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9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes - Falling discussion

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Mark Lewis · · Salt Lake City, Utah · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 260

I was interested in hearing what people think of part 3, Fear of Falling, chapter in MacLeod's book and his philosophy on falling in general.

'...disciplining yourself to make 5-20 falls occur per sport climbing day for, let's say, a year, the problem will be much smaller [and] without doubt you'll be climbing 2-5 grades harder if it was a noticeable problem before.'

He advocates taking thousands of falls per year, and to continue the pace, or risk slipping back into the fear of falling and thus prevent you from climbing at higher levels. He recommends taking small falls, and then consistently switching it up to experience longer falls, more slack out, etc.

‘…we are talking about many thousands of leader falls to go from fear consuming most of my focus while leading, to feeling very confident and consistent on climbs that are demanding of leading confidence.’

Despite his belief that thousands of falls are necessary per year to achieve your climbing potential, he does caution that a single bad fall can erase any progress made. This made me wonder about the probable, statistical likelihood of taking some bad falls if you are engaging in thousands of falls per year.

2000-3000 falls per year seems incredible, how many falls per year do you all realistically think you engage in?

He asserts that, ‘Above a bolt, even a long way, the odds are we are exceptionally safe, and falling will give us nothing more than a momentary buzz.’ If you are taking 2K-3K falls per year, what are the likely odds of injury, regardless of severity? Interesting stuff to think about, but probably impossible to quantify.

(on a practical, humorous note - how many ropes would one burn through taking 3K falls per year?!)

Brendan N · · Salt Lake City, Utah · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 405

I'll do 20 pitches in the gym per session and make sure to fall every pitch, whether I get to the top or not.
Outside I'll do 3-5 warmups and fall on each of them, sometimes 3+ times per pitch. Obviously I'll fall on my projects, usually 10-15 times per pitch.
I generally climb at overhanging areas, but also make sure to fall on slabs to learn that technique.
I think falling more teaches you how to fall more safely. I also think more falling leaders teaches better and more attentive belaying.

MorganH · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 197

I've found that the key difference for helping get past the fear barrier is practicing falling intentionally. Falling of because I can't complete the climb doesn't count. I have to get to a comfortable position, take a deep breath, and let go. The other thing I do is check my knot, harness, belayer, etc before I leave the ground and refuse to check again when I take my practice fall.

He talks about both of those things in his book. I'm a total believer. It does reduce noticeably reduce rope life though.

Mark Lewis · · Salt Lake City, Utah · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 260
Brendan N. (grayhghost) wrote:I'll do 20 pitches in the gym per session and make sure to fall every pitch, whether I get to the top or not. Outside I'll do 3-5 warmups and fall on each of them, sometimes 3+ times per pitch. Obviously I'll fall on my projects, usually 10-15 times per pitch. I generally climb at overhanging areas, but also make sure to fall on slabs to learn that technique. I think falling more teaches you how to fall more safely. I also think more falling leaders teaches better and more attentive belaying.
That's quite a bit of falling. How many gym sessions are you putting in per week?
Brendan N · · Salt Lake City, Utah · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 405

Right now, not many.
Soon I will have a rope gym closer to my house and will probably climb 3 times per week.

kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608
Mark Lewis wrote:I was interested in hearing what people think of part 3, Fear of Falling, chapter in MacLeod's book and his philosophy on falling in general.
From at least one previous forum discussion, seemed like no one disputed that taking practice falls for Sport climbing was a good idea, and that MacLeod's approach for it was worth knowing.

The controversial part was for taking practice falls in Trad climbing. (But I found the forum discussion about that unhelpful because it was about the idea of Trad falling generally, rather than about what Dave MacLeod actually said about it).

Presumably if you're going to take hundred or thousands of (Sport climbing) falls per year, you're going to get really good at knowing which are the situations in which you can safely fall, and really good at detecting which ones might not be safe.

Like driving a car out on the public roads, thousands of people actually die doing it every year, but I get out and do it at least hundreds of times a year, because I've developed good judgement (or so I hope) about detecting and managing dangerous situations.

Seems to me to be a very successful Sport climber, you have to judge that difference, and feel confident about your judgements. And I can't think of any other way to acquire that judgment and confidence (and any other way to maintain that judgement year after year) ... than to take at least hundreds of falls per year.

At my local indoor gym, they supply the ropes for lead climbing, so one of the managers said maybe they wished I wouldn't be taking deliberate practice falls (but so far made no specific rule against it). Then I got focused on kinds of climbing other than Sport, so I never asked them if it would be OK if I brought my own rope (which some gyms allow and even encourage).

Ken
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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