19 Jul THE VALUE OF LEARNING FROM WOMEN

By Wren Cilimburg

I stood below the climb: The Eye, a 5.4 in Joshua Tree. The cams and nuts on my harness felt heavy, I’d only ever carried quickdraws before. The climb follows curving handles and flakes up a seam of rock to a little hole of light near the top: the “eye”. At the base, my climbing partner gave me a quick rundown on how to place trad gear. He demonstrated some cam placements, which I clearly did not master…. 

Although my gear placements were poor, the climb was well below my limit, and I finished it without much fear. There aren’t many bolted anchors in Joshua Tree, so I had to build one out of gear. I struggled to remember what Max had told me just minutes before. I placed three pieces, that was definitely good. There was some fancy way to loop the sling, right? Somehow I created a decent anchor, and belayed Max up to me. 

I learned to trad climb exclusively from men. It was guys who taught me how to climb multipitches, who encouraged me to fall on lead, who showed me how to jam my hands in cracks. In a male-dominated sport like climbing, I know there’s many women and non-binary folks who’ve had similar experiences. And I’m grateful for the men that have taken me out and taught me skills– it’s all helped me get to the place I’m in today. But the dynamic of men teaching women can have some downsides, and learning to climb from other non-male folks can be an empowering experience for many.

At the time, climbing the Eye seemed like a great way to start leading trad. The pitch was easy enough. My climbing partner told me to give it a shot, so I did. In hindsight, it was less than ideal: I’d literally never placed gear before, and I easily could have practiced placements on a toprope before leading anything. Plus, it would have been great to do a first lead that had a bolted anchor, or to have my partner go up and pre-build the anchor so I could clip into it when I got to the top.

Sometimes when I climb with men, speaking up and advocating for myself can be challenging. I often feel like an attitude of toxic masculinity rubs off on me a bit, and I end up feeling pressured to be able to keep up with the guys. This makes it hard to say things like “I’m not sure I’m ready to lead this. Could I try placing gear on a toprope first?”

There are many men in the climbing community who do not create this kind of environment, and I’m not writing about this topic in order to villainize men. But I do want to highlight that it can be valuable for women and non-binary people to learn climbing skills from other non-male climbers. 

I asked my friend Stella, who learned to climb primarily from other women, to share how this experience felt for her:

“I learned to climb from women. 

I climbed outside with two men recently and they would just set up a top rope for my friend and I to go up. I had little discussion or contribution toward choosing the climbs for the day. While they definitely knew the area more and were better climbers, I didn’t grow or learn as much as I could have that day. 

My experience with the women who taught me how to climb could not have been more different. I would learn new skills each time we climbed, and would be challenged and encouraged to grow by my women climber friends. They were inspiring to me not only in their ability but in their generosity and talent for teaching and sharing their own knowledge. They were less intimidating, more approachable, and brought more emotion and discussion into the sport.” 

As I’ve become more competent in my climbing skills, I’m more likely now to take on the role of teacher rather than student (although I definitely still have a lot to learn!). And I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to teach many female friends how to lead climb and lead belay. I love that I can help create positive learning environments for my friends, like the experience that Stella had. If you are an experienced female or non-binary climber, consider finding ways to share your wisdom! And if you are seeking out ways to learn in a safe and comfortable way, see if there’s an LCC meetup in your area! If not, there may be other similar local organizations. 

Recently, I posted in my town’s climbing facebook group and wrote that I was looking for other women to get outside with. A couple of people messaged me, and I’ve had two great days of outdoor climbing with these ladies! I’ve been projecting a climb at the local crag this summer, usually going out there with some of my male climber friends. It was so refreshing to work the moves with someone whose climbing style is similar to mine. Together we were able to figure out new beta that worked for our short wingspans, and we laughed a lot while doing it.