I went to the Sport Climbing Series National Championships tonight, at the awesome Sender One climbing gym in Santa Ana. It was a very fun event; there's a lot of instinctive, visceral drama watching a small human form scale a very tall wall that seems un-scalable, and the athletes were ridiculous. Both my friend C---- and I agreed that the women were more fun to watch than the men. Not, I think honestly, out of some ogling, but because they had a sense of sinuous-ness and problem-solving in their climbing, whereas the men really seemed more like they were using upper body strength to haul themselves up a wall (which was tremendously impressive, of course. just less engaging to watch).
What's happening in it is this: the climbers don't get to see the course for long, because that's part of the point -- figuring out the course. So at the beginning, after they are brought out, they get 4 minutes to look at it before going into a holding area before their climb (since of course it'd be unfair if those who climbed later saw the climbs of all those who went before them). But before they go in, they get 4 minutes -- "4 minutes, Climbers." per the announcer -- to chart their route. And when the announcer says that, they do this: they cluster together, holding their hands up in the air, and communicating, miming and talking through how they would tackle a route up this wall. And they do it all together -- they immediately cluster together, all their hands up, like some crazy little sect or dance troupe or group of animals. Particularly after my fight, which is amazing and has community but is very much a thing done alone and in part against someone, this made me smile. All the hands, flapping in and around and imagining the moment when they'd be halfway up that wall, clinging to it with precarious holds, working their way to the top.
This is the moment I wanted to share.
What's happening in it is this: the climbers don't get to see the course for long, because that's part of the point -- figuring out the course. So at the beginning, after they are brought out, they get 4 minutes to look at it before going into a holding area before their climb (since of course it'd be unfair if those who climbed later saw the climbs of all those who went before them). But before they go in, they get 4 minutes -- "4 minutes, Climbers." per the announcer -- to chart their route. And when the announcer says that, they do this: they cluster together, holding their hands up in the air, and communicating, miming and talking through how they would tackle a route up this wall. And they do it all together -- they immediately cluster together, all their hands up, like some crazy little sect or dance troupe or group of animals. Particularly after my fight, which is amazing and has community but is very much a thing done alone and in part against someone, this made me smile. All the hands, flapping in and around and imagining the moment when they'd be halfway up that wall, clinging to it with precarious holds, working their way to the top.
No comments:
Post a Comment