Damn, man. This is so disappointing. You have no problem with the sounds and make some yourself, yet rather than point that out to the guys, you you decided to INITIATE the aforementioned conversation at the expense of YOUR CLIMBING PARTNER. Weak. Had it crossed your mind that they were waiting for you, her partner, to set the tone for how to respond to those sounds? Well, you did. And they followed suit.

To top it off, you're looking around at them and smiling, looking for their approval, rather than watching YOUR CLIMBING PARTNER (you were belaying, no?) and telling those guys, "This is just the way she climbs, and by the way, look how good she is." Or "So it sounds weird. It obviously works for her. See?"

And don't give me that "guys being guys" bullshit. That's just an excuse to justify behavior you know is stupid, and it won't fly in here. Take responsibility for your choice to sell her out to get a laugh from the guys when you could have chosen to stand up for her.

And you may have been trying to make yourself look better by pointing out that it continued "with no more participation from [you]", but it only serves to point out that you never decided to stop them and redirect the conversation. It took some guts to post here and say that you feel bad, so I won't take that away from you. But those guts would have served you better on the day in question by remembering that your priority should have been looking out for the woman at the other end of the rope, not trying to impress the guys on the ground.

Ignore the A.holes and grunt make noise, just don't scream that part is all that annoys me in the gyms etc, very distracting when I am climbing.

In Martial arts, which I used to do, it was encouraged and normal to grunt etc, it helped to push yourself in some way.

In Martial arts, which I used to do, it was encouraged and normal to grunt etc, it helped to push yourself in some way.

release emotional energy that comes from fear and stress, as related to pushing thru a hard move or sequence of moves, on a route.

^^^^^
The guy with the folk guitar, sleeve-tied sweater draped over over his shoulders...

DMT

Though I do own a guitar and several sweaters, I am not a guy.

BONUS!

DMT

Is THAT what that is Rob? I thought you were always teaching the young children at the crag new words to ADD stress to their parents ;)

"AHHFUCKSHIFUCKDAMMITOWHOLYSHIT!!!!111"

Circle jerk sessions with herds of men are a bit harder on beautiful multiple pitch climbs :)

Group ridicule is one us guy's most powerful tools to get waywaqrd members of our tribe back in line.

Apparently you ladies don't cotten to this sort of encouragement.

See this is why I occasionally read this forum.

Here's a hint though - if the subject matter lines didn't echo to the forum page I wouldn't come to this forum a-purpose very often, maybe never.

Tis the topics that draw me in and forgive me but this one was provocative.

I've learned that women (the ones I know, not yall) don't cotten to "Guy Encouragement" either - you know, where guys yell up GO FOR IT! and TRY HARDER! that sort of shit.

My daughters DO NOT like that. I try to splain to them... its hard for us guys NOT to do that. We are taught to do it from our earliest ages. We learn it in school. We learn it from our boyhood friends. We learn it through team sports.

We guys don't share our feelings of insecurity. Hell we don't really like to talk about our emotions to each other at all, unless its anger or humor.

Because we erect these walls against intimacy? Often the only way to get through to each other is by shouting or head-knocking.

So I apologize for deploying my damaged chromosomes in your forum.

But the loud grunting is ALWAYS going to draw this sort of reaction from folks, whether it is noticed or not.

Sorry, but that's the plain old truth. Grunt all you want and others will react AS THEY WISH. The more I've read this thread the more I've come to realize the reaction you got was NORMAL.

Normal.

DMT

I've learned that women (the ones I know, not yall) don't cotten to "Guy Encouragement" either - you know, where guys yell up GO FOR IT! and TRY HARDER! that sort of shit.

My daughters DO NOT like that. I try to splain to them... its hard for us guys NOT to do that. We are taught to do it from our earliest ages. We learn it in school. We learn it from our boyhood friends. We learn it through team sports.

damn, dingus, I wish I had learned this years ago. I'm still working on not using "guy encouragement" toward my wifey.

Joansie from Seattle:

We were climbing with you on Hidden tower (sail away 5.8) and you left a jacket at the base. Your partner kept leaning over the top to say "good job joansie," and would then disappear... it became our catch-phrase for the day!

so, I probably shouldn't post in here since I'm not a lady, and cleo has sometimes accused me of not even being a gentleman, but I was cleo's belayer during the event in question.

She does make noise (as many of us do), and that day it was making some of us uneasy because the noises she makes while she is exerting are a little unusual. Not weird or twisted or anything, just a woman working hard and kind of squeaking, or grunting.

I personally think they are cute sounds, and have no problem with them as I am a grunter myself and have been known to do bad yodeling at anchors. But some of the others (mostly guys) standing around had not heard them before...and, guys being guys, we were all kind of looking at each other and smiling a little and trying not to say anything.

Cleo was leading a very vertical hard and sustained trad route, and doing awesome so I didn't want to distract her...but the sounds were making things a little tense on the ground.

I take full blame for starting it as I think I said, "is it just me, or does that sound like something else?" And it went downhill from there, but with no more participation from me. But at least it broke the tension and everyone busted up, at which point Cleo told us all to STFU and we all continued our day. And she did send the climb, pulling off a desperate offwidth move.

I had no idea it had hurt Cleo's feelings and I feel terrible for that. Still, thick skin can go a long way out there in the rough and tumble. I've certainly developed quite a thick hide over the years, so thick in fact that sometimes it's hard for me to be sensitive to the feelings of others, though I'm always trying.

Hope that helps Cleo, and I promise not to prowl into your ladies room again. By the way, you are climbing awesome! I can't believe how far you've come since spring. You went from never leading trad to on-sighting 10a's...amazing!

Yeah, I have to agree. My sword knows no prejudice, and I've even been known to stab myself more often than not when swinging it.