Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Spot Bouldering Gym


Loving the “Spot”
Personally, the Spot is one of the best climbing gyms I have ever climbed in. Five years ago, I moved to Colorado to be closer to the outdoors, climbing specifically. My first week in Boulder, I had to check out the Spot Bouldering Gym. I had heard it was pretty much the best bouldering gym in the U.S. Not being a huge gym junkie, I walked through the doors for the first time and about crapped myself. The climbing gyms in San Diego California were ok, but nothing like the gyms up north in San Francisco or even L.A.  Still, “The Spot” is a place where I have met so many insanely strong climbers.
 I remember my first session very well, it went like this, I was working on what I thought was something fairly hard, when some older guy came up and asked if he could try. Of course he flashed what I was falling on and said thanks for “letting” him try the problem. Better yet, I some how ended up bouldering with a group of women one night. Not knowing who they were, I thought I would be able to keep up. Wrong, as it turned out, I ended up bouldering with some of the strongest women in the world. On any given day, you can stroll into the Spot and see a list of names that usually are in some climbing publication like Rock and Ice, Climbing Magazine or Urban Climber.
Coming to Boulder Colorado as a mid range climber can be a bit intimidating. Given some time and being pushed to get stronger, climb harder and just plain being motivated by world class climbers has increased my love for the sport and the “Spot”. When I came to Colorado five years ago, I was bouldering V10. Living in an area with so many talented climbers, I never considered myself a great climber. Now, being in my 40’s, I have done multiple V12’s and it is all because I have met and climbed with some of the nicest, most humble and strongest climbers in the world. To top it off, I met all of them at the “Spot”.  
When I lived in San Diego, I mostly rope climbed. I used to frequent Joshua tree, Yosemite, and other smaller areas. I put myself through school full time and worked full time. That didn’t leave me much time to stay in shape, so I started bouldering more. Next thing I knew, I was only bouldering. There weren’t that many boulderers that were motivated to get strong at that time in San Diego. The gym I climbed at was mostly a route climbing gym, but they did have a couple of small boulders. The routes on the boulders were awful and I asked if I could set since all I did was boulder. Next thing I knew, I was their only setter for the boulders and I loved it. People enjoyed my problems and I started to get stronger.
A couple years later I moved to Colorado and thought it would be kind of cool to set again at some point. The setting crew at the “Spot” are serious about what they do. The comps that the “Spot” puts on are some of the funnest comps I have ever seen and climbed in. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of getting to know some of the setters and have built great relationships with them. They are all by far some of the nicest, strongest people I have ever met. I had always hoped that one day I could be a part of such a great crew and now I am. I am now setting at the “Spot” a couple days a week and am learning a lot. Some of the setters have been doing it for years and for very large comps like the World Cup. I believe with my 15 years of climbing experience that I will be able to set fun, challenging problems for people like myself who walk into the “Spot” for their first time.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Evolv rep

Yeah buddy, I am now the Rocky Mountain sales rep for Evolv. I have finally quit my job that crushed my climbing this last summer with tendinitis and couldn't be any more psyched! I love to talk shop and help promote a product that is top quality. Along with the sales part, I am still the team captain and am always looking for great people that want to a part of such a great family. I have had a fair share of conversations about how Evolv is one of the most grounded companies and I am the first one to say that we by far have the most quality people representing the brand. I have been with Evolv for the past 6 to 7 years. Chris Lindner and I met Brian, the owner at the Phoenix Bouldering Comp when he had two models of shoes, the Docon and the Kaos. He was selling them for $40 and we told all of our friends back in San Diego. At that time. Boreal USA went under and Brian offered Chris a sponsorship. He took it and the rest is history. Buck came into the picture a year or two later and then became their first sales rep for So Cal. He pimped all of us discounted shoes and for that I started going to the trade shows to help out at the booth. Even then, I felt like I needed to give back for allowing me to purchase discounted shoes. I was by far not the strongest climber, but I was receiving the "Bro Deal" for helping to promote the brand that I truly believed in. In 2003 I moved to Colorado and got in touch with the territory sales rep to let him know I could be counted on to help out in any way he needed. I helped out at shoe demos and started learning about the different models and what they were designed for. Since I was doing all of the demos, team stuff and knew everyone at Evolv, any time they needed me to fill in when a rep moved on, I could be counted on. I started to get Evolv involved with events around Colorado like the Hera Climb For Life, The Horse Tooth Hang, The Spot Bouldering Series and other smaller events like college comps, high school comps and really started supporting Jr teams. In 2008, Evolv helped support five Jr Teams and it keeps growing.



I think this is a good move at this point in my life. Danielle graduates in May and we both decided that I might as well be happy and as long as we can pay the bills, why not. I hope I can grow the brand in the Rocky Mountain Territory and have a good time along the way.