Name: Rock Warriors Way | the Fear of Falling
Uploaded: 2024-09-11T12:59:50.000Z
Duration: 18 min 13 s
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Hello there, my name is Jason Schmalz and I'm an AMGA single pitch instructor and today our video is going to be a little bit different in that we're not going to talk through some technical climbing solutions but more focus on the mental side of climbing, specifically moving through the fear of falling and how that can be beneficial.

Over the last, I'd say, 18 to 24 months of my climbing journey, as I've expanded my objectives and gotten on bigger and bigger stuff, I've found that my limitation has not been physical strength, it has not been climbing technique, but it's actually been mental fears that have caused me to back off of challenges.

And so in order to address that, I came across a great resource that I'd love to share with you which is a book called Rock Warrior's Way by Arno Ildner and if you don't have a copy of this book, I would recommend you pick it up, but I did want to share three key concepts that I got out of reading that book, I actually read the book twice and I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of these concepts or if you've read the book, if you had additional takeaways.

So be sure to leave something in the comments about that, I'd like to kind of start a dialogue because I think this mental side of climbing is a big one for a lot of people.

But the first concept that the book touches on that I really connected with is breaking through plateaus by removing what the book calls power leaks.

So the book wants you to be a powerful climber, meaning that you're able to dedicate all your strength and abilities to the task at hand, which is the climb.

And what the book observes is power leaks are coming up with all these different what if scenarios in your mind, whether it's pro coming out on a fall or taking a big fall that you get hurt or potentially hitting the ground if you fall or the rock coming out, all these different things that there may be some validity, but our mind makes them out to be way bigger than what they really are.

And what we do as we start to climb through hard stuff where we're afraid of falling is we dedicate more mental attention to those what if scenarios, which the book calls power leaks, and very little mental attention to the actual climb.

And I found even in observing myself, I became almost like a beginner climber on hard climbs because I was thinking so much about these what if scenarios.

So the book goes through some techniques on how to remove those power leaks, which I'd like to share with you now.

The first part is to, we want to be totally confident in the pro that we have in the wall before going through a crux section.

So if I'm not totally confident to fall on the pro that I have, I need to figure out a way to beef that up because I don't want a power leak going to what if my pro comes out of the wall because that's not really quantifiable.

So if I need to place an extra cam or maybe place a nut below a cam that I have placed or two nuts or sling a horn or whatever it is where I feel very confident in the pro that I have, that's step one.

So now I've limited, I've kind of drawn a box around worst case scenarios on what I'm going to fall on.

The second part of the technique is to look through the crux and identify what's my next safe spot.

So the safe spot is going to be one of two things.

It's either going to be where I can place another good piece of pro or it's going to be a place where the climbing becomes easier.

You know, maybe it turns into a ramp or the grade eases where I can kind of escape the hard section.

And then the third part of the technique is to look at the pro that I have that I'm confident in and that safe zone and look at all the different fall potentials between those areas and look down below me and say, okay, if I fell five feet, 10 feet toward that safe zone or even right below the safe zone, what does that fall look like and visualize it in my mind.

And so now I've moved past this, you know, all these, you know, kind of hypothetical scenarios to I've quantified, okay, worst case fall, I'm going to fall to about that point.

Is that a clean fall and can I accept it?

That's the key is to go through those three steps to quantify a worst case fall and to say, hey, I'm okay.

I accept that as the worst case fall and I'm okay to progress through this climb with that risk.

So now what I've done is I've plugged up that power leak because I've, before I even started climbing said, I accept all the possible scenarios of falling.

And so now I can take all that mental ability that I had wrapped up in what if scenarios and dedicate it back to the climb.

I can really focus on foot and hand holds in order to push through the crux.

And so now I've become a powerful climber because I don't have those power leaks.

So that's the first concept, breaking through plateaus by removing power leaks.

I want you to practice that when you're out lead climbing especially.

The second concept is getting into bigger objectives by redefining success.

The book goes through great lengths to redefine success for the climber as not topping out of a climb, but instead looking at what I can bring to the climb as a technique for redefining success.

So let me build that a little bit for you.

So one thing that I always want to bring to a climb that's a big objective or is maybe a harder climb than I've been on before is a desire to learn.

So now my definition of success is am I learning?

So I can learn whether I fall or I top out.

I also learn a lot through topping out, of course, that, oh, wow, I'm capable of this.

I'm capable of climbing this grade or capable of climbing in this terrain.

Another thing you may want to bring to the climb is a comfort zone that you want to expand.

So normally when we push objectives to bigger or harder, we're trying to expand what we're comfortable with.

So by coming to a climb with a desire to expand my comfort zone, there's multiple ways to do that that don't really even entail whether or not I top out or not.

It's being in new scenarios that stress me out, that cause me stress.

In a way, I almost want to be stressed because I know that's my comfort zone expanding.

So redefining success is expanding my comfort zone so that when I come back to that terrain the next time, I'm more comfortable.

I may still be a little bit afraid, but I'm less afraid than I was the time before.

And then if I go back again, I'm less afraid than that time and so on and so forth until

I actually become quite comfortable and can move even toward the next step.

So a comfort zone that wants to be expanded is a great redefinition of success.

A final kind of redefinition of success is simply exposure to a new place.

So there's so many great destinations in climbing, even in the United States or locally where you live, that being able to just get out and in those environments in and of itself is a success.

Hey, I worked toward climbing in Red Rock Canyon.

Hey, I worked toward climbing in Circa the Towers and now I'm in Circa the Towers on

And it almost doesn't even matter if you fall or you make a mistake or you mess up the navigation or you mess up the beta because, hey, I am in this place and I am doing it and I'm getting exposure to a new environment.

So I encourage you to define that kind of milestone of getting in new environments or terrains as a success point in and of itself.

One thing that can help you to go through these redefinitions of success, and there's no doubt through these redefinitions there's still fear, is consider hiring a guide or pairing up with a climbing mentor that can help you expand that comfort zone faster or that can help you expand that learning growth faster.

One thing you'll learn even in doing that is, wow, climbing is more rewarding and I can grow faster with partnerships.

The last concept I wanted to share with you is the concept of learning more about yourself through climbing.

For me, I've come to the point in my climbing journey where my mental growth has actually started to outpace my physical growth in climbing.

So what I've gained mentally in expanding my comfort zone has outpaced what I've gained strength-wise or climbing technique-wise.

Some key points to that is learning how to control my mind versus allowing my mind to control me.

So you'll notice when you get into cruxes or hard parts that you get this tunnel vision and you get this heavy breathing and over-gripping and that's your mind controlling you.

And being able to observe my mind almost in a third-person way or an objective way, I can see, wow, my mind is controlling me and is there a way I can take back that control?

Is there a way that I can control my mind?

So really identifying those points and then going through some of the techniques that

I've mentioned before can help you through that.

Another key learning more about yourself point is my mind's ability to accept things versus resist things.

To give you a great example, is on a hard climb where the holds are bad or the pro is terrible or there's a run-out section or it's wet or it's dirty, where I would maybe resist in the form of complaining or saying, oh, why does it have to be like this or it shouldn't be like this?

And instead accepting, oh, these holds are bad or this pro is bad or this is a run-out section and how am I going to approach that or can I approach that, opens a door for a lot more growing than resisting through complaining or putting down maybe a climb or something like that.

That programs your mind to be more solutions-oriented than to just shut down and say, oh, I can't do this or I can't do run-out sections or I shouldn't do run-out sections.

So that accepting versus resisting is kind of a great learning more about yourself point.

The last learning more about yourself is by redefining success and pushing through and expanding these comfort zones, I've learned personally that the joy of growing is one of the highest forms of self-actualization I can get through climbing versus the joy of accomplishing.

So just growing through climbing, seeing myself become a more well-rounded climber, going through that journey with peers and experiencing those victories, even through falling, even through not fully achieving a climb or having to aid through sections, but still growing through that process has been rewarding.

So anyway, those are some three concepts I took from that book, Rock Warrior's Way.

I'd like to look at a climb that I just did with you to show you practical application of that, how I pushed through a 5-10 crux on trad and show you, hey, this is specifically how I use these concepts and was able to achieve some victories.

So this is a route called Jefferson Airplane and it's a 5-10 crux anyways, and you can see I'm in the crux on this first take and I've placed gear above me to satisfy my fear of falling.

Unfortunately, I placed the gear in a key handhold to get through the crux and you can see I'm having trouble because I can't get both of my hands in that hold and the hand that I actually do have in the hold is going to get pinched by the cam when I fall.

So I have a lot of things working against me.

Firstly, I can't do the proper movement and then secondly, when I fall, I'm going to actually hurt myself more than I would otherwise because my hand is going to get stuck and you can see right here, my hand's stuck and my belayer, being a good belayer, allows me to get out of that.

So now on this second attempt, you can see I've removed the cam and so now I can actually do the crux as it was designed.

So now I can get two hands in that hold, which I'll do here in a second, and start to explore how to do the crux properly.

And I'm still scared at this point to fall, so even though I have a good pro strategy below that I believe in, I will not believe in it until I actually see it.

So you can see I'm still very timid on the movement and still kind of exploring the crux a little bit and part of that is because I'm afraid to fall.

But you can see I fall this first time and looking at it from third person is a very unintimidating fall, similar to what you might experience in the gym, maybe five or ten feet.

But nonetheless, I've built trust in the pro now.

So I believe in the pro, I know where I need to go, I have the right hand holds, and so

I'm progressing now through the climb for the first time with a clear head to actually explore how does this sequence go.

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Rock Warriors Way | the Fear of Falling

stick

mental

technique

journey