Kahtoola, creator of award-winning MICROspikes®, EXOspikes™ and NANOspikes® brand traction, is proud to announce that its 14th annual GORE-TEX Kahtoola Uphill event raised over $44,500 for Arizona-based nonprofit Friends of Camp Colton.
For the first time in 14 years, the event was held virtually and took place between Feb. 20-28, 2021. 162 racers from 18 states and two countries (Germany and Japan) joined the fun that had been historically limited to those within reach of Kahtoola’s mountainous, snow-covered home base of Flagstaff, Ariz. where the event traditionally takes place.
With the help of these generous everyday adventurers, all proceeds from the Uphill benefit Friends of Camp Colton’s youth environmental education programs. During the event, participants rallied friends and family to support their efforts with donations and sold 100% of the coveted Golden Raffle tickets.
“Hosting the Uphill event virtually for the first time turned out to be an inspiring experience that allowed our community of old and new friends to join from anywhere they call home,” said Danny Giovale, Founder and Owner at Kahtoola. “We are so thankful to everyone that joined us to support Friends of Camp Colton and our next generation of environmental stewards.”
Most entrants completed the Bob Gore Discovery Climb which saw them record as much elevation gain as possible over nine days. A brave few accepted the call to conquer the Lumberyard Brewing Company Ultimate Challenge to climb and descend 2,100 vertical feet as fast as humanly possible. In total, participants recorded 721,525ft in elevation gain over the course of the event!
Over the last 14 years, Kahtoola’s Uphill has raised more than $450,000 to help kids experience life-changing time in nature at Camp Colton. Kahtoola would like to thank GORE-TEX, Lumberyard Brewing Co. and all Uphill event sponsors and supporters for making this year’s race possible. For a full Uphill recap, check out Kahtoola’s post-event video. For more information on Friends of Camp Colton, please contact Ari Wilder at ari@friendsofcampcolton.org or call 928-527-6142.
