You Go Joe

Rockman, for the most part, usually has a pretty low opinion of professional climbers.  Because of the small amount of money that exists within the sport, pro climbers have to almost be omnipresent.  They are constantly touting their lasts projects and numbers in climbing mags, blogs and to any person that will listen, in order to  eek out a living and continue to climb.  After years of being in the sport  and hearing about another twenty-something pro climber sending 5.12, 5.13, 5.14 or 5.15, it just isn't that interesting.  As a result, most of the climbing blogs, magazines and videos, just don't give Rockman anything to mentally chew on.  Every once and awhile Rockman does come across something (Thanks to the NARC) that is compelling to read on a pro climber's blog.

Joe Kinder recently posted an article on his blog Joe Kind Kid that Rockman was psyched to read.  The article was about him doing  his first bit of bolting routes in the Red River Gorge.  Not real big news,but as the article continues he talks about how badly he messes it up.  So what?  Right.  The best part of the whole deal is he fesses up. He does the one thing politicians, professional athletes and other public figures can never seem to do.  Admit they were wrong.  Joe admits his mistakes and eats some crow and gets the routes fixed (thanks to some RRG locals).  In the world of pro climbing where self promotion is almost as important as climbing, that's huge. Check out his post here.  Rockman has to say, You go Joe.  Everyone makes mistakes and its refreshing hear someone own  up to them.  (The caveat to all of this is no one decked on his bad equipment.  If someone did, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.)

In The Spirit Of Adventure,

Rockman