once that is usually all it takes for me to completely focus on the climbing and only think of the fall when it has already started.

I wouldn't recommend that newbie trad leaders go out and take intentional whippers on gear they placed, on moderate (read: low angle) terrain. But I do think climbing steep sport routes and falling A LOT, is helpful for them. Once you gain the gear placement mileage to have a good idea of what's "good" and you're used to falling and committing 100% to insecure or hard movement, you will climb much harder than if you have to be 99% sure you can pull a move without falling. I think falling on gear is important, but would do it in the process of climbing routes, not as a practice unto itself.

All that said, I'm still just as likely to plug in a piece and "take" as I am to push through when I think I'm going to (or might) fall. Totally depends.

One other thing that I notice is that I'm at my worst mentally when climbing routes that are below, but close to my 80% onsight level. For routes that have climbing (as opposed to gear placement skills) at my limit or above, I can usually focus more on the climbing. So redpoint success aside, I actually climb better on routes that are slightly harder. Performance pressure is some of the reason, no room to focus on anything except staying attached to the rock is another.