The Climbing Life Guides - Joshua Tree, California

Monica Miyamoto

The Climbing Life Guides surpassed every single expectation. But what truly made the day special was the guides themselves. We had three families and three guides, Loren, Carlin, and Matt. They were attentive, patient and genuinely good humans. They knew just what to say, and do to get everyone to climb to their highest potential that day. They were outstanding with the kids, and so very knowledgeable on not only climbing but the general surroundings. Certainly the highlight of our trip out to California. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Monica Wagner

Will Vaughan

My wife and I went on a half day climbing trip with Nelson. He was a fantastic guide and took us to an awesome multi-pitch route that was both challenging and super fun. Nelson walked us through new techniques and wasn't just a great climbing guide but also a fun guy to spend four hours with!

Alyssa Haskins

Wow - 10/10 blown away by the CLG. We had a group of 13 people, aged 6 to 45. Our guides made the climbs so fun and accessible for every skill level. Carlin, Matt and Loren, thanks for facilitating an unforgettable experience. Highly recommend.

Patricia B. Swesey

My boyfriend and I booked a private half day climb with Nelson after having climbed in an indoor gym once. He taught us so much about how to interact with a rock face, the differences between indoor and outdoor climbing, about the equipment, different types of climbing, etc. We totally chewed his ear off and learned so much, and of course, we had a total blast climbing our first rocks. We felt incredibly safe the entire time and felt comfortable pushing our limits. Nelson was really good about showing us different holds we could try on different points of the rock to challenge ourselves. Joshua Tree is such a beautiful place and the views from the top are so amazing. We'll for sure be climbing with them again!

Christian Fraas

My wife and I booked a 2-day guided tour climbing tour with them. For us it was the first time climbing outdoors. We are coming from Germany and this was the highlight of the trip. It was a blast and Nelson helped us out a lot and was very patient.

Liz Dome

Tyler was amazing! (I had to say that right off the bat bc it's so true!) Nick and I have been climbing in a gym for a little under two months but wanted to transition to outdoor climbing. We decided to get a guide while we were at Joshua Tree because, well, it's freakin' JTree. We met up with Tyler this past Monday for a 4hr session. (I wish we had done longer!!!) And we haven't been able to stop discussing our experience or how awesome Tyler was since then.

Tyler is fantastic. He is super knowledgeable and really encouraging. He took us over to the Hidden Valley area for two routes and a crash course in anchoring. We had fun the whole time. I learned so much from technique, to gear, to history of climbing. He really knows his stuff and is passionate about it. His enthusiasm is contagious.

He also brought a camera to take pictures for us which is so cool. And he gave us his contact info in case we ever had questions, which is super rad. You can tell how much joy he gets from climbing and that he wants that for you. All three of us were nothing but smiles the whole time. Even when I got tired at the end he continued to mentor and encourage.

One of my favorite things was how he let us figure out our own way up each route and only when we were stuck did he point out holds. Sometimes we would try something and it wouldn't work so he'd show us a better way. But he always let us try first. I really liked that. I left the day feeling super pumped about climbing and wishing that Tyler lived by us so he could continue to guide us as we progress on this outdoor climbing adventure.

I'd also like to note that Nelson, the owner, was amazing in terms of getting us booked with Tyler. He emailed us and took the time to find out what experience we were looking for and what our background was so that they could tailor everything to us.

I definitely recommend this company. Get Tyler as a guide! I'm already planning when I can come back to tackle more! Thank you for the wonderful experience!

Christy Kranjec

I was heading down to Joshua tree for a weekend and I wanted to hire a guide to introduce me to the area since I had limited time and have a refresher of the basics. I arranged a guide through the website and he booking process could not have been easier. In a few minutes, I had a 6-hour privately guided day with Stephen booked. My goals for the day were to get better acquainted with anchor building techniques, lead climbing, and repelling. Stephen started the day with a couple hours of thorough and concise instruction. It was EXCELLENT! We then did a few routes of mock leading and practiced repelling, which was also awesome. Then, we finished the day by putting everything we went over into practice by doing a multi pitch route and repelling off the top. This route was definitely challenging for me and forced me to use a style of climbing I wasn’t familiar with but Stephen’s instruction was outstanding. I got a little banged up but had a suuuuppper fun time! I couldn’t have had a better experience and I cannot recommend Stephen enough. 10 out of 10 day for sure and can’t wait to book Climbing Life Guides again for some more fun in J Tree!!!

Cole Barber

I recently took my SPI course from Nelson and it was a really valuable experience. He is a highly knowledgeable guide, a great teacher, and a down-to-Earth person. I would recommend The Climbing Life Guides to anybody looking for an SPI course or exam, as well as anybody looking for a climbing guide in Joshua Tree.