Alex
Well-known member
I get that sometimes, always in my head I think that my harness or rope is going to break for no real reason on the big open pitches. Really hard to push those thoughts out of my mind, but I only think this going up. Also, I keep getting paranoid of my helmet falling off my head on big pitches leaving me in complete darkness, again only on big open pitches >30m.
Stop it brain, you are being irrational!
Going down, often I have a more rational fear when its over 50m (straight drop, with no rebelays) that I won't be able to control my descent because the rope was too heavy, especially if the stop is a little worn. My arm gets tired forcing it through the first half of the pitch only for the rope to start moving more freely but my arm is getting tired. This is worse at deviations as it requires more strength to lock off. In my early days when I went down titan, I wrapped the rope below me around my leg, to have more control. No issue going down 100m+ if separated by re-belays, that's fine, would prefer Titan to be rigged with 10 re-belays than those free hangs weirdly.
So for big drops, I prefer to rig if possible then the very heavy rope below me is in the bag and not having to be forced through my stop, that's why I volunteered to rig Nick pot both times I did it, it felt safer to me.
Stop it brain, you are being irrational!
Going down, often I have a more rational fear when its over 50m (straight drop, with no rebelays) that I won't be able to control my descent because the rope was too heavy, especially if the stop is a little worn. My arm gets tired forcing it through the first half of the pitch only for the rope to start moving more freely but my arm is getting tired. This is worse at deviations as it requires more strength to lock off. In my early days when I went down titan, I wrapped the rope below me around my leg, to have more control. No issue going down 100m+ if separated by re-belays, that's fine, would prefer Titan to be rigged with 10 re-belays than those free hangs weirdly.
So for big drops, I prefer to rig if possible then the very heavy rope below me is in the bag and not having to be forced through my stop, that's why I volunteered to rig Nick pot both times I did it, it felt safer to me.