The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

situation changes again, you repeat the process. This constant withdrawing and reapplying of intention makes your climbing choppy and rigid, rather than fluid and spontaneous. Being unattached to any specific expectation, in contrast, places you in a receptive state that allows you to pay attention and listen to the rock. Your intention stays in the moment. When the situation changes, you don’t need to waste time redirecting your intention. You remain focused through the entire effort.
    Dihedral climbing is an appropriate example of the importance of listening. You set off up the dihedral with the rigid intention of lay-backing. You climb the dihedral for a while but the crack becomes too small for your fingers. You continue laybacking on fingertip holds until your original approach becomes so inefficient and strenuous that you’re forced to stop. Just before you pump out and fall you reconsider your plan. You look around, see holds on the face, and begin stemming. Pleased with yourself, you stem up, but soon you’re climbing with the same rigid mindset as before. You continue stemming but suddenly notice that for over a body length now, the crack has been wide enough for hand jams. So, better late than never, you switch to jamming. A bit higher, the crack pinches down with you still in jamming mode. You make an all-out effort to jam strenuously through a thin-hands section and barely make it to easier climbing.
    Figure 6.1: Listening Climbing

    ABOVE: Rigid climbing technique on a climb with varied demands. BELOW: Varied technique flowing spontaneously on a varied climb.

    Obviously, this ascent involves a lot of wasted energy. You set rigid expectations concerning what you would do on each section of the dihedral. Initially, if you had set one expectation—to learn and trust yourself—then you would have created a receptive frame of mind that would allow you to climb spontaneously with a natural mix of techniques. Your continuing question would have been, “What does this dihedral offer to allow me to climb it?” You would have stemmed earlier and avoided the strenuous fingertip layback moves, moved smoothly into hand jamming as soon as the crack opened up, and laybacked easily through the thin-hands section where you almost fell.
    An open expectation can also apply to your sense of difficulty. If you expect a climb to feel difficult, you may become locked into that feeling. You may overlook options because you’ve already decided that a maximum effort will be required. Remind yourself to remain open to holds or techniques that might conflict with your preconceived notion of difficulty.
    You can open up your attitude concerning difficulty itself because difficulty is a state of mind. What feels difficult for one climber might feel easy for another. This perception often has more to do with attitude than physical strength. As you begin climbing into a crux, your intent should not be only to move upward but to loosen your rigid perception of the “difficulties.” The word difficult is derived from a negation of the French word facile , meaning easy. It’s a negative construction—“not easy”—with a negative emphasis. It’s comparable to saying “not ugly” to mean beautiful. Rather than seeing a crux as a “difficult” place lacking easy passage, see it as a challenging place offering the opportunity for learning. This more open mindset can be very powerful and help you enter enthusiastically into the effort. A sense of embracing opportunities and opening up to possibilities is an important tool for transcending perceived barriers.

    Is this climber thinking about how to use this hold to move up, or is he afraid it’s too small? His thoughts will make all the difference. Photo: Andrew Kornylak
    Within your unbending intent to climb into the challenge, you’ll keep an open, attentive mind. Remember, your level of receptivity determines your speed of learning. If the conscious mind begins to engage in thinking, direct your attention to your breath, which helps put the conscious mind in neutral. See and feel the holds and moves as they are, without perceiving them as good or bad, easy or hard.
    Intuition
    In modern culture, intuition is a vague and often derided faculty. The analytical, left-brain part of the mind tends to ignore or negate intuitive knowledge. To the warrior, however, intuition is specific and crucial. It is his connection to hidden information and unrealized potential. If you