Pyscho(logical) Pro

Photo from vdiffclimbing.com

I love listening to interviews with good climbers. Especially the bold ones... it's interesting to learn why and how they do scary ascents. I plan on making another post on podcasts, but today I'll be referencing Hazel Findlay's Curious Climber Podcast. The episode, an interview with renowned trad climber Dave Macleod, brought out some interesting questions that I had never seriously thought of before...

First, here's a link to the episode. There's also some interesting stuff on nutrition in there too.

If you don't know who Macleod is, you should! Dave is one of the best all-around climbers in history, having climbed V15, E11 (5.14c trad), 5.14d sport climbs and soloed 5.14. On the show, Hazel talks to Dave about his ascent of Echo Wall, his hardest trad climb to date. In a blog post about the route, Macleod said, "I was really inspired by making a route that had the combination of 8c or harder climbing, [and] an uncompromising level of seriousness (which, if you need it spelled out, means you would die if you fell off it)". As you can tell, it's no joke. 

In order to prepare for Echo Wall, Dave went through a Rocky-style montage of mental and physical training (see the video below). Like he said, "You would die if you fell off it." There's no room for error. Dave said he didn't try leading the route until he KNEW that the conditions were right and that he wouldn't fall. So, on the podcast, Findlay asked him if he would solo Echo Wall... and he said no. He admitted that it seemed counter-intuitive, but having pro and a rope gave some peace of mind, even if the rock he used for a nut placement FELL off after he climbed the route. 

While I haven't climbed anything nearly as serious as Dave, I get what he's saying. All trad climbers are familiar with the term "psychological pro". I've certainly placed gear I didn't think would hold because I was scared, and I felt better as I climbed above it.

The last time I climbed at my local crag, I wondered (of a warmup I've done many times), "What would it be like if I soloed this?" The thought of it made me nervous, yet I would be quite willing to run it out with a rope...

It made me question what the heck is wrong with climbers. We let arbitrary things replace our reality... It feels hard, but it's only 5.9 so it actually isn't... My inexperienced belayer is using a Grigri instead of an ATC, therefore I'm safe... I have a rope, so I'm not going to hit the ground...

Maybe we need some help... Perhaps we could all learn from Dave's experience. He stated that there's a difference between consequence and risk. The consequence of Echo Wall is high... but if you trained for it by soloing 5.14, climbing hard trad routes, and endlessly practicing the moves on toprope, the risk would be low. Don't do something stupid without the right preparation. Make this high consequence sport we all love less risky! Don't NEED that psychological pro...