Description
Custom Large Group Rock Climbing Program
Gearing up for a custom group climbing program in Vedauwoo, WY
We offer custom large group rock climbing programs across the state of Wyoming. These climbing programs are tailored for groups of 7-30 participants and each program can be fully customized to suit your group’s objectives, whether those are more educational or experiential in nature. We have customized programs for a wide variety of large groups, ranging from community organizations, non-profits, museums, corporations, schools, colleges, clubs, and youth groups. In addition, our guides are adept at working with people of a wide range of experience levels and backgrounds. Ultimately our aim is to provide fun and exciting climbing programs for people from all walks of life to explore the natural environment, learn new skills, and challenge themselves.
Why choose rock climbing for your group?
Rock climbing is a great way to explore the vertical wilderness, learn the fundamentals of rope safety systems, and help push yourself to new heights of self-understanding and confidence. Outdoor rock climbing takes place in beautiful places that serve as interactive classrooms where our guides help you explore the natural environment where you climb. We also prioritize teaching you how climbing safety systems work because building competency in those systems helps us mitigate risk and alleviate fear. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of the self-challenge inherent to the sport of climbing and how that can help you learn more about yourself, foster personal growth, and build confidence in your ability to do hard things.
Beyond the individual, rock climbing is excellent team building activity for groups since climbing requires cooperation, trust, and supportiveness if it is to be done safely and enjoyably. In rope climbing, climbers must work together to keep each other safe. This means that people must put a significant amount trust in each other while they climb, which can help build deeper and more meaningful connections. And because climbing is such a demanding activity on a personal – physically, mentally, and emotionally – we work hard to facilitate a supportive environment where people can be vulnerable with each other and encourage each other to challenge themselves and grow.
What organizations have we worked with?
We have designed custom large group programs for these organizations in the following locations:
- Wyoming Office of Tourism: Cody, Vedauwoo, Fremont Canyon, Cody
- Brit Rock: Devils Tower
- Park County Travel Council: Cody
- Visit Cheyenne: Vedauwoo
- Wilderness Adventures: Vedauwoo
- Girl Scouts of Wyoming: Fremont Canyon, Piney Creek Canyon
- Buffalo Bill Center of the West: Cody
- Sheridan County Recreation District: Shell Canyon
- Earlham College Outdoor Education: Vedauwoo
- Science Zone of Casper: Fremont Canyon, Piney Creek Canyon
- Science Kids: Cody
- Lights On After-School Program: Thermopolis, Ten Sleep Canyon
- Brooklyn Hebrew Camp: Vedauwoo
- Logan School of Denver: Vedauwoo
- KC Prosthetics: Devils Tower
What locations are best for large groups?
We guide several areas throughout the state of Wyoming that are well-suited for large groups of climbers. What makes a climbing area suitable for this type of large group instruction? Ease of approach, appropriate staging area, shade or sun exposure depending on the season, rock type and quality, range of climb difficulties, aesthetic nature of the climbing, natural environment, and scenic value all matter when it comes to selecting the best venue for your group. The following are some of our favorite locations for guiding large groups of climbers:
Shoshone Canyon is one of the most convenient places to climb in the state, only a few minutes drive from the town of Cody. The canyon is home to hundreds of climbs ranging from beginner to expert on three types of rock: granite, dolomite, and sandstone. Shoshone Canyon is a great place for larger groups as it has easy approach hikes, big staging areas, plenty of shade and sun, and fun climbing in a beautiful setting.
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Ten Sleep Canyon is a nationally-known climbing destination located in Washakie County in the western Bighorn Mountains. Although its renown for harder sport climbing, there are multiple venues in Ten Sleep Canyon suitable for large group instruction for beginning to intermediate climbers. These are close to the road, have great staging areas, good range of difficulties, and fun styles of climbing. Ten Sleep Canyon primarily gets afternoon shade, so in the summertime it’s best to climb between 1pm – 6pm.
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Although it is not a large climbing area by comparison, Piney Creek Canyon in Story, Wyoming has one of the best concentrations of beginner-level climbs of any venue we guide in the state. The picturesque canyon is accessed via a flat trail, has flat staging areas, accessible climbing, and is situated near a beautiful stream. Piney Creek Canyon does get a lot of sun throughout the day so is best for morning climbs or midday climbs in the spring and fall.
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Fremont Canyon is an impressive granitic gorge located between Alcova and Pathfinder Reservoirs near Casper, Wyoming. Fremont Canyon has a plethora of climbs of a wide range of difficulties and styles on water-worn granite. Approaches in Fremont Canyon are generally short, the climbing is fun, and it is a beautiful part of the state to explore. Fremont has climbing venues in the shade and the sun, but it’s generally better to climb in the canyon in the cooler months of April-June and September-October.
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Devils Tower National Monument is one of the most iconic climbing areas in the country located in northeast Wyoming. The Tower is best known for multipitch trad climbing but it also has several great single pitch climbing areas that are well-suited for large groups of climbers of a wide range of abilities. Approach hikes are short, there several single pitch venues with climbs ranging from easy to very difficult, and the feeling you’ll have climbing on Devils Tower is incredibly unique and special. It’s feasible to climb at the Tower anytime in spring, summer, or fall (with the exception of June as we observe the voluntary climbing closure at that time).
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Vedauwoo is one of the most popular venues for our large group climbing programs due to its high elevation and cool summer weather, proximity to the Front Range of Colorado, and ease of access from Interstate 80. Vedauwoo is also a beautiful place to climb with unique monolithic geology and a plethora of climbing routes ranging from 5.2-5.13. Vedauwoo is climbable starting in early summer through the middle of fall.
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What can you learn in a custom large group program:
We customize each lesson plan to meet your specific learning goals, but generally our large group climbing programs include lessons on the following topics:
- Gearing up for rock climbing
- Mitigating objective and subjective hazards of climbing
- Rope climbing safety systems: tying knots, belaying, and rappelling
- Climbing movements and specialized techniques
- Leave No Trace and “Beyond Leave No Trace” best practices
- Site-specific lessons on the area’s geology, ecology, archaeology, and history
Program availability:
Depending on the venue, our large group rock climbing programs are available March through October. Cody is the only venue available in early spring and late fall as it has the most sun-exposed climbing areas suitable for rock climbing in colder weather, but most of the other venues are available May-October.
Rate:
Our standard rate for a large group rock climbing program of parties of 7 or more participants is $95/person for a 4-6 hour day.
Program guides:
Chris “Slim” Murray teaching a program in Vedauwoo
Our team of climbing guides includes some of the most talented and experienced rock climbing instructors in the region. Most importantly our guides are skilled teachers who are patient, kind, and helpful to people from all walks of life as they learn new skills. They are also skilled climbers who know the areas they guide extremely well. Their top priority is making you feel safe and supported as you take on a new challenge. The following are our three lead guides for our custom large group programs.
- Zach Lentsch – Zach Lentsch is an avid climber, guide, and owner of Wyoming Mountain Guides. A Bighorn Basin native, Zach has been exploring wild parts of northern Wyoming for as long as he can remember. In addition to running the business and designing Wyoming Mountain Guides’ suite of climbing programs operating across the state, Zach works extensively in the field and guides a wide range of trips ranging from introductory programs to advanced rock, ice, and alpine trips on challenging terrain. Zach is also a passionate developer of new climbing routes with over 100 first ascents across Wyoming, including the longest ice climb in the state (Ultralight Beam WI3+ 1000m) in the Wind River Mountains, the longest sandstone rock climb in the state (The Fall of Satan 5.10 C3 250m) in the Bighorn Mountains, and a high concentration of rock, ice, and mixed climbs in the Cody area up to 5.12, WI6, and M9 in difficulty. Zach is an experienced teacher and works hard to integrate as much technical and environmental education into the climbing experience as possible while also prioritizing safety and having a great time together.
- Chris Murray – Chris “Slim” Murray is a longtime Laramie resident and Vedauwoo trad climbing aficionado. Slim is one of the most experienced trad climbers in the area, having redpointed up to 5.14 on gear, and he knows Vedauwoo like the back of his hand. Slim is an amazing guide as he’s able to combine his climbing prowess with his love for teaching, building on his decade of experience teaching special education in Laramie. As Slim puts it, “I love the act of imparting my knowledge to someone in a way that they are able to understand. I know that sounds weird but it is my favorite thing about teaching someone how to climb. The challenge with teaching for me is being able to be dynamic enough to be able to teach all different sorts of people. Of being able to recognize how the individual best learns and then being able to respond well enough to teach them to the best of my ability. I especially love teaching crack climbing because of the technique needed. It is not just simply grab a hold and pull hard, it is about how to best and most efficiently fill the space in the crack and then also how best to place protection. Vedauwoo cracks are so nuanced, even in lower grade numbers, that it provides an ideal learning space for an aspiring crack climber and that gets me excited.”
- Dane Steadman – Dane Steadman is a skilled multi-disciplinary guide with significant accomplishments including the first guided ascents of Pilot Peak and Stinkingwater Peak, guided ascents of Cloud Peak, Gannet Peak, Granite Peak (MT), guided ice climbs in the Cody area up to WI6 in difficulty, and has guided rock climbs across the state of Wyoming up to 5.12 in difficulty. Dane is also a very driven and talented climber whose main focus is exploratory alpine climbing both in Wyoming and in the greater ranges. Notable climbs of his include the first ascent of Technicolor Super Dream on Mt. Huntington in Alaska, the first ascent of the North Face of Pik Alpinist in Kyrgyzstan, the second ascent of Titanic on Torre Egger in Patagonia, and several first ascents of hard ice and mixed climbs in the South Fork of the Shoshone River Valley up to WI6+ and M10 in difficulty. What’s more, Dane is incredibly personable, patient, professional, and really fun to be around in the mountains.
Booking and payment:
You can view each of our lead guide’s availability on the calendar above. To book your course directly via our website, you need to first select a guide and choose from available dates. Then to finalize your booking we require a 25% deposit, which is non-refundable. The remainder is to be paid two weeks before the course and is non-refundable if you cancel within two weeks of the program. If you do cancel last minute on your own accord and want to transfer your credit to another course or trip, we do charge an additional 30% rescheduling fee. However in case of bad weather or a medical emergency we will waive the rescheduling fee.
Contact us:
Interested in booking a custom large group climbing program? Please send us an email including your name, email address, phone number, in addition to a description of what, where, and when you’d like to climb.
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