4 Insights From My First Climbing Project

Ella’s in the midst of her first climbing project and it’s taught her a thing or two about climbing, but moreso, failure.

We Are Explorers acknowledges that this adventure is located on the traditional Country of the Wandi-Wandandian tribe of the Yuin nation who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them as the Traditional Custodians and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

I’m in a love-hate relationship with a climb called Meaty Mesmo. It’s the first climb I decided to project in my nearly four years as an on-again-off-again climber, and much like a challenging lover, it’s taught me some important lessons and caused me to do some serious self-reflection along the way.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far from my first project:

1. Make Friends With Your Fear of Failure

The process of projecting requires you to pour time and energy into completing a climb that’s at your absolute physical limit. This means if you’re doing it right, you will fail. A lot.

It took me almost four years to start projecting climbs because I didn’t want to sign myself up to fail. What if I embarrassed myself in front of my climbing buddies? What if I couldn’t finish the climb at all? The endless cycle of ‘what ifs’ kept me from trying anything at my actual limit.

After grappling with those questions for a while, I landed on an insight that I still use almost every time I climb – I was letting my ego get in the way.

I didn’t want to fail because I was too proud and worried too much about what others might think of me.

So, I decided to take a different approach – I’d try to kill my ego by learning to appreciate failure. Each fall quickly became another opportunity to refine my skills, and more importantly, the mindset that was holding them back.

This is the second season I’ve worked on the climb, meaning I’ve attempted to finish it ‘clean’ (without falling or resting on the rope) hundreds of times. Each attempt has been a lesson in letting go of my ego and accepting failure as a friendly part of the process.

Read more: I Conquered(?) My Fear of Heights Climbing in the Blue Mountains

2. Find a Belayer Who Pushes You Out of Your Comfort Zone, In the Most Comforting Way Possible

It’s pretty easy to get caught in your own head while throwing yourself at a project again and again and again.

I found that climbing with a partner who knew just when to push me and when to offer comfort was essential for truly enjoying the process. Fortunately, I climb with my best friend, who has an uncanny ability to sense what I need without a word.

My favourite belayer

During my many attempts, she could always tell when I had a bit more energy to give or when to deliver the perfect amount of encouragement when I was on the brink of frustrated tears. My trust in her belaying also allowed me to concentrate completely on the climb, without worrying about having a nasty fall.

Her encouragement and support gave me more motivation than I ever could have created myself, and it says a lot about having the right person at the end of your rope, when you’re at the end of your rope.

Read more: How Mates & Mentors Shape the Climber 

3. Expectation Will be the Death of Joy

As I got closer and closer to sending my project, a peculiar thing started to happen. I began to dread climbing the route.

When I first started to work on the climb, I really enjoyed it!

I felt I was so far away from achieving my goal that I had no choice but to stay present and enjoy each move. But as I got closer and closer, all I could focus on was finishing the route.

So, instead of enjoying the movements of the climb, all I was thinking about was finishing, and each time I fell it became more and more frustrating.

Under-promise outcomes 🤝 over-deliver in joy

Once I recognised this shift, I was able to work on removing expectation from the process.

After I did that, I was having fun again! Which leads me to my final point:

4. Remember to Have Fun!

For me, climbing will never be a professional endeavour. I’ll never be the next Alex Megos, so I may as well squeeze as much fun out of the rock as I can. For me, as a weekend warrior who loves the sport, if I’m not having fun, I shouldn’t be doing it. It’s not that serious!

So, there you have it – my relationship with Meaty Mesmo has been a tumultuous one, but I’ve learnt a lot! At the end of the day, it’s all about finding the joys in the struggle and letting go of the pressure to perform. So, here’s to more climbs, more falls, and, above all, more fun.

P.S. Since writing this article, I’m happy to report that I finally sent the project a couple of months ago. It was off the back of a crazy night out, with four hours of sleep, and absolutely no expectation to send. Go figure!