I've been climbing with Vertical Adventures since 2019, and they are the BEST when it comes to rock climbing in Joshua Tree! Jarad the owner is the most chill, adventurous climber and outdoorsman. I've taken classes from him ranging from all sorts of rock climbing adventures: anchor practice, climbing technique, multipitch, etc. Not only will you have a fun and safe outing with Jarad, you'll also walk away with confidence and knowledge, as Jarad is an excellent teacher. My technique, skills, and confidence has grown substantially under Jarad's guidance. Also Jarad knows Joshua Tree SO well! The amount of knowledge he has of the area climbs, hikes, and beyond is incredible. His recommendation's of climbs to pursue outside of the guided coaching is always spot on. If you want to climb in a world class place like Josh, you must call Vertical Adventures! read more

My tween, who can be blasé, said the day was "awesome!" This was our first time climbing outdoors and the experience was extraordinary! The communication was excellent and we felt very supported and challenged throughout our time together. Can't wait for our next Vertical Adventure!!! read more

Vertical Adventures - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

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My husband and 10-year-old son had the BEST experience climbing with Chris in Joshua Tree! I'm writing the review because I witnessed the four hours fly by in a blink! There were thrills, triumphs, and maybe a few scrapes (aka 'gobies'). My son is on an indoor climbing gym recreation team and this is his second time climbing in the great outdoors. Chris was so great with him. He went above and beyond--coaching, encouraging, challenging, and even teaching cool knots and safety tips. We were fortunate to be set up next to Vertical Adventures' co-owner, so multiple routes were set up and a ton of climbing was done without delay. We will definitely add this to our 'must do' when we book our next JT trip. read more

Vertical Adventures - Hidden Valley - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

I have been climbing with Chris at Vertical Adventures for the past several years. Prior to climbing with VA I tried another climbing school in JTree, needless to say I am happy I found Vertical Adventures climbing school. Chris and Jared are the owners and climbing guides at VA. They are seasoned professionals with a gift of teaching both young and old! There experience goes beyond JTree, guiding in Tahoe Area and Tahquitz Rock as well. read more

Vertical Adventures - Chris Baumann, Vertical Adventures owner and guide. - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

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Everything went great. Very smooth arrangements. Most importantly we climbed with a young man named Tiowa. We had climbed with him for our first really serious climb out at devils tower Wyoming where he spends part of the summer teaching at an excellent climbing company. We summited the tower in 9.5 hours and he guided us through the whole way. Major achievement for us. But his base is here at Joshua tree and we thought so much of him we made that our next big trip which we just safely competed. He is extremely skilled and safe and thoughtful. And he took us on just the perfect number and types of routes for our day and a half trip. He is also a very good skills or tips" teacher and he was in no rush to end our climbing days. Indeed it was me and my brother in law who " tapped out". Highly recommend. read more

Excellent coaching by Tiowa--consistently supportive, thoughtful, and highly professional. Tiowa creates a positive, encouraging environment while offering clear, actionable guidance that builds confidence and drives meaningful progress. read more

Vertical Adventures - Had an awesome time sumitting. Tiowa is a great coach and climbing guide. - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

Chris and Jarad gave our group (two families of four) the perfect half-day climbing experience in Joshua Tree. They provided each of the various members of our group with exactly the right amount of instruction and challenge to give everyone a great experience. And they were kind and fun to spend time with as well. read more

My wife and I spent a day climbing in Joshua Tree with Jarad from Vertical Adventures and had an amazing experience. It was our first time climbing in the park, and he not only set us up on fun and challenging routes, but also gave us a great orientation to Joshua Tree so we feel way more confident planning our own climbing days here in the future. Jarad is one of those guides who makes you feel safe right away but also pushes you just enough to grow. He explained things clearly, gave us tips on technique, and somehow knew exactly which climbs would be the right fit for us. On top of that, he's super easy to hang out with--friendly, patient, and clearly passionate about what he does. We also loved how much local knowledge he shared--stories about the area, climbing history, little insights that you wouldn't get from just reading a guidebook. It made the day feel really personal and memorable. If you're looking to do some guided rock climbing in Joshua Tree, especially if it's your first time here, we can't recommend Jarad and Vertical Adventures enough. We'll definitely be back for another trip! read more

Our family went climbing with Jarad from Vertical Adventures twice: once in Tahoe (Donner Pass) and once in Joshua Tree. In both locations we climbed with other guides before, and Jarad clearly stood apart. First, he is very very knowledgable of both areas as he lives in those places for multiple years and is not a seasonal worker. Second: he uses this knowledge to tailor the day for us. He is not shying away from a challenge, and we did a multi-pitch, hard single pitches and fun rappelling routes with him. That the difference I observed with other (highly reviewed) guides. Every guide worth their salt will keep you safe, but few will make it as exciting as Jarad from Vertical Adventures could. Another (more personal) note: Jarad is a steward of the place where he lives and works, and gives back to the climbing community by maintaining existing routes and establishing new ones. It is important for me to support this kind of local business that contributes back to the local society and keeps outdoor climbing spirit going. read more

We took 12 scouts to Joshua tree to earn their Rock climbing Merit Badge through Vertical Adventure ! Our guide Jarad , Chris and the other one did a such great job ! They are very knowledgeable , helpful and also very patient and encourage ! Not only taught them how to climb safely and also taught them 4 different knots ! Defiantly recommend this company , specially for kids who have no cliexperience ! read more

Vertical Adventures - Doing Safety check before climbing ! - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

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Me and my friend attended an advanced course through Vertical Adventures with Jarad Stiles, an AMGA-certified instructor. With his calm and professional demeanor, he created a great environment of safety and learning. He tailored the course to meet our skill level and goals for the weekend. I 100% plan on taking any future courses with VA. Book your next climbing adventure with them and get ready for a great time! read more

I joined several members of my Search & Rescue unit in a training with Vertical Adventures, focused on basic repelling, rock traversing, and belaying skills for Class 3 and Class 4 terrain searches. Jarad, our AMGA-certified instructor, was a best-in-class example of what Vertical Adventures has to offer customers. He was thorough, calm and and extremely positives as he took our team through a comprehensive and focused two day training block. Thank you, Vertical Adventures! read more

Vertical Adventures - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

I was a first time climber who hadn't even done a gym climb. It was just myself and Chris and a gorgeous day in the park. Chris was everything you could want in a guide - chill, patient, experienced and as it relates to climbing most importantly - he assured you that you were safe and triple checked every step. A definite recommend for first timers and beyond the climbing, I found Chris the kind of guy you end up being friends after! read more

I wanted a mother/son climbing day and was so lucky to have landed in Chris's hands. He encouraged us the entire way up and taught us plenty of skill tips too. He was so patient with us and gave us a day we'll never forget! read more

This was an absolutely incredible course, Jarad was fantastic! My climbing partner and I wanted to refresh our knowledge and learn new tips and tricks related to building and cleaning anchors, rappelling, and multi pitch climbing. We not only learned a lot, but we had so much fun doing it! Jarad was knowledgeable, patient, enthusiastic, encouraging, and super safe. We can't wait to take another class on self-rescue, additional safety, and learning and redoing more techniques. read more

We had the best time climbing with our guide, Chris! Our group had a mix of experience levels. My husband and I have been climbing for 4 years but hadn't done much slab climbing. Our friend had never climbed outdoors before. Chris was an excellent teacher, and he did a great job maintaining the balance between challenging us but not pushing us to do something we weren't comfortable with. He emphasized and taught safe climbing techniques, and we loved learning about the park and surrounding towns from him! He's also a great photographer! Thanks for an absolute awesome time Chris! Also, shoutout to Bob for being flexible and helping us reschedule when a storm was predicted for our climbing day! read more

Vertical Adventures - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

Climbed with Vertical Adventures this weekend - it was awesome! Our Chris was knowledgable, personable, and helped us all feel very safe on the rock, but also encouraged us on increasingly challenging climbs. He was an excellent teacher giving technique advice throughout the day. By the end of the day we had all improved a ton and were way more confident. Bob and the office staff were clear communicators, always available, and a total class act. Can't wait to climb with these guys again! read more

It was wonderful! This was our 10-year-old daughter's first time climbing outside (she has taken indoor climbing lasses for a few years.) Jarad was out guide. He was terrific with her- patient, confidence-boosting, didn't talk down to her at all. She went up and down about 5 times; I (mom) did twice. It was great for her confidence and she said it was her favorite day ever. Thanks to Jarad for making it happen. I would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for a special adventure. read more

We had an amazing day with the whole family! Our guide Chris is knowledgeable, helpful and very kind, so much learning and fun.

Spent a weekend of private group instruction at Joshua Tree NP with Bob Gaines and his assistant for the weekend, Jarad. I've been learning to be a climbing instructor for Boy Scouts for several months and agreed to take the course with other BSA folks to sharpen my skills. Being relatively new to climbing in my group, I was a little nervous about it and didn't know what to expect. But man! Learning about the nuance of placing pro, the science of setting anchors, mixed in with stories of Bob's climbs and work on films made the whole weekend such an amazing experience! Equally impressive was Jarad's ability to explain concepts so clearly and with such depth. His teaching style was actually quite inspiring to me as an aspiring instructor. It was really great having access to such a wealth of climbing knowledge and picking up tips and tricks here and there about my gear was an added bonus. The whole weekend was friendly and fun and so informative. I highly recommend Vertical Adventures and will definitely be back! read more

Vertical Adventures - Bob Gaines imparting knowledge! - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

Our day in December with Tony was one my family will recall with such joy! My 12-year-old daughter said this past family trip was her favorite, and that is a lot because of the climbing experience with Tony. (She is trying out Sender One today!) He was so patient with our various abilities and comfort levels. He also took time to teach us the basics. The routes seemed perfect for our group, and then he treated us to a hike thorough the Real Hidden Valley Chasm. It was a once in a lifetime adventure! Tony's love of climbing is evident, and that spirit helped build our confidence as well. Thank you and Tony for setting us up for a very fulfilling family day of rock climbing. We will be back and highly recommend to others. read more

We spent the day with Chris, one of the most amazing caring, encouraging instructors I've ever had. He knows his stuff!!! And he can encourage you to go for something you never in your wildest dreams would think you had it in you. From the very start of booking this during Covid, Bob was the consummate professional. He met us to go through sizing, equipment etc and followed meticulous covid guidelines, before handing us over to Chris who was our guide for the day. When I first saw where he was taking us, I thought "there's been a mistake, I'm a total novice." But Chris, through patience and humor and just generally such a cool guy had all of us climbing. His instructions were spot on, calling out where you might want to consider placing a foot (yes he knows the routes that well, he can tell out a foothold). Pacing was perfect, I worried we'd be overly exhausted but Chris paced it wonderfully I loved the day! My only regret? That I don't live nearer to be able to do this again and again and again... To Bob and Chris, thank you! read more

I've had the pleasure of taking multiple classes with Vertical Adventures over the years. Each time I've been impressed by the level of expertise, attention to detail and friendly personality of the guides/instructor. They take every precaution and take time to not only make sure you learn the safe way to do things, but also take the time to explain the why of each step. This last weekend I did my first multi pitch climb with Jarad, one of the Vertical Adventure guides and enjoyed every minute of it. Jarad was helpful, enthusiastic and walked me through every step along the way. I feel like my climbing made a large jump forward. Good companies start at the top and Bob Gaines the owner has always been helpful making suggestions and accommodating to my schedule and needs. If anyone knows how to climb in Joshua Tree, it's Bob as the number of books and field guides he has wrote will attest. Overall 5 star company and 5 star people. I highly recommend climbing with Vertical Adventures. read more

Absolutely terrific climbing lesson and one of the best values around. A Joshua Tree experience I won't ever forget! I took a 1/2 day, 2-person intermediate rock climbing lesson with Chris. He was clearly very knowledgable and proficient in the field, while also being funny and approachable. What a great guide! He offered coaching and encouragement when necessary, but let us figure out some footing on our own. The lesson went from 9am to 1:45pm, and included climbing 2 routes and a trip through the "Chasm of Doom." The cave tour at the end was a great way to see a unique part of the national park while putting some of those climbing skills to good use. The owner, Bob, was also extremely helpful and courteous. He returned phone calls and emails promptly, and generally gave great advice about the park. read more

Vertical Adventures - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

These are the best climbing guides/instructors you'll find in Joshua Tree. The owner Bob Gaines is a local legend, having put up hundreds of the routes in J Tree, and the people who work with him are just as outstanding. Bob and his guides truly care about nurturing the climbing community, and even as an experienced climber I found I had so much more to learn. I highly recommend checking out the courses and filling any gaps in your knowledge from the experts that work here. read more

The guys are top notch. I thoroughly enjoyed the Rockcraft weekend. We climbed a ton, and my confidence on rock has increased dramatically. Both Chris and Jarrod are top notch, passionate climbing instructors, and I believe uniquely talented in their ability to teach sometimes complicated topics efficiently. Beyond that they just seem like good, fun people. I felt immediately comfortable out there with them and I think the rest of our group did too. Looking forward to more lessons and adventures with Vertical Adventures. read more

Chris is an absolute legend. Accommodating, knowledgeable, fun, and has great jokes. Has actually put up most of the routes we did. Super safe and a great coach. Had a blast. read more

I signed up for 3 days of lessons with Vertical Adventures, the intermediate rock climbing day and the anchoring seminar. I spoke to Bob on the phone a couple times and he was very helpful, listening, helping me craft the best program for my level. The camp itself was an absolute blast, our guide Jared was outstanding, providing us with the right guidance while ensuring a fun and safe environment for us to learn. Joshua Tree is an exceptional location to learn to climb, with countless climbs to pick from, and this helped us have very varied experiences every day of our camp. Would definitely recommend this school to others and cannot wait to come back. read more

Had an absolutely fantastic day doing private instruction/guided climbing through Vertical Adventures on Friday 11/13/2020. Bob Gaines was very responsive and provided incredible insight and advice while scheduling our day with them. Our guide, Jarod, was a superb teacher, providing guidance and encouragement while ensuring everything was done safely. We learned what we came to learn (and more) and really enjoyed the whole day. We could not have asked for a better experience. read more

Spent the day with Chris and Gerard rock climbing at Joshua Tree National Park and had a great time. Climbed with my daughter, husband and two grandkids, 7 & 10, and we all had a blast! As my daughter said "it was way outside the box", for us but so much fun. Both Chris and Gerard were perfect guides being calm, supportive, informative, fun and approachable. All in all a great job guys! Scheduling the day was a breeze communicating directly with Bob Gaines especially as weather required several reschedules. So, if your looking to try rock climbing you won't go wrong using Vertical Adventures, and you will certainly have a fun and a safe day. read more

A+! I took two climbing classes with VA -- the 2-day Anchor Building clinic with Erik and the 2-day Leading clinic with Chris. Both were super helpful. Erik and Chris taught me a lot and were fun and supportive the whole time. Highly recommended if you're in the JT area and looking to improve your outdoor climbing skillz. read more

Went with a group of friends to go rock climbing in Idyllwild. We were assigned two guides due to the size of our group and both of them were fantastic. The first guide we met up with was Tony Grice. He met us at our meeting spot in Idyllwild where he went over where we were going to go and got us fitted with the gear we would need to bring with us. Later on we hiked over to the spot that we were going to climb and ran through all the necessary safety rules and procedures. Our second guide, Erik Kramer-Webb, showed up after we got our first run-down of what we needed to do. Being my first time climbing, I felt that both instructors were just absolutely amazing. Their instructions were clear and they made the entire event both fun and enjoyable. Tony is great at going over the different techniques and informing us what we could do to improve ourselves and each of us would go back and forth between both instructors depending on the level of difficulty we were aiming to go for. I would definitely choose to go with them again. read more

Vertical Adventures - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

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My wife and I spent most of a week this month in Joshua Tree, and our main regret was not booking more then one day of climbing with Vertical Adventures. We are newbie climbers, having started about 6 months ago in a gym and only having climbed outdoors once before (plus some bouldering in Joshua Tree when we arrived). We booked a full day of guided climbing and had a blast. We happened to score a camp site at Hidden Valley so were just a few hundred yards from the meeting spot, but the confirmation paperwork included detailed directions on where to meet and when (which is important since there is little to no cell service inside the park). We showed up to find our guide (Bob, who happens to own the company and wrote "the" book on climbing in JT!) there a few minutes early and were quickly outfitted with helmets. We chatted a bit about our experience and what we wanted to get out of the day, but were new enough climbers not to really know what we wanted to learn. We ended up doing a bunch of sport routes around hidden valley and were able to try a couple different types of climb, getting lots of patient instruction on the fine art of smearing and crimping -- the gym definitely didn't prepare us for outdoor slabs. Bob clearly knows the park well, having written a guide book and developed many routes himself, and he was able to find ideal locations throughout the day (dodging an unusually strong wind as well as light crowds during a spring break week). Safety is clearly their top priority, and Bob was excellent at gently suggesting improvements as well as explaining the basics of sport climbing. Highly recommended, and we'd love to go back for some more formal instruction. read more

Its been two weeks since our trip out to Joshua Tree and we are still talking about it! After weeks of trying to find climbing companies to guide us... I found Vertical Adventures! I first spoke with Bob and he was great... he gets things done! Both extremely personable and professional... I'd recommend Vertical Adventures to anyone looking to get out there! We did a 1/2 day guided private lesson with Chris.. and it was a blast. As the others have noted, Chris is knowledgable and an amazing teacher! We really cannot say enough about him as our guide; he was patient, encouraging, and hilarious! He made sure we got the most out of our time with him and his investment in making sure we had an awesome time was just so above any expectations. But, seriously... outside of the time we paid him to tolerate us... he spent his own time helping us find a lost wallet in the vast vast Joshua Tree. Now that fellow Yelpers, is a stand up guy... and you definitely want a stand-up guy to be leading you! Cant wait to go back! read more

We spent the day with Chris and Tony and it was a great experience. We took the intermediate climbing class. We were split into 2 groups so mostly worked with Chris. The size of the groups was small 2/3, so lots of climbing time, not just watching others. Chris was amazingly patient and knowledgeable. We have learned so many techniques to enhance our climbing skills. Chris was a great guide, with coaching, teaching, safety and even some history of the rocks around us. We has the best time ever! Chris was even kind enough to share climbing tips with my daughter whom did not participate with the group, she was just an observer. Can't wait to go back for the anchoring class, and progress our climbing even more! We felt very safe, and Covid precautions were adhered to(temp checks, and masks when we were close). We would highly recommend Vertical Adventures for your climbing adventure. read more

My boyfriend and I recently spent 3 days with Jarad as our guide and we had the best experience. Jarad is knowledgeable and has a great attitude, he made our time in Joshua Tree so special. Thanks Jarad! read more

My best friend and I were heading to Joshua Tree for a climbing session but forgot to make reservations in advance. We called Bob on Monday and he was super helpful, kind and accommodating. The next morning we were climbing with one of Vertical Adventures' guides, Chris, and we had so much fun and learned so much. Chris truly exudes joy, calm, clarity and positivity. We couldn't say enough about how rad he is. Definitely will come back for more climbing with the Vertical Adventures team!!! read more

Vertical Adventures - Rock Climbing Near Me - Joshua Tree, California

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Just took a 4-day anchoring and trad leading course with Vertical Adventures, Chris Baumann. Chris has the ability to make everybody feel safe and inspired to learn. He can adapt to the needs of each student for there is plenty of 1 on 1 time because of the small size of the class, only 3 people to keep it as safe as possible. Temperatures were taken, questions were asked, masks were worn (you were allowed to climb with the mask under the chin if you wanted to). Chris is an encyclopedia of climbing and has oh so many teachings that I had never read or heard before and were so very useful and I was able to apply them right then and there. Some of his advice in the form of sayings that made me think of Chris as a sort of soulful philosopher of climbing. He is a very kind and caring mentor, one of my favorites in my 7 years of climbing. It is Bob Gaines school, after all, so you know you can expect great things. It was pretty cool to meet Bob at the first-day meeting. Don't forget to bring your books to get them autographed. For climbing education in the Western US, I would definitely put Vertical Adventures and the SCMA at the top of the list. I have taken a whole lot of classes (some more than once) in climbing. With COVID the SCMA has had to postpone new training. Luckily Vertical Adventures can do small groups which was awesome. While I did SCMA training several students and mentors also recommended Vertical Adventures very highly. Vertical Adventures offers private training and guiding and that is probably the best bet unless you want to do basic training by taking the courses they offer that are well described on their website. If you do plan to do a private, be sure to be two or three people so you get a better deal. Lastly, I would like to add that V.A. gave me a lot of neat and useful knowledge that was applied several times and all possible questions and concerns were exhausted. Vertical Adventures reminded me that trad climbing is not just some hobby you can do once in a blue moon. Trad climbing is a sport that requires a degree of commitment and frequency for its technique can be quickly forgotten if you don't apply it. This friendly warning was given in the way of an invitation and a big welcome to keep in touch and come back soon! A very engaging and memorable experience. read more

I took VA's 2-Day Anchoring & Climbing course in October with guide Chris Baumann. Aside from being a complete blast Chris' instruction was succinct and informative. He's quite adept at tailoring his instruction at the individual level and coached me up my first Joshua Tree 5.10a - a PR for me! Chris is very affable, clearly loves what he does and has a ton of rock climbing experience. Most importantly he was a fantastic instructor. And BTW, the owner of VA, Bob Gaines, accommodated a unique scheduling problem I had which made the whole thing possible. read more

My kids (10 & 7) and I had a fantastic day climbing with Jarad from Vertical Adventures. He is incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and of course ultra-safe. Jarad set up some excellent top-rope climbs for all of us, and excelled at giving us just the right amount of coaching and encouragement. He showed the kids how to tie in, explained the anchors and systems in a way that they could understand, and taught us all some new techniques for climbing slab, cracks, and the slightly steeper terrain, too. Climbing with him was the highlight of our trip. We'll look forward to another day with Jarad when we're back in Joshua Tree next year. Thank you! read more