3 tips on how to overcome your fear of falling

Not being able to overcome your fear of falling is one of the biggest obstacles from improving your rock climbing skills. This is particularly important if you are a rock climbing beginner. In this video I will introduce three beginners tips that helped me to overcome my fear of falling. Hang boarding, core training and general fitness doesn’t really matter if you cannot keep a cool head while climbing.

Early in my rock climbing career I couldn’t overcome my fear of falling and that hindered my progress a lot, and the tips in this video is from personal experience and this is what helped me, but you might have to do some other things too. I guess this is something a lot of rock climbing beginners to can relate to.

The first tip to overcome my fear of falling I had to accept that being scared is natural and perfectly normal. Even very experienced climbers get scared. You have to accept that fear of falling is a part of climbing. Being a rock climbing beginner this is really important

Rock climbing is a three-dimensional sport, and you need to find the right balance training all three dimensions. Strength and conditioning, technique, and mental game. If you only train one or two of these, you will not succeed! But we are all different, you might have to train your mental game more than others, or you might be blessed with a strong mind and do not have a fainted heart. This is something you have to accept.

The second beginner tip to overcome my fear of falling I actually started practice falling in the climbing gym, so I get used to it and avoid hurting myself, when I fall for real. One fall training routine I do is to climb up to a certain bolt where I feel safe, I clip the bolt, and take a fall from here. Then I continue climbing to the next bolt, clip that, and take a fall here too. And then I continue all the way to the anchor. This is called the drop-clip technique and is a widely used technique to practice falling. In this way you will practice falling and how it feels, but in a safe and controlled environment. If the belayer is not aware of you practicing your falling technique then he or she might be surprised, and things can go wrong. And also remember to check with the gym staff whether this is okay. In some climbing gyms, this is not allowed.

The final tip is that I found out was that if I started climbing harder, then I did not focus on whether I would fall or not – I just climbed. A couple of added benefits is that you will practice uncontrolled falling as you do not take falls on purpose, but actually fall because you slip or pump out. This is a great way to get falling under your skin.

Also falling on harder routes, say 6b/5.11a and up, becomes safer as the routes are often steep or overhanging meaning that there are not that many things you can hit on your way down, and you fall will be clean. If you keep climbing grade sub-6a/sub-5.10, then there are most likely big holds or ledges that you can hit if you fall, which also mean that you will focus on falling instead of climbing.

So, how did you overcome your fear of falling? Let me know in the comments section below.

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MUSIC

By The Croft - Joakim Karud

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0

RELATED SPORT CLIMBING VIDEOS:

If you enjoyed watching this sport climbing video about climbing mentality and mindset and how to overcome your fear of falling, then remember to watch some of the other videos I’ve done about sport climbing:

Or check out this climbing video from Odderøya also near Kristiansand in Norway

Either way, leave a comment below i regarding what changed your climbing mentality and mindset, and overcome your fear of falling.

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#rockclimbing #mentality #adventure

[leonardocastelletti]

This is what exactly I needed! Thank you Crag

[XSAInternational]

I fell 80 feet down an off width crack in SE New Mexico retrieving a Barbary Sheep for some hunters, and survived.Cam blew out in a Sandstone crack whilst rappelling the goat to the landing. Rope burned hands and the most terrifying time of my life. Took years to learn to trust the rope system again.

[cb]

I haven’t over come my fear of falling. Lol. I just started tree climbing as part of my job and it’s been a challenge of sorts. But your Tips have helped me confirm my strategy. Thank you. 🧡👊🏻🇨🇦

[fire_tower]

Great video. Personally I don't have a big fear of falling when climbing. But one thing I'd like to add is, trusting your belayer really helps.

And always remember to do your safety checks, especially when you're letting a stranger at the crag belay.

[ce]

I am super scared outdoors because of the last point you mentioned: the ledges. While climbing easy routes, I cannot focus properly because everything inside of me is telling me to not fall. The consequence is that I find "easy" routes quite difficult because I use so much strength and so much time holding on to good holds.

[iijakesparkzii]

This helps me when I go rock climbing with school

[EvanFrenchMusic]

Up until this past weekend I never thought that I would ever try to rock climb due to my anxiety over falling. I'm a musician, But I think in time I would like to give rock climbing a try. I think it would be a great way to conquer my fear.

[mikeman]

I don't know that I'll ever totally get over the fear. However, practicing in the gym seems to help me.

[philiolynott]

I love your channel Crag, very calm, relaxing and informative.

[Captaraknospider]

Lead my first route. A 5.9 50m
I got really nervous not being able to see my partner or be able to communicate.
He kept me on a tight rope. Route was kinda slopy if I fell I would have gotten scratched up pretty bad.
What made me feel comfortable was placing gear between the bolts. This made me feel confident. I finished the 295 foot climb and was in shock like stunned. Repeated exposure will help me get comfortable at height.

[librapower]

I've been climbing 7 years now and had developed a decent mental game towards falling. However, over the last 2 months I have witnessed 3 seperate horrific bouldering falls resulting in traumatic leg fractures for each climber, bone coming through the thigh, ankles facing wrong way around, screams of pain from the depth, you get the picture! This has set me back even on lead now. I just can't seem to get rid of mental images, almost like I've got PTSD, I'm hoping time will resolve my issue hence I'm back to looking at overcoming falling

[MeshiMeshi-vuhs]

Thank you for your videos I really enjoy them.
I never get over my fear of falling. I accepted it will be never ending battle. I do fall drills almost every time I am in gym for 2-3 years. Clip and drop was way to go for me. I get about 15-20 falls every session. I managed to be somehow comfortable to fall while quickdraw is about my ankle but not more yet. I wish progress could go faster or at least with less set backs.

[CaptainRScott]

By actually climbing trees + putting myself in harms way + trusting my climbing gear + replacing it as i needed to!

[vincentdefosche]

My biggest fear is that the locks and such that secure me will fail. I trust the belayer, but I dont particularly trust the devices used to hold the carabiners to the rock. I prefer the idea of ice screws!

[davidkettle]

Nice tips thanks. My daughter (11) is doing amazing and can do clip drops including touching the next quickdraw.

However it is definitely the case that her climbing still becomes more tense when on harder routes and this limits her progress on a route or lead versus on top rope. She often is only able to half commit or hesitates on a move for quite a while then makes the move but the tension means she doesn't make the move, but does still take the fall.

Are there any ways to work on overcoming this issue, other than just keeping taking the falls?

[laurenkesby]

I was working on my fear of falling and I went for a move I couldn't make, fell about 4m and while everything my belayer and myself did was right, the landing was still bad. Now I'm scared again, and need to restart the training of my mind.

[Seba]

I started in moutaineering/andinism, so I get used to long harsh falls in snowy/icy slopes and depending only on my skills with self-arrest, so when I moved to the rock and fall the first times it was like: And that's it?, end up finding pretty funny as a rope is a lot safer than self-arrest and catching a fall roped just felt more natural than with a piolet.

[KelvinClimber]

think i said it in one of your other video's but i still haven't got rid of it, it still comes and hunt me every time i go back to rope climbing xD, but always somewhat get rid of it and than i start bouldering allot and next time i do rope im scared as shet again xD, but i feel that as long as i feel in control that im safe, so when i rope climb and it's been awhile i always is less scared cause i have mostly gotten stronger and are more in control

[samuelable]

What is this version of the song called

[stefanopalermo]

Doesn't falling on purpose ruin rope and gear? I am shit scared of falling and it ruins my climbing abilities. I want to learn how to fall