That sounds awful, but I know it takes more guts to walk up to a wall when twenty brawny dudes are there!
I know what you mean. It can feel intimidating, or just create the sense that this is a very macho, power-based thing, and no-one who isn't already climbing VRidiculous should even bother entering the sacred arena.
Particularly when they've all got their shirts off and are doing super-hard stuff to impress each other.
But it's weird now, because I know some of these guys. Some of the hardest climbers there were sincerely cheering me on and encouraging me when I was failing horribly on V0s, and are total sweethearts.
(Conversely, some of the brawny shirtless dudes who are busiest showing off to their mates actually can't climb for shit, and I have to restrain myself from flitting up the problems they're struggling on as part of my warm-up. Unless they're being assholes, in which case I have no compunctions.)
So now I wander past, snicker at or ogle the shirtlessness, cheer if someone I know is going for something hard, and get on with my projects. But I remember the inadvertent deterrent factor it can have at the start.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-06-11 01:40 pm (UTC)I know what you mean. It can feel intimidating, or just create the sense that this is a very macho, power-based thing, and no-one who isn't already climbing VRidiculous should even bother entering the sacred arena.
Particularly when they've all got their shirts off and are doing super-hard stuff to impress each other.
But it's weird now, because I know some of these guys. Some of the hardest climbers there were sincerely cheering me on and encouraging me when I was failing horribly on V0s, and are total sweethearts.
(Conversely, some of the brawny shirtless dudes who are busiest showing off to their mates actually can't climb for shit, and I have to restrain myself from flitting up the problems they're struggling on as part of my warm-up. Unless they're being assholes, in which case I have no compunctions.)
So now I wander past, snicker at
or oglethe shirtlessness, cheer if someone I know is going for something hard, and get on with my projects. But I remember the inadvertent deterrent factor it can have at the start.