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Eli Helmuth is an AMGA Certified Rock, Alpine, and Ski Mountaineering Guide and IFMGA Licensed Mountain Guide.
Eli has been certified by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) as a Rock Guide since 1991, Mountain Guide since 1997 and Ski Mountaineering Guide since 2003.
Mentoring guides as an instructor and examiner for the AMGA since 1999 in the rock and alpine programs has been gratifying and previously Eli was a staff trainer and course director for the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School (PCOBS) where he started his professional guiding career in 1989.
Eli enjoyed the challenge of guiding hundreds of expeditions around the world with the American Alpine Institute before moving to Estes Park in 1999 to work with the Colorado Mountain School where he served as the Head Guide from 2001 through 2008.
Eli started ClimbingLife Guides in 2009 where he continues his passion of training climbers and skiers of all levels and abilities.
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Eli founded ClimbingLife.com in 2007 and in January of 2009, Eli and Joanne Helmuth launched ClimbingLife Guides, a year-round mountain climbing and skiing service.
Located in Estes Park, Colorado, we offer permitted ski, hiking, and avalanche seminars in Rocky Mountain National Park, rock climbing in Eldorado Canyon and Boulder Open Space, and mountaineering and backcountry skiing in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Eli also offers mountain climbing and skiing expeditions on a scheduled and private basis in the high mountains of the world, including South America, Asia, and the European Alps.
Visit our guide service home page here for more information on our seminars and mountain trips throughout the world.
Training and mentoring climbers of all ages and helping to realize their goals are Eli's professional passion. Contact him at
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if you would like to arrange a specific training, expedition, or climbing program or are looking for advice on who to best contact in your local area or specific expedition.
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Finley Helmuth enjoying some mixed climbing at the Bear Lake crags in Rocky Mountain National Park
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Joanne Helmuth is the ClimbingLife Guides Office Manager and with her diverse business background and experience in world travel, Joanne is the perfect person to organize our guiding services.
Eli leads all of our expeditions where he specializes in the Alaskan Ranges, Andes, and the Himalaya where he has had great success with team members of all abilities and experience in reaching many of the loftiest summits on the planet.
Our safety record is among the best in the mountain guiding profession, espcially considering the diverse range of climbing and skiing activities, thousands of guiding days, and extreme terrain in which we regularly travel.
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CLG Office Manager Joanne Helmuth mid-climb in the backyard of Lumpy Ridge, CO.
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In more than three thousand days of climbing and ski guiding and on more than one hundred successful expeditions around the world for high altitude, technical climbs and ski mountaineering, Eli has safely led thousands of clients without an accident or injury (one broken finger and many tired backs and legs) on some of the highest peaks and biggest cliffs of the "lower 48", Alaska, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Patagonia, Canada, and in the Himalaya.
Training and mentoring climbers of all ages and helping to realize their goals are Eli's professional passion. Contact him at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
if you would like to arrange a specific training, expedition, or climbing program or are looking for advice on who to best contact in your local area or specific expedition. |
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Among the thousands of diverse climbs that Eli has previously guided, some of his favorites would include: Denali, West Rib (3x) and West Buttress (2x); Mooses Tooth, West Ridge (3x); Mount Waddington, South Face (2x), Liberty Bell, Liberty Crack (2x), Longs Peak, Diamond (Casual, Yellow, D7 - 15x total); Mount Baker, Coleman Headwall; Forbidden Peak, West Ridge.
This long list of guided routes would include the many hundreds of classic routes safely completed in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado as an employee of CMS.
In South America, Eli has summited Cotopaxi and Chimborazo in Ecuador more than three dozen times with guests and made numerous ascents of Illiniza Sur, Cayambe (20x) and Antisana.
Peru is one of his favorite climbing venues and he has climbed to the summit of Artesonraju in the Cordillera Blanca and completed a mixed route with guests on Tsacra Chico in the Huayhuash Range.
In Bolivia, Eli has summited Illimani and Huayna Potosi with clients along with numerous remote summits above the Maipo Valley in Chile.
Eli has also made numerous ascents in the Torres del Paine Park of Patagonia and enjoyed 7 unique expeditions with partners and guests in the Annapurna and Khumbu regions of Nepal.
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 Glacier climbing in the North Cascades on an AMGA Alpine Guides Training Program.
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 Enjoying some steep limestone climbing in Corsica, France.
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A great run down the classic Dragontail Couloir in Rocky Mountain National Park.
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Eli enjoys climbing rock on his days off and he's made numerous first ascents of short to big-wall free climbs in traditional and sport styles in Alaska, Washington, Colorado, Ecuador, Patagonia, Peru and France up to WI5 and 5.13 in difficulty. Check-out some of his more recent activities here on Eli's Mountain Project page.
Trash clean-up projects while on expeditions and the replacement of old bolts and faulty anchors on cliffs at his home crags are among Eli's other hobbies. In 1995 and '96, Eli was awarded the Denali Pro Award for his clean-up work on Denali in numerous sites on the upper mountain.
Eli regularly teaches all facets of climbing and ski mountaineering from beginner to leader. Technical rescue skills, trad anchoring clinics, guide training courses along with expeditions and classic ascents of all difficulties are some of the spectrum of experiences available each season and year.
Rock, alpine, ice and skiing are all an equal part of Eli's passion and experience in the mountains and he is equally capable of teaching all levels of these diverse yet inter-related arts.
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As an active avalanche educator since completing his AMGA certification in ski mountaineering, Eli trained extensively with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) and has taught more than 50 Level 1 and Level 2 avalanche courses in Colorado.
Eli is intimate with snow having spent many thousands of days in snow covered mountain ranges making professional decisions in regard to snow stability and group risk management.
Eli spends much of each winter coaching backcountry skiers and climbers in the intricacies of decision-making in regard to avalanches.
Eli, his wife Joanne, son Finley, and daughter Ella live at the 8,780' elevation nearby Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado in a straw bale house that he built after moving to Estes Park from Washington State in 1999.
He climbs and skis in Rocky Mountain National Park and throughout the world at least 300 days a year for work and play and enjoys eating ice cream and lying in the hammock in his "off" time.
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