Joe Kinder is a professional? Some people might balk at the idea of rock climbers thinking of themselves as professional anything, but Kinder is doing a lot of work lately that should make them think otherwise.
In addition to taking his climbing to a new level in the past year with ascents of routes as hard as Kryptonite (5.14d), Kinder has been working just as hard for his sponsors. Going beyond simply having his mugshot in the magazines, he is looking for other ways to create extra value for his sponsors.
Take, as an example, Kinder’s latest project for his sponsor Gregory Packs. He has been working on a series of online “commercials” to help promote his work with them. The latest commerical, made in conjuction with photographer Keith Ladzinski, features footage of Kinder on the route Unforgivable (5.14b/c) which he equipped at Southern Utah’s Cathedral. The route was first climbed by Daniel Woods with Kinder doing the 2nd ascent.
Of course climbing is still the main game for Kinder, and he is hard at work trying to link up Unforgivable into Slaughterhouse 5 (5.14b/c) to create what will likely be one of the hardest routes in America.
