On Fear Of Falling

[fadeaccompli]

I'm relatively new to climbing--about three months now--and mostly climb at the gym, and I'm running into some interesting psychological blocks in my bouldering lately. If I've fallen off a route before--especially if it happened unexpectedly, and high up--I find it a hell of a lot harder to get back on that same route again later, despite not having picked up any real injuries or even pain in the process. (Hurrah for padded gym floors, plus crash pads.)

So...is there any particularly good way to work past this block? It keeps coming up especially on routes that go fairly high, or that are really tricky to climb back down from. It's not bothering me at all when I'm on a rope; after a few rounds of that, I knew I wasn't going to fall very far, so I can cheerfully plummet off the wall again and again. But in bouldering, sometimes it's enough to make me not try a route at all, because I've done a solid thud from the top hold before.

Suggestions? Anecdotes? I'm just hoping there's a better answer than "wait for it to go away."

Comments

[wpadmirer]

When I did boulder, I never boulder any height without a spotter. Having a spotter really changes the fear level substantially. Also, having a climbing partner can shame you into trying things that scare you! (grin)

My gym actually requires a spotter for certain heights, which I think is always a smart thing.

[fadeaccompli]

I'd love to go climbing with a spotter more often, but my schedule doesn't really allow it; I'm generally happy if one climb a week is with friends. (This is also why I do so much bouldering instead of belay climbing, as I prefer the latter.) Maybe I should start leaving the really intimidating routes for when I do have a spotter, though.

[wpadmirer]

That's probably a good idea.

I actually got desperate enough for a top roping partner I put an ad on Craig's List. It worked! (grin)