Lead climbing thoughts…
As I was lead climbing in my session recently I was thinking to myself nonstop every intrusive thought that could go through my head on every route (Reminder I’ve been lead certified for 6-7 years now). Now, if you do not know what an intrusive thought is, I’ll simplify it for you and just say out of nowhere normally scared or weird thoughts happening in that moment! I was thinking what do lead climbers think about most of the time while they are climbing…here is a list of some common intrusive thoughts we can all relate to at some point in our climbing career!
- “What if I just let go right now?”
- “What if my knot somehow comes undone?” — even though you just checked it three times.
- “What if the rope breaks?”
- “What if I fall and swing into that wall?”
- “What if my belayer isn’t paying attention?”
- “What if that hold suddenly spins?”
- “What if I get to the crux and completely forget how to climb?”
- “What if I can’t clip this bolt and I’m just stuck here?”
- “What if I fall in front of everyone?”
- “What if I somehow make the absolute dumbest climbing mistake right now?”
Now these are mainly focused on indoor lead climbing type of intrusive thoughts, but they can honestly relate to outdoor too. But I think no matter how long you’ve been climbing those thoughts will go through your head especially those “worst case scenario” thoughts! Now as I’m writing this it’s a simple reminder to not put pressure on yourself while leading, do your safety checks, and double safety checks, and take lead climbing one clip at a time! Intrusive thoughts especially scary ones on lead are normal, I honestly think no matter who you are from a professional climber to a new lead climber that everybody has them, but it’s how you deal with them that makes the difference, just know YOU GOT THIS!!!
Here is some fun intrusive thoughts while lead climbing to end the article for a good laugh:
- “What if I just let go and see what happens?”
- “Could I climb this entire route without using that hold?”
- “What if I dyno to the next hold instead?”
- “Do I actually know what I’m doing, or have I just been lucky?”
- “What if I yell ‘take’ and then immediately change my mind?”
- “Why does this hold look so much smaller from up here?”
- “What if I just sit on the rope for a minute and call it resting?”
- “What if I somehow send this route on my first try?”
- “Everyone is definitely watching me right now.”
- “What if I finish this route and pretend that was completely effortless?”
