That is why Arno is good. His point of view is analyze the rational risks, being honest and objective. He points out there are times that a risk for a particular moment in your life (whatever the variety of reasons), may be a bad decision to continue, and to back away and don't question the decision. There are other times if you dissect the problem, the decision about continuing is rational.

Often on easier climbs falling is a rational fear. The objective hazards, ledges, corners large holds, where you can break an ankle/leg/hip/ have head injuries....are real. On the harder climbs the lines tend to be cleaner (sort of an unfair situation, when you are just starting out you need to deal with the hazards, but when you have the experience to deal with them, that particular risk decreases).

Assuming that your are experienced with gear and the route is condusive to it, falling on gear is not a big thing. Personally I'm not a huge fan of taking wingers but its just part of the game. Remember, falling is a consequence of a decision process. You control the actions, but not the consequences. So the only way not to fall is not to climb.

i never practiced falling, but this guy i heard of did, Dan something...i think hes dead.

If you want to push yourself to your limits, then falling is going to be a necessary part of your climbing. Practicing falling will not only help your mental game, it will make you a safer climber as well. Practicing falling allows you to improve your falling technique, which allows you to fall more safely. Look at other sports where falling poorly is potentially very hazardous, (e.g. judo, ice skating, gymnastics) these athletes are all taught how to fall safely. Climbing should be no different.

Sorry, next time I'll remind everyone not to be an idiot. Don't fall to the deck, that would hurt. Don't fall onto a ledge. When you take a fall, don't start with massive whippers, that's asking for trouble. How do you "anti-fallers" expect anyone to learn how to fall? Falling is a skill, believe it or not, and must be practiced accordingly. It's to bad your friend broke her ankle, but stuff happens. Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport, so stuff happens.

You'll always question your gear until you have fallen on it once or twice.

Darren B.- keep at it and the fear with subside a little at a time. Especially with an ol' crusty mentor guiding you along.

Another approach you can take is to push away everything that is good in your life until you have nothing left that you care about. Then, you will notice a refreshingly calm feeling when you are high on the rock because there is no longer anything good down there that you desperately want to make it back to. If you make life on the ground utterly miserable, climbing high will make you feel better, not worse.

Like so much about climbing (and life), differing perspectives provide differing insights. Since most of the climbs I work today are relatively simple, the falls I'd take would be skin peeling, fingerprint burning affairs. I'm certain I don't have the ability right now to push back from the rock enough for my gear to catch me in a clean manner.

I like the idea of learning to trust gear in a gym, but I also know that there's no safe way to recreate the terror I'll feel when I unexpectedly fall, and how I deal with that shock will determine my rate of growth as a climber.

With each climb, I am learning to trust my gear, and that has helped me reduce my overall level of fear, enabling me to focus more on reading rock, climbing efficiently, and breathing deeply. It's only a matter of time till that first fall happens, and then I'll be past yet another climbing milestone.

db

Have you tried very easy climbs? As in 5.3 - 5.5. If on easy ground you feel in control, maybe it's just a matter of time. If you try these and still are getting psyched out, maybe you do need another sport. There are plenty to choose from.

about a year ago I broke two vertabre in a climbing ground fall. I get scared a lot more easily. I do two things now that help.
1. Smoke some "Hippy Lettuce" before I climb helps me to relax
2. When I get scared I tell myself that I am being a pussy. Come to think of it that doesnt really help it just hurts my very fragile self esteem. So I guess just stick with #1

I was up at Table Rock this last weekend, leading my toughest climb yet. I felt that fear begin to creep in again, but I was able to use it to help me push farther up the climb this time. The debilitating nature of my fear definitely has gotten less and less the more time I spend climbing, especially lead climbing. There's something about being on the sharp end that helps me focus in a way that is different from following.

wait, does that mean that you trust gear enough to catch you, but not enough to intentionally take a fall on? That sounds sketchy to me...

I have to agree with Josh. Every newbie trad climber has the same fear. "I just gotta learn to trust the gear". How pray tell will one learn to trust the gear if one never actually falls on gear. Practice falls on gear are just as important as practice falls on bolts. Just back the gear up with a 2nd bomber piece just underneath it.
Back in the day we used to place crap gear with good gear below it to test just how well the crap placements would hold. It always surprised us how often a bad placement actually held.

In trad climbing, you will find that there are plenty of situations in which you are doing really hard, insecure moves at your limit, with bomber gear protecting you.

There are other situations in which you have little, no, or terrible gear protecting you, but it is not a huge deal, because you are not doing hard, insecure moves at your limit.

The key is learning to:

-know what moves are hard, insecure, and at your personal limit
-know what is good or bad gear, and which situations are "do not fall"

and finally, most important
-making sure that you do not find yourself at your limit in a "no fall" situation.

pretty simple, really.