Too much anxiety about leading

climbing friend,

the fear it is the mind killer myah?

you take the safe falls

first with bolt just below waist, many times, until boring

then at knees, many times, until boring and uneventful

then at feet, then a bit below your feet, and so on.

it doesn't have to be in a gym, but do this at top of route, with clean fall not hitting anything, and with multiple pieces of fine-looking protection keeping you from hitting something.

eventually get to point where you take regular safe fall on projects, multiple times per session, and give up planned falls.

don't make common mistake of thinking you go out one night and huck your meat off a couple times, and then all should be well. you need massive volumes falling. count your falls in the hundreds and thousands.

do not say lead head or get my head together, or you will never be good.

once done, silently smirk at all the peoples pretending and claiming they are not afraid of the falling, and watch them climb statically and slowly and hesitantly above their gear

Ya probably just don't want to die. Which is healthy.

The good news is, leading done right, and with a *competent belayer, is Extremely safe. Follow alek's tips, and you'll be able to beat that fear.

I find a stickclip let's me lead anything, because if the route is bolted well you're safe the moment you tie in.

If you continue having trouble, read a rock warriors way. Book really helped me push my limit. Which is not impressive number wise, but keeps me zen when I'm way beyond my comfort zone, which is what climbing is all about

There is a book on climbing psychology, The Vertical Mind.

It has good scientifically founded advice on how to deal with this problem.

It probably costs less than the gas for you next trip, especially used.

I think there is an enormocast with the writer that is free. You could probably email him.

Just don't combine these two pieces of advice: leading really easy like 5.4, and taking lead falls purposely. Very few 5.4s are remotely safe to fall on.

Just keep climbing.

Have fun with it.

Climb with people that have the similar climbing goals/objectives as you do (Climb 5.14, Cruzer 5.6 multi-pitch, Whatever it is, surround yourself with those people)

Try Aid climbing - It has taught me to really trust gear.

Stop leading in the gym, stop leading steep routes, stop leading hard routes.

Get to the point where being above your gear (or bolt..) is normal, even boring.

The problem is your brain knows, that if you are leading, it is steep and you WILL get pumped and you WILL eventually have to give up and fall(!!)

while those are reasonable things, you need a sample size of data of climbing working out well for you.

Once you know that you can 'lead' without anxiety, its time to lead steep/hard things and work on things like positive thinking, patterned thoughts practiced falls etc.

TL:DR,

make leading fun again.

I think it happen to a lot of climbers when they start climbing. It happen to me after the first time I got in trouble outside.

Try this it will get you stronger and have better climbing skills, I think it will help more than taking falls. Falling is the easy part.

Toprope the climb before leading eventually you will build confidence.

Another thing you can try that is better. Climb easy stuff on toprope up and down in the gym for 20 or 30 mins. Your mind will eventually will start to relax and you will just concentrate on movement. Good way to build endurance and better footwork

Just don't do it in my gym

Thanks everyone. Reading the replies and being forced to think more consciously about the fear helps. I liked JeffMK's "its all mental pro" thought too.

GDavis wrote:Stop leading in the gym, stop leading steep routes, stop leading hard routes. Get to the point where being above your gear (or bolt..) is normal, even boring.

A lot of the replies were about falling in the gym or on overhanging routes. There isn't a gym with lead climbing or many outdoor overhanging routes within day trip range. I did go to the red this summer to try the famous steep jug climbing-- and it kicked my butt. I held my own some of the more vertical climbs but the 5 star classics were just a no fun hang dog mess.

I also spend too much of my time climbing with my other newbie climbing friends. I don't really trust them to lead belay and I'm in the 'falling is not an option' mindset. Am I being unreasonable if i get frustrated when I look down and see the top of a head instead of a pair of eyes watching me?

In summary, i think the answer is the usual 'practice falling'. I hope that it will help a lot since I can still count on one hand the number of times i've fallen 10+ feet. I appreciate everybody's response. thanks all

Well there's your answer - if you don't trust your belayer to catch a fall, then your fear of falling is completely rational. Find more trustworthy partners, or if it's an issue of lack of experience, work with them to improve their (and your?) belay skills. Don't start taking "practice falls" until you feel confident in your belayer.

But no, not maintaining eye contact 100% of the time is not, in and of itself, a reason to doubt an otherwise competent belayer. It isn't necessary to provide a good belay, otherwise how would we ever safely climb routes that take us out of sight? But there's obviously a difference between a safe, competent belayer who doesn't keep their eyes locked on you every second, and one who is eating a sandwich with one hand, chatting with someone, with way too much slack out, paying no attention to you at all as you're struggling with a crux section. Where on this spectrum do your partners fall?

Em Cos wrote:Well there's your answer - if you don't trust your belayer to catch a fall, then your fear of falling is completely rational. Find more trustworthy partners, or if it's an issue of lack of experience, work with them to improve their (and your?) belay skills. Don't start taking "practice falls" until you feel confident in your belayer. But no, not maintaining eye contact 100% of the time is not, in and of itself, a reason to doubt an otherwise competent belayer. It isn't necessary to provide a good belay, otherwise how would we ever safely climb routes that take us out of sight? But there's obviously a difference between a safe, competent belayer who doesn't keep their eyes locked on you every second, and one who is eating a sandwich with one hand, chatting with someone, with way too much slack out, paying no attention to you at all as you're struggling with a crux section. Where on this spectrum do your partners fall?

My boyfriend and primary climbing partner has never taken a big fall so maybe once he experiences that feeling of "why am i still falling?", i'll get a more attentive belay.

I don't really let the belayers I don't trust lead belay me anymore. Also, they always want to bring 6 new friends that have never climbed. It's okay once and a while but it takes a lot of time and energy and i'm sick of doing the same 5.6's at the local crag.

Still, I can't really use belayers as the excuse because i've had the same fear with good belayers too.

It's my mental game i gotta work on first. It's the unknown aspect of the onsight that really gets me. "What if the next hold isn't there or I can't find it?"

M Kelley,

Fill out your profile page. Maybe there are people here that are near you and can take you out for a few trips to help you have confidence with a good/better belayer. Id offer to take you out for some sport climbing but I have no clue where your located.

Daniel T wrote:M Kelley, Fill out your profile page. Maybe there are people here that are near you and can take you out for a few trips to help you have confidence with a good/better belayer. Id offer to take you out for some sport climbing but I have no clue where your located.

I've got a filled out profile in partner finder, but this is my coward account where I complain anonymously without worrying about what MP or my climbing partners will think. Maybe once I feel comfortable on the sharp end, I'll work on posting from my personal account.

my best climbing days I don't look down and check-in on my belayer. you can take that two different ways.

Falling, is in my opinion as beautiful as climbing, it is after all the one thing we are so desperately trying to avoid while clinging to the rock. I have taken many lead falls a few up to 30 feet in length, in my earlier days, and can say that I tend to fall when I am not even thinking about it. To this day I can walk up to a 5.8 sport route, and for what ever reason become intensely terrified of falling, which I never do. On the same hand I have been onsighting 5.10+ trad lines and taken a 15 foot whip, without thinking twice. There is a liberation that comes with falling, that I believe is essential to climbing, trust is at the center for me. Do I trust my partners abilities, my own abilities, the stone, the gear, the weather, onlookers; the point being there are a million variables that for me need to align to enter into what some call the ZONE. The mythical and magical place I have had the pleasure to tread in oh so infrequently. Having surfed a little, and having been lucky enough to have been barreled exactly twice, I can tell you it is a beautiful thing when it happens, the rest of your time will be spent trying to replicate that same experience. Unfortunately, for us mere mortals or people that chose 9-5ers over a dirt bag existence will have more difficulty entering into this place. I have learned to appreciate the process and hope that with enough work and trust I will again climb in the zone, and inevitably fall while doing it.

Ross
Falling is a beautiful thing but it is a good thing you didn't fall in your profile photo wedgie of the century

Yesterday I was pushing at my limit while sport climbing and I took two falls. The first one was due to poor footwork and my foot blew off. I was at the bottom of the fall before I knew what happened. It was a perfect fall and a very soft catch. The second was god awful, I was feeling the pump and knew the fall was going to happen. When I finally fell it was a crappy fall but the catch was really soft.

The moral of my story, just get out there and climb with a belayer you trust and you wont have to worry about the catch.

If you ain't flyin you ain't tryin.

Mike13 wrote: I agree that E Colfax is loaded with easy routes but almost all of them would actually suck to fall on as they are almost all significantly less than vertical. Nothing enhances a fear of falling like your foot slipping on that 5.7 and sliding down a slab.

Any suggestions for similarly bolted and graded (< 5.10 or so) areas that are a bit more vertical on the front range?

I agree, the slabby nature of things at E Colfax makes the idea of a fall quite unpleasant.

Lots of great suggestions this far - my only add, learn more about the fight or flight reaction so you can be aware when it kicks in. This tends to lessen the cycle feeding upon itself. Then once you know your red flags of tripping into F/F, learn some focusing techniques that engage the frontal lobe and quiet down the midbrain. You will be amazed with done practice, you can really steer your focus back and calm your body and mind.

Send Alex Honnold an email and ask him? just climb what makes you comfortable even if it is beneath you climbing ability. Scrambling is a good way to lear to climb.

It's great to read everyone's thoughts on something so primal to all climbers. I heard an interview by the invincible Alex Honnold where they asked him "what is the worst thing that has ever gone through your head while soloing?" His response "that I'm going to die". We all feel it, but how well we control it is what makes or breaks a climb.

I still get intimidated when climbing somewhere new and for a while I let that intimidation influence which routes my partner and I climbed. I had taken falls on my home crag, but for some reason a new place was scarier. At some point I just said fuck it and jumped on a tough route where I knew I would fall. Being in that headspace, where falling was ok propelled me up the route! It went from scary to fun and made all the difference.

A lot places I climb have multiple no fall sections due to bad rock or big features you wouldn't want to hit. In that case my brain switches from being comfortable with falling, to more of an ice climbing/mentally tough mode of good self talk (and self preservation). I.e. thinking "this hold is bomber, just two more moves to that ledge" vs "I'm pumped and have no pro, I'm gonna fall".

Going off what Paul is saying about fight or flight there is a lot that can be learned from our own physiology to make us mentally tougher. If you have time, I recommend Amy Cuddy's TED Talk on body language. I do this before presentations at work, before I teach a class, before a race, and (oh yeah) before a tough climb.