Fear management on lead

I am looking for advice on how to manage fear on lead climbing

Fall... Get the fear of falling out of your system.

While Javd is absolutely right it is slightly more complicated than that.

The book "Vertical Mind" has some great stuff in it about this and can be an excellent resource. That being said the book will only give you some things to practice, you need to actually go out and do this, a lot, in order to get over your issues.

Basically right now your brain only has one way to look at falling, scary! Which is totally normal and natural. You need to create a positive association with falling instead. You need to take so many good, safe, painless falls in order to create so many positive memories of falling that the scary, "I'm gonna die", thoughts start to get pushed out by the good ones. You have to be able to sub consciously know that falling is ok. A gym is a great place to do this so you can fall on their ropes in a fairly controlled enviroment. This will in no way replace taking falls outside though.

That being said there are also a few other factors that go into being ok with falling. Such as knowing if the fall you could potentially take is a safe one or has hazards(ledges, flakes, belayers) in your fall range. This will take some time to develop but eventually after climbing enough outside you will know when you can take a fall without worry. Then you will start to not worry so much about it when it doesn't matter, which I'm sure is not the case for you right now.

If you aren't falling then why do you have all that expensive equipment attached to you? You might as well be free soloing like Honnold. Sometimes I like to tell myself that when I am not falling.

Alex Johnson wrote a blog post about it too

aj-ontherocks.blogspot.com/…

ChefMattThaner wrote:If you aren't falling then why do you have all that expensive equipment attached to you?

Because if I do fall, all that expensive equipment won't stop me from cheese-grater-ing down the rock but it will stop me from decking :)

Patrick Shyvers wrote: Because if I do fall, all that expensive equipment won't stop me from cheese-grater-ing down the rock but it will stop me from decking :)

This is true, except on steeper/overhung terrain. Slab falls are never going to be awesome, but like you said. Yer not gonna die!!

Patrick Shyvers wrote: Because if I do fall, all that expensive equipment won't stop me from cheese-grater-ing down the rock but it will stop me from decking :)

thanks for the confidence boost = ) this is why I love top roping

Rock warriors way and Dave Macleod's 9 out of 10 climbers books both deal with this in fairly great depth, i would start there.

Once of the things that I did when I started leading sport and then later trad was to take a series of practice falls in a very controlled environment. Find a vertical or slightly overhanging route on easy terrain and take a progressive series of larger and larger falls to get used to the motion. This will help you just become comfortable takings and made a big difference for me first starting out. Another thing to do is to look over a route before you start it. Analyze the route, where it leads, and potential features that could lead to a not so ideal fall. Plan how to work around them and evaluate if you feel comfortable in that situation. If you don't pick another route, or back off when you get to them.

I've often found myself in situations where I've been freaking out and scared of taking a nasty fall in a bad situation, both on bolts and on gear. In these situations I've always been able to overcome them by stoping for a second or two, taking a deep breath, relaxing and evaluating the situation. Most sport routes are bolted in ways that ensure a fall would not be significant enough to cause serious injury if your in a clear state of mind. If you are coming off, or think your going to, take a deep breath, relax and remind yourself that panicing isn't going to help. (I find this happens a lot when I'm pumped and going to clip). If you take a second to evaluate you'll probably relax enough to get yourself out of trouble.

Most off all how ever, fear management comes with experience. Even if you've climbed 12's on top rope, seek out easy leads well below your comfort range. Practice and get experience on the sharp end in situations that are extremely comfortable to you. As you get more and more comfortable, you'll find that it will be easy for you to rapidly progress to more difficult and ambitious routes.

Are you afraid of getting hurt or afraid of failure?

warriorsway.com/

Scott said: warriorsway.com/

+1. Its one resource atleast (like Vertical Mind) that's out there that discusses the topic you inquire about in detail. I think Arno has done a solid job piecing together what he has.

Practice falls help a lot, but one of the most important skills for any climber is understanding what constitutes "do not fall" terrain. So, in addition to getting comfortable with falling (which will help calm you considerably), learn the mental discipline to evaluate the terrain and the protection when you get scared, to honestly answer the question "can I fall here?". If the answer is yes, then you proceed. If the answer is no, you find a way to either change that state of affairs, or turn back. What Arno really talks about, with the Rock Warrior's Way, is training yourself to commit to the course of action you choose. Knowing that you can safely fall doesn't mean shit if you still chicken out.

Take practice falls in safe environments, and watch other people fall: how they fall, when they fall, and what the consequences are.

If you are leading trad there are lots of times any sane person would be afraid of falling. Like previous people posted the leader and not deck and die but they could get bruised up enough to stop climbing for the day or longer. In this case the 'ole adage "the leader must not fall". Holds true. In this case knowing what your limit is helps. I know I can lead 5.8s anywhere anytime. I can lead 90pct of all the 5.9s but there are some burly leads I have to be careful of for stances to get gear. 5.10 I need to be careful. 5.11 I need to know where the gear goes and not get too far above it.

I'll tell you exactly what I told Ronnie Hillman before the Colts game. Which is just chill out, drink some wild turkey, and stop giving a damn whether or not you end up fumbling the football...I mean fall on lead.

The best cure for fear for me is to get stronger and better at climbing. Especially endurance.

It really helps control the fear when there is no pump in the forearms.

Daniel Winder wrote:Are you afraid of getting hurt or afraid of failure?

well, both injury, death, and failing, and in a weird way I'm afraid of being afraid to fall, because I really don't want to have fear.

I find that gaining confidence in your gear placements does a lot for your overall lead confidence. practice placing pro a lot. doing some aid climbing is a great way to practice, even aiding easy routes. if you know you can place good gear and that the gear will hold, then you have very little to fear.

Is your motivation to lead so that you have more routes accessible to you or do you earnestly want to start climbing in that style? could be worth reflecting on whats driving you if you really do love toproping that much. absolutely nothing wrong with never leading.

I just try to remember that falling is not the problem, hitting the ground/ledges/stuff is.

Do some practice falls and get yourself an instinct to push away from the wall when you fall. After that....get a good belayer and gear you trust, and go for it! Concentrate on making the moves and focusing on your body on the rock, not the space around you.

ChefMattThaner wrote: The book "Vertical Mind" has some great stuff in it about this and can be an excellent resource. .

++1 for "Vertical Mind" as a good reference on this as it provides instruction and check lists to mentally rehearse every time you rope up and face a potential fall situation. Even the practice of going through your safety checks with the belayer before leaving the ground can put your mind at ease that the rope/harness system is secure and are fewer things to worry about once climbing. I'll be the first to admit that I have on ocasion checked my knot mid route when facing a fall and was anxious about moving on (until adopting the ritual of doing the safety checks (verbally) before climbing). So having a counter-fear scrip to quickly run through your mind when facing a fall really helps get over the anxiety.