Mallorca

That 5.13c must not be over the water if they bolted it or If they wanted to go higher. Do you know why they bolted it?

Also from Joe’s blog, http://www.joekindkid.com/?p=246, “It is on a point in Mallorca that tourist from all over the world come to see…about 600 feet up”

Thus a rap in climb out type of thing.

Also of note Adam Ondra is in spain and is tearing it up! http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/ondra515x2/

Very Nice!!!

i think a large part of being a pro climber versus some unknown, unsponsored badass is commitment to the lifestyle. joe is out there trying hard 100% of the time… no extended breaks…

it’s not all take. like other pros, he’s had to give up quite a lot: he has traded the comforts of a more sedentary, typical life… he has been living out of a suitcase, setting down roots for only a couple months at a time, etc. he has put himself into the spotlight, but he had to cultivate the relationships necessary to open the opportunity. also, his lifestyle requires being in the spotlight. dance monkey, dance – send routes, show up at trade shows and events, pack your bags and do it again and again and again. feeling tweaked? bit injured? worn out? too bad. climb more, monkey bitch! we need photos! we need spray!

yeah, there’s a lot of glamour that seems to go along with being a climber pro, but it’s certainly not for everyone and just because you can send v13+ does not mean you have what it takes. sponsorship requires playing the game, not just climbing.

and yeah, there are parts about his internet persona that may irritate some, but holy hell i know how that goes! how many folks do you know who act the same way online as they do in person? few. sure we will all be judged by the way we present ourselves, but the wise intardweb trollers will know to withhold forming actual opinions until the face-to-face…

finally, i find it very amusing that anyone would want the american climbing public to feel sorry for unsponsored euros. european cultures seem to treat climbers with actual reverence… as atheletes, as people of worth and merit… as *professionals*…

if anything, it seems like the opportunity for euro climbers is substantially greater than in america. maybe it is a rigid, difficult road due to increased competition in europe, but that’s what is supposed to make all you euros so much better than us: discipline.

still, i’m not certain i’d care to give up the foolish hack, just messin’ around, nature of american climbing. yeah, i know dozens of kids who campus my projects in muddy skate shoes and who will drop off v0 topouts of v11 problems and never care to “finish.” “sending” just doesn’t matter to them and they’d rather get into a 3 hour snowball or pinecone fight than shoe up and finish. should american climbing get more serious like the euros?

in some senses, kinder seems to be caught right between these two feelings… professionalism and adolesent-style, sometimes irresponsible fun, and perhaps this tension is what his on-line shenanagans are derived from?

i know this: the more i’m called upon to get more serious in life, the more i call my friends foolfaced bitches on line.

go figure.

Joe has done his job once again! Obviously all you know him or what he does and we are all talking bout it, yeah even you Peter

I do know what he does (I certainly do not know him), but I can assure you that I’m not going to go out and buy a Gregory Pack, EMS Jacket, Scarpa shoes etc etc etc JUST because some dude uses/wears them. Of course, even if were so inclined, I’d do so on prodeal so the companies really wouldn’t be making any money anyway. Besides, not all attention is good attention – Kinder and Taylor’s “altercation” represents the epitome of all that is absurd.

Sock Hands brings up good points. Peace and Respect to Kinder’s sacrifice, I know that neither I nor most people have the passion for climbing to give up everything else for it. That level of dedication is admirable and sponsor worthy. Obviously these companies (though they, apart from EMS, probably don’t have huge marketing departments) think so too otherwise they wouldn’t be hooking him up.

At the same time, truthfully I am equally (if not more) impressed by the college student working his ass off at a top university and STILL climbing 5.14 or v12 over his limited breaks, the 45 year old business owner with a family who STILL climbs 5.12 when he gets out a few days a year, etc etc etc. And this isn’t just because I can only imagine what these individuals might accomplish should they (at least the young ones out there) take up climbing full time: it’s the very act of responsibly striking a balance between their well-rounded passions.

So yeah, it’s not that I find it obnoxious that Kinder is sponsored and better climbers aren’t. Indeed, quite the opposite. More power to you if you can be content climbing and making a living off of climbing full time.

But I would point out that Emily Harrington, who’s done extraordinarily well for herself as a climber, is now saying that she’s not content and is ready to settle down and study international law. She’s not going to lose her sponsors, in fact, they’ll probably milk the fact that she’s smart AND strong. Unless being smart isn’t “cool” in the climbing world, that is.

word to the word to middle aged fools, family folks, career folks, etc. who still get out and pull down. another good example is angie payne. working a tough schedule of pre med or biology or something similar and pulling hours at animal shelters/vet office or similar… still crushing….

dave hume… another name for the illustration…

but another counter-point to keep this merry-go-round turning: underground lifers are not the ones generating tons of media for the rest of us to feed off of like pigs at the trough. while you may argue that these folks should make up a larger part of magazine coverage, etc, a number of social and economic realities come into play and they do not. like it or not.

so, in some senses, folks like joe are the very reason many of us know of certain products. they are the conduit for advertisement to us. so, will kinder cause you to go buy scarpa shoes? well, maybe not consciously, but maybe. where was scarpa before signing joe and the next generation of climbers? scarpas appeared on and extremely small percentage of climbers’ feets. now, they are all over the place. of course this was part of a new marketing and development push by the company, but folks like joe were recruited to play a part in the process and they did.

just some dome fodder.

word. just keeping the discussion going since i’ve got zip zero zilch to post to my own blog.

how bout this: a boulder problem is v-hard from the sit. was first done from the sit by billy badass. however, billy is stupid and did not consider it a send from the obvoius matched hold at chest level first. the line starting on the obvious chest level hold is super classic and accessible by a much larger percentage of the bouldering population. is the post-FA establishment of the “stand start” valid.

my thoughts on this are clear.

obvious higher start = legitimate boulder problem

y’all can perform an unspeakable act on a butt of some sort and/or choke yourselves if you disagree.

mass chaos or bust.