Performance vs. Recreation
Falling is a hotly debated issue among climbers. Some climbers believe it is irresponsible to take lead falls. Others see falling as a normal part of rock climbing. Some believe it’s OK to fall on sport routes but not on traditional routes. Others don’t make this distinction.
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All these beliefs have their merit. Falling can cause injury and avoiding it diminishes that possibility. Gaining experience falling, however, allows us to learn about it and respond better, reducing the risk of injury. Most sport routes are bolted to allow for safe falls, whereas traditional routes may have definite no-fall zones. Yet some sport routes have no-fall zones, and belayer or leader error can result in dangerous falls. Some traditional routes offer protection and fall angles that make falls as safe as on “safe” sport routes.
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To make a rational choice about falling, it’s important to understand our motivation for climbing. Perhaps we simply enjoy climbing for the movement, the beautiful places it takes us, and the control required to avoid a fall. We like “keeping everything together” and not pushing to the point of taking a fall.
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Or, perhaps we enjoy climbing because of the effort, both mental and physical, that climbing requires. We are motivated by the challenges of harder grades and routes. Consider that the former is a recreation-based approach to climbing, whereas the latter is a performance-based approach.
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We all climb for different combinations of reasons, and almost every climber enjoys the recreation component of climbing to some extent. The problem occurs when we want to improve and also want to avoid falling. The bottom line is, if we want to improve, then we must find a way to embrace falling.
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When learning a new sport, we need to identify the consequences inherent in that sport. For climbing, the main consequence is falling. Whether we accept it or not, falling is part of the climbing process. A fall is possible no matter how in control we are. A hold could break, a foot could slip, or we could get unexpectedly pumped and fall. Whether our motivation is recreation- or performance-based, I recommend we become familiar with falling consequences.
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At some point we’ll be faced with the possibility of falling while being pumped, where our mind resists continuing. Mental fitness involves expanding our mental conception, and we simply cannot improve if we don’t push past what our minds think we can do. Being effective while climbing requires that 100-percent of our attention is focused forward. Fear of falling will cause a portion of that attention, perhaps all of it, to focus backward, sapping attention from climbing.
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To free our attention from fear of falling, we must reduce the unknowns associated with our falls. We tend to be afraid of what we don’t know. Specifically, we tend to be afraid of what we don’t experientially know. Obviously, falling can cause injury. We must investigate falling in such a way as to learn about it and at the same time diminish the possibility of injury.
Tags: falling, motivation, performance, recreation
Jacob Bahl Says:
doug Says:
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