I have already wrote about our expedition in the Tian Shan Mountains in my precedent post. But I haven’t talk very seriously about the fear I/we experienced over there. Fear is present on many of the expeditions that we take into the mountains. I’m not a big fan of feeling in danger, I’m not a big fan of feeling too much fear. At least not for too long.

On that trip, I was at the edge of my comfort zone. Terrifying rock falls at night and during the day time, piles of boulders ready to fall on us and some pitches of chossy rock to climb. All in all it was pretty stressful even though we where quite stoked to be here and climb. The worst for me was at night. I could not sleep. I was on a permanent vigilant state. The noise of the rocks fall was so loud that it gave us the impression a part of the wall was falling on us. I had to deal with this new type of fear. Not like a serac fall or an avalanche that last for less than 2 min and gives you a intense but “short” adreanlin shot. This type of fear was permanent and lasted for 5 days. Fear means tensions, tensions lead to a wast of energy and less focus. So the best was to not let my imagination making the danger bigger than it was for real. The best was to focus on the climbing and on being active.

Eventually the happiness of being in the heart of those untouched mountains with some amazing friends gained the upper hand on my fear…

Check out the video and get a little bit of fear…and happiness!

Also, Mike Libecki’s thoughts about fear on the Mountain Hardwear Blog