What's the right dose of fear for climbing

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Messages 1 - 10 of total 10 in this topic
donluvs2climb

Sport climber
Fort Collins
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 7, 2013 - 12:13am PT
Jeff Elison and I have been researching fear as it relates to climbing and we recently wrote an article about the tradeoff of having the right amount of fear (or arousal) for rock climbing. You can read the whole article at the link below.

http://www.masterrockclimber.com/the-right-dose-of-fear-for-rock-climbing/

I hope you get something from it.
Don
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Mar 7, 2013 - 12:44am PT
I'm afraid I'm gonna fall out of this hammock in my mind.

Hey, Tony, what's the correct dosage of fear? Side of loathe.
MisterE

Social climber
Mar 7, 2013 - 01:03am PT
Where is the sublimation of fear to reach beyond the normal boundaries in your formula?

Do you have a just-broke-up-with-my-partner element where the arousal is low and the fear non-existent but the drive to make everything go away great? Some amazing things have been done in this state.

This is the problem with simplistic formulaic charts...
jstan

climber
Mar 7, 2013 - 01:29am PT
Interesting.
Let me start at the beginning.

Master Yourself:
Fear is our body telling us we have not settled two questions
1. We have not decided we are entirely willing to pay the probable price of a fall from this point.
2. We do not know well our chance of a fall.
Master Climbing:
No one masters climbing. There is always more that can be done. As worded, the goal is simple self-agrandisement.
Master the Rock:
The rock is millions of years old. It does not even know you are there.
It will still be there millions of years after you have gone.

Fear becomes a player when you have made an error in judgement. At that point you have no reason to assume you will not make another error.


David Knopp

Trad climber
CA
Mar 7, 2013 - 02:01am PT
At that point you have no reason to assume you will not make another error.

john that about sums it up.
Curt

climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
Mar 7, 2013 - 02:06am PT
Interesting.
Let me start at the beginning.

Master Yourself:
Fear is our body telling us we have not settled two questions
1. We have not decided we are entirely willing to pay the probable price of a fall from this point.
2. We do not know well our chance of a fall.

Very much like the general risk model involving any endeavor--directly proportional to both the probability of a particular occurrence and the severity of that outcome.
Fear becomes a player when you have made an error in judgement. At that point you have no reason to assume you will not make another error.

Perhaps a seminal take-away point from this thread.

Curt
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Social climber
SLO, Ca
Mar 7, 2013 - 02:07am PT
What's the right dose of motivation for climbing
Vegasclimber

Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
Mar 7, 2013 - 02:13am PT
I use the motivation that Wendell Brussard has given me a few times...

"You can find a thousand reasons not to lead a climb; the trick is to find the one reason to lead it anyways."

Works well for me.
Don Paul

Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
Mar 7, 2013 - 07:48am PT
Seems to be a sport climbing take on this. What I've learned from rock climbing is how to deal with fear and use it, particularly when my back is against the wall and I have to get out of a situation and make the right decisions under pressure. I know that the fear is normal and I just have to put up with it the way I would have to put up with a toothache. This is when people run away, but there are lots of things you can't run away from and its good to be able to handle that environment. The fear factor is what gets most people addicted to climbing, and without it you're just playing in a gym.
TwistedCrank

climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
Mar 7, 2013 - 09:20am PT
If you're not scared, you're not having fun.


Simple.
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