Friday glee has gritstone rash

[rydra_wong]

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.

To enhance this week's glee -- yes, I freely admit that I am on a streak of posting gritstone vids, but here's yet another. Having made my own pilgrimage to Fontainebleau earlier in the year, I'm charmed to see these guys coming in the opposite direction:

4 Froggies in the Peak part and Part 2.

(My French is nonexistent, but I'm getting the impression there may be some sheep jokes in there ...)

Comments

[tea]

My glee is that friday glee is perfect because I climb thursday evenings! Also, I got those new shoes and used them and they ROCKED! I was going to ramble here but I saw something about posting shoe-posts, so I figure I could make a separate post for that, hm?

My partner couldn't make it, so I went alone for the first time and bouldered for an hour or so. It's interesting - while before I've felt like there are a lot of women around, this time I was the only girl in the area a lot of the time. I guess because I was bouldering and not top-roping? Anyway, I find it funny how much of the time people spend sitting on the floor staring at the wall, even when it's empty, but OTOH I totally get why. You can only hold on for so long!

I tried a whole bunch of different problems, and the better shoes definitely helped. I need to go more than once a week to improve more, though. It's a bit awkward to fit it in and I'm not sure I have the time this summer, but in the fall I move to a new town with a climbing gym a 5 minute bike ride away, so I might just do some weight training at home to try and build up my strength until then.

I seriously love this shit, though. :D For someone who hasn't ever (ever!) committed to anything athletic, and hasn't done any form of sport or exercise since, uh, 10th grade? This is quite a mental and physical shift, so the fact that it's so easy and I just want to go every day is a good sign.

[rydra_wong]

Yay shoes! And yes, a new shoe-post would be lovely.

this time I was the only girl in the area a lot of the time. I guess because I was bouldering and not top-roping?

Maybe? It depends on the place, I think -- the climbing wall I go to is bouldering-only and seems to have roughly equal numbers of men and women, but I think bouldering does tend to skew more heavily male, maybe because it's seen as more power-based.

Anyway, I find it funny how much of the time people spend sitting on the floor staring at the wall

Hey, the sitting glaring at the wall is an important part! Really! *g*

Actually, it can help with figuring out a tricky or baffling problem. But mostly it's just a way of pacing yourself; if you keep throwing yourself at the wall again and again and again without a break, your energy burns out much faster.

This is quite a mental and physical shift

I know! Isn't it amazing?

[tea]

Yeah, I spent more time this week trying to work problems that I was getting stuck in backwards. Like, oh, to push up I need that foot there so I go in this order, or to keep my balance there I need to get a hand to that one, etc. It helped a bunch!

I will do a new shoe post, then, but I did want to say thanks for the awesome advice, I made good use of it not being a complete n00b with the salesguy.

The gender split's been more equal other times, and it might have been there was a critical mass of dudes in the main area and that kept women out. That sounds awful, but I know it takes more guts to walk up to a wall when twenty brawny dudes are there!

[rydra_wong]

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.