To prepare for the 150- 280′ via ferrata heights at Nelson Rocks in West Virginia, I had about 4 weeks to get my act together, to basically go from belly crawling on the ground to soaring, head-in-the-clouds, heights. Whew, whew, breathe!!! Fortunately, this particular endeavor already had a fairly easy competence-confidence progression with which I could work. In the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky, southeast of Lexington, there is another via ferrata route, run by Southeast Mountain Guides.
The great thing about this particular course is how it’s set up. Running counterclockwise around a horseshoe-shaped canyon, the course is divided up into 6 segments running basically from easiest to hardest, with escape routes that make it possible to enter and exit the overall route in between each of those segments.
This would allow me to lay out a progressive confidence-competence plan of attack for myself.
After a quick end-run from Ohio, through Lexington, and down the pastoral Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway, I found myself in the parking lot of Southeast Mountain Guides, looking up at the steep canyon walls I was expecting myself to climb. I had the whole place to myself. Baylor, the kid working there, told me how to use the equipment. I strapped myself into a climbing harness, outfitted with two carabiners and a rest clip dangling off the front, and slapped on a helmet.
I got his whole spiel about THE most important thing to remember while working a via ferrata, which is… as you work your way along the line that is attached to the rock face, only unclip and move ONE CLIP AT A TIME!!! And that if I FALL, to not continue climbing, that they’d come get me down and retire the equipment for safety’s sake – OMG!! I can assure you… I had NOOO plans to fall!!
He took me up to the practice wall to demonstrate the equipment and route and have me give the system a whirl. Then he sent me on my way, saying that the 2nd segment was the easiest, then #1, then #3.
So, here’s the magic of my thinking – you repeatedly stretch your comfort zone just one, ONE!, small stretch at a time – you don’t do anything that will blow out the bubble of your comfort zone! I set up my plan of attack methodically. Do the easiest route, repeatedly, as many times as is necesary, until you’re comfortable, actually until you’re more than comfortable, with it, before moving on to the next segment – rinse and repeat.
Since it was deemed to be the easiest, I chose to tackle the 2nd segment first. Now, let me be clear here, it may have been the “easiest,” but was, by no means, easy – I was damn near hyperventilating the whole time. No matter what you’re doing, no matter how much you break it down, there’s always that first moment when you just have to start – you have to navigate everything that is new, and your mind has to process a little more than it’s capable of at first. Clipping, unclipping, not getting stuck at attachments points of the cable, figuring out whether you should be stepping with your left foot or right, in the middle of the rung, or off to the side to accomodate the other foot. It’s a lot to process.
Which means that… within the first 10 minutes of climbing, I accidentally managed to get myself completely unclipped, hanging 30’ off the ground, by ONE HAND– I was trying to figure out how in the world to climb up a corner of rock, and while mentally absorbed in that puzzle, I managed to unclip both clips. When I realized what I had done, terror ripped through me, the bottoms of my feet aching fom the sudden contraction of fear.
Lessons learned – and this is what we do. We take those lessons that are now hard-wired into our bodies as a result of, not warnings from outside, but from having deeply learned them, internally!!
I got ahold of myself and pressed on…
In true competence-confidence fashion, I came down off the wall of rock, and returned to redo section #2. And, no surprise, as is to be expected, it was far easier the second time around – I was getting familiar with that particular route and the equipment. The fear of the unknown had diminished significantly since my first pass at it. I, now, had a bit of success tucked up under my climbing harness.
The confidence I gained from repeating the 2nd segment twice allowed me to continue straight on into the 3rd segment, and the opportunity to take on the next mental and physical stretch. #3 had a section that contained a verticle series of rungs – this was a new challenge – I channeled my inner Spiderwoman and hauled ass up the sheer face – it seemed enormous, and all I wanted to do was sprint up it and get it over with!!
It was such a relief to plunk myself down at the top – the fear of heights at that point was less than the fear of continuing to hang out there, climbing upward through space. I was making things more comfortable, for myself, in measures.
I came back down to the ground. I was surprised that I felt ready to tackle a different route without having to repeat segment #3 again – confidence was building!! I decided to go after the 1st route. It was definately moderately difficult, in between the other two, as far as the challenge it presented.
After tackling the newness of 1, I was surprised at how much faster I was breezing through the other 2 routes, and how much less my anxiety. Familiarity with those routes allowed me to breathe. As expected, each segment of the route got easier with each pass and, rather than being terrifying, started to become enjoyable despite being some 75-100’ off the ground!!
And, then, a curious thing started to happen – I had a couple of brief moments of being in the zone, where I was just in harmony with the moment, clip under, clip over, under, over, under, over, click-click, clack-clack, and the rest of the world just disappeared – I was engrossed in what I was doing, and the heights faded away. All that existed in my awareness was the very next move in front of me. Euphoric!
I had only put in one day, a few hours really, of time and effort, in overcoming my fear of heights, and I was already feeling more capable and more confident, and ready to come back for more the next day to stretch out my comfort zone just a wee bit more!
Let’s hear it for the virtuous competence-confidence cycle!! Whoot whoot!!
To continue on the journey with me, see “Via Ferrata, Day 2: Oops”
Smarter-Not-Harder U 