Fear: How much does it hold you back?

A topic with thousands of different avenues, paths and directions. What does fear actually mean in climbing? Does it help or hinder us? What are the different types of fear?

As a climbing coach I am covering the dillema of fear with climbers of all ages and abilities basically every day of the week. There is too much out there to put into one small blog, but at least I can make a start at it.

Falling

The biggest barrier I have found facing 95% of the climbers I coach is the fear of falling. For everyone the challenge to overcome is slightly different, as are the symptoms it causes and the level to which it affects them. In every single example however, fear is holdin them back from achieving their potential...

A fear of falling is something that isn't unnatural to us. In fact, it's very much a natural reaction of our minds to escape the inevitable outcome of death (or pain) when falling from a great height. The difference however, is that if we are attached to a rope, the risks are greatly reduced irrespective of whether the route is a sport climb or traditional. For the purposes of this blog, I am going to be focussing purely on sport or indoor climbing, because that is the area that most of my clients have issues with.

Why then do we struggle to overcome our fears when the risks are lowered to such a degree that really, there is little or no risks involved? This is a question I have been asking myself for years and still have yet to come up with a true solution - the best work I have done towards helping climbers overcome their fears is simply through a lot of personal involvement in their climbing, trying to make them more confident climbers in general.

Climber A has been climbing only for a short while but is improving at a steady and positive rate. He can push himself on top rope fairly hard and even on something as steep as a cave or roof (if it's high), but when it comes to something only slightly overhung or vertical/slab, there is the fear again!

Climber B has been climbing for a fairly long time but goes through phases of being comfortable to push his limits and other times when he just stops and can't go any further...

Climber C is a very accomplished climber who has a long history of developing her climbing for high-end performances on rock, but struggles to push harder on terrain that she has not already climbed on top rope a number of times. And even when she has done this, she might still struggle to push it on lead until she has made it high on the route at least a couple of times on lead before shouting "Take!".

These examples are real-life people I coach or have worked with in the past (they will know who they are if they are reading this).

In each example, there is the element of fear that crops up that is holding them back from pushing themselves when they really need it - so how do they overcome this? 

Less steep lead climbingClimber A needs to spend more time on less steep walls - initially dropping the grade they climb and just leading on routes at that angle with a lot of success and no falling. Eventually, introducing a bit more challenge to the sessions by trying something harder is required. When you begin this, it will be a good idea to also start practicing lead falls on the same bit of wall with someone you trust to belay you. Start of taking small repetetive falls with your harness at the clip until you can take bigger falls with your hips just above the clip. Continue like this 2-3 days a week for around a month and you will see big gains in confidence! It's important not to let yourself slip back into fear though, keep up with the fall practice and start attempting routes at a harder level again until you feel that you are capable of pushing it on hard onsights with little fear holding you back... Climber A is going to have average progression as he has only just started climbing.

Climber B is half-way there. He has already shown improvements in his ability to deal with the fear, but it is still holding him back. He needs to keep battling it out and not lose focus of what is most likely the biggest factor holding back his lead climbing performance. Remember that although there may be other aspects of your climbing performance that need work on, your fear of falling is actually driving them back as well whenver you tie onto a rope with the intention of leading something. You climb worse, you over grip, your technique turns to crap, etc... If you are confident and free to give a lead your all, you will improve every other aspect of your climbing for lead so much faster!

Climber C has got stuck in the rut that so many climbers get into. She has been in Taking the Lead Fall!this place for a long time now and has no doubt developed her climbing style, tactics and goals based around her fear of falling. For her it is going to be more difficult than anyonelse to overcome and it comes back to the age old question of, "Do you really want to overcome it?". Is it holding her back from what she wants to achieve or is it something that she can get by with forever. In the end of the day, climbing in a way that reduces the chance at failure during a lead climb AKA "A fall", is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does seriously slow down progress and the development of good technique and style. In my opinion, all effort should be bent towards overcoming this over everything else if you find yourself in this situation, because if you do overcome it, you will get so much more enjoyment out of your climbing!

Falling is something everyone eventually is challenged by. It might be the fear of:

• Hurting Yourself
• Being dropped by belayer
• Mistrust in Equipment
• The actual sensation of falling
• The unknown... (The actual fall itself is fine but the moments before are agony)

Whatever it is, you will most likely encounter it at some point in your climbing career, the important thing to remember is not to let it take advantage of you or latch onto you for too long otherwise it can soon become a metaphorical 100kg weight pulling you off the wall! 

A recent 8a.nu forum post described the notion that if most 7a climbers climbed with the white hot intensity and fearless confidence of that of a 9a climber, then they would be hitting the 8a mark pretty soon... This isn't a rule nor is it necessarily true of everybody, but I can tell you this... I have yet to coach one person so far who I think couldn't improve their grade at least by a couple of grades with more confidence and ferlessness on the wall...