Bent Gate Night and Nick Duttle

Every third Wednesday of the month, Bent Gate in Golden putts on a "Community Night".


It is a lot of fun because Bent Gate does a great job at bringing in interesting folks within the climbing community to talk about various topics.


This last Wednesday's "Community Night" had Evolv team member, Nick Duttle giving a great slide show and informational segment on training, cross training and balance. Originally from Las Cruces New Mexico, Nick has been a fixture in the Hueco Tanks scene and is now a Colorado crusher. As a climber of 13 years, I learned quit a bit myself from Nick's presentation. He was very informational about his training techniques and about nutrition. 

Nick giving a great presentation at Bent Gate Night.

Here is a great article on Nick I found that you may enjoy. Nick is one of the nicest and hard working climbers out there, enjoy.

Nick Duttle: American Hero

Written by Kerry Ellard

by Kerry Ellard When you hear that Nick Duttle is a champion rock climber who is one of only a few in the U.S. to have ...         ... climbed a boulder with a V14 rating, it would be a fair assumption to think that his skill and success in this area is the most interesting and impressive thing about him.  However, once you get to know Duttle’s story more fully, you realize that his success as a rock climber is really the pinnacle of a life of even greater challenges and triumphs.  Duttle says he his perseverant personality is why he likes climbing, and from the time of his birth in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1981, it was clear that he would need tremendous inner strength in order to just survive, let alone thrive as he has.  He was born with Hypohydrotic Ecodermal Dysplasia, a genetic condition that affects the development of many bodily structures, such as skin and hair, and in Duttle’s case impeded the development of his sweat glands, which was especially dangerous because he grew up in the desert, and as a result experienced heat-induced seizures and other health problems. He faced social discrimination due to his sparse hair and other physical issues, but Nick never let such issues hold him back, instead choosing to focus on his positive attributes. Nick’s optimistic and driven personality and natural athleticism allowed him to overcome these difficulties and participate in activities like soccer, which allowed him to develop ways to get around his condition, such as dumping ice water over himself during games to simulate sweating. Nick’s athletic skill and work ethic made him a standout competitive runner from 6th grade on, and he took part in Junior Olympic track events until he suffered a severe injury to his ACL at age 15 while playing soccer.  He was unable to pay for the surgery or continue competitively participating in soccer and track, but still he did not give up.  Instead, Duttle was amazingly able to rehabilitate himself through swimming, hiking, and cycling, and moved on to excel at a new sport: rock climbing.  Initially, it was hard for Duttle to even hold on to the rocks, because his lack of sweat meant it was impossible to achieve the necessary friction.  But after attempting to climb immediately after swimming, he learned that if he applies moisture to his hands before climbing, it allows him to grip more easily, and, combined with his skill and strength, allowed him to succeed at boulder climbing. He was able to climb a V14 rated boulder, which is a world class level “only thought to be achievable by climbing legends”.  Despite these accomplishments, the “legend,” as he has been referred to, has not lost the desire to challenge himself, and has branched out even further into sport climbing, Duttle is skilled in more than just the athletic world, having graduated from New MexicoState University with a bachelors of science in Geography and a minor in Mathematics in 2006.  He hopes to climb 5.15.c or harder despite his struggle to balance work and climbing and his ongoing health problems, including continuously deteriorating vision due to his Hypohydrotic Ecodermal Dysplasia.  However, with all Duttle has overcome and accomplished so far, it is clear that nothing will hold him back if he can help it, and it is only a matter of time before he moves on to his next achievement.  As he humorously puts it, "I hope to inspire but I just can't perspire," and he’s definitely an inspiration.   NOTE: Nick Duttle is represented by nationally prominent attorney David C. Grossack.  To learn more about Nick, please contact Attorney Grossack at dcg3@ix.netcom.com  Here is a video of Nick crushing Esperanza V14 in Hueco Tanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgDnNAxM_Zo

Wyoming International Climbers Festival

 Hey all, this is EZ, the Rocky Mountain sales rep and  I just got home from my rounds around Wyoming and my first WICF event.

Wyoming is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I made my way up to Jackson Hole to say hello to our retailers and climbing gyms on my way to Lander.  One of our retailers, Teton Mountaineering, http://www.tetonmountaineering.com/,  is situated dead center of Jackson Hole and has everything you could ever need for your outdoor adventures.
Enloseure,  http://www.enclosureclimbing.com/,  is a beast of a climbing gym that is located just outside of town on your way up from I-80. Not only do they have tons of steep terrain, but they also have a really great retail shop that carries many Evolv models. I was bummed to have to leave Jackson Hole, but I had to get to the WICF and represent.

The Grand Tetons.

Teton Mountaineering's main man Neil Starrett.

Enclosure's owner, Randall Townsand.

Lander Wyoming is situated right below Sinks Canyon,  one of many world class climbing destinations in the Lander area  and is home to the Wyoming International Climber's Festival. http://climbersfestival.org/

The town has a great vibe with super friendly locals that are very accomidating and strong as shit. The local mountain shop is Wild Iris Mountain Sports,  http://www.wildirisclimbing.com/, and is located right on Main St. Just outside of town to the south is Wild Iris,  also a world famous limestone crag that boasts 100's of super fun and inspiring routes.

Brian Rhodes warming up at Wild Iris Wyoming.

The 17th International Climber's Festival was in full swing this last weekend and Evolv was there to represent. Ryan Arment busted his ass running this awsome event and is a wicked climber in his own rite. There were parties, pull up contests, arm wrestling contests, clinics, demos, slide shows, crate stacking, slack lining, dyno comps, running races, and beer of course. The Lander Brew Pub kept everyone in great spirits as the four day event unfolded.

The Evolv booth in City Park.

Vendors, vendors, vendors.

Oh yeah, the Crate Stacking contest.

Free camping in City Park.

Pretty shoes with Wild Iris in the background.

The ever hard working Ryan Arment.

The watering hole.

Laif in the Dyno comp.

5.10's very own Ronnie Jenkins gettin some.

Bikers in Wyoming love watching dyno comps.

Ryan Arment getting his dance on!

Free camping in Wild Iris.

Evolv team member, Brian Rhodes gettin his Wyoming on.

Laif Gasch is one of our team members that is from Lander and has been a part of the WICF since it's infancy.  He pretty much knows every single person in town and helped me with my first WICF, thanks Laif.

Everyone had a lot of fun and Evolv was welcomed with warm hearts and happy feet.
I look forward to having Evolv being part of the 18th WICF. until next year, happy climbing:)

Smiles from all around:)

Happy climbing from your Rocky Mountain Evolv sales rep, EZ.

Outdoor Industry Becoming Conscious

Oh yeah, these babies are sexy!

I have read all of the reviews on the Nike Lunar Glides+ and I have to say, these bad boys rock! I have gone to various running stores and have been fitted a couple of times. One place said I needed shoes with more support, while another said I was fairly neutral. I purchased a pair of Nike AirZoom Triax 13 to help with my overpronated stride. On one of my long runs, my knees and toes started to hurt so I started to my own research. The description for the Lunar Glides went as such, The LUNAR GLIDE'S DYNAMIC SUPPORT system responds to a runner's changing needs, constantly adapting to your stride to deliver just the right amount of comfort and support. LunarLite cushioning provides excellent shock absorption and responsiveness for a bouncy ride. A wedge of firm foam on the back side of the midsole offers pronation support for those who need it. 

Once I tried these on and actually ran in them, I was totally blown away. They seem to have great response with a very fluid heal in to toe out flow. The heal section of the shoe is mildly rounded which I think decreases the clunky feeling of some shoes. I am psyched to do a long run in these bad boys to see how comfy they are at mile 8 once again.

I have been getting into running a bit this winter. While at the Out Door Retail Show for Evolv Sports, I found myself over in the running shoe area whenever I got the chance. Being the shoe whore that I am, I found it very intriguing to check out the new running shoe technologies.

One of the coolest technologies I saw was Brook’s MoGo, a biodegradable midsole. The midsoles are designed to break down in landfills within 20 years. Along with Brooks, much of the running shoes out there are utilizing recycled materials on their uppers, water based adhesives and other recycled materials within their midsoles. Check out Brook’s environmental involvements at, http://www.brooksrunning.com/Green+Room/

Nike has had their recycling program for some time and is called the “Nike Reuse a Shoe Program”. http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/ Nike utilizes their recycled material for a plethora of athletic services that includes, children’s playgrounds, weight room flooring, outdoor synthetic courts, running tracks, indoor wood courts, and many more applications that are listed on their website.

Another company I found super intriguing was New Balance. Their line of recycled running shoes, the New Balance 70, http://www.nbwebexpress.com/newbalanceME070SN.htm were cool looking and super light.  Along with their recycled running shoes, their environmental quest is note worthy as well.  You can check out what New Balance does to be more environmentally conscious at, http://www.newbalance.com/responsible-leadership/#/ei/eihome/

At Evolv, we have been trying to move the climbing industry forward with our recycled materials within our climbing shoe line, called EcoTrax, http://evolvesports.com/traxrubber.htm

I am super psyched to see all of the outdoor industry manufactures trying to decrease the footprint on this wonderful planet of ours. Not only are the products becoming more environmentally friendly, but they are getting cooler and cooler looking as well.

Updated schedule

Evolv Events 2010
Collegiate Climbing Series- Rocky Mountain Region
1) Comp schedule
Feb 20th UNM-Albuquerque
Feb 27th UCCS-Colorado Springs
March 6th Western-Gunnison
April 3rd Adams-Alamosa
April 17th CU-Boulder Regionals (Spot)
27-Jan	The Front Bouldering comp
Jan 23- Grand Junction Bouldering Comp.
Jan 30- Sport Climbing Center Bouldering Comp (shoe demo), Co Springs.
2010 SBS Series-National- $2000
May- Out Door Pro Comp- Spot
Feb 6- Miramont Ft Collins Shoe Demo/ Duttle Clinic @ 9a.m.-12 p.m.
Feb 6- Lakewood Rec Center Comp.
Feb 13- Grand Junction comp- Ben
Feb 25- Rockn and Jamin 1 Thorton, CO Comp.
Feb 27- School of Mines Climbing Comp- (shoe demo), Golden Co.
Feb 27- Colorado High School Nationals- Co Springs, The Rock.
March 5-6- Camp Saver Grand Opening- Logan Ut
March 8- Shoe demo- The Spot Bouldering Gym- Boulder CO
March 13 The Rock Climbing Center, Co Springs- (shoe demo), GRAND OPENING.
March  27-  Irock Climbing Gym comp- Ogden Utah
May 28- 24 hours of Gunnison.
October 16- Stone Age Climbing comp- NM
Hera Climb For Life
Boulder 6/11- 6/12
Salt Lake 9/16- 9/19
Horse tooth Hang ?
Weber State University –Ogden Utah Comp series
Feb 6- Collegiate Comp
Weber University -  April 9-10 Climbing festival
9th- Demo multi vender.
10th- climbing comp.

10 miler!:)

Wow, I still can't believe I actually ran a 10 miler! I have been running a fair amount lately because of our damn winter here in Colorado. Climbing has been sporadic at best this winter, but I have been trying to at leased keep a base fitness level.

Our weather this weekend consisted of snow, snow, and more snow. Danielle and I decided to get a little climbing in, but we both really wanted to get a run in before the end of the day. I took a break from Evolv and met D at the Erie Rec Center. We both have been just trying to get some miles in to build our base up to start training for the ROCK AND ROLL MARATHON this coming fall. Danielle has been doing a walk/run program and today she completed her first 4 miler with minimum walks. I am soo proud of her:) I had a wild hair up my ass to try and complete a 10 miler. My longest run to date has been a 7.5 miler a couple of weeks ago. I have been keeping my mileage to 3's, 4's, 5's and a couple of 6's. I have noticed that my lunges and legs have been feeling stronger and stronger.

The 10 miler went as such;

I started off casual for the first couple of miles and sped up slowly until I was doing 8's. I felt really good at mile 5 and 6, but my left toes started to hurt. I really tried to keep my technique up and not get too sloppy. I noticed around mile 8, that my left knee started to hurt and the indoor track's corner's were becoming a pain. I have had this knee issue before and a friend told me that I needed to stretch my IT band more often. The indoor track is an 11 lap miler, so the corners are way too frequent for my taste. This may be what aggrivated my knee. I did have thoughts of stopping, but I was letting my body do what cam natural. The toe pain decreased and my knee pain just became more manageable. It became harder and harder to keep up my form and my pace slowed down as well. I focused as best I could to finish the run. I was pretty psyched to actually do the 10 miles, but was pretty wiped out. I stretched, drank my recovery drink, sat a while and went home. Danielle cooked a great dinner of fish, veggies, rice and finished it off with cheese cake.

I ran my first 10 miler in 1:28:00. I felt like a ran for an hour and a half, that's for sure.

Winter, Rock Climbing and Running.

This happens to be one of those winters where rock climbing is not all that motivating. Having to work full time, does not allow me to go on climbing trips to warmer, drier locals. Plastic is cool and all, but I tend to get burned out if I have to pull on plastic too much. I used to get my winter on and hike through the snow, deal with the cold, not worry about getting wet, but this year, I think I may have lost my edge or motivation.
My lovely wife Danielle, had gotten us the Nike+ sensors for Christmas. http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/
Danielle wanted to do a half marathon this fall and needed some motivation to get her through the arduous process of running as well as myself. She did some research and found that the Nike + program was very hands on and super motivating. Having to deal with nursing school and not being able to climb as much as she would like to, she thought running might help her to stay in shape while keeping her motivated. Don't get me wrong, rock climbing will aways be our main hobby, but running is a whole different world. The feeling of just putting on your running shoes and going for a run is so carefree. The really cool thing with the Nike+ program is that you can log all of your runs via the sensor and transmitter to your personal Nike web page. The Nike+ sensor goes into a special oval void in the insole of the Nike+ line of shoes. There are small velcro pouches one can buy at any running store and place on the laces of any shoe to utilize the Nike+ chip if you don't want to buy the Nike+ line of shoes. The program logs your average pace, distance, and calories burned per each run. Once your transmitter is plugged into your ipod, you can choose distances you would like to run or times you would like to run and from time to time, the program will remind you how far you have run during your work out or if you just ran your fastest mile to date, so on and so on. The program is very motivating to say the leased. It becomes almost addicting to go run because you can see progress.

Within the Nike+ program on your personal web page, their are training programs, coaches, and chat rooms to ask those oddball questions about your running. For Danielle and myself, we are actually excited to train for the half marathon this coming fall because of Nike+.
Since I have been trying to run farther, faster and more efficiently, I have signed up and ran a race or two to put the training to the test. Running races are so great to do something totally different than what D and I have been doing for years, climbing. This past Saturday, I ran the Sweetheart Classic 4 miler in Loveland. Danielle was going to run it with me, but decided she would like to watch this race until she felt she was ready. It was a really fun race with lots of mom's and dad's with their kids. There were  runners of all levels, just like climbing comps. The weather was perfect, sunny about 45 degrees. The only downer was the insane wind. It seemed like every time I came around a corner, there was a massive head wind. Mix the wind in with a couple of long hills and wow! All in all, I really enjoyed myself and beat my personal best for 4 miles. I came in 49th out of 312 with a time of 30:42 and a pace of 7:41. Not bad for never racing a 4 miler and having crazy wind and hills, I'm psyched! After the race, Danielle and walked around and ate great food, drank great recovery drinks and I personally felt as though I accomplished something. The nice thing about running is that we can go out, run 30 minutes and be totally satisfied the rest of the day. I can't wait for the next race, The Running of the Green 4 miler next month. Then we have the Boulder Boulder and the Rock and Roll Marathon.

Rocky Mountain Territory Events 2010

Here are some events coming up in the Rocky Mountain territory for 2010. I will post more as they come up:)

 Evolv Events 2010 Collegiate Climbing Series- Rocky Mountain Region 1) Comp schedule

Feb 20th UNM-Albuquerque
Feb 27th UCCS-Colorado Springs
March 6th Western-Gunnison
April 3rd Adams-Alamosa
April 17th CU-Boulder Regionals (Spot)
 Jan 23-Grand Junction Bouldering Comp.
 Jan 30- Sport Climbing Center Bouldering Comp (shoe demo), Co Springs. Jan 30- Spot Comp. 
Feb 6- Miramont Ft Collins Shoe Demo/ Duttle Clinic @ 9a.m.-12 p.m.
Feb 6- Lakewood Rec Center Comp.
Feb/ March ??The Rock Climbing Center, Co Springs- (shoe demo), GRAND OPENING.
Feb 25- Rockn and Jamin 1 Thorton, CO Comp.
Feb 27- School of Mines Climbing Comp- (shoe demo), Golden Co.
Feb 27- Colorado High School Nationals- Co Springs, The Rock.
May 28- 24 hours of Gunnison.
Weber State University –Ogden Utah Comp seriesFeb 6- Collegiate CompApril 9-10 Climbfest9th- Demo multi vender.10th- Comp/ slideshow. 
?? Hera Climb For Life
?? Horse tooth Hang