Decision points are places where you stop, rest, and assess. We can identify three kinds of decision points: macro, mini, and micro. The sole macro decision point is at the base of a route. Next, on a route, there are mini decision points where you have a stance with protection. Third, there are micro decision points where you don’t have protection. These are places with subtle stances allowing you to stop and quickly assess.

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The purpose of a decision point is to make a clear and appropriate choice to which you will fully commit, rather than just climbing on with your head full of uncertainty. You’ll need to prepare by collecting information (END, DAO, and POLR), weigh the risk, and decide whether or not to commit.

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Each decision point transitions you from preparation, through a decision, to taking action. You have micro decisions, within mini decisions, within a macro decision; cycles of preparation, decision, and action within larger cycles of preparation, decision, and action. Risks are always constructed this way—cycles within cycles. How effectively you make the macro decision will determine how effectively you make the mini and micro decisions.

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Larger strategic issues—such as, “Why am I on this climb?”—cannot be decided quickly at a micro decision point. You’ll simply justify your momentary feelings rather than act effectively to execute a well-considered plan. Motivation must be decided when you have more time and less stress. At the mini points, you assess and decide the more specific, tactical parts of the risk, like the next END, the DAO you now face, and the POLR for the next section. At the micro points, you consider the tactical parts at a more microscopic level. Recall from the Preparation eLesson that climbing is a combination of stopping and moving. By understanding cycles, you separate the skills of stopping on a route from those of moving, and you begin doing each more deliberately. You rest more fully when you stop; you climb more deliberately when you move.

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How you use the intelligences of your mind also changes as you get deeper into the risk. The length of time you have to assess decreases as you move deeper, from macro to micro. At the same time, the amount of stress you experience increases. In order to make appropriate choices at micro decision points, where time is minimal and stress is maximal, you need to build a solid foundation at the macro and mini decision points.

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Standing on the ground, at your macro point, you can think to gather information. Your feeling of whether or not the risk is appropriate will not be accurate. You’re still too far inside your comfort zone. You are also too far away from the immediacy of the risk to determine the exact fall consequences and the level of pump you will feel. Therefore, at the macro point, you utilize more of your analytical intelligence, thinking through the risk. You thoroughly address strategic issues, like your motivation.

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At mini points you have diminished time and increased stress. You are intimately closer to the next section and can see the risk you face more clearly and feel the pump more precisely. Tactically, you can think to identify the END, the DAO, and the POLR for the next section you face. Decreased time and increased stress also move you closer to the edge of your comfort zone, which allows you to feel whether or not the risk is appropriate. At mini points you utilize your analytical and intuitive intelligences equally.

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At micro points, time has decreased to the moment and stress has peaked. Less available time requires you to think less to gather information. More stress requires you to feel more and make quicker decisions. You stop at micro points to quickly figure out if the risk has changed.

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If you’re in a yes-fall zone, you decide what to do to continue climbing, not whether or not it’s an appropriate risk. You can feel how pumped you are and how you will use your remaining strength to climb what is ahead of you.

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If you are in a no-fall zone, then you can feel how pumped you are and determine if you have enough strength to continue without falling. If you feel you do not have enough strength, then you will retreat. At micro points you utilize more of your intuitive intelligence to feel what is most appropriate.