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This time we forgot to make hotel reservations. My friend Robert and I arrived into Salt Lake City for the summer Outdoor Retailer Show, grabbed the keys to our Alamo rental car, and were off to the show. As usual the excitement was on and we were probably dancing in the car in anticipation to shaking hands with all of the stars, and seeing many of our trade show friends again. You see, we were here to represent! Represent our paparazzi passion which flowed in our blood like an ocean. Robert was still new to this fun, but was becoming really good at it. During the show he would sneak away from me and then appear an hour later smiling. He never discloses what he was up to until we got to our hotel room at night.
Robert and I were in somewhat a competition with each other, on who could get the most signatures from the most superstar climbers at the show. Robert Olson is also know as the Olson Climbing Collection. He really connects good with all of the young rock stars where I knew of many of the older stars from the past. I always thought I had it made, since most these older rock stars became company representatives, and Robert had not caught onto that fact just yet. You could call it my "failsafe" reserve. The first day of the show had just finished, and we lugged off our prize booty to the car and then started looking for a hotel to stay for the three nights. You see, at a show with tens of thousands of people attending, there should be no problem finding a hotel, right? We drove around in circles in what seemed like eternity to find a vacancy sign. There was nothing! I mean nothing except for this place called the Capital Motel. At the amazing cost of only $22.00 a night, we knew already that we were in trouble. The room was scary, and both of us leaned our head into the room to visually see what was there before entering. We then discovered that the hotel was going to be the adventure, the show was just the appetizer. It was a room that had a smaller second side bed room and a bathroom. The bed was up on milk crates and was balanced in such a way that if you sat down too quickly, the bed would collapse. Kinda like playing the game "Don't break the ice." The bed collapsed many times and we constantly had to rebuild it. All of the closet doors were nailed shut. Like 10 nails in each door which were just smacked into the front lip of the door by some amateur carpenter or something. The bathroom light was an old fashioned style, two bulb unit where it had a push button switch between the bulbs, but the switch was pushed inside the unit. So to turn on the light, you had to put your finger into the hole and blindly feel around for the push button and hope you did not electrocute yourself by accidentally hitting the wires. Yipe! I believe I said to Robert, "You go first!" The bathroom window didn't shut and was opened about 14." But we accepted the Capital as our home for the three nights. We were exhausted! We turned the lights off to finally hit the hay and suddenly, the loud music started. There was a bar next door, where the festivities started at 10:00 and went on through the night. The bar was located just outside of our bathroom window. The only sleep we got was from 2:00am till 5:00am, where we were abruptly awakened by a crack head pounding on our door which was asking to purchase more drugs from our room. Sweet! We decided to just get up then, go for a big breakfast, and get to the show. |
Jason and Marty having fun in the hotel room.
Gripped magazine 8/2004, page 76 (signed)
photo by: Jared Anderson 
Urban Climber magazine #26, page 33 (signed)
Photo by: .............. |
Urban Climber magazine #3, page 44 (signed)
Photo by: Ally Dorey |
Climbmax Gym ad for slideshow (signed)
January 16, 2009 |
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We absolutely did not want to leave our luggage in the room while at the show, so we had to pack our bags every morning, and unpack every night to protect our belongings. At the show the next day we ran into some of our Arizona friends, JBone and Patrick Luther, who is know as Fish. Not to be confused with the real Fish who is Russ of Fish Products. Sorry about getting
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sidetracked but I remember Susan Peplow demanding/insisting to Patrick the he better change his nickname since her boyfriend already had that "handle." Susan scared him yes, but Patrick's nickname remained 'Fish.' JBone and Patrick had nowhere to stay so we let them share our comfortable room. What was cool is that Jason Kehl is a friend of theirs, so while we were all in the hotel room suddenly there was a knock on the door and in comes Jason. Robert always wanted to meet Jason and Jason is one of Roberts ultimate celebrities. Robert of course was on the phone in the bedroom talking to his girlfriend at this time while the rest of us were having fun talking and joking with Jason. When Robert came out of the bedroom and saw Jason standing there Robert was floored in Awe. I mean he was babbling trying to say hello. Jason was loving it!
I already got a few signatures from Jason for me, then was having fun watching Robert tripping over himself to find his photo lot to be signed. Jason was enjoying the fun, but had run to find his friends somewhere down town, and left the room. Jason had actually left out of the state that night and was not present at the last day of the show. Robert however already had 75 signatures and was way ahead of me and he proudly rubbed it into my face. Wrongooo!
I already got a few signatures from Jason for me, then was having fun watching Robert tripping over himself to find his photo lot to be signed. Jason was enjoying the fun, but had run to find his friends somewhere down town, and left the room. Jason had actually left out of the state that night and was not present at the last day of the show. Robert however already had 75 signatures and was way ahead of me and he proudly rubbed it into my face. Wrongooo!
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The last day of the show I pulled out my trump card, and I targeted the climbing reps like Conrad Anker, Bobbi Bensman, Dale Bard, Johnny Woodward, Russ Clune, Henry Barber, and so many other fantastic climbing superstars that Robert did not know. On the airplane back to Arizona, we did an overall count and I topped his signature count by 5, which Jason's signatures were the reason I came out on top. For a side note, Jason Kehl is an amazing artist besides his climbing accomplishments. Jason is known for his skullet hair style, tearing up any boulder problem that is V10-V14, a climbing hold shaper for So-Ill products and his personal company Cryptochild, a huge magazine contributor - visual and editorial, and is really an awesome warm person. He puts his art talents into everything he does, and all of his pieces are amazing. Jason really opened the door to showing the young generation that climbing hard is still about heart and passion over the ego most kids get these days. Ever since we saw Jason compete in the 2004 PCA comp at the Front, Robert and I always wear face paint at every competition we enter. We still do not know how Jason pinned the competitors number sheet to his back while he was competing shirtless. Jason has a way of keeping one step above the obvious. In my book Jason you totally rock!!! You are awesome!!! |
Urban Climber magazine #15, page 41 (signed)
Photo by: .............. |
Jason and Robert, 2011 OR Show
Photo by: MK |
Jason and NEO, 2011 OR Show
Photo by: MK |