Episode27_JimRott_Climbing, Community, and Christ

Sitting down with Jim Rott, one of the owners of SteepWorld Climbing and Fitness and one of the founding members of the climbing community in Billings Montana, was an absolute honor.  From Gregory Hills to the disc golf courses at Pioneer and Phipps Park, Jim has built lasting resource after lasting resource that our community continues to benefit from.  Jim was the first person I met in Billings Montana in the haze of chalk dust in the dirt bag climbing gym in the EBird, which set off a chain reaction that has led me here.  Through the people he introduced me to and the little community I found at the original SteepWorld, I decided to stay and raise my family.  My family has brought a lot of resources to Billings, including Pay Love Forward, and we are here to stay.  In a city that’s heart beat is its hospitals, Billings is dependent on the doctors who provide the life-saving care that our economy is built on.  Out of those doctors, my wife is as good as they get.  There is no doubt in my mind that we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the community Jim built, his support and mentorship, and the way he welcomed me and my family in.  I am eternally grateful for all he has done to make my life and the lives of so many others a better place. Jim can be found in the flesh, still welcoming climbers into our community at Steep World, mentoring young people, cracking jokes, telling larger than life climbing stories, praying beta about climbs deep in the beartooths that may or may not exist, and just being an all around good dude.  In addition, Jim serves on multiple boards, including Parks and Recreation.  He was one of the founding members of Harvest Church.  Jim has been making Billings a better place for a very long time, but enough of the intro.  It will be better to hear how it all happened from the legend himself, Jim Rott. The world needs better stories — and Pay Love Forward and Resilient Stories intends to tell them.