UKC

Sports psychologist and climber Madeleine Eppensteiner shares her tips for overcoming the fear of falling on sport climbs.

Sport climbing is the joy of reaching highpoints, getting to know our boundaries, then training and finally crossing our boundaries. Yet it's also a very mentally demanding activity. Our mind decides whether we reach our goals or not: whether we climb higher or give up.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

Falling is safe if the belayer is doing his/her job i.e. in most cases, by giving a "dynamic belaying" (that is not by having a lot of slack or letting the rope slide through the devise used) so rarely seen, both indoors and outdoors.

If you feet slam against the wall, do not accept it as normal, speak with your belayer.

I see, too often, climbers swinging against the wall and just showing an embarrassed smile. This only reinforces the fear of falling and the experience as a very unpleasant one, at best.

I went through the process described in the article and one of the most useful things was having the right, cooperative belayer. Still a rare experience.

In reply to Pino:


Did an extra "not" creep into that sentence? If not, then how would you give a dynamic belay?

In reply to Pino:


It's not rare at all, not in my experience. But then at 68kg, most of my partners get a dynamic belay whether they like it or not.

In reply to planetmarshall:

68kg isn't that much? I'm 72kg and consider myself skinny!

In reply to jsmcfarland:


Precisely, which is important when I'm the one belaying.

In reply to planetmarshall:


I feel much safer when I'm being belayed by a fat bastard who isn't going anywhere, unless they're using a self locking device so that they won't drop me even if they are extruded unconscious through the first clip. If I'm being belayed with a normal device by a lighter person, I find myself climbing very defensively - I've seen far too many belayers slammed into the wall.

In reply to humptydumpty:

This answers the question:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1844

In reply to Robert Durran:


I guess it comes back to having a belayer you can trust, who isn't going to stand too far back. But I agree it's a very common mistake. And I do feel happier to take lobs when the belayer has a Gri-Gri (or similar).

In reply to Steven1993:

Try giving a dynamic belay as described in that link on one of the ledges in Siurana and you'd be in for an interesting time.

It seems to me that genuinely relinquishing your safety to your belayer is one of the most important aspects to losing your fear of falling. If you, as the climber, feel the need to control how your belayer belays you then you're already on the back foot in terms of feeling relaxed on the route - fair enough to say watch me here etc but micromanaging the belayer just emphasises your fear of falling. Let them get on with it!

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:


I feel nervous if my belayer feels the need to use a GriGri ;(

In reply to timjones:


I just accept that people, however careful, experienced or well intentioned, can make mistakes, or fall foul of bad luck, and the Gri-Gri is a good backup.

People who refuse to admit that people make mistakes worry me!

But the secret to good belaying isn't the device, it's the belayer isn't it?

In reply to timjones:


I hate using a Gri-Gri because it's too complicated for my tiny brain to remember what to do, and I hate being belayed with a Gri-Gri, because it seems to necessitate a more dynamic belay than I'm happy with. I'm now only totally happy belaying or being belayed with a Click-Up.

In reply to jsmcfarland:


55kg here. Depending who I'm belaying I quite often get pulled up to the first quickdraw if I don't have an upwards pull anchor. Nightmare!

In reply to Robert Durran:

I too prefer the Click-Up to the GriGri, it's far more intuitive to use. My mate swears by his GriGri and says he has never had any problems but he is not the one on the other end of the rope struggling to pull rope through quickly to clip. This for me is the biggest disadvantage to the GriGri, the fact that you have to adapt your grip depending on what you are doing, this and it's high potential for misuse.

Al

In reply to Martin McKenna - Rockfax:


About the same weight as my belayer (compared to my 68kg). I usually find it fairly easy to unclip the first QD once I've clipped into the second thus negating the being pulled into the first QD scenario. Don't know why more people don't do this if they know they are heavier than their belayer.

In reply to Scotch Bingington:


I am 65kg and often climb with ~45kg partner. We never had a problem with her flying that far.
Interesting thing is that I am the heaviest of all people in my climbing circle.

In reply to Scotch Bingington:


Does this mean your belayer gets pulled into the second QD instead?

In reply to humptydumpty:


No. Why would it? Are you suggesting I am portly?

In reply to nutme:



Admittedly it has only happened once, but prefer it not to happen again.

In reply to nutme:

I'm 55kg and my partner is 76kg. I don't have a problem lowering him - one foot and hip against the wall/crag does it fine. If he wants a rest, I just sit back a bit in the harness like everyone else does - again, no probs.
If he falls unexpectedly, I do get a bit airborne, but only about 15-30 cm off the floor with a bit of a pendulum swing - it gives him a soft catch and I don't mind. I've never been dragged up into the first bolt.

However, I'm aware that one day I may slam into the crag, hurt my hands, bang my head etc, so I use a MegaJul when belaying a leader because it is auto-locking. So even if I did get hurt, he won't be moving anywhere downwards unexpectedly.

In reply to UKC Articles:
It saddens me that people have the wrong way of thinking about belaying. For instance this answer: "I hate using a Gri-Gri because it's too complicated for my tiny brain to remember what to do". All I can say is that if you have managed to read the article and to post a reply in these forums, your brain is certainly normal enough to operate a GriGri. If you do not care, I will certainly not be climbing with you!! At least not until you change your attitude! The same answer for other comments, if somebody is not comfortable using a GriGri to give you a belay - don't climb with them! End of the matter!

In reply to humptydumpty:

"Not" is in the right place. You have to move, not the rope. The net is awash, even this site, with good articles and examples on "dynamic belaying".

In reply to Mike Basille:



Why not let them use a belay device of their own choosing?


Chris

In reply to Mike Basille:

By that I meant that if someone hands me a Gri-Gri to use, it seems so counterintuitive to use when used to a conventional belay device that I inevitably at best belay badly and possibly at worst dangerously.


No, it no more means I can use a Gri-Gri well than read and post in French well.


Why not? Just don't expect them to use a belay device with which they are not familiar.

Anyway, as I said, for those of us used to conventional devices, the Click-Up is the obvious answer; same belaying action and all but foolproof.

In reply to Steven1993:



Hadn't seen that before. Good article, and a useful companion article to this one.

He doesn't mention roller biners though, which are another equipment based way of getting a softer catch. Just don't use them low down if your belayer is much lighter than you.

In reply to Mike Basille:


I can live with that. I can use a GriGri, and indeed prefer to do so when sport climbing, but I have no interest in climbing with people who give me ultimatums, unless I'm genuinely doing something that puts my partner at risk.

In reply to UKC Articles:

How to Conquer the Fear of Falling? Miss the ground when you do fall off. I've done it twice now on very long falls, and highly recommend it.

There is a lot of comments here about making the fall softer... If you are all falling like in the article's second photo (fall on Mind Control), it isn't hard to see why you're smacking your feet into the wall. I see a lot of people doing this. If you do it to, maybe try falling more down and less out instead of barking at your belayer that the catch wasn't soft enough?

In reply to Akrylamid:


Err, if it's a fall (rather than just jumping off) how can you control which direction your going to go?

In reply to abseil:


The trouble is that the ground is very sleepy and sluggish, and just cannot be relied on to get out of the way in time.

In reply to Pino:

I certainly thought these were ways to give a dynamic belay, so thanks for clearing that up for me. I suspect they are common misconceptions.

In reply to deacondeacon:

Oddly enough controlled falls and jumping off is considered by many to be the same thing.

The article is about fear of 'falling', and some practical tips to get used to it. I don't think the idea is to get used to uncontrolled falls.