A friend and I are interested in spending a few days learning how to ice climb.

We would need tools, boots, and crampons.

Does anybody recommend any guide services in the Denver area?

Thanks!

Eli...

Climbinglife.com

or on MP.

mountainproject.com/u/eli_helmuth/11812

How about the guy who literally wrote the book on ice climbing in CO?

www.jackrobertsclimbing.com/guiding.php

hireaguide.amga.com/


Always Always ALWAYS hire an accredited guide. Happy climbing!

San Juan Mountain Guides www.ourayclimbing.com it will be worth the drive. trust me.

Don't you have any friends who ice climb?

The best way to learn is from friends who climb

Save your money for gear if you decide you like ice climbing

I know bentgate in golden rents tools, poons ect

No need to waste money on a guide you might as well burn it
Because you'll only be climbing easy top rope stuff anyway

Where are you located?

Goldenrockguides.com has some great deals. We're right on the front range in golden.

a certified guide IFMGA/UIAGM (not school) ie - the one you will be climbing with - is always worth the money.
Enjoy

If you want to learn how to ice climb a guide is the way to go. Many people ice climb, and not all climb ice well. A real ice climbing guide will be able to teach you how to climb ice, not just take you climbing. Have fun!

Colorado Mountain School in Boulder is great.
www.totalclimbing.com/

I highly recommend Jack Roberts!

Jack Roberts is a great guy with so much amazing climbing under his belt it would be worth hiring him just to pick his brain and hear some history. The guy's watched ice and alpine climbing evolve, the gear we use evolve, and like others have said - he literally wrote the ice guide for colorado.

I'd also reccomend IFMGA certified guide Mike Bromberg - based out of Crested Butte.

Mountain Pro Guiding

Do guides expect tips? What's the etiquette for this? I'm looking to do a guided climb too.

Yes a tip is pretty standard. Guides: what Is the distribution of tips
like?

Yeah, tipping shows that they did a good job. Lack of tip suggests that either they didn't do a good job or you didn't have a good time. Usually people tip me between $20-$60 for a single day but I once got tipped $100 bucks for a day trip. That was sweet, guy was fun to climb with as well. Tips should be commensurate with how good a job you think they did.

Man tipping is this country pisses me off ....
Nothing like paying $1000 for heli skiing and need to added a $100 on for a tip.

Does this mean I should give the plumber an extra $20 when he is done?

When I buy a bagel now, they look for a tip when I pay with a credit card and they look at me like I am crap if I do not give them one.

Same goes with scuba diving and other things, dude I just dropped $500 was that not good enough? OK I spent $600 to take my kids deep sea fishing and I should add another $200-$300 for a tip?

Does anyone else feel this way? Does everyone else here get tips for your job?

Kevin,

The more service oriented our economy gets and the less wages keep up with the cost of living the more I think people in parts of the service industry who didn't generally ask for tips will do so. If I make minimum wage and have any types of real responsibilities (home, family, student loans) then I'm going to try and get every penny out of that job. What's wrong with that? Even if they give you the stink eye and make you feel guilty enough to throw a buck in the jar they're doing what necessary for them to get what they need. What's wrong with that?

If you're more upset about the people trying to get by than you are about the extremely distorted distribution of wealth and jobs in our country then I think you're focus is in just a little bit of the wrong direction.

Kevin,
Unless your from the UK or been living under a rock I'm surprised to hear someone so vehemently opposed to tipping.
I think you need to think a bit about where the money is going. Sure you foot the bill for the service and pay x amount to the business that is taking you skiing, fishing, climbing or whatever. In most cases the guide is an employee of that business and tips make up part of what they make. You pay $1000 to ride a heli and the answer is, it is not enough. The guide isn't making $1000 even though he just worked his ass off and probably kissed yours and for that he's deserves a token of your appreciation. Guiding is a service and common practice in this country for the last um umpteen years is to tip. Factor it in.

Can of worms = OPEN.

That's what I thought...I tip white water guides and thought climbing guides would be similar. Does one just hand them $x.00 after the climb? 15% should be good 'eh?

Some how I knew my post would generate the responces it did so let me clearify my position on guides n guiding.

1st I have Nothing against guides period

And second I still believe for someone starting out ice climbing or rock climbing for that matter a guide is a total waste of money unlessyou have no friends who climb.

When I started ice climbing I was taught by one of the best not a guide and have been climbing w/ several really good ice climbers sence, I have never paid someone to teach me to climb rock or ice and ive been doing so for 20+ years.

I believe a guide is money well spent if you want to improve your game learn to lead ect But just to try something for the first time unless you have no other option Hell No.

I take people out all the time n have several sets of tools n poons n such I don't expect a dime let alone a tip it's a way for me to give back something that was given to me several years ago .

As far a tipping goes if whatever you did or had was exceptional than a tip is inorder a tip is not something that is manditory just because someone was doing there job and if that person isnt making the money they wish than its time to find another job , Im not the welfare office or give two shits about your student loan or whatever. you picked your path not me If you give me good service you will recieve a good tip it's that simple.If not well ......

I once tipped a guide 300 bucks because he had to leave gear when we bailed off a mixed route in RMNP it wasn't anyones fault just the weather n time so I covered his gear expences which amounted to maybe a hundred bucks and tipped him well for his effort .This after I paid 400 dollars for an all day one on one alpine climb. Im sure he went back and recovered his bail gear anyway so good for him .

Im not knocking guides in anyway, I just don't see the logic in spending money on something you don't even know if you like yet when you may have other options .If you do not have other options than by all means hire a guide I guess the ones mentioned are good I don't know .

Cheers
Ice.

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The responsibilities of the guide's job are a good deal greater than the counter help at Moe's Bagels or the plumber snaking your clean-out. And guides' pay, by the nature of their industry, is more dependent on your enjoyment of their services and the experience they provide.

If you are part of a large group/class, maybe the tip is optional. If you are in a small group or alone with a good guide, a gratuity equal to your enjoyment/appreciation is very important.

Guide Gilroy

If you want to learn how to Ice Climb, and don't have a rock star ice climber friend to take you out, hiring a guide is good way to go. And hire a Professional - like Jack Roberts, Eli Helmuth, not some random dude you met at the rock gym. I've seen so many junk shows at the crags, it is hard for me to recommend going out with a random climber friend anymore... Funny, because that is also how I learned, but I had so many close calls early on, I developed my skills to the other end of spectrum, becoming a meticulous climber, which eventually led to becoming a guide. There *is* a difference, which is why you pay for one service in cash, and the other in beer.

With regard to tips, let's just be clear. Tipping is optional. It is in almost any venue in the world, even at your local restaurant. But if you want to know what your average guide gets in tips, it is around $50/day. We are *psyched* to get tips - it gives us a little spending money outside of our typically cost of living. Tips vary from getting nada, to the exceptionally generous $100's wad of cash, which is often accompanied by an exceptional level of patience the guide doled out that day. A good way to look at it is, tip if you thought they did a good job, and tip fat if you want the person to remember you, and go out of their way to set you up for a good time your next time out with them. If you don't care, don't tip - it isn't big deal.

Most important, and easily missed in this discussion, is be safe, and have a good time!