Jessi Marlatt
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ouray local Logan Kenneth Tyler, 22, will be competing in the 7th Annual Ouray Ice Festival at the Ouray Ice Park.
Tyler has lived in Ouray since his birth. He now lives a half block from the home he was raised in. “I have really gone far in life,” he joked during an interview. Tyler is the only local who is competing in the Ice Festival this year. According to Tyler, only a handful of locals have ever competed in Ouray’s world renowned festival of extreme climbers.
“I want local kids to see what a wonderful place it is and to get out and... take advantage of all of the opportunities that are out their back door,” said Tyler.
Tyler shares his love for climbing with local students. He has been a co-climbing coach for Ouray and Ridgway High Schools for the past three years with Matt Hepp.
Tyler first climbed at the tender age of nine up a cliff band behind his childhood home in Swiss Village. It tantalized his imagination, and his stepfather pushed him to the limits. “To me, it was no different from hiking, and my stepdad sort of drug me along,” said Tyler, “but I never looked back.”
Bill MacTieren, a local legend, gives Tyler his inspiration, and his favorite climber is Derick Hersey, a solo climber from England that moved to Boulder in the early 90s.
His stepfather, Mike Peck, taught Tyler basic climbing, and he learned advanced climbing from Ouray local Jason Nelson, who currently resides in Flagstaff, Ariz.  
Tyler says he climbs because “it is the only thing that when I wake up in the morning I feel like I am living up to the true potential of a human being and it allows me to feel a literal connection to the earth.”
Climbing ice and rock in Eastern Europe, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece, Alabama, Washington, Yosemite, Utah, New Mexico and all over Colorado, as Tyler has done, does not compare to what can be found a few miles down the road. His favorite ice climb is Ames Ice Hose, just outside of Telluride.
“I have looked forward to this since I was a small child watching the festival, and now I have an opportunity to compete.”
Catch Tyler on Friday, Jan. 6, at the 2012 Ouray Ice Festival.