Bill guides rock, ice, and alpine climbing trips for us in the San Juan Mountains, as well as desert rock climbing trips in Utah. Bill is an accomplished rock climber, with many El Cap walls and hard free ascents to his credit. Bill is an AMGA Certified Rock Guide and WFR and Avalanche Level 1 Certified. He enjoys teaching climbing to others and thinks there’s nothing better than a great trip to Indian Creek with his closest pals!
I started guiding unofficially in college as a board member of the college climbing club which was basically a guide service without pay. Officially in 2007 when I took my first AMGA course.
The thing I love most about my job is being around the excitement one feels when they first get into climbing.
A Colorado native, I spent 14 years in the San Juans until a recent move to Carbondale in 2015.
I have climbed rock extensively around the western United States and spent many years climbing ice in the San Juans and around Colorado. I have climbed many walls in Yosemite and Zion, over 100 desert towers, and many routes around Colorado from Black Canyon to the Front Range. I have been through canyons around Ouray and slots in Utah.
My favorite places to climb vary but Yosemite, Zion, the desert southwest, and Red Rocks are some of my most frequented.
Sore hands holding a beer next to a fire in the desert with great friends. Hard to beat that… unless you replace the fire with a portaledge.
I like to kayak, and take pictures, (wpgrassephotography.com) and play outside.
Climbing goals? Send Proj, FAs in remote places on big a$# walls, to show people the me beyond my really really ridiculously good looks.
Good looks. Duh! (and the person beyond those looks of course… my eyes are up here!)
I get stoked on things that I’m stoked on. I’m excited about things that are exciting.
The most important thing to me is to look back from my death bed and know I had fun, helped people, and did the best that I could… in other words: that I Dominated!
HIGHLIGHTS
- Started guiding in 2004
- Started with SJMG in 2007
- Education: BA English – Fort Lewis College Durango, CO
- Certifications: AMGA SPI, WFR, Level 3 Avy
- Countries you have climbed in outside the US: Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Nepal, Pakistan, Europe, Greenland
- Favorite Climb in Ouray: Teakettle Mountain
- Best thing after climbing: Canned fish and a cold coke