Are you the kind of climber that starts feeling anxious as soon as you climb above a piece of gear no matter how good it is? What about a bolt? If you are, chances are this fear of falling is the single thing holding your climbing back the most. Dave MacLeod of Online Climbing Coach has written extensively on the subject of over coming the fear of falling. However, in one of his blog posts, Dave discussed the importance of one’s mental attitude when trying to overcome this fear.
“But the subtlety of how to approach this effort seems to be important. I notice that some climbers seem to view their fear of falling as a foe in which they are in a constant battle with. Given the time and difficulty involved in overcoming fear of falling for a proportion of climbers, I can completely understand why it must feel like this. Nevertheless, viewing it along these lines could become self-defeating.” – Dave MacLeod
According to Dave, constantly feeling like you have to do battle with your fear of falling is the wrong mental approach. Instead, he asserts that it is more important to try and address the impulses that create fear while remaining focused on the pleasure and satisfaction of leading and sending. In doing so, trying to overcome fear does not feel like an impossible hurdle or battle and can be addressed systematically.
Read the whole article by clicking through bellow and if you are looking for more help overcoming the fear of falling definitely check out Dave’s book 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes for more detailed information about how to get comfortable leading.
Click Here: Another Point about Fear of Falling
(photo courtesy of onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com)
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