glacier

I recall reading a climbing narrative a few years back of a pair of brits nabbing the 1st free ascent of some now-classic 5.10 dihedral. They arrived during rain to find the rock wet, so the leader doffed his shoes and climbed in his wool socks. About 1/2-way up he dropped his hammer, nearly cold-cocking his belayer. With no second hammer to place pins, a half-conscious belayer, and no chance to downclimb in the wet conditions his quote, at this point, was, "I had no choice but to retreat upward." Oh, and I believe that Hillary and Tenzing chopped steps on their ascent of Everest - no front points.

One word - Legos

TLG, Ya, I hate to fall, too, and constantly work on separating my climbing from the concept of falling. People will recommend that you take jumpers on bolts or gear to get past it, but the real issue is separating or accepting the fear/consequence and focussing on the climbing, placements, rests, etc. Secondly, a headworker I was talking with recently asked my to look at a fall/accident in this context: "...but what did that experience give you?" - rather than focussing on what the experience may have taken away (i.e. confidence).

The two things that most affected my lead ability were consistency and attitude - Consistency - I didn't break into (and past) the 5.10 numbers until I was in a place where I could both train and climb consistently so I could build on past successes and setbacks. Hitting the gym, crosstraining, and getting out regularly for full weekends made the difference. Second was attitude and recognizing that I could get on those routes- probably one of my best days with regard to this was a day at Smith several years back when a friend and I started at Teddy bear's Picnic as a warmup and essentially climbed every sport route up to .11c from there up to Misery Ridge. That day really expanded my concept of what I could get on successfully, and I had a basis for seeking out other routes.