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About Us
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Eli Helmuth is an AMGA Certified Rock, Alpine, and Ski Mountaineering Guide and IFMGA Licensed Mountain Guide.
Eli Helmuth 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. He has worked as an instructor and examiner for the AMGA since 1999 in the rock and alpine programs and previously was an instructor and technical trainer for the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School (PCOBS) where he started his professional guiding career in 1989.
Eli enjoyed more than 1,000 days of guiding 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 was the Head Guide from 2001 through 2008. |
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Eli started 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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Eli, Ella, Finley, and Bono sharing a laugh at home.
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Eli leads all of our expeditions and he specializes in the Alaskan Ranges, the 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.
Eli's excellent safety record is unparalleled in the guiding profession.
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Eli at 19,200' in Peru.
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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 is short list which would include the many hundreds of classic routes in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado as an employee of the Colorado Mountain School, currently the sole technical concessionaire in the park.
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 guided numerous ascents in the Torres del Paine of Patagonia and enjoyed 7 unique expeditions with partners and guests in the Annapurna and Khumbu regions of Nepal both climbing peaks and ice climbing. |
ClimbingLife Guides office manager, Joanne Helmuth.
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Eli 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. |
Eli also enjoys climbing rock on his days off and he has 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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