I just wanted to say, as a psychologists, that I am really impressed with this whole series! What you do is called "exposure technique", but you also do it in such a way that the climber is persuaded into trying to go outside of their comfort zone. Requires quite empathic and social skills! Well done!
Thanks, and yea fear has similarities no matter the context... If it's actually fear of situations that are safe you usually can work with gentle exposure over time
As another psychologist I approve of this message 😝 nothing changes our beliefs like new experiences and new evidence! Way harder to “think” yourself into a new belief vs actually living it!
What also helps a lot is when you do a proper partner check (which you should always do) and check your climbing gear before the climb. It also helped me to do a bit of research on things like breaking strength of carabiners, how ropes are tested, what it takes to tear out a bolt (even a badly glued one) and so on. When you rationally know that a situation is completely safe it’s easier to convince your subconsciousness. It also helps when you can trust your belayer. I see way too many belayers who let go with the brake hand or are otherwise completely sloppy or inattentive. And then of course there is practice, practice, practice. In the gym it’s basically always safe to not clip the top and simply let yourself fall once you’ve touched the top hold. Once I had made that a habit I really managed to progress.
Great video! My second day lead climbing (indoors), I got a good lesson on how fearing the fall can actually make the entire situation worse. Partly due to being super new to lead, when I'm low on the wall I get really nervous. Because of this, I tried to high clip 3rd about 15ish feet up thinking it would be safer. Right after pulling extra slack while reaching for the clip I slipped off and had introduced enough slack that I went all the way to ground before catching tension 🤣. Luckily, I didn't land on anybody, and rolled out of the fall injuring only my ego 😂. Came back the next day and practiced low falls. I quickly realized trusting the belayer to keep a little tension and not high clipping even if I have to go a little higher over last clip is WAY better. Thanks again for the top notch content!
Ok so far this has been the most useful video for me as I transition into lead climbing. A huge unknown for me are the extent of the falls, but this inspires a lot of confidence! I will go take a lot of falls now ;)
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this series!!! I have had crippling fear of falling and the unexplainable, insatiable urge to climb high at the same time. Watching Alex Honnold, Adam Ondra, Tommy Caldwell, and Magnus Midtbo climb super giant walls has always mesmerized me, but my palms and feet pour sweat at the thought of falling in that exposure. This series and getting trust in my equipment and the gym equipment have really helped. I hope one day to see you and all the others on a giant exposed rock and I'll be able to die happy (hopefully not then and hopefully not suddenly 😉) Thank you for your channel and please never stop helping schmucks like myself push back that fear response. Climbing is so satisfyingly zenful! Take care. Cheers
@@HardIsEasy A not vertical part of a route where you can progress if you trust in your feet and in the adherence of your shoes and you can basically use your hands just to lean on it and the quickdraws are not so near to save your ass if you slide... The situation where 7a overhanging climbers shit in their pants on a 6a+ LOL
@@HardIsEasy I enjoy more overhanging now, but I learned climbing on slabs (I will be 50 in a few months so I had an old style approach to climbing when I was young) so I can control my fear, but anyway it's always a big fight with my mind to climb slabs. You can't imagine how much I laughed when I put my son, a young competitive climber with an 8a+ grade, on a 6b slab slippery and tricky as fuck with the quickdraws very far and on the crux he shouted "take!". Young climbers are not used to it much more, but it's very useful to climb slabs for the self confidence.
Thank you so much for this great content! I only just went through the lead climbing course and I screamed so loud on my first fall everyone in the gym started clapping and cheering for me to make me feel better haha.
I came back to this having watched Hanna send 7b like a boss just to remember how far she came. I am in such a similar situation, currently only top roping 6b outdoors and only dreaming of this kind of progress. Its a great inspiration, thanks for the great video :)
Just went through a headgame tuneup in the last month -- started in the roof of the lead-area in my local gym where the falls were all super clean and convinced myself to get up on some things outside my skill-level (7b and above). Even falls at the second bolt in this gym are super-clean (gym insurance keeps them very conservative with bolt placement =D) and so my climbing partner started calling me out for lame whippers "the bolt was only at your waste dude..." We started competing to see who could take the longest whipper (without getting yelled at) and somehow looking at my position on the wall and aiming for a big whipper really helped me put the fall distance in context and start to get comfortable -- I was able to make moves on that first 7b, thrashed my way to the top, and now each time I go to the gym, I get a little farther before taking my first fall -- waiting until the next clip is at my waist or below, knowing that even if I fell that far out, I'd still only fall 1/3 of the way to the ground. Last weekend was my first time outside after the shift in training, and I managed to get on a 7a+ for the first time and at least do all the moves -- the send should be on the horizon. Also, to maintain my mental gains, I made a commitment not to do any more top-roping in the gym or outside, Leading does as much or more to help train endurance and since my lead-bolt-to-bolt grade and my top-rope grade are (ought to be) the same, I'm not keeping myself from trying harder moves by only leading. Each lead-fall I take in the gym (on the gym's complementary lead ropes!) is one more reinforcement of my risk judgement. Victory whips are a great way to get your fear under control at the beginning of a session. Warmup on an easy 5c and just let go at the top. One cautionary tale from my climbing mentor: He was out at the Red River Gorge a few years ago, and climbed up an overhung 6c to warmup for projects, and chose to take a victory whip from the top to warm up his lead-head. The belay spot for this very overhung climb was the back of a cave with some sharp stalactites hanging down from the ceiling, and his sudden fall from the top pulled his belayer's head (no helmet...) straight up into one of these spikes. Lots of blood, mild concussion, very sketchy lowering, and lots of stress -- the belayer probably should have been paying more attention to his position, but as a climber, you need to be aware that even safe falls can have unintended consequences -- pay attention and set yourself up carefully.
Great job on your progress! And yea, ppl pay to little attention to belaying... thanks for the story. I'll do more belay related videos in the future ;)
I switched to bouldering because of my fear of heights. Then I recently thought about giving climbing with a rope another go and challenge myself mentally. These (and all your others as well) videos are really rad! So informative, and Your narration style is great! Cheers!
Mate, what a great video. I started climbing year and a half ago, and was scared of doing a single step. I overcame it on boulders, i overcame it on top rope, now this video gives all i need to overcome it while leading. Thanks!
For my first top rope attempt, I was scared to do an easy Dino that my arms were like 2 inches to short to just grab. I went to Utah and climbed while a professional belayed, after I had just repelled 200 ft the day before. That built my confidence.
I started climbing at 56 ... and I'm still 56. I'd appreciate any videos on climbing for old people. Maybe something inspirational, like someone in their 80's who still climbs and still loves it!
Auto belays are so much more scary. I’m pretty comfortable with heights and falling but the auto belay scared me so much the first few time I used one. And I also found that people at the gym I worked at were also much more scared with the auto belay because it take a few inches for the resistance to kick in. With a partner they can “take” and you can feel they have you. Making it a bit easier to let go.
So good to hear the part part that men are as afraid as women. I read a blog from a woman yesterday where she said things like "i did it as a girl just like the big guys" or "you guys don't understand this fear so stop reading" it made me feel bad to have fear as a man and made me angry how little she made women, when I know so many brave women
Im in El Chorro after 3 years off the rope. My confidence has dropped significantly so i shall try these tips tomorrow and hope to start enjoying routes again. Thanks for the video
Your videos are a clever approach to the training of falls. I always avoided it because it wasn't a natural state of mind. Falling on purpose was scary and it didn't change anything. I tried this and it may really work. I just feel that this is has to be a continuous work, a bit like meditation. Our primal fears are strong 🙂
Really like your videos. Here in Australia a lot of my climbing areas are trad; falling can be messy. The higher grades are often overhung, so if you fall, you fall into space. On slabs, or on less than 90 degrees, 4 metres above your last camalot or Friend, falling can be serious. Gear can pop out of the crack, slabs can give you a cheesegrater look on your palms. And now in the Grampians they are banning bolts.
So grateful for this video bc I'm exactly here with fear of falling after learning lead climbing and lead belaying at gym. I had to go back to top rope and auto belay to feel confident again in climbing vertically as well as falling. I need to practice the little falls for a while as well as breathing during falling vs screaming like I do. This video is so good and very helpful. Thank you all!
I have come back here to watch this video, since I finally started to push myself a little bit more in my climbing. Still scary as hell... But listening again to your tips is mind-opening. Thanks! This is soooo useful and motivating, together with the generous help of the good friends/belayers I finally met!
Really good video on explaining the psychological part of falling, and the fear management. Way quicker on seeing them and doing the routing, than reading a whole book on it.
Outstanding training. You do such a good job with this! Building trust and managing fear is so important to improving skills as a climber. Thank you so much!
I think it shouldn’t be getting over the fear but more accepting it as part of the process and enjoy it, fear of falling never really goes away its part of instinct. Many pro climbers such as Stefano Ghisolfi have said its always there. Great video!
Just recently found your channel, and started climbing about 6 months ago. There are many great takeaways from this that will help me progress and get used to the idea of falling. Thanks for the informative video and am excited to continue on with the rest of this series!
Great video! Love it. I have a request, could you upload more 'raw' footage from the people you filmed? I love to see people climbing, especially the up-close and high on the rock shots :)
Man, you are awesome. The energy, the fun, the little insertions (like strenght, technique...), the comments (this is the head)and the pedagogy of a cool young teacher. I must write, that i was going through a lot of HOW TO, but your tutorial i the first i have fun with. watch it just out of fun or if i wanna get my mind to the right spot, and the first tutorial (apart the blade runner game back in the days) that i burned through. i was so hooked, i could not stop! I know you are just starting here, but man, be consistent and put a video per week out, and you are gonna be a hell of a youtuber!! Namaste
this is exactly what i needed to see. I've been avoiding lead climbing bc im afraid but im going on a climbing trip in a few months so im gonna start training in the gym. Thanks and great video
very nice vid. One thing I learned is that if people that are only leading in their comfy zone ask you "what's the difficulty of that route" is you have to say "it's easy for you. no problem" if it's outside their zone. Also, trust in the belayer has to be built first ;)
I have come back to this mini series. Had a pretty hard slam into the wall a few months back and its put a mental block in my climbing. I was getting really comfortable with falling until that happened. It feels like my climbing has regressed so much since then.
I hope now you feel a little better. definitely hard to come back from physical blow and that subsequent mental block, but i really hope once you decide “fuck it, i miss climbing” you feel impassioned enough to try again, and to keep trying despite the experience. it’s good that you aren’t pretending you don’t feel afraid imo, but in the same way, don’t forget that you can start to gain progress again and that our minds are so flexible and just like you gained that confidence before, you can do it again, even if you’re scared or more apprehensive. you got this.
@@chattymime thanks for your reply, I'm a firm believer that just because something bad happens if you love it you got to get back on it an work through the process. It's been a rough season of inconsistencies and now recovering with a bit more of a severe injury, it's been a tough lesson in my short climbing career but 1 I am looking forward to and getting back in the climbing gym first then the ropes soon. Thankfully it's a couple of months taking it easy, it could easily of been a life changing scenario.
Love your videos! It actually got me through one whole day of quarantine. Not sure if that’s good or bad. You’re very talented and I look forward to your membership feature on TH-cam.
Thanks Matthew! It's good it's gooood :D I've been watching climbing movies my self to stay in a good mood :D And yea Membership feature is already launched - you can find JOIN button next to subscribe or unsubscribe buttons :D
Your videos are so entertaining. I went top-rope climbing first time yesterday and you explained all my feelings very accurately. It is so scary in the beginning, letting go of the wall is scary. Baby steps.
That was a great video, your tips are really useful, good progression and good explanation, I know lots of climbers stronger than me climbing weaker than they could just because they don't take unexpected or uncontrolled falls.. I did a similar falling progression with my friend who was climbing 6b boulders in gym and taking the quickdraws on 5b routes, I told him hey you could be doing 7a for sure, and he looks at me like are you crazy!? jaja.. after just a week of 3 days climbing he flashes a 6c and a 6c+ on the first day he tries that difficult, we also try to rely more on the footholds, like trying to stay without hands or stand on bad footholds untill he slips off.. but the mental training was the key! Im going to add to my knowledge the part when you say "just fall when you start feeling fear, even if you reach the move" WD!
Love your videos and insights. I took a week-long course on rock climbing and everyone's focus was pushing the limits and flashing the projects while all of us were and still are beginners. After that now, I know that I can trust the rope but I'm still afraid of falling. Gonna give your method a try!!!
I don't even know how I found this channel. I do rope access work, not rock climbing. But I must say, I'm really enjoying all the videos I see! Maybe I will try rock climbing soon thanks to you :)
This is my personal real experience! Before I watched this video, I couldn’t even get red point a 6A… My climbing life has changed after I watched this video and applied it to climbing. I remember the first day, I practiced on taking some test falls when I started leading a route I never climbed before , it was a 6A+. I got to the top without any take. I was freaked out but I was fine. Then it all started from there. After 2 months, the highest grad I sent was 6C+. Change the mind, change the climb
I liked those falling games and loved the music I'm trad and aid climber with 15 years of experience at the moment, What I like the most is opening little and beautiful multipich routes around home around 5/a2+ while in a climbing party or lead rope solo. I almost never fall.. and mostly I don't climb anything I can't down climb or aid up; trusting the pieces I stick to the rock does not justify falling in my mind. I started sport climbing and continued for 3 years before going trad and aid and never looking back to the bolts. I just had 3 experiences or so while sport climbing wich were.. horrible. hard catches.. shins hitting the rock so hard I thought I was breaking'em and bad landings..😅 and I think one of the reasons I'm stuck around 6a is the fear of falling, luckily I have the best belayers in the world with me I think I'll go back sport climbing just to try those falls you shown bc not wanting to fall doesn't quit falling potential.
Pursuing people to fall first time in the gym is way too brutal. There's too much new to take in: shoes, harness, rope, climbing itself, trusting the grip. I think I didn't 'properly' fall first 3-4 sessions when I became confident with everything around and pushed myself to being totally pumped and fingers opened up. Before that I was just clinging to the wall with dead man's grip screaming TAKE with a very high voice and leaning back on the rope..
He says in the video that if you are climbing for the first time you should try "falling" from the auto-belay from a low hight gradually building up. The same goes for top-roping as you need to learn to trust the rope.
@@aspuzling I know what he's saying, experience may vary. Like I said I never really fell until probs fourth time in the gym when I was completely conscious about that. I would be terrified to let go first time on the rope in one's life.
Man, this material is awesome, I am in that part where I am taking lead climbs (5+ slab climbing) and start seeing already the fear taking part of my climbing routine. I now know that both the rope and my belayer would catch my fall, but constantly thinking that I will rub my whole face against the granitic wall that we have here in Cordoba Argentina. I am sharing this video to my climbing mates so we can start practicing this the next time we go out to the rock.
This was sooo helpful! I started to practice falling but since it .was not in a gradual way it made feel much more scared when I started lead climbing. These slow yet steady steps definitely helps to overcome fear !
Thanks a lot for the video! Great topic, presented very well, and it's nice to listen to you. Keep up the good stuff! BUT in my humble opinion you miss a point or at least you touched it very briefly. Let me try to explain: Most people start indoors nowadays and move to outdoor climbing later on. Indoors routes are usually safe and in a solid overhang. Many gyms don't allow lead climbing on anything but overhanging routes. My personal fear of falling in these kinds of routes is close to zero as the risk is very low and thus I fall a lot. Then you go outdoors and start climbing there and things get different, at least in Germany. Protection in routes 6b or less is usually horrible and the risk of injuries is very real. When you ask experienced climbers how to do these routes or what to do in case you are falling you'll get "just don't fall and you will be fine". I can only speculate why this is the case but it is very common in many German climbing areas. So when you climb outdoors below 6b you don't learn how to fall because you are usually not allowed to and you don't really learn to climb on real rock. So what people do is to ask stronger friends to put topropes for them. When you climb above 6b protection usually improves for some reason but then you need to retrain your mind how to fall.
Heey yeaaa! You are so right! Actually, I did filmed me talking about this point, but didn't added to this video to make it shorter, but probably gonna include a bit in the next one ;) Again thanks for amazing comment!
I was like a 2 for my first top rope route. Lead climbing, still a solid 3, probably just getting down to a 2. But I'm getting there. Thanks for the video.
I know the video is a bit old by now, but here goes. My first time I was on top rope and I would describe my fear level of letting go as 1, maybe 1.5. My belayer locked it real good, and I could feel the rope holding, so despite a certain amount of unease, I just let go. About a week later, I was on an auto-belay and hot damn, I almost shat my pants. Level 3 for sure. The thing had such light resistance, it didn't give any tactile feedback of being able to safely slow me down, even though I just saw other people using it. Rope is definitely waaaaaaaay easier on the mind.
Fear of falling and fear of heights are also different. But you can train them both. For fear of heights just climb really high and overhanging climbs/scary climbs and learn to focus on what you can control... your climbing and checking/testing your safety gear so you learn to trust it
my first climbs were when I was like 5 with my dad belaying. I had absolutely no fear of falling at that time. when I came back to climbing, I was fine when my friends were belaying, but the auto-belay was terrifying
One time I was climbing in the gym with the topas belaying machine. But when I fell, it was going down extremely fast. This was really scaring me. Later they repaired the defective Topas machine ;-) .
Hey, I just found this channel a few hours ago, and after watching some of your videos I think you're doing an amazing content! I will definitely stay here for longer :)
I’ve always wanted to be a tree climber and I’ve bought all the climbing gear but never really used it Bc I was always afraid of falling and failure. Love your channel!!!💪🏼💪🏼🤣🤣🤣🔥
“Take is your best friend followed by the best excuses” i feel attacked
I just wanted to say, as a psychologists, that I am really impressed with this whole series! What you do is called "exposure technique", but you also do it in such a way that the climber is persuaded into trying to go outside of their comfort zone. Requires quite empathic and social skills! Well done!
Thanks, and yea fear has similarities no matter the context... If it's actually fear of situations that are safe you usually can work with gentle exposure over time
@@HardIsEasy yes, it is actually the evidence base treatment of phobias!
As another psychologist I approve of this message 😝 nothing changes our beliefs like new experiences and new evidence! Way harder to “think” yourself into a new belief vs actually living it!
What also helps a lot is when you do a proper partner check (which you should always do) and check your climbing gear before the climb. It also helped me to do a bit of research on things like breaking strength of carabiners, how ropes are tested, what it takes to tear out a bolt (even a badly glued one) and so on. When you rationally know that a situation is completely safe it’s easier to convince your subconsciousness. It also helps when you can trust your belayer. I see way too many belayers who let go with the brake hand or are otherwise completely sloppy or inattentive.
And then of course there is practice, practice, practice. In the gym it’s basically always safe to not clip the top and simply let yourself fall once you’ve touched the top hold. Once I had made that a habit I really managed to progress.
Yeaaa partner check is suuuper good point, adding this to next video ;)
Thank You!
7:03 "I wanna chalk up but it's way too hard to hold that hold so I just keep pushing forward" everybody knows the situation :D ^^
Haha yeaaa :)))
Great video! My second day lead climbing (indoors), I got a good lesson on how fearing the fall can actually make the entire situation worse. Partly due to being super new to lead, when I'm low on the wall I get really nervous. Because of this, I tried to high clip 3rd about 15ish feet up thinking it would be safer. Right after pulling extra slack while reaching for the clip I slipped off and had introduced enough slack that I went all the way to ground before catching tension 🤣. Luckily, I didn't land on anybody, and rolled out of the fall injuring only my ego 😂.
Came back the next day and practiced low falls. I quickly realized trusting the belayer to keep a little tension and not high clipping even if I have to go a little higher over last clip is WAY better.
Thanks again for the top notch content!
Wow first of all the story is crazy... Falling from 3rd clip with no injuries... You are a parkour ninja ;) good job.
And thanks for liking the vid ;)
Ok so far this has been the most useful video for me as I transition into lead climbing. A huge unknown for me are the extent of the falls, but this inspires a lot of confidence! I will go take a lot of falls now ;)
same man !
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this series!!! I have had crippling fear of falling and the unexplainable, insatiable urge to climb high at the same time. Watching Alex Honnold, Adam Ondra, Tommy Caldwell, and Magnus Midtbo climb super giant walls has always mesmerized me, but my palms and feet pour sweat at the thought of falling in that exposure. This series and getting trust in my equipment and the gym equipment have really helped. I hope one day to see you and all the others on a giant exposed rock and I'll be able to die happy (hopefully not then and hopefully not suddenly 😉) Thank you for your channel and please never stop helping schmucks like myself push back that fear response. Climbing is so satisfyingly zenful! Take care. Cheers
Thanks as well! I'm sure all of the guys you mentioned get fears in certain situations and that keeps them walking on this planet ;)
@@HardIsEasy that's reassuring to know they're still human 😊 been binging your whole channel and it's just SO good! 👍🏼 Thanks again!
You should do a video "overcoming the fear of falling on slabs" LOL
There is no falling on slabs... It's sliding :)))) but yea... Define a slab first...
@@HardIsEasy A not vertical part of a route where you can progress if you trust in your feet and in the adherence of your shoes and you can basically use your hands just to lean on it and the quickdraws are not so near to save your ass if you slide... The situation where 7a overhanging climbers shit in their pants on a 6a+ LOL
@@gobbidimerda2496 what do you enjoy more 7a overhaning climbing or 6a+ slabs? :D
@@HardIsEasy I enjoy more overhanging now, but I learned climbing on slabs (I will be 50 in a few months so I had an old style approach to climbing when I was young) so I can control my fear, but anyway it's always a big fight with my mind to climb slabs. You can't imagine how much I laughed when I put my son, a young competitive climber with an 8a+ grade, on a 6b slab slippery and tricky as fuck with the quickdraws very far and on the crux he shouted "take!". Young climbers are not used to it much more, but it's very useful to climb slabs for the self confidence.
@@HardIsEasy Both. I always wanted to be a good all around climber. So we can learn always something from difficulties. ;)
Thank you so much for this great content! I only just went through the lead climbing course and I screamed so loud on my first fall everyone in the gym started clapping and cheering for me to make me feel better haha.
Nice congratulations :D Next time ppl will be cheering after you send something :D also feels great for the ego :DDDD
I came back to this having watched Hanna send 7b like a boss just to remember how far she came. I am in such a similar situation, currently only top roping 6b outdoors and only dreaming of this kind of progress. Its a great inspiration, thanks for the great video :)
Inspiring right? :D Thanks for nice comment ;)
Just went through a headgame tuneup in the last month -- started in the roof of the lead-area in my local gym where the falls were all super clean and convinced myself to get up on some things outside my skill-level (7b and above). Even falls at the second bolt in this gym are super-clean (gym insurance keeps them very conservative with bolt placement =D) and so my climbing partner started calling me out for lame whippers "the bolt was only at your waste dude..."
We started competing to see who could take the longest whipper (without getting yelled at) and somehow looking at my position on the wall and aiming for a big whipper really helped me put the fall distance in context and start to get comfortable -- I was able to make moves on that first 7b, thrashed my way to the top, and now each time I go to the gym, I get a little farther before taking my first fall -- waiting until the next clip is at my waist or below, knowing that even if I fell that far out, I'd still only fall 1/3 of the way to the ground. Last weekend was my first time outside after the shift in training, and I managed to get on a 7a+ for the first time and at least do all the moves -- the send should be on the horizon.
Also, to maintain my mental gains, I made a commitment not to do any more top-roping in the gym or outside, Leading does as much or more to help train endurance and since my lead-bolt-to-bolt grade and my top-rope grade are (ought to be) the same, I'm not keeping myself from trying harder moves by only leading. Each lead-fall I take in the gym (on the gym's complementary lead ropes!) is one more reinforcement of my risk judgement.
Victory whips are a great way to get your fear under control at the beginning of a session. Warmup on an easy 5c and just let go at the top.
One cautionary tale from my climbing mentor: He was out at the Red River Gorge a few years ago, and climbed up an overhung 6c to warmup for projects, and chose to take a victory whip from the top to warm up his lead-head. The belay spot for this very overhung climb was the back of a cave with some sharp stalactites hanging down from the ceiling, and his sudden fall from the top pulled his belayer's head (no helmet...) straight up into one of these spikes. Lots of blood, mild concussion, very sketchy lowering, and lots of stress -- the belayer probably should have been paying more attention to his position, but as a climber, you need to be aware that even safe falls can have unintended consequences -- pay attention and set yourself up carefully.
Great job on your progress!
And yea, ppl pay to little attention to belaying... thanks for the story. I'll do more belay related videos in the future ;)
Yaaaaay, the MOST HUMANE and positive falling lessin I have ever got. Going to train right away, thanks!
I switched to bouldering because of my fear of heights. Then I recently thought about giving climbing with a rope another go and challenge myself mentally. These (and all your others as well) videos are really rad! So informative, and Your narration style is great! Cheers!
Mate, what a great video. I started climbing year and a half ago, and was scared of doing a single step. I overcame it on boulders, i overcame it on top rope, now this video gives all i need to overcome it while leading. Thanks!
For my first top rope attempt, I was scared to do an easy Dino that my arms were like 2 inches to short to just grab. I went to Utah and climbed while a professional belayed, after I had just repelled 200 ft the day before. That built my confidence.
I started climbing at 56 ... and I'm still 56. I'd appreciate any videos on climbing for old people. Maybe something inspirational, like someone in their 80's who still climbs and still loves it!
Excellent advice. At 70, I must try this next time I go to the indoor wall.
Je suis bloqué dans ma progression par le mentale, la peur de la chute, alors merci beaucoup pour cette superbe vidéo !
This channel has increased my fear of falling by showing all the ways gear can fail.
Auto belays are so much more scary. I’m pretty comfortable with heights and falling but the auto belay scared me so much the first few time I used one. And I also found that people at the gym I worked at were also much more scared with the auto belay because it take a few inches for the resistance to kick in. With a partner they can “take” and you can feel they have you. Making it a bit easier to let go.
"We are better hiding it" nice
So good to hear the part part that men are as afraid as women. I read a blog from a woman yesterday where she said things like "i did it as a girl just like the big guys" or "you guys don't understand this fear so stop reading" it made me feel bad to have fear as a man and made me angry how little she made women, when I know so many brave women
Hannah did great. Your idea of teaching fall confidence makes so much sense.
Im in El Chorro after 3 years off the rope. My confidence has dropped significantly so i shall try these tips tomorrow and hope to start enjoying routes again. Thanks for the video
Your videos are a clever approach to the training of falls. I always avoided it because it wasn't a natural state of mind. Falling on purpose was scary and it didn't change anything. I tried this and it may really work. I just feel that this is has to be a continuous work, a bit like meditation. Our primal fears are strong 🙂
Yea keep watching all the videos in this playlist and you will know what to do ;)
th-cam.com/play/PL5FEOhiQGSo_1vzKuUKpckn-_Klg5zuqE.html
Really like your videos. Here in Australia a lot of my climbing areas are trad; falling can be messy. The higher grades are often overhung, so if you fall, you fall into space. On slabs, or on less than 90 degrees, 4 metres above your last camalot or Friend, falling can be serious. Gear can pop out of the crack, slabs can give you a cheesegrater look on your palms. And now in the Grampians they are banning bolts.
GREAT JOB BY BOTH OF YOU. REALLY ENJOYED SHARING YOUR FUN.
Thank you so much ;)
So grateful for this video bc I'm exactly here with fear of falling after learning lead climbing and lead belaying at gym. I had to go back to top rope and auto belay to feel confident again in climbing vertically as well as falling. I need to practice the little falls for a while as well as breathing during falling vs screaming like I do. This video is so good and very helpful. Thank you all!
Thank you too!!!
I have come back here to watch this video, since I finally started to push myself a little bit more in my climbing. Still scary as hell... But listening again to your tips is mind-opening.
Thanks!
This is soooo useful and motivating, together with the generous help of the good friends/belayers I finally met!
Really good video on explaining the psychological part of falling, and the fear management. Way quicker on seeing them and doing the routing, than reading a whole book on it.
Thank you so much!
This was amazing. I love how thorough you are with the subject. Looking forward to the next episode.
Cheers! The next one will be similar style, but maybe more climbing :D
Outstanding training. You do such a good job with this! Building trust and managing fear is so important to improving skills as a climber. Thank you so much!
Helping my buddy get his lead certification. This video is in my curriculum. Thank you!
Man, you work around your videos is amazing, please continue this kind of content
Thanks! And sure... in a process of one more vid of this series ;)
@@HardIsEasy so psyched to see it ! :D
This would've helped me 3 years ago, if i was climbing then. I'm late to the party, but glad i found your channel 😁
I think it shouldn’t be getting over the fear but more accepting it as part of the process and enjoy it, fear of falling never really goes away its part of instinct. Many pro climbers such as Stefano Ghisolfi have said its always there. Great video!
Just recently found your channel, and started climbing about 6 months ago. There are many great takeaways from this that will help me progress and get used to the idea of falling. Thanks for the informative video and am excited to continue on with the rest of this series!
So true, it took me a year to get rid of my fear. I should say I can control the fear better now.
22th time I watched this serie, still enjoying
Thanks for your sharing 👍
No problem 👍
Great video. I’m definitely stuck climbing what I know I can finish and I’d like to start tackling problems that are harder so this speaks to me!
This is where im at, in my climbing journey... Im a 6b climber (atm) but notice I cant progress because of fear..
So thank you so much!!
Cool, enjoy full playlist for your motivation ;)
Watching again after a year and yeah - still the best climbing video I have ever seen!
Absolutely great!
Thanks!
you helped me with my fear of falling.. thanks a bunch...
Uuuh, super happy! Thanks for the comment!
I took ideas from this video to the gym yesterday and today with three different super safe belay partners. It made a huge difference!
Great video! Love it.
I have a request, could you upload more 'raw' footage from the people you filmed? I love to see people climbing, especially the up-close and high on the rock shots :)
Next video will have exactly what you want ;)
Man, you are awesome. The energy, the fun, the little insertions (like strenght, technique...), the comments (this is the head)and the pedagogy of a cool young teacher. I must write, that i was going through a lot of HOW TO, but your tutorial i the first i have fun with. watch it just out of fun or if i wanna get my mind to the right spot, and the first tutorial (apart the blade runner game back in the days) that i burned through. i was so hooked, i could not stop!
I know you are just starting here, but man, be consistent and put a video per week out, and you are gonna be a hell of a youtuber!!
Namaste
Great video, had me laughing at the part where Hanna missed the chalk bag and kept going LMAO
Yeaaa that part made me crack a lot when I saw when I was editing :D
😂😂😂😂😂 there you have the proof that chalking is actually a mental thing
@@hannathone8637 tell that my sweaty hands that can't even hold my phone while watching the video
this is exactly what i needed to see. I've been avoiding lead climbing bc im afraid but im going on a climbing trip in a few months so im gonna start training in the gym. Thanks and great video
Great! Thanks, I'll spray you with more tips and tricks before your trip ;)
Been bouldering for about 3 months and I can’t wait for my first outdoor trip. This video was super helpful ✨
Não tem como não curtir!!
Nice video and inspiring technique to help accept falling. I’m going to share this with some of my instructors.
Awesome! Thank you!
very nice vid. One thing I learned is that if people that are only leading in their comfy zone ask you "what's the difficulty of that route" is you have to say "it's easy for you. no problem" if it's outside their zone. Also, trust in the belayer has to be built first ;)
I have come back to this mini series. Had a pretty hard slam into the wall a few months back and its put a mental block in my climbing. I was getting really comfortable with falling until that happened. It feels like my climbing has regressed so much since then.
I hope now you feel a little better. definitely hard to come back from physical blow and that subsequent mental block, but i really hope once you decide “fuck it, i miss climbing” you feel impassioned enough to try again, and to keep trying despite the experience. it’s good that you aren’t pretending you don’t feel afraid imo, but in the same way, don’t forget that you can start to gain progress again and that our minds are so flexible and just like you gained that confidence before, you can do it again, even if you’re scared or more apprehensive. you got this.
@@chattymime thanks for your reply, I'm a firm believer that just because something bad happens if you love it you got to get back on it an work through the process. It's been a rough season of inconsistencies and now recovering with a bit more of a severe injury, it's been a tough lesson in my short climbing career but 1 I am looking forward to and getting back in the climbing gym first then the ropes soon. Thankfully it's a couple of months taking it easy, it could easily of been a life changing scenario.
Love your videos! It actually got me through one whole day of quarantine. Not sure if that’s good or bad. You’re very talented and I look forward to your membership feature on TH-cam.
Thanks Matthew! It's good it's gooood :D I've been watching climbing movies my self to stay in a good mood :D And yea Membership feature is already launched - you can find JOIN button next to subscribe or unsubscribe buttons :D
Good job! 💪 Motivational video before upcoming summer trips 😀👌🎉
It's already summer in Spain! Come here :D
Your videos are so entertaining. I went top-rope climbing first time yesterday and you explained all my feelings very accurately. It is so scary in the beginning, letting go of the wall is scary. Baby steps.
🙈🙈🙈 I just can’t wait for the next one
Nicely nicely done 🧡
That was a great video, your tips are really useful, good progression and good explanation, I know lots of climbers stronger than me climbing weaker than they could just because they don't take unexpected or uncontrolled falls.. I did a similar falling progression with my friend who was climbing 6b boulders in gym and taking the quickdraws on 5b routes, I told him hey you could be doing 7a for sure, and he looks at me like are you crazy!? jaja.. after just a week of 3 days climbing he flashes a 6c and a 6c+ on the first day he tries that difficult, we also try to rely more on the footholds, like trying to stay without hands or stand on bad footholds untill he slips off.. but the mental training was the key! Im going to add to my knowledge the part when you say "just fall when you start feeling fear, even if you reach the move" WD!
Yeaaa so comon! Especially amongst boulderers... Even without technique many can just overpower those 6c-7a grades... Thanks for coment buddy!
Love your videos and insights. I took a week-long course on rock climbing and everyone's focus was pushing the limits and flashing the projects while all of us were and still are beginners. After that now, I know that I can trust the rope but I'm still afraid of falling. Gonna give your method a try!!!
Really helpful. Thanks so much. Please do lots more. Your channel rocks. Like literally and metaphorically 😘
Thank you so much! I do have tons of plans ;)
Writing a comment because you have a wonderful content. Thanks!
This video was amazing. Described me very precisely 🤣 the excuses are my best friends
Great vids! Love the combination of humor and actually learning stuff:)
I don't even know how I found this channel. I do rope access work, not rock climbing. But I must say, I'm really enjoying all the videos I see! Maybe I will try rock climbing soon thanks to you :)
great video! I am paranoid of falling haven't taken outdoor fall yet... new subbie
Thanks for the nice video. Nice tips!
Thanks to you as weļl!
This video series is simply amazing. High quality content, bro! Keep up the good work!
Thanks Lucas!
This is my personal real experience! Before I watched this video, I couldn’t even get red point a 6A… My climbing life has changed after I watched this video and applied it to climbing.
I remember the first day, I practiced on taking some test falls when I started leading a route I never climbed before , it was a 6A+. I got to the top without any take. I was freaked out but I was fine. Then it all started from there. After 2 months, the highest grad I sent was 6C+.
Change the mind, change the climb
I liked those falling games and loved the music
I'm trad and aid climber with 15 years of experience at the moment, What I like the most is opening little and beautiful multipich routes around home around 5/a2+ while in a climbing party or lead rope solo.
I almost never fall.. and mostly I don't climb anything I can't down climb or aid up; trusting the pieces I stick to the rock does not justify falling in my mind.
I started sport climbing and continued for 3 years before going trad and aid and never looking back to the bolts.
I just had 3 experiences or so while sport climbing wich were.. horrible.
hard catches.. shins hitting the rock so hard I thought I was breaking'em and bad landings..😅 and I think one of the reasons I'm stuck around 6a is the fear of falling, luckily I have the best belayers in the world with me
I think I'll go back sport climbing just to try those falls you shown bc not wanting to fall doesn't quit falling potential.
Great video I really enjoyed that. I gave up climbing 40 years ago and yes..... I was afraid of falling.
great Tips!
Thanks!
Pursuing people to fall first time in the gym is way too brutal. There's too much new to take in: shoes, harness, rope, climbing itself, trusting the grip. I think I didn't 'properly' fall first 3-4 sessions when I became confident with everything around and pushed myself to being totally pumped and fingers opened up. Before that I was just clinging to the wall with dead man's grip screaming TAKE with a very high voice and leaning back on the rope..
He says in the video that if you are climbing for the first time you should try "falling" from the auto-belay from a low hight gradually building up. The same goes for top-roping as you need to learn to trust the rope.
@@aspuzling I know what he's saying, experience may vary. Like I said I never really fell until probs fourth time in the gym when I was completely conscious about that. I would be terrified to let go first time on the rope in one's life.
I am a 1. But that's because I started climbing when I was 2 or 3 and to dum to comprehend falling and getting hurt. Happy climbs keep the vids coming
Man, this material is awesome, I am in that part where I am taking lead climbs (5+ slab climbing) and start seeing already the fear taking part of my climbing routine. I now know that both the rope and my belayer would catch my fall, but constantly thinking that I will rub my whole face against the granitic wall that we have here in Cordoba Argentina. I am sharing this video to my climbing mates so we can start practicing this the next time we go out to the rock.
Thanks again ;) wish you not to rub your face ;)
This is so helpful!! Now I just have to get myself to do the small falls... I've been scared for so long.
Yea! Hard is Easy ;) let me know how it went ;) I'm curious
No voting. On the first autobelay I was pretty scared but I jumped from lower heights first.
On my first toprope it was easy.
This helps with so much more than climbing - thank you!
You are so welcome!
super vidéo
Hey man! That's Chulilla! I live there, and I work in the FB mountain rescue around there. Say hello next time!!
This was sooo helpful! I started to practice falling but since it .was not in a gradual way it made feel much more scared when I started lead climbing. These slow yet steady steps definitely helps to overcome fear !
Thanks a lot for the video! Great topic, presented very well, and it's nice to listen to you. Keep up the good stuff! BUT in my humble opinion you miss a point or at least you touched it very briefly. Let me try to explain: Most people start indoors nowadays and move to outdoor climbing later on. Indoors routes are usually safe and in a solid overhang. Many gyms don't allow lead climbing on anything but overhanging routes. My personal fear of falling in these kinds of routes is close to zero as the risk is very low and thus I fall a lot. Then you go outdoors and start climbing there and things get different, at least in Germany. Protection in routes 6b or less is usually horrible and the risk of injuries is very real. When you ask experienced climbers how to do these routes or what to do in case you are falling you'll get "just don't fall and you will be fine". I can only speculate why this is the case but it is very common in many German climbing areas. So when you climb outdoors below 6b you don't learn how to fall because you are usually not allowed to and you don't really learn to climb on real rock. So what people do is to ask stronger friends to put topropes for them. When you climb above 6b protection usually improves for some reason but then you need to retrain your mind how to fall.
Heey yeaaa! You are so right!
Actually, I did filmed me talking about this point, but didn't added to this video to make it shorter, but probably gonna include a bit in the next one ;)
Again thanks for amazing comment!
Glad you are back for real!
I was like a 2 for my first top rope route. Lead climbing, still a solid 3, probably just getting down to a 2. But I'm getting there. Thanks for the video.
I know the video is a bit old by now, but here goes. My first time I was on top rope and I would describe my fear level of letting go as 1, maybe 1.5. My belayer locked it real good, and I could feel the rope holding, so despite a certain amount of unease, I just let go. About a week later, I was on an auto-belay and hot damn, I almost shat my pants. Level 3 for sure. The thing had such light resistance, it didn't give any tactile feedback of being able to safely slow me down, even though I just saw other people using it. Rope is definitely waaaaaaaay easier on the mind.
Loved this- it really is all about that fear thing
Fear of falling and fear of heights are also different.
But you can train them both. For fear of heights just climb really high and overhanging climbs/scary climbs and learn to focus on what you can control... your climbing and checking/testing your safety gear so you learn to trust it
Love your videos!!!
Thank you!!
Great video bro! i'm starting to climb outdoors and is great to know all those things!!
my first climbs were when I was like 5 with my dad belaying. I had absolutely no fear of falling at that time. when I came back to climbing, I was fine when my friends were belaying, but the auto-belay was terrifying
loved this epsisode. Thanks for diving into this topic!
One time I was climbing in the gym with the topas belaying machine.
But when I fell, it was going down extremely fast. This was really scaring me. Later they repaired the defective Topas machine ;-)
.
Hey, I just found this channel a few hours ago, and after watching some of your videos I think you're doing an amazing content! I will definitely stay here for longer :)
very nice video and so thruly .....congratulation ......
Thank you ;)
Just joined a gym and stumbled onto your videos. Great job putting this all together! Loving your channel.
I’ve always wanted to be a tree climber and I’ve bought all the climbing gear but never really used it Bc I was always afraid of falling and failure.
Love your channel!!!💪🏼💪🏼🤣🤣🤣🔥
Veeery useful video. Thanks @Hard Is Easy!
Thank You Alexis!
Amazing work man I love it!
Thank you so much!