UKC

Hi All, this is my first post as i started climbing only a month ago.

My question is : I AM afraid of falling, every time i inser an express and secure the rope a sense of relief comes to me.

How did you guys/girls managed to overcome the fear of the fall ?


thank you all

Jorge

In reply to dirtyfly:

Spandex. You can't be scared in spandex. That was how most of the hard routes got put up in the 80s.

In reply to dirtyfly:

Hello and welcome to UKC
I will always have a fear of falling, but the more you climb the more you learn to trust your gear etc. We've also have had a few small slips and had to back off a route a few times thus testing the gear placements, so that helps. You get to know when a gear placement is bomber and also get to trust 100% in your belayer.

I think its just one of those things that comes with practice, I'm sure your fear will lessen the more you climb.

In reply to dirtyfly: pratice, go to a wall and jump off a few times, start small, a foot above the last clip and then build up to a reasonale lead fall, perhaps level with the next clip (but not clipped in).

That's how I did it, every now and then I still find myself backing off a route because of fear, but the fear of falling is way less than it used to be - to be honest a little fear is probably a good thing - sharpens the mind!

In reply to quadmyre: to be honest i think Quadmyr's right....spandex is probably better than my method.

In reply to dirtyfly:
Hi!

This is my first proper summer climbing and I'm currently leading VS 5a. I haven't yet had a fall whilst trad climbing, and up until now, ive been glad about this, but im getting to the point now where i almost feel i NEED to fall off. Get good at placing gear first, and if your climbing with an experienced climber, get them to rate your gear out of 10 when they follow you up a climb. Do lots of easy leads which are within your capabilities, and get confident with gear. Then you have two options if you want to truly overcome the fear in my opinion, and this is what i am going to do (I am still pretty scared of falling).

Firstly, push yourself on harder climbs, and just commit till you fall (the slightly braver and more dangerous option)

Secondly, set up two or three pieces of bomber gear over a clear fallout zone, climb a couple of metres about them and "jump" off. Dont kid yourself that this is totally safe either, but if you choose a good route, you are less likely to hurt yourself by banging into the rock on the way down etc.

There are bound to be people who will tell me that the 2nd one is a stupid idea, but i think personally, that is how i will get to trust my gear placements properly. Because whilst i THINK they are good, i have never fallen on one of my own placements, so i dont know for sure.

Also, as someone else said, just get out and climb, and practice, and you will gradually become less scared.

If you climb indoors alot, you could also practice falling indoors, in a safe environment. Do it in the same way as i suggested above, but this time you wont have to worry about whether your own gear will hold or not. I have fallen a lot indoors and several times on sport climbs, and you realise that it isn't as bad as your mind tells you it is.

Well, good luck with the climbing, stick at it!!

Good Climbing, Sam

In reply to dirtyfly:

Don't worry about falling! Worry about the hard bit at the bottom of the fall, that'll be the bit that kills you, provided you don't bounce off anything on the way down. The real trick is though, don't fall.

Hope that helps.

In reply to dirtyfly: I find the fear of falling is usually overcome with experience.

Usefully for myself i overcome fear with anger at not being able to do certain moves, climbs. This proactive response has really seen me progress recently, but may not be for everyone. It does help if some of the climbs are awkward or get on your nerves

In reply to dirtyfly todays technology is so safe its hard to be scared unless things are getting pretty desprate

In reply to mourndekai:

I get angry with myself too when I cant reach something or do a certain move (being a 4ft 11 shortas*) and I find it really helps to focus my mind away from the fear of falling and onto getting on with the climb!

In reply to rozza ze ninja:

Crappy statement alert!

Correction!

Todays technologies provide a more controlled environment than yesteryear but you must know how to use them. To claim a climbing technology is 'safe' is foolhardy, a nut is only useful if it's inserted correctly; a cam is only any good if you place it correctly and equally load the springs. It's not difficult to get scared when climbing...it's fairly easy and depends entirely on the level you're climbing it.

The lesson here is, learn how to climb, how to place gear, and practice falling at indoor walls (on a top rope if need be) and you'll reduce the risk of doing yourself a cropper more than if you don't know these things. Climbing is a risky game, and you take the risk at your own pace. To say it's safe is a daft choice of words.

In reply to dirtyfly: I don't think you ever overcome the fear of falling, you just become more tolerant to it and learn how to deal with it better. This tolerance is built by gaining experience, becoming more confident in your own abilities, in your gear, your belayer, the rock, etc.

Even though you feel that this fear limits your progress, it's what makes you alive. It's also what keeps you come back for more. Climbing's not a safe sport, as long as you aware of that and accept what the consequences can be, not only for yourself, but for others, then you'll develop a good understanding of risk assessment and you'll be able to channel your fear. Like me, you're new to this game. Take your time, and even if it feels frustrating, learn to enjoy the fear because it never goes away and it is what makes you push yourself.

The suggestion to practice falling indoors is a good one, I personally need to do it on a regular basis as some sort of mental training.

In reply to rozza ze ninja:


Or, of course, all those shiny cams are dangling uselessly from your harness and your lightweight dyneema quickdraws are glittering from the eyes of a rusted 40 year old peg 30' below your ankles. It doesn't matter how fancy your gear is if there's nowhere to place it...

In reply to dirtyfly:

Just an extra data, im still only in sport climbing, ill try trad later when i get a bit of practice


Jorge

In reply to chassy: I think I have pretty much got over the fear of falling, or at least am much more chilled about it. My problem now is that I don't trust my various belay buddies to catch me. How many times do you look down when your scetching it to see your belayer eyeing up some lass on another climb? Does my head in (luckily this makes me angry and therefore climb better... possibly)

In reply to dirtyfly:

check this out .........

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1734

In reply to dirtyfly:
I'm right with you on this one. I know JUST what it feels like to fall a long, long way and hurt yourself, and two years later I'm starting to realise that I never got over the fear of falling. Now it means I have real trouble leading at my frontier grade.

The answer, I suspect, is to climb more rock. Unfortunately I'm going to be stuck in East Anglia for at least six more months. I hope you are more lucky than I!

I live in Portugal, I have plenty of places to climb near me, mostly craigs


Jorge