I will say, believing in your skills as a way to manage fear is a dangerous path in climbing. Your protection, not your skills, are what keeps most climbers al

I will say, believing in your skills as a way to manage fear is a dangerous path in climbing. Your protection, not your skills, are what keeps most climbers alive and healthy. Obviously skills are important, but far far more important is diligence with rope skills, carefully and frequently placing pro, checking and rechecking harnesses and anchors, putting knots in your ropes when rapping, and generally not getting complacent or lazy with these things. But relying on just not falling is a great way to die by overconfidence (and yes, I'm saying that all free soloists are running on borrowed time and, frankly, are poor models to look to)...