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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 25, 2010 - 02:10pm PT
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I'm one, so is just about everyone I see out on the rocks. What up with that? Why so few minorities pullin down? Sure, there's some Asians around, and my favorite partner is half Mexican, but I think that 90% of climbers I meet are dorky white guys.
Oh yeah, happy thanksgiving.
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Josh Nash
Social climber
riverbank ca
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:24pm PT
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ultimately I got into climbing by reading books and/or national geographic about the sport growing up. I think most people who get into climbing it's the same way. Also climbing is way technical and gear intense.Dorky white people like their gadgets. It's also outdoors and really mostly dorky white people enjoy the outdoors. Look at who you meet in the back country.
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utahman912
Social climber
SLC, UT
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:32pm PT
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i figured it to be nerds, not dorks
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:35pm PT
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Why are most suicide bombers muslims?
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Prod
Trad climber
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:36pm PT
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Remember when we used to wear tights? Oh man that was.....
AWESOME!!!!
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:38pm PT
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Well I must be a dorky Mexican, Indian, Filipino! What the hell, I like climbing and that's why I do it. Oh yeah I also like all my dorky white guy climbin friends. Dorky!
Peace
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:39pm PT
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Adam Ondra, Rajfova and Martin Stranik at the 2008 Czech finals: a study in different forms of hotness
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:52pm PT
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Dorky? Moi?
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Nov 25, 2010 - 02:52pm PT
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I think you mean hot, not dorky!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:07pm PT
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It is cultural.
Most other people have more common sense.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:24pm PT
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So at PG Sunnyvale you think the majority of climbers in there are white guys?
so I see a boat load of females, and of the male population, on any given night I see a pretty diverse bunch. Filipinos, Mexicans, Asians, and more and more of the India sub continent and their descendants.
I just don't see white males being the dominant population in there.
Out at the crags, maybe that's another story...
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Prezwoodz
climber
Anchorage
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:25pm PT
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I do often feel like a bit of a minority while I'm climbing. Ive asked some of my other friends who are black why they don't climb. Basically its because there not stupid and I am...
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Steve L
Gym climber
SUR
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:37pm PT
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Economic and cultural reasons. Things are changing, but most minorities are poor and live in urban areas. Climbing gear costs money and so does driving to the crag. I cant speak for other races, but most latinos think the whole 'outdoor lifestyle' thing is crazy. Even sleeping outside when you don't have to is strange, let alone sleeping on a ledge. Obviously, this is slowly changing as more generations grow up here and economic conditions improve, but the attitude is still very prevalent. Also, most latinos are very family oriented. Leaving for an entire day or for multiple days without the entire family just doesn't happen. Most of my cousins will go play soccer on a saturday morning and then come back and spend the weekend doing stuff with their own families and with the broader extended family. I'm the family odd ball because I disappear for days at time, without any other family members, drive long distances to sleep in the dirt, and climb sh#t.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:37pm PT
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Never underestimate a dorky white guy. Lurking under that geeky shirt tucked into pants pulled up to his chest, you may well find Balls Of Steel.
[Bless you, Crimpie]
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harihari
Trad climber
Squampton
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:51pm PT
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It seems t me that (most) black people are in a similar postion to Latinos-- recent cultural experiences of poverty for many mean that deprivation is not the road to fun. Here in Canada, Indo-Canadians feel the same way-- why would anybody in their right mind sleep in the dirt, freeze, and suffer, for "fun"? That's what the poor are forced to do in India.
It is also important to note that the cultural background of climbing is a Brit (and German, and Swiss) upper-class, social-status-demonstrating tradition. The Romantic poets 200 years ago were rich kids who had grown up in enough luxury to have time/energy to enjoy the outdoors. E.g. Wordsworth got an inheritance, so he could enjoy spending evenings walking around the Lake District crags, composing poems, while the peasants were forced to walk to carry their loads of potatos or whatever to market. The Brits have long romanticised the lone white hero, striding off into the wilderness to "conquer" something. (It is interesting in climbing that climbers get to name their routes-- how much does this sound like what exporers used to do? Can you imagine a runner naming his best 200m run?)
The poor stick around their village; the rich imaginative white guy blazes off into the unknown.
There's loads of climbers who carry a subtle class arrogance about them-- "we" are beyond proletarian crap like football, NASCAR, beer bellies and video games, and into "cool" stuff that sorts the athletic wheat from the chaff-- "we" climb.
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:54pm PT
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"football, NASCAR, beer bellies and video games"
Haven't been to a Facelift have you?
Okay - maybe just the beer belly part.
;)
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:58pm PT
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dorky white guy?
my middle name,
i have no defense,
kayakers?
same deal,
all dorky white rich people, suv full of gas and ready to go.
when they come back, the big house is already to comfort them for the easy money work week,
the only climbing the mexicans wanna do is over the lectric fence,
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Nov 25, 2010 - 03:59pm PT
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That's generally not Class arrogance, it is usually more an arrogance born of experience and them knowing that in general they actually are better then most others. Can't argue with reality. Myself, I prefer to call it Cocky instead.
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Paco
Trad climber
Montana
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Nov 25, 2010 - 04:05pm PT
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because every non-white, non-dorky athlete is doing something that involves a lot more comfort...and a LOT more money.
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