Roddy McCalley Guiding

12/04/2022

Last call for Crack Climbing Clinics! I have space left in both upcoming clinics, this Friday (12/9) and next Friday (12/16). Details on my website, www.climbwithroddy.com ...I go a little crazy hanging top ropes on these clinic days, so participants get to do a lot of climbs! I give lots of coaching on various crack techniques, and it’s been a really nice group of people in the past, so you might even meet a future friend and climbing partner :) Visit my website and use the 'contact' button if you’d like to sign up, or send an email to [email protected] ...also reach out if interested in private instruction. I have some availability the latter half of this month, then I'll be in Patagonia most of Jan-Feb, then home and guiding in Joshua Tree all of March and April, and the first week or so in May. Hope to climb with you soon!

10/17/2022

Crack Clinics, Fridays in December (12/9 and 12/16)! These have been really fun in the past, hope you can join us! All the info is in the first image, below. To ask questions or sign up, write to me at [email protected] or visit my web page, www.climbwithroddy.com/clinics and use the 'contact' button.

01/11/2022

Today’s photo theme is cracks and anchors, because those are the next clinics I’m offering:
Anchor Building Clinic: Thursday, February 24
Crack Climbing Clinic: Friday, February 25
Private and small-group instruction: I’ll be here in Joshua Tree till mid-May!
All my info including guiding rates, clinics and more is at www.climbwithroddy.com
I hope you’ll enjoy and make use of the instructional videos I helped make, all of which can be found at https://rockclimb.videoracles.com

In today's offering I've included some photos from my recent climbing clinics, lots of photos taken while guiding all my favorite routes here in Joshua Tree, and some other photos related to the crack climbing theme... see if you can find the following classic crack climbs in this slideshow: El Matador (Devil's Tower); Astroman (Yosemite Valley); The Rostrum (Yosemite Valley); Bony Fingers and Rites of Spring (Eastern Sierra); Positive Vibrations (Incredible Hulk) and Crescent Arch (Tuolumne).

Happy climbing everyone! It’s a beautiful day in Joshua Tree and I have been staring at my computer all morning… I wish I were better about organizing photos right away instead of waiting until it becomes overwhelming. Time to go play outside :)

12/08/2021

Looking forward to the next few climbing clinics here in Joshua Tree! Big Wall Skills on 12/17, and Self Rescue on 12/21 still have space, sign up now! (Crack Climbing/Advanced Anchors on 12/16 is full). Email me at [email protected] to sign up or find out more. Clinics are all-day, $180 per person, experienced and enthusiastic instructors :) Both the Big Wall and Self-rescue clinics will include hauling, ascending a rope, and all kinds of vertical problem-solving--Big Wall will be focused on multi-day aid climbs (e.g. El Cap!) and Self Rescue will be focused on getting out of a jam in other situations where you need to escape a belay, ascend, descend, and/or help an injured partner. Our first clinic was yesterday and it was so much fun teaching with Heidi and sharing a beautiful day in the park with a nice group of people!

11/29/2021

Three beautiful days in the park with one of my favorite families!

10/26/2021

December Climbing Clinics in Joshua Tree National Park!

My friend the legendary climber and AMGA Rock Guide Heidi Wirtz is coming to town, and we’re going to teach some clinics together. I’m so excited!

Story time: A few years back, Heidi was coming to the Sierra to climb and run some North Face events with teammate Peter Croft, and she wanted to warm up before climbing hard stuff with Peter. A mutual friend connected us, we had a fun day on the rock, and then I was in the Valley later that season and got to hang out with the North Face crew, mooch some free goodies from their event and feel cool to have famous friends.
As a longtime Valley climber I was aware that Heidi had done a bunch of rad stuff there (held the women’s speed record on The Nose for 10+ years, for example), had been in some climbing movies leading cutting-edge super-hard cracks, and is a sponsored athlete (La Sportiva, North Face, etc). Later, I realized that she’s made her mark on the climbing world way beyond the confines of Yosemite Valley. I was in the Bugaboos, and hiked out to climb the area classic, the Beckey-Chouinard, a 22-pitch 5.10 up a massive granite tower above an alpine dreamscape of snow and ice. A steep buttress called the Minaret looms over the bivy area. Reading the guidebook, I saw that the Minaret has a bunch of hard aid climbs on it… and there was a description of the first free route on the face, a 5.12 called Bad Hair Day, and a photo of the first ascent team: Heidi Wirtz and Liz Scully.

Then I started seeing references to Heidi’s work in other remote corners of the world… a 5.13 FA in Wadi Rum, Jordan… big sends in South America, Pakistan and Nepal… first ascents in Siberia?! Wow! I gotta keep in touch with this badass, maybe I can learn a thing or two!

Well, folks, that time has come. We all get to learn a thing or two! I love working with other instructors and learning different ways of doing and explaining things. Really, really stoked to work with Heidi. Here’s the schedule:

Monday, December 6: Gym to Crag and Trad Basics
Thursday, December 16: Classic Cracks & Advanced Anchors
Friday, December 17: Big Wall Skills!
Tuesday, December 21: Self Rescue

To read more and to register, please visit www.climbwithroddy.com/clinics

Hope to see you out here in Joshua Tree this December! Feel free to email with questions: [email protected]

05/04/2021

04/27/2021

Roddy McCalley Guiding's social media guy stopped showing up a month ago when RMG found ourselves fully booked for the rest of the Joshua Tree season. Hard to blame the guy, he's working six days a week as Head Guide, and as Chief Bookkeeper he's also been working on taxes in his spare time. Catching up a bit, here are photos from a few recent days in the park. It's been fine spring weather, got hot for a few days and then turned cool and breezy again. A few flowers are blooming, though it was a dry winter so nothing like the bloom of two springs ago. The migratory birds are in town--warblers, woodpeckers, orioles--and kestrels and prairie falcons are nesting in the area and easy to spot. Nice time in the high desert.

04/10/2021

Proud that Erik included a picture that Kelly took of me in the 2020 edition of the Yosemite Big Walls guidebook! So many awesome images in there... the classic Glen Denny photo of Chouinard sorting pitons... Jimmy Chin's epic shot of Steph Davis on the Salathe... Sasha DiGiulian climbing 5.13... and little old me topping out the Muir Wall! Buy your own copy at https://rockclimbingyosemite.com/?fbclid=IwAR0hKRxnubupZ-GQGCZatsGyJtmCsUBew-gnL7B5EArBpTrUu3jZRhGgAJE and immediately turn to page 498!

03/24/2021

A day on El Capitan... this was day four of our seven-day ascent of Mescalito in 2019. Nice sequence of photos by Tom Evans. That section of the route has no natural ledges to stand on, and it wasn't too windy, so we sailed the portaledge all day for comfy reclining belays. So much better than hanging in a harness! And it makes the photos more interesting, a big colorful object in addition to two tired little stick figures and some haul bags :)

03/22/2021

From the Joshua Tree rock climbing classroom... how to build a top-rope anchor off of two bolts with a sliding ‘x’ and limiting knots. Also, rock-eating worms. Audio is a bit windy but we had fun with this, hope you enjoy it too!

03/19/2021

We made a video on The Exorcist yesterday. In it I talk a bit about gear placement and finger crack technique. Enjoy!

02/28/2021

Ryan climbed all the way over the sun!

02/23/2021

Awesome day of instruction and adventure! Can you name the routes or formations? And what skills did we practice?

02/19/2021

Climbed some favorite routes yesterday, including Sail Away:

01/28/2021

Students of climbing wanted! Joshua Tree is the classroom. Beginning to advanced. Top-roping, gym to crag, lead climbing, anchor building, multi-pitch, self-rescue and big wall skills, I do it all. 10+ years experience teaching rock climbing here in Joshua Tree…and still loving it! I specialize in trad climbing and multi-pitch instruction but also love taking beginners out on the rocks and just showing folks a good time. The best way to reach me is by email at [email protected] and please visit www.climbwithroddy.com to find rates, photos, and a ‘Curriculum Page’ where I detail the progression of skills that I encourage everyone to learn in order to become a well-rounded climber.

I have lots of availability after February 13th, so reach out to me with any questions and let’s put some dates on the calendar!

Here are my favorite guiding photos from the past two months. Enjoy!

Pandemic note:

Covid is scary. I know a healthy 30-something who was hospitalized, on oxygen, for four days. Yikes! Let’s wear masks when we need to be close together, and we’ll reschedule if there’s any reason to think that anyone might be sick.

01/19/2021

Getting there--Cardinal Pinnacle sits above Hwy 168, about 15 miles west of Bishop, CA, above the community of Aspendell (which consists of a few dozen houses and a lodge/restaurant). Just above Aspendell you'll see the pinnacle looming above the road; park at turnouts on either side of the road and hike towards the lower left corner of the rock. The approach is a 20 minute slog up steep talus......

http://climbwithroddy.com/2021/01/19/cardinal-pinnacle-west-face/

Getting there–Cardinal Pinnacle sits above Hwy 168, about 15 miles west of Bishop, CA, above the community of Aspendell (which consists of a few dozen houses and a lodge/restaurant). Just abo…

01/12/2021

As I learn how to make blog posts on WordPress, enjoy these favorite images from my summers in the Sierra...

http://climbwithroddy.com/2021/01/12/high-sierra/

As I learn how to make blog posts on WordPress, enjoy these favorite images from my summers in the Sierra…

12/19/2020

Fun couple of days earlier this season working on self-rescue skills, crack climbing and multi-pitch with these two rock stars!

12/09/2020

Moosedog Tower last week with Glenn... he hadn't climbed in ten years but I guess it's like riding a bike! Hope you are staying safe out there folks, wearing your mask and limiting your exposure. And finding time for fresh air and exercise, too!

12/04/2020

Name the route... (this one's easy)

12/02/2020

Flashback to July... my rope-gun Kelly Fields contemplating the crux pitch on Flying Buttress, Merriam Peak... maybe the best climb of the whole summer.

10/22/2020

Nice afternoon in Rock Garden Valley yesterday, and a lap on Lost Horse Wall in the morning--maybe the first time I've climbed at those popular spots and not seen any other climbers. Mid-week in JT is nice :)

10/09/2020

It was a great summer in the mountains (I will post some photos here over the next few days) and I am now home in Joshua Tree for the fall/winter/spring season... please make good decisions about traveling during a pandemic, but if you do come out to Joshua Tree I'm available for climbing instruction and guided adventuring, with all appropriate health precautions (masks when we can't distance, no carpooling outside of households, small groups only). Hope to see you out here!!

05/27/2020

Why do I love guiding? I enjoy climbing, teaching, being outdoors... and people! Here's Meg enthusiastically testing an anchor she and Dan just built. Fun times :)

05/25/2020

Near the top of the Mescalito last September, day 7 on the wall I think. Topped out that afternoon, staggered down to the Valley and slept in the woods without bothering to eat dinner or put up a tent, though it was sprinkling off and on. Photo by Tom Evans

05/22/2020

Flashback to 2014, that time we went to Colombia and hiked around in the mountains with old friends, and made new friends, and climbed a brand new route.

05/04/2020

Canned fruit, yum. The Nose Route, El Capitan, October 2012. Photo by Danny Birchman