Mental Strength Training and Skiing the Troll Wall with Kilian Jornet

The Troll Wall is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe in which we can find the iconic Fiva Route, that has never been skied before Kilian Jornet gave it a go in 2018. Watch this video (below) from Salomon TV to experience what it is like from his perspective. In the video Kilian addresses the fear and danger involved with falling in a situation like this. “You know the consequences of a fall, all the time, it can happen, but if I think that I can fall, then I need to train more and prepare better.” Quality practice is a concept within mental strength training, where we teach people how to prepare to perform. Quality practice is about practicing with a purpose. The purpose is preparing to perform. Many people practice and practice and get into the competition and practice some more, instead of performing and competing. There is a saying in sport “the separation is in the preparation.” This is never more true than in a situation like this where Kilian is skiing a line with very high consequences and little to no room for error. He has to be physically and mentally prepared to ski this line. In the video he discussed that he has spent two years preparing. He scouted the line, read maps, explored the history, researched the timing of the perfect conditions to make it possible and visualized skiing the route. He had climbed it before, mentally and physically preparing for what he will face. He has skied other steep routes previously in order to mentally and physically prepare. When people accomplish “first ever” feats like skiing the Troll Wall, it is not by accident, they have intentionally trained and prepared both physically and mentally to perform in that exact situation. When it comes to having mental strength, people are either trained or untrained. Which are you?