How to get rid of your fear of heights

I don’t really know what got into me when I said yes to an invitation from an acquaintance join the the Norwegian Tourist Association local mountain sports groups hiking trip as I have struggled with a fear of heights for many years.

This is a throwback to October last year. I was planning on writing this post just after my hiking trip, but I have just been really occupied with my new job. I started working for a political party on the 1st of October, and since I have been member of the party for many years, it is too easy to engage myself in the various events, projects and discussions in my spare time as well. Please let me know in the commentary field if you have any work-life balance tips.

Actually, when i think about it, I should have spent more time hiking, since there are so many places outside my home town when there is no phone coverage…

We started walking from the the other side of the water from the picture here, from the same location that my trip to Nedre Åselitvatnet started.

I quickly discovered that the about 9 other people I was with, were way better trained than me. Therefore, I did not have time to take as many pictures as I usually take, as I mostly focused on keeping up with the others.

Luckily we had some short breaks. On one of these breaks one of the two tour guides asked us i which direction we thought that “North” was. We all pointed in different directions. So it was really nice to have the tour guides with us. It was raining most of the times, as you can see in the pictures.

We went past this nice waterfall. As you can see, I am not wearing my big backback. One of the tour guides offered me to help me carry it for me. He was so fast that he had already reached the the place where we were going to camp, and then got back to me and the other guide who was “stuck” with me. Even with my backpack on, he moved like a goat during spring time, while I felt more like a koala.

It got dark before we reached the camp.

The tour guides lit a campfire. And then we all sat around the fire, telling stories and getting to know each other while heating and eating our food.

I was moving as close to the fire as I could, but had to move back a bit when it started smelling a bit burnt. Luckily my shoes were not on fire, but I think some of the rubber had melted because of the heat.

The your guide that I knew from before, had brought some candy, which she offered us. And as she had noticed that it was my birthday, she got everyone to sing a birthday song. It was such a great night.

And it got even better when I saw this view from my tent the next morning:

This is a picture of one of my new neighbours tent:

After having some breakfast, it was time to climb one of the moutains.

I can´t remember exactly, but I thinkt they excpected the trip 2-3 hours. It took a lot more time than that.And when you see these piuctures, you might understand why:

My koala body was definitely not just to climbing up these rocks. The good thing about it, was that I really had to concentrate on where I placed my feet. There was no real path, and the some of the stones were slippery and loose. That way, I did not have time to think about my fear of heights. When I think of it now, it was like goint to a free mindfulness class. As I was a part of the rear troop again, which consisted of me and the tour guide, I also had to think about trying to keep up with the others. But every time we reached the others, they had already been sitting down for a while for a break, so as soon as the rear troop sat down, the vanguard got up and started climbing again. It felt just like a scene in the Norwegian series “Home for Christmas”, then the main charachter was on a cross-country skiing date with an athlete who was more interested in the sport than her.

Finally, we came to this plateau:

It turned out to be my end station. The other your guide asked me if I could stay here while the other went up the mountain top, as he feared that we would be able to get back to the camp before dark if I had joined them. I really didn´t mind. I was really happy to be able to eat my lunch, have som coffee and take som pictures.

While the rest of the group climbed this top:

To my surprise I found myself enjoying the view, not thinking about my fear of heights at all.

Usually i think it is more scarey to walk down again from a moutain, since you are forced to look at the view. But this time I did not mind. And I even had some fun while walking/sliding down this mini glacier.

We reached the camp just as it was starting to get dark. I quickly ate some sandwiches before it was time to pack our stuff and leave this beautiful place.

This time both tour guides chose the rear troop together with me, while the rest of the group were walking so fast that we never managed to catch up with them. The hike back to our start point was dark, wet and cold. The tour guides were chatting all the way, while I was concentrating on breathing, carrying my heavy backback while trying not to slip and end up in the waterfall, the lake or in the mud. My headligth was not as bright as I had thought, so it was actually difficult to see anything that was more than one or two metres in front of me.

Suddenly, we where surrounded by a thick fog. As great parts of the track were invisible because it went over stony landscape, even the guides struggled with finding it. Luckily one of them turned out to be the guy who had actually been paiting this exact path with red Ts that is suppose to make people stay on track. Though, the red Ts do not glow in the dark, so of course we couldn´t see them. At least, this guy knew this track very well. So after a few wrong turns, we finally got back to our cars.

Some kilometres later I was standing at the petrol station with muddy, wet clothes a hot dog in my hand, while hearing myself proudly saying to the guy behind the counter that I had been walking for 11 hours that day. I felt like I really deserved that hot dog.

It has now been a year since the trip, and I am not as afraid of hights as I used to. A few weeks ago, I was standing on the top floor of a light house, and I didn´t really mind looking at the view.

So what is the recipe that I think worked for me? I think this sums it up:

Step 1: Find yourself a group of nice people who have experience with mountain tracking. Make sure that one of them want to hang with you and don´t mind walking slower than the others.
Step 2: Find a mountain with a challenging path and start walking. Concentrate on your feet, not the view.
Step 3: Walk as fast as you can so you get tired (but not to tired to walk down again).
Step 4: At first, only look at the view when you are really tired, and a bit stressed about whether you will actually reach your destination. It really helps if part of the group leave everytime you reach them.
Step 5: When you haved reached the top (or a place with a great view) be so proud of yourself about not fainting on your way up that you forget about your fear of heights. Alternatively, distract yourself by taking photos of the view.

Do you think this recipe might work for other people than me?

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