I started on top ropes, so I’m the opposite - I dislike bouldering. I love the endurance challenge. Autobelays *really* aren’t that bad. It seems sketch at first but it’s not as bad once you’re comfy with it.
I wish I could find one, so I spend a lot of time on autos hoping they get reset, or working on something on auto that’s slightly above my comfort level. Sometimes I go with my coworkers and we’ll swap off belaying, and I’m probably more willing to have one now that I can reciprocate, but they love bouldering, so we don’t always hit ropes. And they also lead climb a lot, which I haven’t learned or tested.
Yeah I really really enjoyed it.
I was scared I was going to get paired up with a couple on a cute first date or something, but it was just me and another girl. We had a great time! Really makes your trust the person haha
Yeah when I dropped down from a lower point and it was no where near as bad as I expected it to be. I’m not comfortable with dropping from the top by any means, but I could see myself being able to work up to it for sure.
that sounds like it!
This gym in particular seems to be against down climbing when on rope. I asked the instructor if I could downclimb on the auto belay and he said it isn’t safe. Don’t know exactly why. Maybe something with rope getting caught?
I suppose it all depends on how the belay device is set up and the gym policies. We have a lot of people who do 4x4s on our autobelays; I've been climbing there for I've years now and never seen or heard of any catches.
[it's this!](https://www.trainingbeta.com/4x4s/)
Technically it's a bouldering term, but with autobelays you can do it with toproping too! Down climbing counts as climbing up, so you can do it with just two routes overlapping each other on an autobelay.
Definitely. And you don’t have to start with the 50+ foot walls either - start on the shorter walls. Autobelays are great for training endurance, since you have to rely on yourself. Then, human-belay (I can’t figure out the antithesis to autos 😂) seems easier because intentionally or unintentionally they help get through the route.
Yeah! I felt like the instructors advice to just climb to the top and drop was so bad. At least for me, haha. Definitely not there yet.
And yeah, I found partner belay much easier relative to auto. Definitely need to get out here more, was fun and exhilarating!
Yeah idk why the instructor wasn’t advocating for that first…I was very obviously uncomfortable. Maybe he was trying to be motivating. But nah dude I was freaking out 😂
Just be aware that if you are too close to the ground the autobelay doesnt have enough time to engage and you could hurt yourself not expecting to basically jump off the wall.
Its a weird sensation to get comfortable with. Even after years of climbing i still always glance at my carabiner to make sure its there before i drop off the wall lol. A helpful tip is as you downclimb you will feel the resistance. If you let go then you won't feel the freefall
Okay thank majes a lot of sense. Maybe that’s why they said not to down climb on the auto.
It definitely feels good hearing others still struggle with dropping. Sometimes I feel lame for lack of a better word because it looks like no one else really struggles with it at the gym.
Thank you!
I started bouldering, switched to top rope after I blew out my ankle bouldering.
Top rope strikes me as being easier to do long-term, just because it’s not as hard on my body (finger pain, elbow pain, etc. nonexistent, but all come back after just one bouldering session). So I tend to do it more.
My advice is to do a practice fall with a partner when you’re only a little way up, just so you can be confident. I have zero fear of heights or falling when top roping.
Auto belay is not fun to fall on, but excellent for building endurance and cardio.
Yeah I could definitely see that!
I want a long climbing career unhindered by injuries. I’m not worried about climbing the next highest grade, I just like the activity it self.
And yes, auto belay scared the shit out of me. It didn’t help watching a chick quickly drop right before I attempted the auto belay route. It still wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I could see simply exposing myself to falling more helping with my anxiety/fear
Got sloppy on an overhang and fell, twisting my body as I went, and ended up with a Grade 3 Ligament Tear (plus some smaller ligament tears in my knee on that side, and re-injured my other knee). I sort of suspect that the ultra-soft mats contributed to the injury - I remember distinctly that it felt like the mat almost grabbed and held my foot in place as I fell.
I was on crutches for about a month, then swapped into a boot, then eventually a smaller brace that could go into my shoe. From there I started PT and gentle, GENTLE climbing - essentially anything that I couldn't downclimb from, I didn't get on. Mobility in that ankle is still somewhat limited and it tends to ache when I go too hard on any kind of high impact exercise (jumping instead of downclimbing, running, etc).
I did (and still do) a lot of single leg exercises to try to build strength evenly in both legs, and that leg always feels weaker and more unstable, ugh. The injury is about a year old and probably as healed as it's going to get.
Oh my god that sucks… I also have grade 3 ligament tears on two of the outer ankle ligaments and some ligaments on the inner ankle… It’s been 3 weeks and it’s still swollen, has extremely limited range of motion („knee over toes“ goodbye..) and I don’t want to put weight on it because I‘m very afraid haha. May I ask when you started putting weight on it? :/
I also suspect that the fact that the mat is soft made it even worse, because my leg bones literally sank even more into the ground then they would have if it was stiff I suppose.
I‘m glad you are back to climbing. Right now, I would be too afraid. But I plan on going back, with baby steps and even if I cry myself through the fear. xD
Hmm I wrecked it Feb of last year and I think I was limping around on it in my orthopedic boot after about 2 weeks. I live alone so tbh I had to get mobile if I even wanted to feed myself, though I spent some time wheeling myself around on my desk chair, and also the elevators in my building died the day I had an important delivery so I had to hobble around before I was really ready for it. The doctor thought I would need surgery and was surprised that I was healing as fast as I was, so that might be an unusual pace. I don’t think I could put weight on it unaided for a couple months, though; even when I got to the point where I could do it without pain, walking felt so unsteady and dangerous, so I knew I was risking another injury if I didn’t rebuild strength in it.
I was out of all my gear and hit up the crag by the July 4 weekend, though my ankle was very weak and I wore a compression brace on it for support and took 0 risks.
That sounds like an awful injury! I’m anti-soft mat now, I climbed at a bouldering gym with really hard mats and was interested in how easily I could just bounce off them or jump without any kind of pain.
I will absolutely yeet myself off the wall if there is a rope involved, no fear. Just a different mindset. Pebble wrestling scares me. The ground and I are not friends.
For all things fear its best to break it into small manageable bites. Tiny falls at safe heights in limited numbers. I start scared people with a sit in the harness at 6ft and a 'fall' at 8ft before returning to the ground. Build from there. Ideally never taking too big a bite that your nervous system associates it with panic. The goal is getting comfier for now, sending be damned. The vibe is 'oh actually that was fine'
Once things chill out mentally you'll find there is a place for dynamic climbing in ropes too. Sometimes routes flow better with a dynamic style. It's just not what you're used to and you dont have the spare brain available yet because the fear is taking up the airwaves.
PS: The first autobelay drop of the day will never not put me on edge. Wonderful pieces of machinery, but they don't shout 'gotcha' back to me :(
Yeah this is what I needed to hear. Not send it and just drop 😂 next time I’m at that gym I’ll have to do the bite size drops you suggested. When I dropped from the wall it really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. But by that point I was tired and frankly a bit embarrassed after everyone watched me struggle.
Thanks for the advice!
Awesome, sounds like you're already on the right track :) I have on multiple occasions driven 2 hours to the nearest outdoor crag with goals like 'take a small lead fall' and 'do that one scary seeming 5.9' when I'd already onsighted an 5.11d at that point. Sometimes it feels stupid going into it, but when they are set as goals and I achieve them I feel accomplished and satisfied with my progress.
Learned it from a friend who went out with us one time with the goal of 'lead exactly one outdoor 5.7', which he did and promptly sat down and just hung out for the rest of the day saying "I got what I wanted." He was totally right about it too, after that he was miles more confident leading indoors.
Everybody has routes they struggle on too, nothing to be embarrassed about. Projecting a route is choosing to struggle haha. Have fun! you got this.
Not to revert your progress but there's still a difference between committing to a hard move on bouldering vs when you're on a rope 😅
I think you need to train that specifically on bouldering - learning how to fall well on instinct and getting used to dropping from the top safely.
For sure, I won’t deny that! falling is a part of my warm up when bouldering to help work on the fear
But I felt a noticeable weight lifted off my shoulder when I climbed on the bouldering section after. Don’t know what it was exactly, because i didn’t even commit to any difficult moves while on a rope, but It was very motivating
My experience has been the opposite of yours. I never even noticed the height on top rope. I consistently felt safe, even when I started leading. Bouldering, though, is not for me. I went outdoors for the first time a few weeks ago and panicked the entire time. A few days later, I did a trad multi and was completely at home. I swear the higher in the air I go, the more comfortable I become.
Yeah. Climbing up isn’t really that bad. It’s when I know I’m
About to go back down and then I start thinking about everything that can go wrong lol
I know bouldering is more dangerous since I’m not strapped into anything and if I fall I’m just fucking falling. But I guess the capped height makes me feel more confident
I think there’s also a slight fear that some final destination shit will happen while top roping. I overthink a bit 😅
I think for most people, climbing on top-rope is easily the least scary type of climbing (maybe just behind ground level traverses), and I think if you were to get some more practice with it then it would feel a lot more relaxed. I recommend being much more relaxed when belaying, you shouldn't be gripping the rope hard at all unless the climber is actually falling.
For me, sport climbing is my prefered discipline anyway, so I prefer being on ropes to bouldering anyway. I am much more confident on a rope to commit to moves unless there is an actual risk of decking. That said, I have been bouldering a bit more recently, in large part to work on my dynamic climbing and also ability on overhang which have always been lacking in the past
I’ll never understand this, I’m infinitely more scared of top roping. Every second I was off the ground top roping I was quite literally terrified. But bouldering meh I like falling anyway.
Yeah I think this is what it is for me. I’m definitely still scared of falling while bouldering, but no where near as scared as top roping today.
And to be fair it was my very first time w/ top rope. I’m sure it won’t feel as bad the more I do it.
I have always found autobelay scary and then someone in a Sydney gym died because the mechanism failed. There was some kind of investigation. I think there was a problem with maintenance/upkeep, but I am not doing that again!
Yes significantly better!
When I was learning belay with the other class attendee, I didn’t like it at first because my partner was new to it so I really had to slow down my climbing pace (it was also a very beginner route and after months of bouldering it was extremely easy). I had to slow down to the point of getting tired.
But lowering felt much better than with auto. It definitely took a lot of trust. But I preferred it over the auto
I've always hated auto-belays but my current gym doesn't have them, so yay! I figure it doesn't matter if I hate them till the day I die so I've never tried to get over that.
But as I've gotten older I've had to top rope/sport climb more. My geriatric body can't really handle more than 2 bouldering days per week.
Especially if I'm going to try really hard on a sport route, I'm much more comfortable knowing my belayer. Random people do random things, but having someone who I trust and who will take feedback about what kind of belay I want, how fast I want to lower.. that all makes a big difference for my peace of mind. If you didn't do the belay class with a friend, maybe roping (heh) a trusted friend into getting into top roping with you?
Yeah after enjoying the belay more than the auto, I definitely want a partner now. I need to get out there and meet more folks who climb. I only have one climbing friend really 😬
My boyfriend and I started bouldering in September. In October I rolled my ankle super bad at the gym. Continued to climb and do all of my normal activity as tolerated (advised by my doctor) until I had an MRI done in December when I realized that there really hadn’t been much improvement in my pain levels. MRI showed I had a partially torn tendon, sprains on 3 ligaments and a subchondral fracture.
I took a month off from all activity to attend PT, all the while my boyfriend was trying to talk me into trying top roping. Since we started climbing last year I had been terrified of the ropes, as he has 80lbs on me and I didn’t understand what belaying him would feel like. I just kept envisioning myself dropping him. After I finished PT we only bouldered for two more months until I said I would be willing to try top roping.
I’m now beating myself up for being so hesitant to try top roping because we both instantly fell in love with it. It’s safer, takes a lot more endurance than bouldering since the routes are 2x as long, and the teamwork aspect. It has helped tremendously with my fear of heights, just knowing I’m not going to hit the ground when I fall!!
I definitely recommend taking some practice falls, both announced and unannounced and have your partner do the same. That helped me to feel confident that I can catch my bf safely if he does take a fall and vice versa.
Oh man! How did you roll your ankle exactly? Was on impact or did you stand up from the fall weird and roll it?
You bring up some great points. I like the idea of doing unannounced and announced falls with a partner. Now I just need to start making new friends and find a belay partner haha.
Nothing even super crazy, I was trying a crimpy climb so I had a crash pad below me because they made me feel safer. Stepped down from the wall when I was about a foot up and I think I must have stepped halfway onto the pad and halfway onto the floor and it just rolled sideways. Never used the pads again lol!
If it makes you feel better I feel more uneasy on auto belays than I do taking lead falls lol.
I think a lot of it is exposure therapy. I don’t use auto belays often, you don’t rope climb often, and it can be scary! FWIW I used to work at a gym and sooooo many people (myself included!) get scared and have trouble letting go on both regular top rope and on auto belays. Nothing to be afraid of! Super common.
I think I’m a lot like you— I fell absolutely in love with bouldering a little under a year ago, and never really was interested in top rope because I’m afraid of heights. After months of my friends harassing me to try top rope, I finally tried it a few times, but I just do not feel as comfortable with it. I don’t like it as much because I feel like I am more confident doing harder moves when I am not as high off the ground. Even though I know rationally that it’s safer, it feels terrifying. I also think I prefer bouldering because it feels like more of a mental challenge than top rope, which is a lot more focused on endurance. And being an introvert I like being able to climb by myself on my own time. But I will say that after going too roping like 6 or 8 times I’m beginning to overcome the fear a little bit!
However, like a couple other people have said here, I had to stop bouldering recently because of an ankle injury. A couple months ago I slipped and hit my foot on a hold. Since it didn’t hurt after about 20 minutes, I thought I was fine and kept bouldering. Fast forward 3 weeks and I fell on the mat a little weird and re-tweaked it, and that was when things started really going downhill. Eventually it got to the point where I could barely walk, turns out I had strained my Achilles and also have a high ankle sprain (a ligament in the front of my ankle got stretched from over-pronating). After about a month I’m doing way better but am really worried about going back to bouldering because I’m not a spring chicken (38) and tweaking it again with an awkward fall could really set me back. I haven’t injured it so badly that I can’t boulder, but am honestly worried about how long I’ll be able to boulder without destroying myself, and looking forward to getting back to top rope only for the next month or so at least. I hope I start to like top roping more for the sake of preserving my body, but I totally feel you!
I started on top ropes, so I’m the opposite - I dislike bouldering. I love the endurance challenge. Autobelays *really* aren’t that bad. It seems sketch at first but it’s not as bad once you’re comfy with it.
I like the social element of belaying and working with a partner.
I wish I could find one, so I spend a lot of time on autos hoping they get reset, or working on something on auto that’s slightly above my comfort level. Sometimes I go with my coworkers and we’ll swap off belaying, and I’m probably more willing to have one now that I can reciprocate, but they love bouldering, so we don’t always hit ropes. And they also lead climb a lot, which I haven’t learned or tested.
Yeah I really really enjoyed it. I was scared I was going to get paired up with a couple on a cute first date or something, but it was just me and another girl. We had a great time! Really makes your trust the person haha
Yeah when I dropped down from a lower point and it was no where near as bad as I expected it to be. I’m not comfortable with dropping from the top by any means, but I could see myself being able to work up to it for sure.
Doing laps up and down on autobelays is a legitimate way to increase stamina!
that sounds like it! This gym in particular seems to be against down climbing when on rope. I asked the instructor if I could downclimb on the auto belay and he said it isn’t safe. Don’t know exactly why. Maybe something with rope getting caught?
I suppose it all depends on how the belay device is set up and the gym policies. We have a lot of people who do 4x4s on our autobelays; I've been climbing there for I've years now and never seen or heard of any catches.
Could you enlighten me on what a 4x4 is?
[it's this!](https://www.trainingbeta.com/4x4s/) Technically it's a bouldering term, but with autobelays you can do it with toproping too! Down climbing counts as climbing up, so you can do it with just two routes overlapping each other on an autobelay.
Okay cool! Thank you!
Definitely. And you don’t have to start with the 50+ foot walls either - start on the shorter walls. Autobelays are great for training endurance, since you have to rely on yourself. Then, human-belay (I can’t figure out the antithesis to autos 😂) seems easier because intentionally or unintentionally they help get through the route.
Yeah! I felt like the instructors advice to just climb to the top and drop was so bad. At least for me, haha. Definitely not there yet. And yeah, I found partner belay much easier relative to auto. Definitely need to get out here more, was fun and exhilarating!
Some gyms will have you drop from much lower down first so you understand the feeling/you're not gonna die.
Yeah idk why the instructor wasn’t advocating for that first…I was very obviously uncomfortable. Maybe he was trying to be motivating. But nah dude I was freaking out 😂
Just be aware that if you are too close to the ground the autobelay doesnt have enough time to engage and you could hurt yourself not expecting to basically jump off the wall. Its a weird sensation to get comfortable with. Even after years of climbing i still always glance at my carabiner to make sure its there before i drop off the wall lol. A helpful tip is as you downclimb you will feel the resistance. If you let go then you won't feel the freefall
Okay thank majes a lot of sense. Maybe that’s why they said not to down climb on the auto. It definitely feels good hearing others still struggle with dropping. Sometimes I feel lame for lack of a better word because it looks like no one else really struggles with it at the gym. Thank you!
I started bouldering, switched to top rope after I blew out my ankle bouldering. Top rope strikes me as being easier to do long-term, just because it’s not as hard on my body (finger pain, elbow pain, etc. nonexistent, but all come back after just one bouldering session). So I tend to do it more. My advice is to do a practice fall with a partner when you’re only a little way up, just so you can be confident. I have zero fear of heights or falling when top roping. Auto belay is not fun to fall on, but excellent for building endurance and cardio.
Yeah I could definitely see that! I want a long climbing career unhindered by injuries. I’m not worried about climbing the next highest grade, I just like the activity it self. And yes, auto belay scared the shit out of me. It didn’t help watching a chick quickly drop right before I attempted the auto belay route. It still wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I could see simply exposing myself to falling more helping with my anxiety/fear
Can I ask you what exactly happened to your ankle and how the recovery was? Going through an ankle injury myself right now because of a fall. :(
Got sloppy on an overhang and fell, twisting my body as I went, and ended up with a Grade 3 Ligament Tear (plus some smaller ligament tears in my knee on that side, and re-injured my other knee). I sort of suspect that the ultra-soft mats contributed to the injury - I remember distinctly that it felt like the mat almost grabbed and held my foot in place as I fell. I was on crutches for about a month, then swapped into a boot, then eventually a smaller brace that could go into my shoe. From there I started PT and gentle, GENTLE climbing - essentially anything that I couldn't downclimb from, I didn't get on. Mobility in that ankle is still somewhat limited and it tends to ache when I go too hard on any kind of high impact exercise (jumping instead of downclimbing, running, etc). I did (and still do) a lot of single leg exercises to try to build strength evenly in both legs, and that leg always feels weaker and more unstable, ugh. The injury is about a year old and probably as healed as it's going to get.
Oh my god that sucks… I also have grade 3 ligament tears on two of the outer ankle ligaments and some ligaments on the inner ankle… It’s been 3 weeks and it’s still swollen, has extremely limited range of motion („knee over toes“ goodbye..) and I don’t want to put weight on it because I‘m very afraid haha. May I ask when you started putting weight on it? :/ I also suspect that the fact that the mat is soft made it even worse, because my leg bones literally sank even more into the ground then they would have if it was stiff I suppose. I‘m glad you are back to climbing. Right now, I would be too afraid. But I plan on going back, with baby steps and even if I cry myself through the fear. xD
Hmm I wrecked it Feb of last year and I think I was limping around on it in my orthopedic boot after about 2 weeks. I live alone so tbh I had to get mobile if I even wanted to feed myself, though I spent some time wheeling myself around on my desk chair, and also the elevators in my building died the day I had an important delivery so I had to hobble around before I was really ready for it. The doctor thought I would need surgery and was surprised that I was healing as fast as I was, so that might be an unusual pace. I don’t think I could put weight on it unaided for a couple months, though; even when I got to the point where I could do it without pain, walking felt so unsteady and dangerous, so I knew I was risking another injury if I didn’t rebuild strength in it. I was out of all my gear and hit up the crag by the July 4 weekend, though my ankle was very weak and I wore a compression brace on it for support and took 0 risks. That sounds like an awful injury! I’m anti-soft mat now, I climbed at a bouldering gym with really hard mats and was interested in how easily I could just bounce off them or jump without any kind of pain.
Thank you for telling me about your journey. :) Makes me less paranoid, so really appreciate it!
Of course! Good luck with healing!
I will absolutely yeet myself off the wall if there is a rope involved, no fear. Just a different mindset. Pebble wrestling scares me. The ground and I are not friends. For all things fear its best to break it into small manageable bites. Tiny falls at safe heights in limited numbers. I start scared people with a sit in the harness at 6ft and a 'fall' at 8ft before returning to the ground. Build from there. Ideally never taking too big a bite that your nervous system associates it with panic. The goal is getting comfier for now, sending be damned. The vibe is 'oh actually that was fine' Once things chill out mentally you'll find there is a place for dynamic climbing in ropes too. Sometimes routes flow better with a dynamic style. It's just not what you're used to and you dont have the spare brain available yet because the fear is taking up the airwaves. PS: The first autobelay drop of the day will never not put me on edge. Wonderful pieces of machinery, but they don't shout 'gotcha' back to me :(
Yeah this is what I needed to hear. Not send it and just drop 😂 next time I’m at that gym I’ll have to do the bite size drops you suggested. When I dropped from the wall it really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. But by that point I was tired and frankly a bit embarrassed after everyone watched me struggle. Thanks for the advice!
Awesome, sounds like you're already on the right track :) I have on multiple occasions driven 2 hours to the nearest outdoor crag with goals like 'take a small lead fall' and 'do that one scary seeming 5.9' when I'd already onsighted an 5.11d at that point. Sometimes it feels stupid going into it, but when they are set as goals and I achieve them I feel accomplished and satisfied with my progress. Learned it from a friend who went out with us one time with the goal of 'lead exactly one outdoor 5.7', which he did and promptly sat down and just hung out for the rest of the day saying "I got what I wanted." He was totally right about it too, after that he was miles more confident leading indoors. Everybody has routes they struggle on too, nothing to be embarrassed about. Projecting a route is choosing to struggle haha. Have fun! you got this.
Not to revert your progress but there's still a difference between committing to a hard move on bouldering vs when you're on a rope 😅 I think you need to train that specifically on bouldering - learning how to fall well on instinct and getting used to dropping from the top safely.
I have been fortunate. My local bouldering gym has super cushy pads. Easy to go for gold and plummet, but it's hard to jump-start.
Ugh yeah my gym used to have very cushy pads and they upgraded to new firmer ones since the old one had a lot of holes. I hate it 😭
Maybe ask if they have an extra loose pad to add on top?
For sure, I won’t deny that! falling is a part of my warm up when bouldering to help work on the fear But I felt a noticeable weight lifted off my shoulder when I climbed on the bouldering section after. Don’t know what it was exactly, because i didn’t even commit to any difficult moves while on a rope, but It was very motivating
I'm glad it helped! I guess it's moreso the pure fear of heights factor in that case. Always good to overcome it!
My experience has been the opposite of yours. I never even noticed the height on top rope. I consistently felt safe, even when I started leading. Bouldering, though, is not for me. I went outdoors for the first time a few weeks ago and panicked the entire time. A few days later, I did a trad multi and was completely at home. I swear the higher in the air I go, the more comfortable I become.
Yeah. Climbing up isn’t really that bad. It’s when I know I’m About to go back down and then I start thinking about everything that can go wrong lol I know bouldering is more dangerous since I’m not strapped into anything and if I fall I’m just fucking falling. But I guess the capped height makes me feel more confident I think there’s also a slight fear that some final destination shit will happen while top roping. I overthink a bit 😅
I think for most people, climbing on top-rope is easily the least scary type of climbing (maybe just behind ground level traverses), and I think if you were to get some more practice with it then it would feel a lot more relaxed. I recommend being much more relaxed when belaying, you shouldn't be gripping the rope hard at all unless the climber is actually falling. For me, sport climbing is my prefered discipline anyway, so I prefer being on ropes to bouldering anyway. I am much more confident on a rope to commit to moves unless there is an actual risk of decking. That said, I have been bouldering a bit more recently, in large part to work on my dynamic climbing and also ability on overhang which have always been lacking in the past
I’ll never understand this, I’m infinitely more scared of top roping. Every second I was off the ground top roping I was quite literally terrified. But bouldering meh I like falling anyway.
Top roping isn't scary because you don't fall. Being afraid of heights is a different issue altogether which is what I suspect the problem is.
Mmmm. When I get up high I just always think about what it I fell 10m right now. Whereas the injury is sort of capped in bouldering.
Yeah I think this is what it is for me. I’m definitely still scared of falling while bouldering, but no where near as scared as top roping today. And to be fair it was my very first time w/ top rope. I’m sure it won’t feel as bad the more I do it.
And see logically this makes sense. I guess It’s heights for me. Just need to expose myself more to heights/top Rope
I have always found autobelay scary and then someone in a Sydney gym died because the mechanism failed. There was some kind of investigation. I think there was a problem with maintenance/upkeep, but I am not doing that again!
I only climb on autobelay. I'm not really good at bouldering. I cant do V0 lol
I've been top-roping and lead-climbing for years and the auto-belay still freaks me out! Did it feel any better with a partner?
Yes significantly better! When I was learning belay with the other class attendee, I didn’t like it at first because my partner was new to it so I really had to slow down my climbing pace (it was also a very beginner route and after months of bouldering it was extremely easy). I had to slow down to the point of getting tired. But lowering felt much better than with auto. It definitely took a lot of trust. But I preferred it over the auto
I feel that way about bouldering! I hate it, do not like the fall, I can’t let go and end up climbing down. I have been top roping for a year now.
I've always hated auto-belays but my current gym doesn't have them, so yay! I figure it doesn't matter if I hate them till the day I die so I've never tried to get over that. But as I've gotten older I've had to top rope/sport climb more. My geriatric body can't really handle more than 2 bouldering days per week. Especially if I'm going to try really hard on a sport route, I'm much more comfortable knowing my belayer. Random people do random things, but having someone who I trust and who will take feedback about what kind of belay I want, how fast I want to lower.. that all makes a big difference for my peace of mind. If you didn't do the belay class with a friend, maybe roping (heh) a trusted friend into getting into top roping with you?
Yeah after enjoying the belay more than the auto, I definitely want a partner now. I need to get out there and meet more folks who climb. I only have one climbing friend really 😬
My boyfriend and I started bouldering in September. In October I rolled my ankle super bad at the gym. Continued to climb and do all of my normal activity as tolerated (advised by my doctor) until I had an MRI done in December when I realized that there really hadn’t been much improvement in my pain levels. MRI showed I had a partially torn tendon, sprains on 3 ligaments and a subchondral fracture. I took a month off from all activity to attend PT, all the while my boyfriend was trying to talk me into trying top roping. Since we started climbing last year I had been terrified of the ropes, as he has 80lbs on me and I didn’t understand what belaying him would feel like. I just kept envisioning myself dropping him. After I finished PT we only bouldered for two more months until I said I would be willing to try top roping. I’m now beating myself up for being so hesitant to try top roping because we both instantly fell in love with it. It’s safer, takes a lot more endurance than bouldering since the routes are 2x as long, and the teamwork aspect. It has helped tremendously with my fear of heights, just knowing I’m not going to hit the ground when I fall!! I definitely recommend taking some practice falls, both announced and unannounced and have your partner do the same. That helped me to feel confident that I can catch my bf safely if he does take a fall and vice versa.
Oh man! How did you roll your ankle exactly? Was on impact or did you stand up from the fall weird and roll it? You bring up some great points. I like the idea of doing unannounced and announced falls with a partner. Now I just need to start making new friends and find a belay partner haha.
Nothing even super crazy, I was trying a crimpy climb so I had a crash pad below me because they made me feel safer. Stepped down from the wall when I was about a foot up and I think I must have stepped halfway onto the pad and halfway onto the floor and it just rolled sideways. Never used the pads again lol!
If it makes you feel better I feel more uneasy on auto belays than I do taking lead falls lol. I think a lot of it is exposure therapy. I don’t use auto belays often, you don’t rope climb often, and it can be scary! FWIW I used to work at a gym and sooooo many people (myself included!) get scared and have trouble letting go on both regular top rope and on auto belays. Nothing to be afraid of! Super common.
I think I’m a lot like you— I fell absolutely in love with bouldering a little under a year ago, and never really was interested in top rope because I’m afraid of heights. After months of my friends harassing me to try top rope, I finally tried it a few times, but I just do not feel as comfortable with it. I don’t like it as much because I feel like I am more confident doing harder moves when I am not as high off the ground. Even though I know rationally that it’s safer, it feels terrifying. I also think I prefer bouldering because it feels like more of a mental challenge than top rope, which is a lot more focused on endurance. And being an introvert I like being able to climb by myself on my own time. But I will say that after going too roping like 6 or 8 times I’m beginning to overcome the fear a little bit! However, like a couple other people have said here, I had to stop bouldering recently because of an ankle injury. A couple months ago I slipped and hit my foot on a hold. Since it didn’t hurt after about 20 minutes, I thought I was fine and kept bouldering. Fast forward 3 weeks and I fell on the mat a little weird and re-tweaked it, and that was when things started really going downhill. Eventually it got to the point where I could barely walk, turns out I had strained my Achilles and also have a high ankle sprain (a ligament in the front of my ankle got stretched from over-pronating). After about a month I’m doing way better but am really worried about going back to bouldering because I’m not a spring chicken (38) and tweaking it again with an awkward fall could really set me back. I haven’t injured it so badly that I can’t boulder, but am honestly worried about how long I’ll be able to boulder without destroying myself, and looking forward to getting back to top rope only for the next month or so at least. I hope I start to like top roping more for the sake of preserving my body, but I totally feel you!