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Falling
Trad climber
Splat
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 25, 2017 - 11:25am PT
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I'll be honest, this is hard for me to post and traditionally have kept quiet about it general, personally. I feel by posting this it only exacerbates the issue / creates victimhood rather than help find a resolve or a constructive solution.
However, thanks to some good friends (fattrad and my g/f) have encouraged me to not keep quiet and make the climbing community aware this is happening.
Posted on Facebook recently:
I had a wonderful weekend in Yosemite, and like many here who understand, a second home. I spent a good portion of 20+ years climbing, backpacking, hiking,lazing about in the ditch and meadows, and the memories and friends made here I will always hold dear.
However, in the last few years, the surrounding area of welcoming and acceptance has been waning and I really felt it on Sunday while driving home.
We stopped in town on 120 en-route home to grab some snacks and drinks as tradition. I understand tourons (like ourselves) can give a bit of a headache to the locals, however this is the 4th time in less than 10 years I have really been profiled, this time being the most blatant and worse.
It really saddens me that in 2017, people blatantly mouth "Go Home" to your face , people follow you to your car look at you and mouth "Get out of my town (sic. country)" and look at you with so much hatred and anger. Pointed. Targeted.
Is this what this has become? In a place of so much beauty that such pockets like this is allowed to fester?
I like to think of this as an one-off and that the folks who reacted like this were either drunk, having a bad day, or frustrated with life in general lashing out.
However, over the years (and especially in the last year), I have observed and experienced an increasing rash of vindictive verbiage / physical altercations being aimed directly at co-workers, friends, my brother, or anyone who does not fit the socially 'correct' profile.
For any climbers and friends out there who have been and continuing to go through similar experiences, I know it's tough to bring this up without looking like a shrill, so hopefully by stating my experience, it can help those know they're not alone and that solidarity can be found in the community.
Thanks.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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May 25, 2017 - 11:35am PT
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Maybe some details so we can decide if we want to side with you or pile on with them :). Tell fattrad hello for me.
I personally would have laughed in their faces, does it really matter what they think.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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May 25, 2017 - 11:55am PT
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Knowing nothing else about religious/ethnic/racial/hygiene motivations in your case, my first inclination is to think of the poor (literally) people who work in the small gateway towns serving the rich entitled tourists who are out playing. I grew up in a small beach town, and one expression that captured the general tourist scorn was "tourists go home but leave your daughters." Any tourist town will be a mix of need for the money from outsiders, versus resentment at having them intrude on the shangrila and/or resentment of the socio-economic disparities.
Have you ever used the expression "Tourons" to refer to non-climbers in Yosemite? Us and Them.
Other issues may exist, but that simple baseline expectation can take away some of the animus you might feel about being singled out, or perceptions of other motivations.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 25, 2017 - 12:18pm PT
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Did you profile when you picked your gf?
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LithiumMetalman
Trad climber
cesspool central
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May 25, 2017 - 12:46pm PT
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Touron is a jest to myself or anyone who fondly travels quite a bit who has little knowledge of the local customs. Not saying this is right.
@Beck, you're right it doesn't matter what they're thinking, but I am only speaking my mind now about this after living in the U.S. for the last 27 years. Laughing at the offender. I tend not to do that as that could lead to bigger issues. I walk away not acknowledging.
@NutAgain! I lived in a small town working for awhile and can def understand the frustrations. It's possible I did percieve something that wasn't there. However, this the 4th time in the same area similar profiling experience has occured in the last 10 years.
@Donini, yes I did profile her on Rockclimbing.com when she messaged me asking if I would like to climb with her. The rest is history ;-)
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 25, 2017 - 01:27pm PT
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You have to celebrate it. For example, in the Skaha cliffs above the BC tourist town of Penticton there is a climb named "The Assholes of August."
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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May 25, 2017 - 03:25pm PT
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you were profiled as a climber/tourist? or does this have to do with race/religion/sex?
I guess it doesn't matter, it still hits you in the gut when you're on the receiving end
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