UKC

Made some great advances this year so far-getting on 6b-6c onsights where as last year- I'd stick to 6a at the deepend. The caveat is I either get the onsight, or get massively scared and get off route to easier ground.

The advances this year have been moving dynamically for holds when required (wouldn't do this before) much stronger this year.

Tenaciously going for moves absolutely commited to sticking it or taking a whipper-which I couldn't do before. Again-much stronger this year.

The issue is I'm absolutely petrified of death fall 6000 the minute I stand above gear or indeed a bolt for that matter.

I've subscribed to a post I read on ukc where the OP said (get so strong that the risks feel trivial) Getting stronger now, the risks feel trivial now. hopefully someone can share some tips or games to play at a crag that have helped them.

One we thought about was every route you climb. Jump off a bolt? For the whole day, 8 routes-8 jumps? Is that wise?

In reply to zimpara:

As long as you're sensible then yes it's a good idea.

Good article here - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1838

In reply to zimpara:

That seems to be the nub of the matter, you don't trust the bolts/gear - thus you need to ask is it OK? When folk redpoint that's what they do, fall off, again and again. If there was an issue there would be piles of bodies at the bottom of the crag.....but there isn't. I think about it like that - when I jug a free hanging rope - scared witless, but then I think people do this all day and I don't see reports on accidents due to ropes breaking, so it must be ok. Thus the same with you jumping off above bolts. Caveats - maybe not above the rustiest 1/4 inch bolts (still better than dodgy gear) or razor edges on slate - and probably not second bolt without checking distances.

In reply to zimpara:

Don't clip the lower off, fall onto the last bolt instead. You will soon get used to falling.

Only do this if the fall is unobstructed

In reply to zimpara:
Try doing falling practice at the wall. There was an article about it on here a while back.

In reply to zimpara:

try climbing trad, at easier grades. Sport climbing does not develop your head.

In reply to top cat:


Neither does climbing stuff that you're never going to fall off.

In reply to zimpara:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1838

Watch the video

In reply to top cat:

He's trying to learn how to push his grade in sport climbing. Easy trad is never going to help this.

In reply to zimpara:

Have you tried slow, deep breaths when the fear kicks in? Just concentrate on your breathing unil the fear ebbs.

In reply to humptydumpty:

True, if it is really easy, but he will have to learn to climb well above pro, which can only help, surely? Clearly he has the strenth and climbing skills, just needs the head sorting?

In reply to zimpara:


Get on routes that aren't next to easier ground?

In reply to top cat:
Sorry but thats just not true. I always found sport climbing far scarier than trad (for reference this was the case until a couple of years ago, when my max trad onsights were e5 and max sport redpoints 7a+/7b) which i basically put down to the fact that you spend a lot more time on the edge of falling off when sport climbing. The only way I could get my head round this was to tactically go through the motions of learning to fall IE - small controlled falls at the wall, bigger controlled falls, falls whilst climbing and then finally falls whilst clipping when pumped. I couldn't care less about falling whilst sport climbing now (when it is genuinely objectively safe to do so) but it takes continued fall practice to maintain this attitude. After a long hiatus it takes a while to build such confidence again. Such confidence has allowed me to push my sport grade considerably, which has made me far more confident on trad routes due to being used to doing harder moves.

All of this, and I've never been particularly scared of falling on trad (when objectively safe of course). Perhaps because its a lot slower and more measured, with constant risk assessment and reduction, whereas sport climbing youre 100% going for it.

I think the important thing is to recognise that most of the time falling IS objectively safe, and to learn to recognise when it is from when it isnt. Being a confident sport climber DEFINITELY helps with that.

Edit - of course, having an experienced belayer that you trust an other such details should not be overlooked.

In reply to zimpara:

I can't recommend Dave Macleod's 9 out of 10 climbers book highly enough. Falling training is covered in depth, and a routine described. Too much to go through here, but it transformed my approach to leading