Do people get used to exposure or is it determined at birth?

[MaxKugel]

I would echo others statements. If you don’t mind exposure, yeah it can definitely be trained. But it’s for sure a “if you don’t use it you lose it” situation. I’ve done a bunch of stuff in the flatirons up to 5.7, as well as plenty of stuff in the alpine. Then I focused more on biking and skiing for several years, and felt slightly uncomfortable on even Wetterhorn recently, for instance.

[nyker]

The Alex Honnold example is interesting regarding a less responsive amygdala. I remember kids in elementary school who would climb on things nobody else would think of doing and just engage in riskier behavior, so there is some merit to nature vs nurture argument.
I suspect the "more exposure to exposure" situation finds more fertile ground in someone like Honnold than the typical person, but I think there is some "nurturing" here as well where repeated experience can help dull the fear that you feel initially, at least to a degree.

[Istoodupthere]

I’d agree with the idea that it’s important not not to get *too* comfortable with exposure or to dismiss your nerves outright. I spent years working on my comfort level with vertiginous situations and got so confident that I didn’t think Capitol’s Knife Edge was anything to write home about.

I fell 50’ off Pyramid the next summer. I knew the move I wanted to make was probably above my skill level; I just seriously underestimated how badly flubbing it would go. Suffice to say that post-accident exposure therapy has not gone particularly well...while I am committed to finishing the fourteeners, I am also committed to retiring from scrambling after I finally get them done (well, mostly...stupid state high points) simply because pushing my limits has gone from kind of a fun challenge to a near-continuous anxiety attack.

Bottom line of sorts: push yourself, but not TOO hard.

Glad you’re ok after your fall! In 2020, I had a fixed rope break on me on Granite Peak in MT. I fell 20 feet at most and landed on my side. Luckily I came out relatively unscathed. It took me about a year before I did anything above class 2. Then I was having a confidence issue this summer as well until I started knocking out a few class 3’s later in the summer.

[oldschool]

The Alex Honnold example is interesting regarding a less responsive amygdala. I remember kids in elementary school who would climb on things nobody else would think of doing and just engage in riskier behavior, so there is some merit to nature vs nurture argument.
I suspect the "more exposure to exposure" situation finds more fertile ground in someone like Honnold than the typical person, but I think there is some "nurturing" here as well where repeated experience can help dull the fear that you feel initially, at least to a degree.

I would agree with this idea as I have had and still have a risk taker personality. I've had it my whole life. From a very young age I was that guy that would jump my bike over stuff, launch off roofs and swings to see who went the furthest, took up rock climbing at 15 years old, and motorcycle riding since 16 years old, along with many other activities. I know I deal with and look at risk differently than others do. I have come to believe and live the expression "danger is real but fear is a choice".

[HikesInGeologicTime]

I’d agree with the idea that it’s important not not to get *too* comfortable with exposure or to dismiss your nerves outright. I spent years working on my comfort level with vertiginous situations and got so confident that I didn’t think Capitol’s Knife Edge was anything to write home about.

I fell 50’ off Pyramid the next summer. I knew the move I wanted to make was probably above my skill level; I just seriously underestimated how badly flubbing it would go. Suffice to say that post-accident exposure therapy has not gone particularly well...while I am committed to finishing the fourteeners, I am also committed to retiring from scrambling after I finally get them done (well, mostly...stupid state high points) simply because pushing my limits has gone from kind of a fun challenge to a near-continuous anxiety attack.

Bottom line of sorts: push yourself, but not TOO hard.

Glad you’re ok after your fall! In 2020, I had a fixed rope break on me on Granite Peak in MT. I fell 20 feet at most and landed on my side. Luckily I came out relatively unscathed. It took me about a year before I did anything above class 2. Then I was having a confidence issue this summer as well until I started knocking out a few class 3’s later in the summer.

Glad you're okay physically as well as okay-er mentally - having a rope failure would set me all the way back to Square Zero, likely for however long the rest of my life happened to be.

It's kind of funny to me reading a post I made back in February when I was still somewhat wobbly on my feet and had subjected myself to only the barest hints (and mostly unintentional, at that) of literal as well as metaphorical exposure therapy. The funniness is mostly because, even though I've since summited six new fourteeners (half of which were Class 4, all of which were roped and guided) and revisited familiar Class 3 routes as well as hitting Kelso Ridge (which I'd never done before and will most likely never do again), I am still pretty committed to living a scramble-free existence once I finally finish. Part of that boils down to the fact that I just don't seem to like scrambling/rock climbing, no matter what level of technical difficulty or exposure it presents, so why would I continue to pursue it once I no longer have any compelling motivation to do so (it's worth continuing to pursue through my last four fourteeners, imho, because four is tantalizingly close to zero)?

But yeah, a large part of it is that I don't think I will ever again be able to look down a steep mountainside without thinking, "Better make that next move carefully, 'cause it could be my last."