Fear of clipping

Leif E wrote: Obviously... My opinion is that you can either get bold and progress, or get scared and stay the same.

T Roper wrote: I have progressed from grabbing draws on 5.9s all the way to grabbing draws on 12s, who knows, maybe next year I'll be grabbing draws on 13s??

T Roper wrote: I have progressed from grabbing draws on 5.9s all the way to grabbing draws on 12s, who knows, maybe next year I'll be grabbing draws on 13s??

Bringing this thread and question back up, I'll add a quick two cents. I completely understand where OP is coming from, having a fear of clipping yet no fear of falling. To me, they seem somewhat unrelated. Many times I've found climbs at my limit, especially outdoors, to feature crux clips that aren't ideally where you want them. Small feet, poor hands and pumping forearms make it a desperate attempt to pull the rope up and clip. In these cases, I'll tack it up to either a poor bolt job, or a lack of strength from myself. On a recent climb, I found I'd bouldered through a tough sequence only to arrive at a shitty clipping stance, just before the crux of the route. Pumped stupid, I tried to pull up rope for a forced overhead clip and blew huge. So with that example, I'll agree there are times when removing a hand to make a questionable clip is pretty nerve wracking. I would either a. Practice the clip while you're well rested, finding the correct beta so when you're pumped you don't fumble, b. Extend the draw. If the clip doesn't extend to your waist and reaching for it isn't the best option, bring it to you, or c. Hangboard. Hanging will increase your ability to deadhang off smaller holds, effectively cutting out that variable from the desperate clip equation.

First of all, I'd say that it's worth acknowledging that your fear is not an entirely irrational one - blowing a clip can definitely be dangerous, and having been on both ends of a blown clip resulting in decking (dropping and being dropped), it's not fun. Well bolted routes (or well set gym routes) should try to avoid putting climbers in this situation, but holds break and sometimes different body shapes can make one person's awesome stance desperate for another.

Clipping from your waist is a good habit to develop, as it's safer (requires less slack in the system) and easier to clip (making it less likely that you will blow it). Plus, habitually climbing above the draws will help you overcome the fear that comes from feeling exposed. It's also a really common mistake to always do high clips, as there might be a jug waiting for you up higher while you're desperately yarding out slack while hanging on a crimp. I generally try to avoid clipping above my head unless I'm at an absolutely solid stance (or too chicken sh%t to run out a hard move, lol).

One thing you can do is to take big practice falls from high up. You can start by clip-dropping the anchors (clip, then drop without letting the belayer take in slack), then eventually build up to climbing up to the anchors and dropping without clipping. Finally, climb up to the anchors, pull in slack to clip...then drop. I'll admit I'm not there yet, but I know people who do that regularly.