Ya gotta fall
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:34 pm
I've been rock climbing about 14 years now, with long periods where I maybe got better at some aspect of the whole game, but not others. In fact, climbing grade was at a standstill for a long time, topping out in the high 5.10s or 6a/b. Now I'm enjoying some real growth and having more fun with it than in a long time. For me, the secret was learning how to get comfortable with lead falls.
Seems to me, that if you want to live in the world of "the leader must not fall," then recognize that what comes with that is a limit on the difficulty of routes you can climb. Now, the world is full of complex variation, and that old attitude still has a place, even in the middle of the most modern climb with bomber gear (R rating, the "2nd-clip" problem, certain pendulums, etc.). The attitude is still essential on older "adventure" alpine climbs, for sure.
Your life may be different, maybe I'm just old, but nowadays I spend a lot more days pulling plastic than I do in the high alpine. And the plastic environment is best used to push your limits. There are all kinds of limits, but the one that people don't always acknowledge is surprising:
They are just a little scared all the time on a roped climb.
Everybody knows they need more strength (not always true!). Many people know they should work harder on technique. But saying that you are scared to fall on a gym lead even though your chest is at the bolt just isn't done. Instead, people grab other holds, ask the belayer to "take!" or (my own favorite when scared) whip out a quickdraw to clip in short to the bolt.
The ego doesn't help here. Nobody likes to feel weak. So you make your way back to climbs you can practically solo because you know there is no chance of falling. This is how you sit at a plateau, or, more likely over time, regress.
I worked to banish my fear with very slow and moderate steps. Clipping and jumping off. Hilariously, I even found this scary when clipping over my head. Finally, after several days like this, I could clip at my waist and jump, and finally jump off with the bolt at my feet. The key here is to recognize that this is a necessary skill, not just something that certain weirdos do, or just for "really good" climbers. If you have this skill the benefits are:
* You'll clip at your waist instead of over your head, saving tons of energy over the course of a pitch.
* You'll be more likely to try a hard or technical move above a clip, accepting just a little bit more uncertainty because you are a little bit less afraid of falling.
Add this up over weeks of time and your grade can't help but rise.
But aside from that, I think there is a more important reason to do this. It strikes me as a moral wrong that we allow ourselves to climb when half of our brain is busy with needless worry. Yoda said "do or do not." That is, if you are going to do something, be certain and clear about it. This gives you strength. I spent way too much time devoting brain cycles to nagging worry that should have gone to considerations like balance, shifting weight, pushing with my feet, using momentum and strategy.
Now Summitpost is curious because there are a lot of hikers, and a collection of really experienced climbers. If you guys collectively are anything like the feedback I got when putting these ideas into practice, a small but outspoken group will say this is a lot of talk about nuthin': just get on a route and jump, dude! And on the other hand the criticism will be that this whole discussion is dangerous outside of a laboratory with a trained guide and certain advanced credentials.
But my advice is for people like me, unwilling for whatever reason to "just jump," and declare that there is no problem, and equally unwilling to stick with an adventure climbing mindset for my time in the sport climbing environment.
Cheers,
--Michael
Seems to me, that if you want to live in the world of "the leader must not fall," then recognize that what comes with that is a limit on the difficulty of routes you can climb. Now, the world is full of complex variation, and that old attitude still has a place, even in the middle of the most modern climb with bomber gear (R rating, the "2nd-clip" problem, certain pendulums, etc.). The attitude is still essential on older "adventure" alpine climbs, for sure.
Your life may be different, maybe I'm just old, but nowadays I spend a lot more days pulling plastic than I do in the high alpine. And the plastic environment is best used to push your limits. There are all kinds of limits, but the one that people don't always acknowledge is surprising:
They are just a little scared all the time on a roped climb.
Everybody knows they need more strength (not always true!). Many people know they should work harder on technique. But saying that you are scared to fall on a gym lead even though your chest is at the bolt just isn't done. Instead, people grab other holds, ask the belayer to "take!" or (my own favorite when scared) whip out a quickdraw to clip in short to the bolt.
The ego doesn't help here. Nobody likes to feel weak. So you make your way back to climbs you can practically solo because you know there is no chance of falling. This is how you sit at a plateau, or, more likely over time, regress.
I worked to banish my fear with very slow and moderate steps. Clipping and jumping off. Hilariously, I even found this scary when clipping over my head. Finally, after several days like this, I could clip at my waist and jump, and finally jump off with the bolt at my feet. The key here is to recognize that this is a necessary skill, not just something that certain weirdos do, or just for "really good" climbers. If you have this skill the benefits are:
* You'll clip at your waist instead of over your head, saving tons of energy over the course of a pitch.
* You'll be more likely to try a hard or technical move above a clip, accepting just a little bit more uncertainty because you are a little bit less afraid of falling.
Add this up over weeks of time and your grade can't help but rise.
But aside from that, I think there is a more important reason to do this. It strikes me as a moral wrong that we allow ourselves to climb when half of our brain is busy with needless worry. Yoda said "do or do not." That is, if you are going to do something, be certain and clear about it. This gives you strength. I spent way too much time devoting brain cycles to nagging worry that should have gone to considerations like balance, shifting weight, pushing with my feet, using momentum and strategy.
Now Summitpost is curious because there are a lot of hikers, and a collection of really experienced climbers. If you guys collectively are anything like the feedback I got when putting these ideas into practice, a small but outspoken group will say this is a lot of talk about nuthin': just get on a route and jump, dude! And on the other hand the criticism will be that this whole discussion is dangerous outside of a laboratory with a trained guide and certain advanced credentials.
But my advice is for people like me, unwilling for whatever reason to "just jump," and declare that there is no problem, and equally unwilling to stick with an adventure climbing mindset for my time in the sport climbing environment.
Cheers,
--Michael