Thank Christ for that, I've been to the wall again. It's been so, so long (a whole month) since the last time and it's good to be back. This time was slightly different however, 'cos I took a mate of mine. We had recently met up for a mutual friends Birthday and I got onto the subject of this awesome new sport I've been playing at, and it turns out she's scared of heights. Unperturbed, I told her she should most definitely come along to the climbing wall I go to and give it a shot. I think somewhere along the line we suffered from mis-communication because I think she was expecting ropes. And, come to think of it, I'm not too sure whether that was a good thing for her or not. If there are ropes, it's stands to reason that you're safe from falling to your death (or at least should be). But that in turns suggests you're going higher than you would bouldering. Either way, she turned up and was a true soldier. A trooper. She did totally awesome and it was one of the better trips to an indoor wall as a whole. Leonie totally rocked it, even if she did panic a little bit at the last climb. But before the last climb she did 7 others and two circuits of the traverse wall.
So, this post, I'm going to give you Rick's Top Tips For Trying To Climb When You're Afraid Of Heights.
Quite basically, the fist thing you've got to learn is how to jump off a wall. Not fall - jump. I made Leo go up 1/4 of the way and then jump down. The mats are soft, but if anyone is anything like her, it's the feeling in the belly that really gets you - and whenever you feel that you associate it with danger and therefore hate it. For most of us it feels weird but I don't even think about it/feel it anymore when I'm on a wall. It's a non-issue.
She did that a couple of times, and then I made her go 1/2 way, then 3/4 etc etc.. By the last climb she jumped off right from the top. Granted, it wasn't through choice that she did that. She got up there, was tired, realised she couldn't climb down again without letting go of some hand holds, had a little panic, and then just did it. She hated it. But she did it, and now knows that jumping from that height is safe as long as it's a choice! I don't expect her to be jumping off the top of all the walls she climbs but now she knows she's at least safe.
Edit - Dunno why I didn't post this when I finished it last time. This was my return pust too! anyway. Leonie has now been back 3x to the wall, and I reckon she's going to buy her first shoes pretty soon. I'm happy about this.
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