Greg Petliski

Greg Petliski

by | Jan 21, 2023 | Team

Greg, Hobo Greg, or the Artist Formerly Known as Hobo Greg (if you’re not into the whole brevity thing), arrived in Jtree in 2017 after hitchhiking cross country from his home in New Jersey. Since then he’s pursued his passion as a climbing guide in JTNP and also at Devils Tower in the summer. His love for obscure rambles in strange places, coupled with his larger than life personality, make for some excellent stories! He has climbed, hiked, biked, and/or paddled in some of the most beautiful terrain our country has to offer, and met some of the most outrageous, kind, and kindred folks along the way. He loves creating memorable experiences with people, sharing his favorite places with them, and forming a deeper connection with the land and each other. Greg is a PCGI certified Lead Guide and is well on his way towards obtaining his Multi Pitch Guide certification. In addition to rock guiding, Greg is an accomplished climbing and wedding photographer. Vignettes of his strange journeys have been published in The Climbing Zine and listened to by many on the beloved Enormocast climbing podcast (Episode 185).

Guiding in the era of Covid-19

Guiding in the era of Covid-19

by | Sep 15, 2020 | Events, News

We are excited to announce our reopening for the season this coming October 1st, 2020! We have been closed for roughly 7 months and are ecstatic to get back to the business of sharing our wonderful home of Joshua Tree National Park from a bird’s eye view.

Guiding in the era of Covid-19

Hello Dear Friends. We have missed you! It has been a long, strange year full of unprecedented events and situations. We hope that this finds you all healthy and navigating your way through this new landscape with all the grace, perseverance, and flexibility that any one of us can muster. This has been a challenging time for everyone in so many ways and the future remains uncertain. We have spent the last few months thinking deeply about how we can maximize the safety of our guests and staff while providing the increasingly essential service of getting people outside in the natural world, away from screens and zoom meetings, and experiencing the joy and rebuilding of spirit that has always been the gift of wild places. We feel so fortunate that we can provide the opportunity to you all to access the vast rocky otherworld that is Joshua Tree and feel the much-needed release that comes of adventure and beauty.

Cliffhanger Guides was the first guide company in Joshua Tree to voluntarily close during the onset of Covid-19. This was a hard decision, but we felt it was the right decision in the face of a novel situation that swept up the world. We take the health of our guides, our guests, and our community very seriously. The good news is, 7 months into this pandemic we have a much better idea of what we’re dealing with. Strong data suggests that transmission of Covid-19 is very unlikely in an outdoor environment and that taking precautions that minimize the risk of transmission makes us feel strongly that we can provide the highest caliber experience to our guests while maximizing everyone’s health and safety. Many of our existing approaches to guided adventures already set us up to be a great recreational and entertainment choice. We always provide private trips with no mixed groups. We always seek the less traveled areas of the park to maximize privacy and enjoyment. We always maintain our equipment to be clean and hygienic. In addition to our already high standards we are implementing protocols to protect all participants of Cliffhanger adventures.

1) Minimizing trip numbers: we will not exceed 10 climbers as per the regulations of JTNP. As always there will be no mixed groups
2) Masks will be worn by both guides and guests whenever we are within 6ft of one another, including, but not limited to: Instructional moments, fitting equipment, multi-pitch belay stances, etc.
3) All gear will be sanitized daily or put into a 72 hour quarantine.
4) Picnics will be prepared and packaged to reduce contact between guests and guide and minimize risk with extra hand washing and sanitizing opportunities beyond our already high standards
5) Guides will complete a daily wellness check-in and temperature check prior to meeting guests. No one will guide if they do not meet health criteria.
6) Hand sanitizer will be available throughout the day on all trips.

We feel strongly that taking these additional measures on top of the benefits we already realize by being in a well-ventilated outdoor setting will enable us to safely provide the amazing climbing experiences we pride ourselves on.

With nearly 73,000 US small business permanently closed because of Covid-19, we feel incredibly grateful that we have the opportunity to re-open this fall and continue our life’s work of giving people a chance to connect with the natural world, release stress and uncertainty, and recharge through joyous adventure. We are so happy to bring our staff back on and keep contributing to the local economy when so many tourism-based areas have been devastated. We thank all of you for all the goodwill and support you have extended to us, and we are so excited to finally get to climb with you! As always, families and return guests get a 10% discount and we would also like to provide that 10% off to the guests whose trips we had to postpone in the spring. We can’t wait to climb with you!

In Gratitude,
Seth, Sabra, and all the Cliffhanger Gang

Todd Gordon – Slideshow Feb 1st

Todd Gordon – Slideshow Feb 1st

by | Jan 23, 2020 | Events

The second in a four part series of slideshows meant to uplift and gather the climbing community, Todd Gordon’s show is not to be missed. Todd is one of the founding fathers of the modern Joshua Tree climbing scene. For over 20 years he hosted untold numbers of climbers at his home, the Gordon Ranch, a haven for the original dirtbag climbing scene that supported some of the biggest and smallest names in climbing. Todd continues to climb most days of the week with climbers of every level and ability. His love of climbing is absolutely infectious and he has climbed over 5,000 routes in the park. Todd is also the author of the Joshua Tree Sport Climbing guidebook.

Come and join us next Saturday, February 1st. We will kick off the evening at the Bugaloo Backstage at the Joshua Tree Lake Campground. Dinner, Raffle, Used Gear Sale, $6 Pints of Joshua Tree Brewery, and a Slideshow. $25 for non-locals, $20 for folks with a Morongo Basin address. 120 total available slots. The event will run from 5-10pm. For more information you can contact us as cliffhangerguides@gmail.com.

Click this link to purchase your tickets:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4505875

Hope to see you

Cheers,

Seth, Sabra and the Cliffhanger Gang

Events Tickets: Early Bird $25 & $30 at the Door

Buy Tickets

Kelly Fields becomes the First Female Certified PCGI Multi-Pitch Guide

Kelly Fields becomes the First Female Certified PCGI Multi-Pitch Guide

by | Apr 3, 2019 | News

We could not be prouder! We want to congratulate our amazing guide, Kelly Fields, for passing her PCGI Multi-pitch guide assessment with flying colors. This grueling 4-day guiding assessment tests high-level guide skills in multi-pitch terrain including advanced rescue techniques, difficult climbing, multi-person short-roping, and all-around skill and capability in demanding terrain. Kelly was pretty much unfazed by the challenge and as she always does, kept calm and rocked on. She now holds the impressive title of the first female to hold a Professional Climbing Guides Institute (PCGI) Multi-Pitch Guide certificate. The world of rock-climbing guiding is exceptionally male-dominated (it is estimated that fewer than 10% of climbing guides in the United States are female) and few of those guides work in such demanding, sometimes dangerous, and challenging terrain. Multi-pitch guiding strenuously tests a guide’s strength, endurance, judgement, route finding, technical skills, and climbing ability. Few individuals of any gender make it to this level of guiding and we are particularly proud that our dear friend, Kelly, has risen to the challenge and earned her title.

At the ripe old age of 27, Kelly has been guiding for nearly a decade and was already the youngest ever female certified PCGI Lead Guide. Kelly was born into a climbing family, and has been ascending walls since she could walk. One of her first memories was summitting the impressive Seneca Rocks when she was five years old (Old Man’s Route, Seneca Rocks—4 pitches, 5.3, with a nice nap on every ledge). By the time she was in her early teens she began leading trad routes at her home crag and learning as much as she could from older, more experienced climbers. As an adult she has gone on to climb numerous big wall routes on El Cap, adventure climb in the high Sierras, Cuba, Greece and Italy, and continues to push herself physically and technically so that she can accomplish all of her climbing goals. When she’s not climbing, she’s probably reading climbing books or articles, spending way too much time on Super Topo and Mountain Project, studying the mechanics of climbing, and continually dialing in her systems. If you’ve ever climbed with Kelly or taken a course with her, you know that her technical prowess is extremely impressive. Her goal has never been to climb the hardest, but to know everything there was to know about rock climbing and become an expert in the field. Her success thus far is a testament to her drive, passion, and insatiable appetite to learn and better herself as a climber and teacher.

Kelly is a consummate guide with years of experience teaching and guiding but she continues to push onward and upward in her career. She has long nurtured other female climbers and she found that there was a huge demand for women’s specific trad and multi-pitch climbing instruction. She saw that there was little available for women wanting to learn traditional and multi-pitch climbing so she took matters into her own hands and became the founder and head guide of Chicks with Nuts, which provides women’s only trad climbing clinics. For years Kelly has mentored other female climbers through the Chicks with Nuts clinics, and strives to empower and grow the female climbing community. She is a much sought-after guide and instructor and has taught clinics at the Flash Foxy Bishop Women’s Climbing Festival since its inception. If this sounds interesting to you or someone you know, there is good news. Cliffhanger Guides is thrilled to present Chicks with Nuts here in Joshua Tree April 12-14th. There are still a few spaces left if you are interested in joining. This is a great opportunity to build your skills and join in an incredible community of Trad Climbing women for adventure and fun. Email us for more information at cliffhangerguides@gmail.com. We love you, Kelly!

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by | Jan 22, 2019 | News