The circus

So yesterday there was this climbing comp at the gym and I can't avoid to write something mean about that...

To be clear, I won't complain about national/official comps here, but about the classic gym-comps, where there is nothing of official and everything is just for "having fun".

Let me start with this statement: I did several climbing-comps in the past.
My first climbing-comp was a lead-comp (I'm pretty sure it was in 1998).
Why lead and not a bouldering one? Simply because back in the day, bouldering wasn't an option. It was still a pre-boulder era... How old was that, uh?

Anyway, after that one, I've done several others comps: I've traveled for them, I've spent money for the comps, etc...

So, you maybe wonder why I was doing it. Honestly, I'm not sure.
Comps are off course a good training session, but this is not the real reason.
I don't even like compete against others, and off course, I've never done one with the goal of winning it...
To be really honest, I was competing maybe because I was thinking that if you really want to be part of the "climbing scene" you have to do it.

I was young and stupid.

Now I'm still stupid, but I'm older, and with age comes wisdom, so I've stopped with the comps.

Not only I've stopped: I'm staying really far away from them.

I don't like (hate? Yeah, let's go with hate), I hate climbing comps for several reasons.
First of all, they are not funny. I don't see how I could enjoy climbing on plastic, in a crowded-restricted-smelly-dusty-warm area.
And this is the second reason: the people. The worst from climbers: they are all there, packed and concentrated in few square feet. All my nightmares in one single shot. Assholes with no shirt on, screaming and yelling and panting and bragging and screaming again.
Another reason is the climbing itself, that really sucks. If you're trying to climb, you have to stay in line and wait for your turn. And off course, there is always someone skipping the line (and I'm italian, so I'm really a pro in that field). And when is finally your turn, the holds are all sweat and polished. And if you fall, you actually fall on people... I could go on and on for hours.
Oh, and now with Facebook and Twitter everything is over-enhanced: thousands of pictures followed by thousand of ashtags (don't worry, I will also complaining about you ashtaggers in a specific post) of douchebags screaming and showing off they muscles. This is not climbing.
This is a circus.

Climbers ready for the comp.

I will end here.
The take home message is: climbing-comps suck.