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ecocliffchick
Jun 3, 2004, 2:43 PM
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Well, my gym is populated with indoor boulderers and I've had a tough time convincing people to (1) rope up and (2) get outside - but I think there may have been a break through. After bringing several girls outside for their first 'real' climb, four of them banded together and took their lead lessons at the gym. Now they are all buying gear! Soon we'll be able to have all girl sessions at the crag...
Now I have another problem - after climbing with very experienced (male) partners all my life, how do I get comfortable and trust relative novices?
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rockclimbergirl
Jun 10, 2004, 3:16 PM
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wow, you just gave the story of my life... My friends (girls) just can't survive outdoors. I have a few older friends, however, that I have been able to go on trips with. My advice is to make it obvious that you are in to that stuff so others who are into it too might approach you.. and who knows what could happen from there... I'm not too good at this kind of advice, but that might work. :)
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rockclimbergirl
Jun 10, 2004, 3:20 PM
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In reply to: I feel for ya. I love to be outdoors and hike, and camp, and climb, and whatnot, but it seems that most females I know aren't interested. "Oh, it's to hot/cold." "Oh, I don't want to mess my hair up." "Oh, I don't have anything to wear outside." I get stuck with guys most of the time and I'm pushed to do things that the guys can easily do, that I cannot. It definitly sux not having someone with me at the time who can relate with me.
I totally agree!
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ginerbiner
Jul 1, 2004, 10:41 PM
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Just recently learned a painful lesson. A girl will turn on you quick for the sake of a guy if she sees you as a threat in any way. I'd rather go back to climbing with guys, no games, much simpler. Atleast with them you can blame testostrone. I feel really bad :cry: The world is a scarey place when women turn against women. :(
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moabdirtgirl
Jul 9, 2004, 9:01 PM
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I'm lucky to have a very wonderful group of friends, but only two or three of whom are women.
My best friend is a "girlie" girl. Fake nails and the whole nine yards, but I love her. She called me the other day to tell me she had just bought a fake designer hand bag for $100, and all I could think of was I could have bought new climbing shoes for $100. I told her in that same phone call that if we handn't been best friends since 8th grade and if we met today, we probably wouldn't even speak to each other. We're completely different. But that's OK. I love her for who she is.
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missedyno
Jul 10, 2004, 6:57 PM
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In reply to: I'm lucky to have a very wonderful group of friends, but only two or three of whom are women. My best friend .... if we met today, we probably wouldn't even speak to each other. We're completely different. But that's OK. I love her for who she is.
That is really cool. for one reason or the other i don't have any "old" friends, just those made in the past few years. good for the two of you to value friendship over trying to change each other. sure you may never go dirt bagging, but hey, you've got someone to talk to ...
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rivery
Aug 4, 2004, 11:19 AM
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I don't want to sound bitter but the clichy nature of climbers is the worst thing about climbing. I've given up on trying to mould in. It's bad enough that I'm an engineer, and sports I love are male-dominated as well. but the Queen bees of climbing clichs are no girlfriend material
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timstich
Aug 4, 2004, 1:56 PM
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In reply to: I don't want to sound bitter but the clichy nature of climbers is the worst thing about climbing. I've given up on trying to mould in. It's bad enough that I'm an engineer, and sports I love are male-dominated as well. but the Queen bees of climbing clichs are no girlfriend material
Cliques are not limited to climbing. It's the way we all create individual tribes. Joining neighboring tribes means learning their unwritten rules and customs and figuring out who's leading the show. Some tribes are less tolerant of outsiders, true.
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lewisiarediviva
Aug 4, 2004, 2:15 PM
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After reading all off this I feel less alone. In high school I wanted to go camping but my friends parents wouldn't let their daughters go because they wanted a guy along for safety reasons. Their was no way my mother would let me go if a guy was along.
Then in College of course I could go with whom ever I wanted. I know that outdoor girls are out and about. When I started climbing it was the guys in the group that invited me. Two of the group were girls. But then I moved with my man to a town that to be a wife means you drive one of the bigger gas hogs (nice but really big) and have at least 3 kids. This isn't totally true but driving my kids to the lake and pulling up in the parking lot, my trooper seams really small.
My husband has been complaining for years that I need to get out and meet people but when I do I realize that a girls night out is just that. It's not a day for a hike or a weekend in the mountains. It's a weekend at the resort town. Or every time they see me they say "It's your turn to have a 'nother baby." I work at a school part time and the only lady their that I think might truly be outdoor type was my sons PE teacher. But she worked two schools so we only had one recess a week to chat (if we didn't have paper work)-- I quess I'll be more direct this year and see what it is she does like.
I asked my man if he saw any women looking for female climbimbing partners on this site and he said "Yes, but they are yonger (and propably better) than you." Now don't get him wrong, he was being nice. And it motivated me to actually register.
My point being I guess that the women I'm around are wives and mothers and their is something comfotable about being just that, to them. And they make the shower comment too.
But I know their are alot of female climbers out their. I'm not far from the City of Rocks. Their are always women out their. My fault is that I only say "Hi." This forum has put that into prespective and I think I'm going to start asking them where they are from. Certainly the girls climbing with guys. They might have more in common with me then I think.
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kimmyt
Aug 4, 2004, 2:30 PM
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Diva, it's great that you're going to meet more gal pals to climb with. The thing I've learned from meeting people on this site? Age is no barrier to friendship. Many of my climbing partners are older than me, with children and families while I am as single as single comes. So don't think that you can't climb with someone who is younger than you, or better! Almost all my partners climb harder than I do, I think that just makes me want to climb harder in the end too!
To rivery, about the cliques: Perhaps you just think these people are cliques and will not accept you? Many times I find myself thinking that a person or a group of people do not like me, when in reality I have not made the effort to truly come out of my shell around them and open up.
K.
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lewisiarediviva
Aug 4, 2004, 3:14 PM
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Thanks for the encourage. I did tell him that age wasn't that important and I simply need to climb to become better. I think he's just so tired of climbing with the kids and I at our level that he doesn't want me along with the gang when they climb hard. Actually I think he has mixed feelings about that. We just need more chances to climb without the kids. I told him I'd belay him on anything 'cause I don't want to hold him back. But enough with my blabbering. I am very excited to find some girls to climb with.
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timstich
Aug 4, 2004, 3:14 PM
Post #62 of 93
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In reply to: Diva, it's great that you're going to meet more gal pals to climb with. The thing I've learned from meeting people on this site? Age is no barrier to friendship.
Believe it, too. A shared interest in climbing makes you have more in common with a person as opposed to just being the same age. Caving is the same way. Some of my best caving friends were well into their late forties and early fifties when I was in my mid twenties. We were all sufficiently weird to transcend age differences. So it is with climbing.
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autosmonkeygurl
Aug 6, 2004, 6:21 AM
Post #63 of 93
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I hated the outdoors. Bugs, spiders, no shower wasn't the type of thing that i would like to do for 5 days. I was one of those girly girls. Yeah then I went white water rafting. No shower, bugs, batts, and really really big spiders. I got over it because I had a great time. If you show the girls that being outdoors is a blast then they will come around. LA is all about the way you look and who your with, so I don't know if it's going to be easy to find a girl that likes to smell after climbing for the day. But good luck....
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snoangel
Aug 17, 2004, 4:20 PM
Post #64 of 93
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It really is good to know that there are other athletic/outdoorsy girls out there who have a hard time finding other girls to get outside with. I'm originally from the midwest and moved to socal specifically for the weather and to be surrounded by others who share my love for the outdoors. Well, 8 years later, I'm still looking.
In almost every sport I do, I am the lone girl in the group. There are other girls on the fringes of the group, but when it comes to things like backcountry snowboarding or backpacking trips to Yosemite, it's just me who's there. I have tried to get these girls to come along, but they always have some excuse.
I won't lie, I do love the attention I get from all the guys. But I would just love to have another girl out there to talk girl stuff with (like how hot the other guys at the crag are) :wink: Also, girls tend to push each other in a different way than guys do. I am lucky enough to have a girl mtn bike buddy and I ride so much better with her than I ever do with boys. She just understands and pushes me in a more constructive way. Bummer she's not interested in climbing. :(
So now that I've vented, I want to say that I would love to get together with other socal climbing chicks. I am somewhat girly in that I love pink and light blue, but I am an athlete first and foremost and love to push myself. PM me!
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acacongua
Aug 18, 2004, 7:45 PM
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I'm super lucky because I moved to Lexington where there are many wonderful female climbers who like to spend time together climbing or whatever. It's awesome.
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mother_sheep
Aug 18, 2004, 8:05 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: You're just new to town, Holly. There's tons of cool climbing and outdoorsy women near you. maybe. though most of the women i've met here haven't been nearly as down-to-earth as the folks back east (men and women alike). though i suppose that's comes with living in boulder. most of the girls/women i see at the crags are climbing with their boyfriends. not that there's anything wrong with that...i guess i just can't relate. it would just be nice to meet some women who climb totally for themselves and aren't afraid to get dirty. ya know?
You MANIAC!! hehe. What am I? Chopped liver? Okay, so we barely met. But you're from Maine, I'm from Maine, You climb, I climb. . . Drop me a line and let's hit it!! We'd have a ton of fun.
You gals have a great resource right here at your fingertips. This site is full of women. And as you can see by this thread, full of women like yourselves who seek the companionship of other like minded women. I see what mountainchick is saying though. Maybe this is the old sorority sister in me talking but sometimes I miss having that kindred spirit/sisterhood thing that I've had in the past with my best friends. Or maybe it's just the part of me that misses my sister. Anyway, my suggestion is. . .buy a bitch. I have one and she's my best friend on the planet. She doesn't steel my boyfriends (when I have them), wear my clothes, read my journal. . .Aside from the drooling and shedding, she's perfect. She loves me unconditionally! hehe
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...p.cgi?Detailed=36912
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amstone
Aug 18, 2004, 10:44 PM
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I climb with guys mostly and love it. Love climbing with girls as well...Don't care as long as you are an attentive belay and patient with my slow style of climbing. I love to follow...working up courage to lead. I had a great woman partner....she got pregnant.....me and her husband both temporarily lost a partner....solution? We climb together. Take it where you can get it. Man, Woman....
Hey mother_sheep....have you taught that dog to belay yet? Let me know if you do so you can come teach one for me. :D
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illume
Aug 18, 2004, 11:28 PM
Post #68 of 93
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I am in the same boat ! I would love to find another gal to tool around with. I am new to climbing but love to hike, camp, run ect... I live in Washington State... Kinda in the middle between Seattle & Spokane. If any of you gals live in my neighborhood, let me know!!
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dragonc
Aug 31, 2004, 8:44 AM
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Echo echo...
Me too!
I was talking to a girl I know about this situation, and she said, "Well, do you ever want to get glammed up and get together and pig out and watch romantic movies?"
At which point I paused, "Um,.... sometimes... once in a while? Once in a GREAT while?"
I realized it was gonna be me + guy friends not getting glammed, not pigging out, only grunting like pigs at the local crags.
BUT, there is hope yet. Ever since I started working at REI (the Seattle Flagship store), I've met wickedly fun and adventurous chicks. Yay! I love it when I can talk "girl stuff", like, omg how hot some guy is, and how we oscillate between being "girly girls" (like sharing the love for pastel colors), and having complete disregard for how we look or smell.
I'm also doing the Climb for Life for Ovarian Cancer and met two other girls from the site's forum. We are now driving to Utah together for the ultimate girls night out: an interstate road trip to go climb! I'm mucho excited.
There is a deeper issue here too, I think. Somehow, us girls (not all of us) are highly competitive and jealous of each other, and it often leads to more or less the Envy Complex. Check out this interesting survey
With that said, I am one chick eager to make more female friends. Hi, I'm Nikki, homebase Seattle WA, 22, usually boulder, more and more sport and lead (not yet graduated to trad). My contact information's on my page. PM me, IM me, and see ya around =)
Climbing is love.
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bad_lil_kitty
Sep 6, 2004, 3:00 AM
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I thank God that I have cool gal friends. If you lined us up, you'd have the 'Jane Goodall,' the 'self-proclaimed prude,' 'the Non-profit Women's Refugee advocate,' and me, 'hipster' - we love our finger sandwhiches, our fresh garden grown veggies and herbs, geeky crafts (latchhooking, cross-stitching, etc.) our cheesy dinner parties and the like. What I love most is that we all love the outdoors - despite our various tastes Anne Klein, Bannana Repulic, The Gap, Limited Express...
However, apart from my close friends, most of the women I have met through work or whatever, are into the whole who's who, shop-til-you-drop and going outdoors means the walk to and from the car to mall. (I live in the DC Metro area).
I just read this - it reads lame. Oh well.
*meow*
In reply to: I just got back from a spring break road trip with my best friend who happens to be a guy. As we were travelling I found that something was missing. Finally I realized it was female companionship. I have close girlfriends, but none of them are into the outdoors. They are either shopaholics or sloths. None of them I feel I can take a road trip with, enjoy the outdoors, or laugh over a spill on a mountain bike, or how smelly we are after 5 days in the backcountry. How have you found good women friends or chicks that enjoy the outdoors like you do? I find it hard, though it shouldn't be here in LA or back home in Colorado. Any thoughts? Cheers! |
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bad_lil_kitty
Sep 6, 2004, 3:02 AM
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Oh - yeah, and it's hard to get together for a weekend out - except for myself, everyone is married and is starting or growing their families. However, each of us makes time to get outdoors, whether its w/ mine/their partners....we all get out :)
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luke
Sep 7, 2004, 1:36 AM
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Ok, I find it hard to believe that I didnt see a reference to this in the last 5 pages, but maybe I missed it. If not, then some of you gals might want to check out SheClimbs, which is a national climbing org for women. My girlfriend has met a bunch of her best climbing buddies through this group, and although it means she is not always climbing with me, I figure if she is happy I'm happy. Check it out
http://www.sheclimbs.org/
Luke
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rana75
Sep 7, 2004, 6:49 PM
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i know what you mean. I always climb with men. The only girl i climbed with had her second baby and that became the end of our adventure. Sometimes it is hard because you feel lonely in terms of companionship, although i have really good partners and that keeps me on training. It is the same with mountain bike. No women. I live in Mexico, and climbing here is popular but you see 90% men when you go climbing.
Keep it up girls!.
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craggergirl
Sep 8, 2004, 10:52 PM
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I'm 24 and live in tennessee. I have the same problem as the rest of you. All the pople I have met to climb wtih are guys. None of the girsl I have met seem to be independantly interested, meaning they are only doing it for their boyfriends/husbands. I woud like to meet a girl who really is into climbing. One who can't stand the idea of a manacure or fake nails because you couldn't possibly climb like that and one who when shopping wonders if she could wear whatever it is climbing and one who craves the blisters and calouses that come with hard days of working problems and walking to different craggs. *sigh*
if there are any girls out there in my area or anywhere who are interested in talking or getting together to climb please msg me or email me (lesley_barnett@yahoo.com) also I'm going to bishop, cali for a few months in jan and onto az in april for the bouldering comp so I'll be out that way soon....
searching for climber chickas...
lesley
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hardrock_chik
Sep 20, 2004, 12:58 PM
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I'm always in the outdoors with guys. I hike, climbing, camp etc with em coz I'm hooked and mygirlfriends aren't. I feel like i have my "groups" my climbing buddies and my regular best friends (even though I have one best friend who climbs BUT happens to be a guy)
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