Falling
Naomi taking the plummet off the classic "Chainsaw Massacre", 5.12 at The Red River Gorge
"Have you ever clipped a bolt from a hard or awkward position, only to find a great stance after making the clip? Nearly all lead climbers have experienced this at least once. It is a powerful example of how the fear of falling affects our thinking and our judgment while climbing."
Following on from the previous post on falling/spotting, a great post from Andrew Bisharat. It ties in nicely with my previous post on learning to fall for bouldering (with the wildest/craziest video I've seen on the topic too - I hope others smiled at it too :).
With a regular emphasis by people on performance training, how many put any thought into their mental mindset? It's just as relevant for trad climbers too!
"Most climbers progress more quickly if they push their limits to falling. And at advanced or elite levels, falling is part of climbing. If you want to climb at this level, you must learn to manage your fear of falling. In order to improve performance, you must first recognize your bad habits and fear-based tendencies preventing you from falling—and therefore preventing you from progressing. The first step to changing these counterproductive habits is to raise problems to awareness."
The article is well worth a read....