Allergic to Climbing Rocks/Fear of Falling

[Judy Ann]

I have discovered that I have a strong fear of falling while faced with scrambling up or down rocks/ boulders. Has anyone overcome this fear? I am single and would not generate an income if injured, but my fear has started to interfere with reaching some hiking goals. I think I might need some behaviorial therapy. Has anyone overcome this fear and how did you do it? :-(

 

[Milly]

I have always lived by the theory that if you seriously think you are going to get hurt, do not do it. Make sure you know you are capable of the task, and if you are just be careful. I am not too sure you need behavioral therapy, but then again I know nothing about that topic.

 

[danny28]

Nope, I've never had this fear before. Heck I love to explore caves underwater. I bet you could get over it though if you just did it more often. A little more each time.

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


You're not alone.

It's somewhat surprising how many people won't drive over a high bridge, or on a mountainside or cliffside road, for examples.





Me and you is friends...
you smile, I smile...
you hurt, I hurt...
you cry, I cry...
you jump off bridge...
I gonna miss your e-mails.

 

[Pathfinder1]

PS...


I'll ask the shrinks in my family.

 

[Grandpa]

Yes Judy, I have a fear of heigths too. So when necessary, I just go slow and make sure of each step. Use your trekking sticks and keep a 3 point stance. Bit by bit you will be more confident in your ability. If it looks beyond your capacity, find a way around. Very few trails will challenge you this way, so you needn't worry about that. When in camp, find a hill to climb and come back down. As your confidence grows, find steeper hills and soon you will be scrambling with the best of them.

 

[ppine]

Some fear is a healthy thing. After a bad injury, I had a tremendous fear of falling. It has been alleviated by getting in shape, working on my balance with various devices and lots of walking on rough ground. If you trust your body to react properly it will help your confidence. Wear the right footwear for the conditions. Use hiking poles for balance. Don't carry too much and put the heavy stuff low in your pack.

If you are talking about difficult conditons find a rock climber to show you some hand holds, how to place your feet, keeping 3 parts of your body in contact with the slope, etc. Find a friend to help build your confidence in a stepwise fashion. Avoid scary stuff until you have had a chance to work up to it.

Edit-
Everyone has fear, it is how we deal with it that matters. As an anology- what do you do if a horse is afraid of bicycles? Get him around bicycles as much as possible.

 

[Judy Ann]

Thank you for the excellent advice everyone. I'll be working on a few of those suggestions with a focus on balance and strengthening. The suggestion about rock scrambling with an expert trekker to work on safety techniques and build confidence was an excellent idea. The last hike I went on I didn't complete because I knew that there were large boulders to climb over, jump from and across. Maybe I would have been better off if I hadn't watched the Old Rag youtube videos? I'm such a wimp!!!

 

[ghostdog]

I have discovered that I have a strong fear of falling while faced with scrambling up or down rocks/ boulders. Has anyone overcome this fear? I am single and would not generate an income if injured, but my fear has started to interfere with reaching some hiking goals. I think I might need some behaviorial therapy. Has anyone overcome this fear and how did you do it? :-(

I have always loved bouldering and some scrambling but when they involve exposure and or loose scree with severe slopes I don't like it. Usually I avoid it but like you I have had goals that have called on getting through it if possible. Just last week is a good example.

A friend and I were climbing a high mesa. The initial bouldering up steep canyons was not a problem but when we came to a wicked knife edged land bridge we both exclaimed a few words! I went first and simple didn't look down but as my companion said, you see this weird perspective moving in your peripheral vision. Then we came to a hard slope with marble sized rocks that were like ball bearings. I was not unafraid but took my time and finally after another medium rock steps up a steep drainage we were on top. The fear is the bad news and one must listen to it. Bodily injury is never worth anything you may find but the climb we just negotiated must have turned back many. There were a plethora of ancient artifacts up on top of that mesa. It was amazing. I photographed all of them that I could. It was beautiful in the late light of the end of day.

I'd say go slow, build up the skills you can and if it does not feel right just don't do it until it does. You will become better but we will never be as good as the better climbers. Those folks get hurt and sometimes killed all the time. I had a guy freeze up once and it was hard to just get him moving at all. Staying where he was would be certain death. We got him up but in the ensuing decades I never took anyone up a climb like that again who was without some experience. We all do some dumb things in our youth. Its good to learn not to do that again. Fear is a real killer. Don't mess with it. Go slow and build up the skill you can. Don't measure yourself against anyone else.

 

[DMan]

I'd say that you need to challenge yourself but do it in baby steps so you can build confidence without the fear of getting hurt. Take your time when you do try something that gets your heart racing. And if you just don't feel good about something, don't do it.

 

[oldsarge]

Kind of like rappelling. It's not natural to back yourself over a cliff in a seated position. Once you do it and have some confidence in your equipment it all changes. Get out there and start small, before you know it you'll be pricing those flight to Nepal and hook up with some Sherpa's

 

[MissyKitty]

I fear it every time i go climbing. I'm also terrified of heights. I even have problems looking down from the fifth floor balcony... I still climb tho, it helps me to conquer the fears, when i have been climbing for a little and i reach a certain height, the fears back off. Concentrating on the climbing helps me to go on. But when you are not 100% sure about yourself, then it might be best to try something else.

 

[Eppo]

It's this simple: If I never try anything, I never learn anything. If I never take a risk, I stay where I am. If I go ahead and do it, that effects how much I continue wanting to do it. When I hold myself back, I trade appearances for the opportunity to find out what I am like.

-- Hugh Prather

 

[campclose]

Great topic and great responses too. I have yet to climb rocks because of my fear of heights too. I guess the only way to get over a fear is to just do it. Easier said than done. I have a hard time on ferris wheels and my kids pick on me.