Open Face Heights Issue Mtn Mansfield

[accudart]

I just started this year section hiking the LT and have run into an issue I'd never thought about....fear of heights! In the past I'd been up mountains but never had an issue as the trails were always well away from the open face. I first noticed it coming down a side trail (Maple Ridge) with a ledge and crevice leap which now I'm OK with. However going up to the Forehead from a couple of different aproaches have stopped me in my tracks. I've seen some scary looking pictures of the Needle's Eye that make me think that there will be sections that I just won't make. Anybody had issues with this and were you able to overcome them?
Thanks.....

[Slo-go'en]

If you have trouble going up to the Forehead, don't try going down - that's even scarier. Another bad place (worse then the Forehead) is the south side of Camel's Hump. There is a section which traverses a narrow ledge along a cliff, with gaps you have to step (or jump) over. Plus the rest of it is nearly vertical. In these situations, it's best not to be encumbered by hiking poles, as you need your hands free to hold on to rocks and roots and tree limbs.

As how to overcome these fears, can't help you there. My knees quiver when I do these sections. It helps to focus on what's right in front of you, not what's around you (or what's not around you, like nothing but air). Never look around unless your holding onto something.

[illabelle]

If you have trouble going up to the Forehead, don't try going down - that's even scarier. Another bad place (worse then the Forehead) is the south side of Camel's Hump. There is a section which traverses a narrow ledge along a cliff, with gaps you have to step (or jump) over. Plus the rest of it is nearly vertical. In these situations, it's best not to be encumbered by hiking poles, as you need your hands free to hold on to rocks and roots and tree limbs.

As how to overcome these fears, can't help you there. My knees quiver when I do these sections. It helps to focus on what's right in front of you, not what's around you (or what's not around you, like nothing but air). Never look around unless your holding onto something.

Yikes! I guess I'll delete the LT from my list of potential future hikes. I'd be terrified and go home with nightmares. Sheer cliffs scare me more than bears, wackos, mice, ticks, river fords, or even lightning.

[accudart]

thanks for the feedback slo-go'en! I agree down is the worst.i went up to a openface corn on Forehead and it all I could do just to turn back the 25 feet up I had gone...and it wasn't that it was physical.

Yeah illabelle it's looking like my dream of being a section hiker and then an end to ender are not looking good either. I am going to do as much of it as possible and use by pass trails whenever possible. I've already used the Forehead bypass.

[imscotty]

I've always had a fear of heights, but my love for the mountains overcomes that fear most of the time.

When I am hiking along a precarious trail I always make sure I....
1) Take my time, don't hurry.
2) Am sure of every step, and try to anticipate the steps ahead.
3) Try to have a hand hold for balance and try to anticipate the hand holds ahead.
4) I feel I am safest when standing as upright as can be with my weight centered on my feet. I try to resist the temptation of leaning so far away from an edge that my feet slip out under me.
5) Don't panic.
6) Ultimately, fear is your minds way of keeping you safe. If it looks too dangerous to move forward, don't. Turn around and go back and find an alternative route (even if it is longer).

Of course, all this is easy to say from my armchair. My best memories have been made hiking places like that, embrace the moment. Now coming down Tuckerman's in a pouring rain, that
was fun!

The Mount Mansfield section is my next section to do on the LT, I am looking forward to doing it later this summer. I am not looking forward to that long climb up from the Winooski River though. It has been a fat & lazy summer for me.

Wish you the best, stay safe.

Scott

[mudsocks]

I am not looking forward to that long climb up from the Winooski River though. It has been a fat & lazy summer for me.

Better up than down.

[Vthiker77]

Accudart, I feel your pain. I'm scared s***less of heights too. I went up Mansfield this summer unencumbered by a pack via the chin. Yes it's scary as hell for people like us. I sat there for a good 20 minutes trying to decide if I should call the national guard from my phone or suck it up....... I sucked it up. I wouldn't however have gone down that way, No way no how. I took the bad weather bypass to skip the sketch portion of the forehead.
It may be cheating but since I only live 20 minutes from Jonesville I did a day hike up to bamforth ridge (the southern portion of camels hump) and back to the car. Then I took the burrows trail up to camels hump and went down to the scary part of the ridge and back down the burrows trail. I only section hike but it looks like there's about 1/10 of a mile section of the LT I'll just never do. Don't give up, just do what you can and be proud of your accomplishment. The northern section of the LT is no joke. Worse case just head up and check it out. Neither section is so far from a road that if planned right, you can't just bail back to the car and continue up from another trail and be on your merry way good luck and if you need any help car hopping I'll help what I can.

[rocketsocks]

Understand you may have two different things goin on here. One is fear of heights, and the other is vertigo. You may try desensitization, say like climbing in a controlled environment like a gym...it worked for me. I still have vertigo, but am not afraid...just cautious and sure footed. Try to separate the two conditions and read up on them separately, as one is an emotional response (but which can lead to physical conditions or side effects) and the other a physical condition. Knowing how to compartmentalize each may help you. Now all that said, no need to give up your dreams, just bush whack around the crux.

[Vthiker77]

I get where rockets coming from. And I have no beef with climbing walls, because I'm strapped in. Out on the forehead or the chin or Bamforth ridge, you're open and exposed. All you can see is air, wide openness, and a big drop. So maybe it is vertigo, I'm not sure. I do know that I start getting dizzy and my legs start shaking, and my mouth goes dry. A bad combination when you have to be sure footed. I think some people are wired differently and it just doesn't bother them, I wish I was one of those lucky people. And I've tried my damnedest to conquer my own fear, whether it be heights or vertigo, myself, but I just can't get around it.

[linus72]

I am so glad to find this thread. As a teen boy scout and at summer camp in the whites I did lots of hiking, and all of the Presidentials and little scared me. It was a memorable experience. As a dad in my 40s I not only get shaky legs when I get near a drop off but I freaked out when my kids adventured on beyond me on a hike over Squaw Peak in Mass last year, fully enjoying the thrill and views I deprived myself of.

I am section hiking the trail (starting locally) and love that I'm reconnecting with the activity and to nature more than ever, but am bummed out about this new found fear. While I don't hike for the thrill of conquering dangerous traverses on the trail, there are many. And it DOES feel good when you do, of course. I am trying on each hike to walk a bit closer to those ledges, but just the other day I wouldn't come 20 feet from the overlook drop off at St. John's ledges as it looked too dangerous, and was quite petrified that that might be the way down. Luckily it wasn't but the steps down while manageable weren't much less intimidating. I know there's lots worse than this on the trail, including the whites I powered through fearlessly 30 years ago, and don't know what to do to get through it without backing out. I attempted some more of these hikes recently like The Major Welch Trail on Bear Mtn NY and the Corkscrew on the Housatonic trail. I think it's helping a little but I don't want to ruin a future section hike by turning around. Interestingly I'll ski down just about anything, but I think that's because I started when I was 3 and never really stopped, whereas I took a fairly long hiatus from hiking from the boy scouts until my late 30's. I love the mtns, and I don't mind being high up on a ski hill, lift or airplane. It's the precipitous ledges that do me in. I need to get over the shaky legs so when I do have to do one of these porions, they're not making it more dangerous. Maybe hypnosis? lol.

[imscotty]

Hello Accudart,

I did the climb up the Forehead this weekend. Yes, there are some pucker spots, but this section was also the highlight of the entire trip. The climb up the Forehead can be intimidating taken as a whole, but by breaking the task into ten foot sections (that is what I do), no section by itself was overwhelming.

In fact, in some ways the forehead was more enjoyable than the summit. I had the forehead almost to myself and I enjoyed the quiet solitude and the views. Once you get to top of Mansfield it is a bit of a circus with the crowds of people who rode up.

So bring someone along with you for moral support and give it a try. Once you do this I think you will be glad you did.

Anyways, if you are starting the section from Jonesville, once you reach the forehead you will be too tired to care one way or the other

Wish you the best,
Scott

[HeartFire]

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/s...hump/14544647/

Hiker rescued off Camels Hump

[rafe]

I've done a bucketload of hiking in my day, but the Long Trail has more than its share of "you've got to be kidding me" moments. That short stretch on Mansfield "forehead" was one of them, probably the worst of them. Every LT thru-hiker that I met on the trail had something to say about that piece of trail. As I said in another post -- the AT is gnarly and tough, but the LT (from Camels Hump northward) makes it look pretty tame. I generally felt safe on the AT, even in the Whites. The LT, not so much.

[10-K]

I just think about all the people who do it every day and figure if they can, I can.

[Slo-go'en]

I just think about all the people who do it every day and figure if they can, I can.

The summer I was caretaker at Montclair Glen Lodge I'd climb up to the summit of Camels Hump a couple times a week. That's another rough section of trail and the last time I did it, I could not believe I used to do it all the time. Same for doing the forehead when I worked at Taft Lodge. Oh, those were the days...

[Vthiker77]

Accudart.. If you ever need some moral support "give me a call...I'll be your wingman" maybe we can conquer those tough spots together.

[Traveler]

I've done a bucketload of hiking in my day, but the Long Trail has more than its share of "you've got to be kidding me" moments. That short stretch on Mansfield "forehead" was one of them, probably the worst of them. Every LT thru-hiker that I met on the trail had something to say about that piece of trail. As I said in another post -- the AT is gnarly and tough, but the LT (from Camels Hump northward) makes it look pretty tame. I generally felt safe on the AT, even in the Whites. The LT, not so much.

Thanks for this, I thought it was just me getting older having this same point of view.

[graydog]

I hope she is better and not turned off hiking. Wonder what that rescue cost

[Deadeye]

Fortunately, the two hairiest spots on Mt. Mansfield - the Forehead and the Chin - have alternate routes. They are still steep, but don't have the gut-wrenching exposure. For the Forehead, you can take the aptly named Forehead Bypass trail (unfortunately quite slippery), and for the Chin, the Profanity trail is an alternative.

[rafe]

I just think about all the people who do it every day and figure if they can, I can.

I'm not sure how many folks do it every day but even so, that logic makes no sense at all. In fact it's bass-ackwards. Those who do it "often" (if not every day) are the caretakers and ridge runners. They get those posts in large part due to youth and fitness, and they rarely hold such posts for more than a season or two.

I consider myself a capable, experienced hiker, albeit a slow one. I'm grateful to have done most of the LT without mishap or injury, but I'm not ashamed to admit -- the LT beat me up in places, spooked me in other places, and bored me half to death in others.