Why are most climbers dorky white guys?

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Captain...or Skully

Big Wall climber

leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!

Nov 26, 2010 - 06:00pm PT

That thing looks grevious, Joe. TFPU.

As for Dorky white guys, that's just a rumor.

nutjob

Trad climber

Berkeley, CA

Nov 26, 2010 - 06:37pm PT

I'll bet a lot of people who grow up with a natural inclination to climb trees (or buildings if there aren't many trees around) don't make the transition to rock climbing with technical gear. I climbed all kinds of buildings and trees and lamp posts growing up, but it wasn't until I went to college and met a few people who had climbing gear that I became aware of that as a real recreation option. I was vaguely aware of people who climbed in the Himalayas, but I was just ignorant of climbing beyond that. Even with this minimal exposure in college, it was just enough to get my foot in the door and buy Freedom of Hills (which was a random lucky purchase in a bargain bin somewhere) and figure out all the details on my own, acting as a mentor for whatever friends I could suck out to adventures when they thought I knew a little more than them. Suckas!

So education and leisure class definitely have something to do with it, for the basic exposure to the possibility. It's not like there is regular TV coverage or other mass media coverage for folks to find out about it unless they know someone who does it.

Maybe there's also a cultural thing related to the heritage of white people in America. Warning: sweeping generalization about to be delivered.... We're descended from people who valued their freedom and independence (or at least their lives) or sought their fortunes enough to leave their extended families in Europe and strike out on their own. We have nuclear families with minimal contact to distant relatives, we move around for work or schooling to further destabilize our family connections, and in general are just more OK to head off on our own to do stuff. So bailing on the family for a climbing trip is not as big of a deal for whities as it would be in cultures where folks make sacrifices to stick together and enjoy each other's company.

Jello

Social climber

No Ut

Nov 26, 2010 - 07:27pm PT

Bluey, the content of tr's posts is far more thought-provoking and inspiring than your knuckle-dragger diatribes. Creatively, she dances rainbows around you, and tends to lift her readers up.

-RainbowJello

Captain...or Skully

Big Wall climber

leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!

Nov 26, 2010 - 07:40pm PT

Word.
Plus, I hear she tears it up on 'er Gaytray. Yowza!

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Nov 26, 2010 - 08:01pm PT

LOL

Charlie Fowler said climbing was in his anglo-saxon blood. His ancestors were fowlers who made their living on the cliffs recovering fowl and their eggs.

Anastasia

climber

hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.

Nov 26, 2010 - 08:41pm PT

You are white Tessa because when you sit in a classroom, you easily blend in just like I do despite my Greek heritage.

You are "not white" when you can walk into a room and no one has to ask if you are black/hispanic/native/asian/indian/arab because it is that apparent.
----

As for why people of minority don't climb, here is an answer...

Many people who have left rural areas as field workers are not interested in going back for a visit to nature. Those who grew up in the inner city are afraid of nature and... The majority of immigrants are here because they want the luxuries of U.S... Well, they are into hanging out in malls, not off of a wall.

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Nov 26, 2010 - 08:43pm PT

i'm just glad thanksday is over and we can now openly listen to christmas music. you know you've been secretly listening to it in your car for over 2 weeks. or maybe that's just me
Awwwk! Run and hide! She's reading our minds.

The Christmas 'music' ear virus cannot be avoided.

Dr.Sprock

Boulder climber

I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!

Nov 26, 2010 - 08:46pm PT

im a frickin minority in the gay area,

fish heads and hosttetlers everywhere,

get me away from the people who took over my jobs and real estate,

Dr.Sprock

Boulder climber

I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!

Nov 26, 2010 - 08:53pm PT

i'm a native american, dammit,

i want my reperations, And my land back.

Anastasia

climber

hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.

Nov 26, 2010 - 09:16pm PT

"Grumble, grumble..."

I actually hate Christmas music unless it really is Christmas Eve/Day, church, or there are carrolers singing on my doorstep. Listening it in a store, T.V. or radio is just too commercialized for me.
AFS

Captain...or Skully

Big Wall climber

leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!

Nov 26, 2010 - 09:19pm PT

Put me down as Anti Xmas Music. Yeesh.

RDB

Social climber

Nov 26, 2010 - 09:55pm PT

You two should just get a room.

Captain...or Skully

Big Wall climber

leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!

Nov 26, 2010 - 10:17pm PT

Hey, Crawley. Right or wrong, don't be a Dick.
Please?

Spider Savage

Mountain climber

SoCal

Nov 26, 2010 - 10:24pm PT

Anastasia

climber

hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.

Nov 27, 2010 - 01:33am PT

Crowley,
I am so glad you back... Hilarious man.
AFS

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Nov 27, 2010 - 02:52am PT

Do you guys mind? Skully and I are having a conversation about christmas "music", and you keep interrupting with your ad hominems. Sheesh!

Captain...or Skully

Big Wall climber

leading the away team, but not in a red shirt!

Nov 27, 2010 - 07:57am PT

Bing or Bob?
Hey, they were dorky white guys, too!

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Nov 27, 2010 - 09:26am PT

hey there say, all....

from what steve l, said... i can share along this lines
of his quote:

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.

in south texas, first off....
it's flat, so nothing to tempt kids to want to climb, except
the ol' mesquite trees... ;)

but what i really had to share is this:
kids learn from the parents, also--in south texas, many kids follow
the dads or uncles, into the music field, and such down there (IF they know someone doing it--music is very much to be esteemed there)...

next, too, family is what folks take pride in, and every day or weekend ends up family time...

hunting and fishing, being that the arroyo, and the gulf, in south texas, calls to many a kid, finds folks FISHING, not seeking out rock--fishing is afordable to ALL families, too, after the fishing license, that is...

my kids, half mexican, were a bit more veritile as to learning about rocks, and the great out doors, being that they SAW a lot of that, in CALIF when they were younger, and the greatoutdoors national parks, intriqued their imagination, and never left (they saw it each time we visited my folks home)...
thus when we always traveled back home to texas, they never lost the feel or love for it--but we had no money for them to pursue anything so "far off",.... (any trips to calif, were national guard trips, for my now-ex to get to san diego, then)...

now, surfing, also rarer in south texas, then, but not so much now, was something that my one son took to follow--course, he got into that from calilfornia, as well....

so i said most of that, as to being:it depends a lot on where you grow up,and what your cultural area nearby is doing, and how open your heart is to exploring--and if the call of the wild is somehow in YOUR PERSONAL CHARACTER, and if you have funds to do so, and pick a "new way of life"... even now, after the few bouts of explorying:

south texas, and upbring have won out:
it is FAMILY, bar-b-q, and hanging out in the yard, and putting money into the kids, that they are most happy with--though they do love road trips--but can't afford them...

lastly, my grandson, mexican-american, as well, has followed his dad's family oriented life... family is everything and--trying to survive and be HERE for them....

(the ol' tex-mex, just moved up here, now, is all)--but, as culture around michigan is HOCKEY (never see climbing mentioned)(though, hunting, is, and speed skating, at times, and of course, SNOWBOARDING), he is now playing for hockey teams and moving up in skill and oportunity (which can be odd,as years back hockey in this area, and still is, in many spots, a "white guy background" type thing...
*he DID love climbing with chappy, at yosemite, for a visit though... :)

also:
same with the girl, grandkids in soccer now, they are all playing, but around here, you don't hear of folks wanting to climb--more mexican names are getting choice spots on these soccer teams, due to hard work... as more famiies grow, here...

okay, i reckon that's my share... :)