Queer Crush: April
Queer Crush: April
Covid anniversaries, merch, and sends
Happy April!
I’ve been climbing for a while, at least seven years, but it’s hard to figure out how to count The Covid Years. A little more than three years ago, the state of Oregon, where I was living at the time, issued their official shut down order. I was in Las Vegas, on a trip to climb at Red Rock with eight people I barely knew, and on the second day we all looked at each other and agreed that we should have stayed home. The casinos held on for a couple days longer than seemed smart until they shut down too.
I had a relatively easy time with Covid (work from home job, I’m not immunocompromised, no family members or friends got sick or died in the initial waves), but I still spent a really bad couple years. Some aspects of my life were permanently altered or are still recovering. My climbing has only begun to come back to its pre-Covid level in the last couple months, largely thanks to Jay, Alicia, Natalie, and a couple other supportive but not Queer Crush climbing partners.
Anyway, thanks to the Queer Crush community at large for being supportive, cool, and nice as I rebuilt this small but important aspect of my life. I hope all you, my loyal newsletter readers, have been or will be able to find a similarly supportive community through Queer Crush.
As usual, read on to hear about regularly scheduled meetups, fun special events, new merch (!!), how Paranormal Night Out went, and more.
April Meetups
Norcal
Saturday April 8, 6pm - 9pm, Meetup Mashup at Great Western Power Company (see Community Announcements section for more info)
Monday, April 10, 6 – 8:30pm Movement Sunnyvale
Monday, April 10, 6:30 – 9pm Dogpatch Boulders
Tuesday, April 11, 6 – 8:30pm Great Western Power Co.
Tuesday, April 13, 6 – 9pm Pacific Pipe
Tuesday, April 18, 6 – 8pm Benchmark Berkeley
Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 – 7:30pm Gravity Vault Marin
Wednesday, April 19, 6 – 9pm Diablo Rock Gym
Thursday, April 20, 5:30 – 8:30pm Blue Granite (Tahoe)
Friday, April 21, 6 – 9pm Movement Santa Clara
Friday, April 21, 6 – 9pm Sacramento Pipeworks
Friday, April 21, 6 – 8:15pm MetalMark (Fresno)
Friday, April 21, 7 – 9:30pm Mission Cliffs
Monday, April 24, 6 – 9pm Berkeley Ironworks
Tuesday, April 25, 6 – 8:30pm Benchmark SF
Wednesday, April 26, 7 – 9pm The Studio
Socal
Wednesday, April 5, 7 – 9pm Long Beach Rising
Thursday, April 6, 7 – 9pm Sender One Playa Vista
Thursday, April 6, 7 – 9pm Verdigo Boulders
Tuesday, April 11, 7 – 9pm Hollywood Boulders
Wednesday, April 12, 7 – 9pm Sender One Santa Ana
Monday, April 17, 7 – 9pm Cliffs of Id
Tuesday, April 18, 7 – 9pm Movement Fountain Valley
Thursday, April 20, 7 – 9pm LA Boulders
Thursday, April 20, 7 – 9pm Sender One LAX
Monday, April 24, 7 – 9pm The Post
Thanks to everyone who came to Paranormal Night Out! We were able to raise $33,117 for ParaCliffHangers and Queer Crush 😊
Community announcements
Reel Rock
Come watch Reel Rock with the queers on Saturday, April 1 (yes, it’s tomorrow, no, it’s not an April Fools) at Last Minute Gear!
Meetup Mashup
Pricing will be the same as a regular meet-up event - free for members, $20 for non-members, free for first touchstone first-timers. Hit the reply button on this email and let me know if cost is a barrier but you’d like to go! RSVP via the Great Western Power Co. calendar.
Merch!
New merch has dropped! Look how good our captains at The Post look in their new tanks:
Buy through our Google Form here.
First pride event announced 👀 more to come
Save the date (the evening of Saturday, June 3): Climbing With Pride FUNdfaiser (presented by Wondery Brand) at The Post (Touchstone gym in Pasadena) with proceeds going to Queer Crush
Land Acknowledgement
All the Queer Crush events discussed in this newsletter take place on land stolen from the native peoples who lived and continue to live here. This includes but is not limited to the Chochenyo, Ramaytush, Miwok, Plains Miwok, Tamien, and other peoples in Northern California, and the Chumash and Tongva (Gabrieleno) in Southern California. Many members of these groups still live here as their ancestors have done for generations.
Check whose land you’re on here.
Stay sendy, stay queer, keep crushing,
Sam “thanks to Lindsay for pointing out I forgot to put my pronouns in the newsletter” Hoffman (she/her)
Looking for other ways to stay up to date on events and connect with the Queer Crush community? You can find links to Instagram, Discord, Google Calendar, newsletter and other regional Facebook groups on our website QueerCrush.org