Question for female climbers

[kotiko]

I'm doing a paper on how the sports climbing community has adapted to women's needs. My ideas are clothing/equipment, events/workshops, books specifically for women/websites, etc,...

 

I would also like to know why women start climbing in the first place, what are their initial goals and problems they face when they're starting.

 

If anyone has any ideas or information about how the community has adapted to women, it would be very helpful. Thank you!

[jeb013]

Good luck, hopefully this goes better for you here than it did on RC.com

I think you touched a couple nerves over there (not that it seams hard to do).

 

Jeb

[Ed_Hobbick]

Are you talking about sport climbing specifically or mountain climbing in general?

[Pete_H]

I don't think he / she knows the difference.

[chris54]

 

If anyone has any ideas or information about how the community has adapted to women, it would be very helpful. Thank you!

 

I think someone in the marketing department at black diamond took a mens harness wrote women's on it so they could sell more harness. Then everyone else followed. I think their coming out with all women's c4 cams next year.

[tanstaafl]

 

If anyone has any ideas or information about how the community has adapted to women, it would be very helpful. Thank you!

 

I think someone in the marketing department at black diamond took a mens harness wrote women's on it so they could sell more harness. Then everyone else followed. I think their coming out with all women's c4 cams next year.

 

On the one hand, you're right, many women will fit just fine into men's harnesses. But many won't. According to a friend who was formerly a harness designer at BD, while there are some differences between the genders (women generally have a longer rise, for instance), the major factor is that the variation *between women* (waist to hip to thigh ratio, etc.) is much greater than the variation between men, so while five different sizes of harness, with adjustable leg loops, will fit most men reasonably well you need to add about five more to cover the greater variation between women. Like so many things, you've got to try them on to see what's going to work best for you. I've had both women's and unisex harnesses and I'd say the women's harnesses were generally a better fit on me, though not nearly as extreme as the difference in fit for pants, boots, rock shoes, ski boots, and jackets. (I'm 5'9" and so I often end up in men's smalls because stores often don't stock women's stuff in the larger sizes, even when it exists.)

 

 

 

[rob]

I'm not sure how different harnesses are, but my experience has been that ladies outerwear isn't really all that different than mens -- I've bought ladies outdoor clothing because it's often on sale and it seems to fit me just fine, though I usually have to go a size up. On the other hand, I think my body dimensions must be the exact average used by clothing manufacturers, because I can also wear most of my girlfriend's jeans just fine, too. Which seems to really piss her off

[chris54]

Dude that's cross dressing.

[Pete_H]

Only when he wears her underwear too.

[rob]

who wears underwear?

[chris54]

Nice!

[Pete_H]

Hopefully the OP has enough info to write her paper now.

[susan]

I started so long ago, can't remember why other than I like it. If you are fishing, it certainly wasn't because my boyfriend did it. As a 'smaller' female, clothes, especially outwear are definitely not styled for someone my size, harnesses are a pain to find and for a long time, many women's harness came with fewer gear loops than men's. WTF was that about? I think I have always ended up buying men's harnesses. I have fat feet so shoes are pretty easy to fit but I know many women with narrow feet and heels tha have lots of trouble.