TBP 003: Jamie Emerson on Training, Ethics, and Being The Sheriff

2014-03-12

I sat down with Jamie Emerson last summer and had a really interesting chat with him. Jamie is, I think, an important voice in the climbing community. As an accomplished and ambitious climber himself, having sent up to V14, he has his finger on the pulse of the climbing community's players and their ascents. He has a deep appreciation for not only trying hard and sending hard, but also doing it all in style. I've...

He has a deep appreciation for not only trying hard and sending hard, but also doing it all in style. I've always thought that Jamie would be the best person for the job of MC-ing big competitions because he knows a lot about everyone, and he truly cares about their accomplishments, failures, and their characters.

As the writer at www.B3Bouldering.com, he not only keeps us all up to date on the most current sends, he also asks the hard questions and calls people out on ethical issues that no one else would dare to. This has earned him his nickname, "The Sheriff", which we discuss in this podcast interview. We talk candidly about a couple of his most controversial moments with other climbers, and whether or not he'd do it all over again if he could.

In a sport where people regularly use shady tactics for cleaning boulders, terrorize the land surrounding those boulders, manufacture holds, trespass on private property, make up their own start holds, and "send" things without anyone witnessing said send (I mean, it didn't happen unless it's on video, right?), somebody needs to be the one to say, "You didn't follow the rules. Hey everyone, what do you think the rules are here so we can tell this person the rules?"

That's Jamie, and I for one appreciate his honest, forthright style, and his willingness to fight for some semblance of order and respect in the sport, even if some think he might take it a little too far sometimes.

In this interview we talk about all that, and also this:

His biggest achievements in climbing
His biggest failures
His climbing aspirations
His um.. interesting ascent of Gang Bang
How he trains and the differences between the methods of all his different trainers
What he eats
What he thinks about his body weight as it relates to climbing
How he likes being called the sheriff, and where that nickname came from
What he wants to do in his professional life
Why he loves finding and developing new boulders
Why he started writing his blog
The surprising ways his climbing has changed as he's gotten older
What climbing means to him now compared with 10 years ago
And more!