“Focusing on fear of heights just reinforces it. Instead we must focus on positive feelings, such as the exhilaration of being at height, or the sense of achievement at getting to the top.” My wife Hannah and I were sitting in a village hall with a group of outdoor enthusiasts, listening to hypnotherapist Alison Mortimer. We were both feeling a bit out of our comfort zone. Everyone there was.
Main image: Even experienced scramblers and climbers can struggle with a fear of heights | Credit: Alex Roddie
Ben, Claire and Jared came from diverse outdoor backgrounds, and the stories we’d shared were deeply personal: of being gripped with fear on pitches of via ferrata, struggling to cope with exposed paths, feeling limited in what we could comfortably achieve in the outdoors. We were all here because we had decided to do something about it.
Hannah and I are both veteran hillwalkers. In my early 20s I was a passionate climber – until a few bad experiences in 2009 permanently dented my confidence on lead. I sold all my climbing gear in 2010. I still scramble regularly, but I have long been aware that more serious scrambles can bring out the demons once again. And Hannah, making a start on the Munros now that we live in Scotland, would love to join me on some of those more exposed ascents.
Like me, Jared was a member of the Austrian Alpine Club (UK) and an experienced hillwalker as well as hut trekker. He’d found out about this weekend through the extensive list of courses on the club’s newsletter, and his wife had said, “That’s you!” As he told the group, he loves Alpine hut treks but was starting to feel limited planning tours with minimal exposure. Ben was looking forward to a heli-hiking trip with his daughter, while Claire had a goal of hiking a route in the Dolomites with friends. All were curious how this weekend might be able to help them.
Positive reframing
Alison took us through a few basic principles about how the mind works. If we tell ourselves that we are choosing to climb that exposed ridge because the views at the top will be gorgeous, and then reinforce this through visualisation and repetition, we can overcome the knee-jerk emotional response triggered by earlier bad experiences. Breathing exercises such as box breathing and coherent breathing can also help. I’d never been hypnotised before, and wasn’t sure what to expect.
“Keep an open mind,” Alison told us. “Hypnosis is a natural deeply relaxed state.” The group hypnotherapy session took about an hour, and I remained aware of what was happening throughout. Alison asked us to go back to earlier experiences that caused our fear of heights. I’d expected to revisit stressful climbs from 2009, but ended up reliving a much earlier memory from childhood. I realised that, for me, it might stem from a desire not to disappoint people I looked up to. I was amazed at this – my prior assumptions about my relationship with heights were unfounded.
As the session continued, we were encouraged to realise that we no longer needed this fear. Hannah said: “The hypnotherapy didn’t have as much effect on me. It was a peaceful, calming session allowing me time to reflect on past experiences and how I was going to frame future experiences so that patterns could be rewired.”
Practice makes perfect
We headed out into the glorious springtime sunshine of the Peak District, and met outdoor instructors Will Legon and Andy Davis at the Surprise View car park above Hathersage. As we tried on climbing shoes and harnesses, Will told us, “My goal today is to make you feel bored of being at height.”
Through repeated positive experiences, making things that might previously have scared us feel normal, we’d be able to rewrite our response to stressful stimuli. Will and Andy guided us through three different abseils, starting with a friendly slope in the woods that most of us would feel comfortable walking down.
We then moved on to Roadside Bay, a sunny former gritstone quarry, where groups of climbers were swarming over the rocks. “The next abseil is going to look very different,” Will said, “but abseiling is abseiling!” We all had several goes at this intimidating vertical wall. When it came to Hannah’s turn, she took a little slip near the top and lurched sideways, held by the rope. I found this scarier than my own abseil. But she was fine. “Perhaps now you know how I feel when you stand close to steep drops!” she said later. On her second time down the wall, she was far more confident.
My turn. Leaning back over the edge, I felt a flutter of the old fear – it brought back a particularly fraught abseil descent in the dark many years ago – but focusing on the positives, especially the elation of being at height, did work. The others all did great – especially Claire, who made it look easy. Ben told me he had trouble breathing on the way down, but it’s something he never could have imagined doing before.
Building better habits
On our second day, we headed for Stanage Edge. Will briefed us: “We’re going to give you problem-solving exercises at height. While you’re thinking things through, you’re not panicking.” After starting with two small and friendly-looking boulders, on which we practised good technique for walking on steep slabs as well as maintaining balance, we moved on to a craggy area for more exposed scrambling.
I told Hannah that I felt I was unlearning some of the bad habits I picked up as a younger climber. “As my confidence comes back, I’m adding technique to go with it too.” I felt at home on the scrambling, and the others took to it well too – by this point Claire had ditched her rock shoes for hiking shoes. “I’m learning that I can trust myself,” she told the group. A blocky exposed pinnacle helped us practise bridging moves as well as standing on a small platform next to a big drop. “You’ve all improved massively,” Will told us before we headed off to the final challenge: a roped rock climb.
Martello Cracks is a Moderate-graded route: a steep gritstone crack system ascending a corner between buttresses. Some high-end scrambles can have moves of Mod, making this a good litmus test. Initially I stayed at the top to photograph the others climbing. Ben, Jared and Claire all climbed well, and then it was Hannah’s turn. I watched her climb, intense concentration on her face.
Later, she said, “It was a long time since I’d been in a climbing harness, and a lot of my past experiences were in controlled scenarios – walls and towers on Scout or Guide camps. Tackling the natural rock boosted my confidence and showed me how much this weekend had changed my relationship with heights.”
Finally, after I’d seen everyone’s smiles upon topping out, I headed down to get roped up myself. It was my first roped climb in 15 years, but it all came back to me as I reached for holds and moved up the crack. I found myself slipping into that flow state I enjoyed so much – and thinking through the moves, not letting my emotions crowd in.
“You’ve all been on a journey,” Will said at the top. “Now build on it. Write a list of objectives and stick it on your fridge door.” For me and Hannah, it was all about scrambles we could enjoy as a couple. And, a week after this course, we found ourselves high on Fiacaill Ridge in the Cairngorms, ticking off the first item on our fridge list.
Scrambling tips
- When you’re in balance, you feel secure.
- Think through your next move before making it. This helps you to work out the puzzle of the rock from positions of stability.
- Take small steps rather than making big lunges for holds. This reduces the commitment of the next move.
- On slabs, keep your heels down to maximise friction.
Facing your fear of heights
- Understand the source of your issues at height. It might be more complex than you think. Hypnotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy can help.
- Focusing on fear will only strengthen it.
- You can rewrite your brain’s script by visualising positive feelings and outcomes.
- Seek out positive experiences at height – and keep having them!
- Develop good scrambling technique to keep you safer.
- Think through moves logically.
- If you get gripped in an exposed position, keep panic at bay by deep breathing, focusing on positives, and don’t look at the big drop.
- A course such as the one Alex and Hannah attended would be ideal for walkers considering a trip to the Alps, if anxious about tackling chain-equipped routes (for example the Tour du Mont Blanc).
With thanks to the Austrian Alpine Club UK and Will4Adventure.
