[SA Chris]

Also (to me anyway) doing higher and easy and being "up there" on easy climbing does more for your head than doing low hard stuff and hoping to progress to high harder stuff. Just get out and do mileage on easy microroutes / highballs does wonders. Easier to do coming from a trad background though.

[User deactivated.]

I know I should work on my head game, and it's probably the majority of what is holding me back, but it's in all fairness hard and unpleasant to do. It felt like it was getting better until I fell and badly injured my knee and since then its been very variable, from okay ish to bad to occasionally v bad. I worked a bit with a sports psychologist and I found that tbh it didn't seem to be helping me.

Realistically I need to go and start doing 4s, 5a, 6As etc that are high and get my head in a bouldering position. I suppose I feel rather depressed and intimated by it all more than anything. I'm not excited by the idea of going out and shitting myself on Crescent Arete and backing off and going home feeling like shit, although I probably do need to go and do that and at least try to push through it.

Sounds like a team pad party is needed with loads of psyche and some healthy peer pressure. It's actually really fun once you get into the swing of it! Happy to throw a few pads down if it ever stops raining! I think the ideal boulder is moderately big, with multiple lines that aren't a total path and a flat landing (e.g. the Calf, Ilkley). That ensures taking plenty of lobs and learning that falling isn't so bad.

Regarding Droyd's accident report: with correctly placed pads and a spotter, the likelihood of breaking bones on Crescent Arete should be vanishingly small for a fit and healthy person. Freak accidents can occur, but you can step off a curb and break your leg too. Highballing has actually taught me to be safer. I know how and when to fall, usually put more effort into arranging pads correctly, and I prepare correctly (e.g. ensuring holds are clean, working moves off a ladder/rope, etc.).

[Wellsy]

I'm definitely open to getting out of my comfort zone and plan to do so this year but honestly I feel like at the moment something like that would be really stressful and make me just want to walk away more, not less!

Doing Crescent Arete isn't something I particularly desire but doing less high/sketch things but potentially more high than I am now with an eye towards performing better would be what I want. I could happily go my entire life never getting on, say, Pebble Arete but I'd build towards it if it meant getting to do things I do actually want to do, like T-Crack and so on.

[mrjonathanr]

if you're uncomfortable above a certain height you won't be getting much experience of being up there and volume moving vertically.

Have you considered grabbing a rope and leading a ton of easy routes? Stanage VS challenge style?

[Wellsy]

Never done anything on a rope tbh! Might help you're right

[Wellsy]

I would also say, not to drive the thread off course, but it's not like I don't love bouldering and haven't had some amazing experiences doing it. And last year was probably when I did my favourite climbs (The Lark, Rasta and Blind Bat) and if I spent my entire bouldering career doing stuff like that I'd be loving it. I'd just like to maybe do the 7B/+ versions in the near-ish future.

[Moo]

For what it's worth wells my lass had a problem with her head game when climbing outside. She used to get freaked out in an illogical phobia kind of way just a few feet off the deck despite climbing perfectly happily at height indoors.

What sorted her out was doing a shed load of volume on easy font circuits ( ideal place to do it ). Literally trying to knock off 30-40 yellow or blue problems a day for a week was massively beneficial. I think it was just an increase in exposure to being on rock at a comfortable level which did the trick. We do a font circuit trip every year now, it's a great holiday and you do a massive amount of climbing. Don't worry about the level or the grades just go and do as much easy climbing as you can. The other thing with it is to try and climb each problem as well as you can, don't just try and drag yourself up stuff, stand on the feet, find your balance etc it can be quite the humbling experience but if you make it the focus of the trip it can be massively rewarding.

[SA Chris]

For what it's worth wells my lass had a problem with her head game when climbing outside. She used to get freaked out in an illogical phobia kind of way just a few feet off the deck despite climbing perfectly happily at height indoors.

My daughter is the same. Happily lead a 15m or so 5+ indoors, but freaks out 5 m up a Diff outdoors on toprope. Maybe a Font family holiday is in order...

[Wellsy]

Went to font last year for a couple of trips and definitely found it helped a lot yeah, it just ebbed over winter as the bloody rain kept me from getting on rock!

[stone]

I sometimes wonder whether some people who have a big gap between what they climb indoors versus outdoors might simply be slow at grasping outdoor climbing movement rather than having an insurmountable block for climbing outdoors.

I think I'm something of an outlier in terms of what I can eventually climb versus what I can climb in a few goes. Obviously many people would find it insufferably tedious to puzzle out the movements over many sessions. But I think there are some people who might quite enjoy doing that but simply don't realise that just because they can't climb eg a 7A in a session, doesn't mean they might not be able to climb a 7B+ in ten sessions (or whatever).

I'm not saying doing that is necessarily "good for anyones climbing" or anything. I'm just saying it is a perhaps overlooked option for how to enjoy being outside.

[abarro81]

I'd say the opposite, I think more people spend more and more time protecting from an early stage of their climbing and less and less time bashing out mileage and onsighting.. at least compared to 10-15 years ago (I'm thinking routes more than boulders, but it may be true for bouldering too)

[thunderbeest]

I think for bouldering projecting is a lot more time efficient to actually do some moves as it might take a lot of time to be unlock all the moves and can often even be a drive between different blocks. You can even stash pads to save time in the approach. So all of a sudden you can have a good (training) sesj while being outdoors at about 2-2.5 hours door to door.