That Guy

So, I was thinking today about my recent climbing adventure at White Buddha. I realize that I was dangerously close to being "that guy". I had just come down from doing my project (Yay!) and I was kinda just sitting there watching these other climbers trying to do a boulder problem that (I think) I had done before. I was tempted to go over there, strike up a brief conversation, and then give the problem a try - assuming of course that I would crush it and may even be helping them out by showing them some beta. Then I realized that that would be (pardon my french) a real dick move. So, I didn't do it. But realized that I was pretty close to being that guy.

It reminded me of this blog post from a couple of weeks ago. It is a pretty good blog post and I recommend reading it. It's good for a short laugh until you start seeing yourself in the various climber personalities that he talks about.

I remember when I started climbing - watching
people that seemed way better than me destroy my project while wearing sandels. That was a little bit depressing. Nobody likes a show off, but there are a lot of show offs in climbing. I guess it's sort of a psychological thing. I try not to think about psychological things too much. That being said, I do appreciate watching true wizards on rock and watching their skills and techniques. So, maybe people enjoy watching and learning from me too?

I am glad that I wasn't that guy though. I think there is a time and a place to admire other peoples climbing and to desplay your own climbing. Cutting into a group of strangers and showing them up is not the time or the place. It would have been really funny if I got totally owned though. Hahaha. I would either look like a really big pompous idiot or just another climber trying to have some fun with other climbers. I think the difference would be in my original intentions.

I guess I want to avoid what I consider being the worse types of climbers that are mentioned in the blog post cited above. The self-worther, the purist, IKEs, and the Elitists. Other people may have different opinions on which groups are worse. Those were just the ones that I thought were particularly annoying.

As a climbing instructor I do enjoy helping other people get better at and enjoy climbing more. I just need to make sure I'm not "that guy" and that I'm doing things for the right reasons. What are the right reasons? Maybe I'll have a future blog post about that.

Comments?