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All my life I've had a fear of heights. When I went skiing with my parents as a teenager I was more or less forced to ride the lifts and felt my fear of heights

by kriro 5y ago

All my life I've had a fear of heights. When I went skiing with my parents as a teenager I was more or less forced to ride the lifts and felt my fear of heights decreased a bit after that. I always had this experience in the back of my mind. I can "unlearned" this fear. About 2 years ago I decided to try climbing with the explicit goal of tackling my fear of heights. I started with indoor bouldering because it was readily available. Initially, I was too scared to even climb up the moderately hight stuff or "top out". Anything above 3m was a huge mental struggle. Typically bouldering will max out around 5m, where you can still safely fall onto a mat since your feet are about 3-3,5m above ground. Now I feel quite confident topping out and going to the highest points in the gym. Height is still a factor but not nearly as much as it used to be. Two month ago, I even started top roping with friends and I'm climbing 12m high routes relatively calmly now. A feat that seemed impossible two years ago. I can't wait to try higher ones (18m) and eventually climb on actual rock. Climbing has helped me overcome my fear of height and more importantly I absolutely love it and think about it constantly. It's the only solo-able sport that has kept me motivated, too. Mostly because you always have micro challenges to tackle (finish this new route, get further on that old route) and also bigger goals (get to grade X). I absolutely love it, during lockout I have even built my own home wall and I'm currently working on building my own holds, too. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a sport to try. I think bouldering works really well for analytical minds and puzzle solvers like myself because it's essentially puzzle solving with your body. The community is also very friendly and nice and open, another big plus. And yes, your general body shape doesn't matter, don't be afraid, just try it some day. Time: You can go to a climbing gym once a week for 1.5-2h. I go 2-3 times per week now and occasionally climb on my home wall and do some finger boarding and other exercises. I'd say 6-8h/week with travel time.

edanm 5y ago
What kind of wall can you have at home? I imagine space and particularly height is fairly limited? I've been wanting to try climbing for a long time, thinking of giving it a shot.
- kriro 5y ago
  The problem is indeed room height. I built my wall to the specs of the Moonboard Mini (they are available on their website). Unfortunately that meant I had to go for a 40 degree wall. I have maybe 3-4 routes that I can climb on that wall now, all with big/good holds. I cannot even do a route that's designated as V3 in the official app (I did buy the yellow Moonboard holds+one wooden set) but I suspect the grades are not for 40 degrees but for a less steep wall. In fact, I only recently managed to do one move on the small holds. Last week I finally constructed a circular route of about 20 moves that I plan to do as endurance training. My advice: just go to a gym and do it. Everyone will be super friendly and you can climb by yourself if you want. There's some jargon and it might be a bit tricky to figure out how you're supposed to climb routes but simply tell them at the entrance that you never climbed and would like a short introduction. Make sure the rental shoes fit, not too tight, comfortable but snug is what you should aim for. If in doubt, they'll always let you exchange them. Just start with the easiest routes and work your way up. It's very addictive and there's always something to try and eventually succeed at. Do it. First thing next year :)
aosaigh 5y ago
I also recently (last 5 years) started climbing with a similar fear of heights. I’ve learned more about myself from climbing then almost anything else I’ve done. I came to realise that it’s ok and normal to be scared, and most other climbers feel the same fear, you just learn to handle it and slowly increase the exposure. Although I’m still a rank amateur, I’ve learned to lead sport climb and even start trad climbing which is amazing. Alongside that I’ve done mountain scrambles I never thought I’d be able for. For a lot of people, climbing is about being strong and completing grades, but there are so many more dimensions to it that I’d recommend it to anyone.

by kriro 5y ago

edanm 5y ago

What kind of wall can you have at home? I imagine space and particularly height is fairly limited? I've been wanting to try climbing for a long time, thinking of giving it a shot.

kriro 5y ago
The problem is indeed room height. I built my wall to the specs of the Moonboard Mini (they are available on their website). Unfortunately that meant I had to go for a 40 degree wall. I have maybe 3-4 routes that I can climb on that wall now, all with big/good holds. I cannot even do a route that's designated as V3 in the official app (I did buy the yellow Moonboard holds+one wooden set) but I suspect the grades are not for 40 degrees but for a less steep wall. In fact, I only recently managed to do one move on the small holds. Last week I finally constructed a circular route of about 20 moves that I plan to do as endurance training. My advice: just go to a gym and do it. Everyone will be super friendly and you can climb by yourself if you want. There's some jargon and it might be a bit tricky to figure out how you're supposed to climb routes but simply tell them at the entrance that you never climbed and would like a short introduction. Make sure the rental shoes fit, not too tight, comfortable but snug is what you should aim for. If in doubt, they'll always let you exchange them. Just start with the easiest routes and work your way up. It's very addictive and there's always something to try and eventually succeed at. Do it. First thing next year :)

aosaigh 5y ago

I also recently (last 5 years) started climbing with a similar fear of heights. I’ve learned more about myself from climbing then almost anything else I’ve done. I came to realise that it’s ok and normal to be scared, and most other climbers feel the same fear, you just learn to handle it and slowly increase the exposure. Although I’m still a rank amateur, I’ve learned to lead sport climb and even start trad climbing which is amazing. Alongside that I’ve done mountain scrambles I never thought I’d be able for. For a lot of people, climbing is about being strong and completing grades, but there are so many more dimensions to it that I’d recommend it to anyone.