Episode 13: Fear of Falling in Bouldering

Author – Kevin Roet

The fear of falling is not just associated with climbing on ropes, it certainly rears its ugly head when it comes to bouldering too.  When in a moment, you are just about to make a move with an uncertain outcome. The thought of being high up and the potential to fall creeps in.  The slight hesitation is enough to throw off a potential to complete the boulder, or make the move.  Instead, you jump off, downclimb, or make a half-hearted attempt at throwing up for a hold, with the intention of jumping off.

 

Whether this is indoors at your local gym, or outdoors where dangers are perceived to be more real, and sometimes very real.  The fear of falling in bouldering is not often talked about.  Bouldering does have higher consequences linked with it, than roped climbing.  As a slightly awkward landing can mean a twisted ankle, or worse.

 

In this blog post, we’ll explore the fear of falling in bouldering.  Its roots, and practical strategies to help with the fear of falling in bouldering.  Allowing you to climb with confidence and hopefully unlock your potential.

Understanding Fear

Fear is the result of a chemical chain reaction that occurs in the brain within a few milliseconds. It starts with a conscious or sub-conscious stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals resulting in fast breathing, a racing heart, and the constriction of blood vessels close to the skin.  Vital organs are flooded with nutrients and oxygen, and the larger muscle groups are energised as they get pumped with blood.   This state is also known as the fight-or-flight response.

A built-in mechanism responsible for our survival.  So, before we start taking falls and talk about spotting, we need to know why we have a fear of falling in bouldering.  Is it because you are unfamiliar with the boulder problems?  Has the boulder problem got a committing move high up?  Or is it in a position with the potential for an awkward fall?  Have you had a bad fall in the past which has stopped you from even attempting boulders with the potential to fall off?  Are you a risk averse person, and are unsure where to start.  For whatever reason, try to figure out why you may be hesitating, or not even attempting some of these boulder problems.  Once you understand, we have something to work with and can start creating change.

 

Understanding the real dangers in bouldering

Just like roped climbing, bouldering is not without its risks and consequences.  Although, bouldering has a higher risk attached to it, and when roped climbing, the rope will keep you safe most of the time (but let’s not delve into that subject just now).

The real dangers in bouldering are that an awkward fall can lead to injuries.  As when you fall you will be accelerating towards the matting.  In an outdoor setting this can have higher consequences, as there can be many more obstacles in the way, awkwardly placed matts, gaps in between the mats, etc…

 

What can help you?

Some of the things which can help you are knowing how to fall.  This can take a lot of practice to feel comfortable with it, and for the action to become intuitive and automatic.

Also, having someone spot you, can give you a psychological confidence boost, but also make you feel safer for when you do fall off.

Graded falls

One aspect you can work on are graded falls.  Learn how to fall from different types of terrain, and build up the falls.  Knowing how to fall can help prevent injuries, and build confidence in your own ability and reassurance that all will be well.  Make sure to hold your arms in close to your chest, as this is the first thing people use to stop them from hitting the mat.  Which can end up in a dislocated arm.

I often see people jumping, falling from the top of a boulder onto their feet.  With all of that energy being absorbed into your joints (knees and hip joints).  When you are younger, your body puts up with all the abuse you can throw at it.  Every time you do, your joints wear a little more.  Why not roll onto your back if possible, to dissipate some of that energy.

Spotting

Something I only ever see in an outdoor setting, is spotting.  Very rarely do I see this indoors.  Spotting is where you have a person guiding the falling climber to the boulder mat.  As the spotter you are not stopping the falling climber, only guiding them to the mat, to make sure they land in a way to prevent injury.  This is an art in itself, and needs lots of practice to get good and be efficient at it.  It requires engagement and awareness from the spotter, knowing where the climber may fall, by watching their body movements, and understanding the route.

As the climber, knowing someone is there watching your back, can give you the confidence to make a move, which you may back down from without a spotter.

 

Practice

All of this takes a lot of practice.  Start with deliberate falls low down on easy angled terrain, and build this up over time.  To more complicated terrain, and with the potential to more awkward falls.  Also, spotting takes lots of practice.

Build confidence over time

If you deliberately practice spotting and falling every bouldering session, you will build confidence in your own ability.  Hence, less likely to hesitate on insecure moves.

Extra notes

Other bits that can help in the moment are visualisation techniques before you attempt your boulder problem.  Also breathing and mindfulness techniques can help a lot.

Conclusion

The fear of falling in bouldering is a common hurdle that, with patience and practice, you can learn to manage.  By understanding the psychological roots of the fear, gradually exposing yourself to controlled falls, and having a trusted spotter watching you, you can climb with confidence and fully enjoy the world of bouldering.

If you are interested, we run a Bouldering commitment workshop.

Please check the link below:

Bouldering commitment workshop

Or if you are interested in reading more on the subject of Climbing Psychology, please check out our shop on a copy of the book:

Climbing Psychology