A lead climber silhouetted against a deep blue sky in Joshua Tree. Ian Mceleney.
The Warrior’s Way Trad and Mental Training program is an intensive 2-day private coaching session designed for beginning traditional rock leaders who want to learn how to lead trad climbs without being paralyzed by the fear of falling. After this short, two-day course you’ll take the sharp end with a stronger, smarter, safer, more efficient mindset. And you’ll have the skills you need to improve your leading on both traditional routes and sport climbs, through the application of the Warriors Way methodology.
The Warrior’s Way method, pioneered by Arno Ilgner, author of the 2003 climbing best-seller The Rock Warrior’s Way, is a set of techniques for managing stress, risk, fear, and for advancing as a climber. One major source of stress in rock climbing is trusting your protection when leading. Is that piece bomber or is it going to pop? The Warrior’s Way is, in part, a method for assessing risk and making appropriate decisions based on that assessment.
The management and flow of attention is at the heart of a skilled climber’s mental toolkit. Every time we place a piece of protection, our attention is diverted to that piece. Once finished placing gear, we must consciously choose to redirect our attention to the next move. For this reason, it’s imperative to trust your judgment when it comes to assessing your placements, so that your focus can be deployed appropriately among movement, risk awareness, and preparation for taking a lead fall.
Warrior’s Way Falling and Commitment Coaching
This 1+ day add-on program, tailored to the climber’s ability and preferences, helps embed the lessons of the Rock Warrior’s Way through practical exercises in a carefully controlled environment.
- Are you afraid of falling?
- Are you making appropriate risk decisions?
- Do you find it challenging to stay committed?
This program addresses the fear of falling and helps you to improve commitment. We’ll practice falling, movement, and resting exercises and apply all learned skills to a challenging route. We’ll do this in small increments, creating appropriate progressions for each individual student. You’ll leave with a structured method for taking appropriate risks with diminished fear.
This program is designed to give you the skills to practice placements, to fall on them and to use the Warrior’s Way in your decision making process while climbing increasingly ambitious trad lines.
Background
The warrior is an archetype for courage that we all act through when facing challenging, stressful, and risky situations. Sometimes we act powerfully as a warrior would and sometimes we feel overcome by stress and therefore ineffective. We all desire to be courageous when challenged. By learning how to embody the warrior’s way we rally our attention and therefore our courage.
Every rock-climber knows that there is an element of fear that intrudes as one nears the upper limits of one’s ability. In some cases, the fear is justified. But in others it’s not. Part of the warrior mentality is an ability to categorize fear, to identify true risk vs. perceived risk and to isolate these elements within one’s mind appropriately.
This course was developed by Arno Ilgner, a renowned rock-climber and author from Tennessee. Ilgner distinguished himself as a pioneering rock climber in the late 1970s and 80s, when the top climbs were bold and dangerous first ascents, with few of the bolts and other fixed protection many modern climbers expect. These climbing exploits, together with Arno’s personal struggle to find a adventurous and meaningful life, became the foundation for his unique physical and mental training program: The Warrior’s Way.
In 1995, after a thorough study of the literature and practice of mental training and a survey of the great warrior traditions, Ilgner formalized his methods and began teaching his program full-time. His 2003 book, The Rock Warrior’s Way, became a best-seller in the climbing community, garnering outsize praise and testimonials from a who’s who of famous rock climbers, from Jim Bridwell and John Gill to Tommy Caldwell. Since then, he has helped hundreds of students sharpen their awareness, focus attention, and understand their athletic (and life) challenges within a coherent, learning-based philosophy of intelligent risk-taking. Ilgner considers the joy and satisfaction in the effort the “journey” intimately linked to successful attainment of goals, the “destination”. Alumni of his courses now include some of the nation’s most prominent climbers.
Course Curriculum
