At the end of the evening, there weren't too many people left and I went over to where she was bouldering and said goodbye. She complimented me on a route that she saw me finish which she had been struggling on, and I said thanks and took off. I was pondering whether it was a subtle form of pursuit to seek her out and say goodbye.
I wanted to touch on this because a lot of people here worry about something similar I think. You handled the interaction perfectly! Being polite is not pursuit! We stress this over and over again here, but detaching and giving them time and space is not the same thing as acting cold and indifferent. If you're at the same party then by all means say hello and chat for a moment, then excuse yourself and go about doing your thing. At the end of the evening if you don't have to go way out of your way to do it then say a quick "see you later".
