UKC

So I have extremely limited vision in my left eye (for all intents and purposes it's blind) ...leaving my right eye to do most of the work! Now I climb around 6c (both bouldering and sport) and around E1 trad and I've always just worked around my limited depth perception. However recently I've noticed it affecting me more so - particularly with my footwork and foot accuracy in terms of placement when my feet aren't high and are further away from my body (thus harder to judge depth).

Has anyone got any advice for climbing drills I could do to help counter this not-so-common problem of limited depth perception and improve? Any other climbers out there with monocular vision or limited/no depth perception? Would be great to get any advice as I'm currently trying to come up with some kind of training plan to sort things out! Also would be great just to hear from other fellow climbers with similar experiences

Cheers!

In reply to callumbtaylor:

Well you're not alone at least! I have never (well, since an operation on my eyes when I was two) had 3D vision - my eyes can't point in the same direction. Apart from that, I'm not sure I can give much advice, as what I've never had I've never missed, but I don't think it's a big handicap - the only "drill" I can think of is to climb as much as possible, on rock when you can.

Rick

In reply to callumbtaylor:

I have poor vision in my left eye meaning that I struggle a little with depth perception. I am a crane driver and don't have any problems in my day job, and I often wondered why. It appears that what I do is move my head from side to side (like an egyptian but less, pronounced ) and this allows my brain to work out distance as if I was using two eyes. I don't climb at your grade but I would say that you could practice the same technique by dropping a grade or two and doing circuits but slow and smooth, concentrating on perfect hold grabbing. I would imagine that although it's not apparent, you probably struggle with depth perception at lower grades too but the rest of your body works around it? The body is capable of adapting to some crazy situations, it just needs to learn?

In reply to callumbtaylor:

I have impressively crap depth perception: 3D films don't work for me at all. Something that helps with climbing a lot is to deliberately move my head from side to side (parallax vision I think it is called) when looking at holds to give me better depth perception with my extremely dominant right eye. You can do it subtly so that you don't look weird.

In reply to callumbtaylor:

You probably already do it but get your head moving around as you're placing your foot, the parallax effect will help your brain figure out what's where. I guess you probably want to train it in a realistic scenario though brains are pretty adaptable so maybe you could devise an effective non-climbing exercise.

jk

In reply to jkarran:

Snap! Yes it works really well for me. I would add that it is well suited to climbing in a way that it is not for other things (e.g. ball sports!)

In reply to callumbtaylor:

What's more annoying, is when trying to place gear in a crack in a corner, but you can't see into it...

In reply to ericinbristol:


I think this is what owls are doing when they do that weird side to side thing with their heads -and owls are known as wise birds....

In reply to WB:

Anyone remember that guy at the Sobell wall in the late 70's /early 80's with only one eye? He wore a patch over his left eye - the traverse (which was pretty much all everyone did) went right to left, so he had to turn his head right round to see where he was going. When it got really hot, his socket used to get all sweaty, so he would take his patch off. As you walked back, left to right, you would see a staring eye socket advancing towards you, with glimpses of a right eye peering round from the other side.

In reply to callumbtaylor:

Another vote for head movement, also when you get completely confused shutting your eye for 5 seconds sometimes seems to work.

As for drills I have found that touching your intended foothold with your hand somehow fixes it in your brain. This of course is extremely useful when sport climbing, less so in trad.

Avoid slabs and flat light, Etive on an overcast day is a bad choice.

Winter climbing seems less affected, it's a black and white world, head north

In reply to rogerwebb:


Yes, works for me


Absolutely, flat light makes it really hard for me

In reply to callumbtaylor:

I hadn't heard of the parallax effect before! I think I move my head side to side subconsciously sometimes but never new the name of the effect, will definitely bear in mind I find that I get double vision to an extent, as what I see out of my good eye includes an overlay of light that my brain's getting from my bad eye! So dealing with this is interesting when it comes to depth.

Touching a foothold with my hand before placing a foot on it is certainly something I've never tried but as it was said - not great for trad!

In reply to callumbtaylor:



I had that for a while, I found that a pirate patch or blacked out glasses helped. It does get you funny looks though.

In reply to callumbtaylor:

My left eye is pretty useless - I see with one eye only, except for the area where my right eye can't see past my nose (in which therefore I have a hazy patch of blurred stuff).

So this thread is really interesting because it hadn't occurred to me that it might affect my climbing. I have trouble on uneven paths because I can't easily tell whether what I'm about to tread on is level or sloping, and I had put that down to varifocals and natural clumsiness. But yes, my natural clumsiness may be to some extent due to having, in effect, only one eye.

In reply to callumbtaylor:

I have very poor vision in my left eye, all these problems are familiar, and yes, yet another vote for moving your head from side to side. However, if you have not already done this, it would be worth consulting a good vision therapist / optometrist. I did this at start of 2014, and managed to improve the vision in my left eye and the coordination between the eyes such that I acquired some degree of 3D vision - having never had any all my life. Sue Barry's wonderful book "Fixing My Gaze" is well worth reading.

Good luck

Paul

In reply to callumbtaylor:

Great to see some good responses from folks with similar experiences - hopefully some of their strategies will be useful to you.

Ultimately all climbers can benefit from improving their ability to deliberately put their feet accurately where they want first time - in terms of training to improve it's not that uncommon, your limited vision may make this more challenging for you - but if it were easy, it wouldn't be training!!

Not many climbers complete "drills" in the traditional sporting sense, in the same way that footballers will drill as part of their training - doesn't mean we can't benefit from that approach though. As with a lot of exercises, repetition is the key - completing these once may not help, incorporating them into your warm up every time you climb for a month or so should show some benefits...

"Silent Feet" - old favorite of the climbing instructor! Complete a few easy routes/traverses/problems making no noise with your feet - ensures a conscious awareness and control of where and how you place them. If you can't make a move silently, pick an easier route or "rainbow" at the wall - the key is completing the routes well - not climbing the hardest ones you can. The repetition makes you be conscious of how you move, and builds the balance and fine motor control to move your feet in complete control.

Toe Touches - stand in front of the wall/crag so you can lift your leg and touch it with your toe. Pick a few points/bolt holes/holds and lift your leg and place your toe silently on the chosen point (do this in your climbing shoes). Aim to touch the wall as lightly as you can, remaining in control of your foot at all times. If your accuracy reduces, then slow down - again the key is completing the drill well, not as fast as possible. Complete this 5-10 times per foot per point - pick a range of points high/low, close/far out to one side etc. Initially this can seem tricky - the balance/muscle control/foot-eye co-ordination are all being challenged here. The repetition is increasing your ability and conscious knowledge of how to place your foot where you want using a visual input

Instant feedback - good drill on an easy/medium top-rope route at the indoor wall with an understanding belayer. Climb something well within your ability. Look at and touch each foothold as you pass it - feeling the hold, it's relationship to the other holds on the wall, building up a mental picture of the shape of the wall and the spacial relationship of all the holds (this looks like you're just rubbing the wall - hence the need for the understanding belayer!). Choose the hold you are about to use for your foot, and pick where on that hold if it's a big one. Try to place your foot exactly where you chose - if you didn't get it spot on, or your belayer hears your foot placement, lower back down and start again. The repetition of this is building a more accurate spacial model of the holds in your mind, allowing you to use your sense of proprioception - "where your limbs are in relation to your body" as an input.

Repetition is the key to all of these.
To begin with they'll feel hard, and you'll look like a lunatic at the wall!
After a while you may even find a drop in your ability to climb as your brain starts concentrating on all these extra things rather than just climbing.
Eventually they become more unconscious, and hopefully you'll see greater efficiency in footwork!

Hope this is helpful! Let us know how you get on.

Best, Jay

In reply to jayjackson:

Cheers Jay! I always try to be quiet/silent with my footwork but the other ideas I hadn't come across, looking forward to implementing them, really appreciate it