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Monday 8am - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 5pm Friday 8am - 5pm Saturday 8am - 5pm Sunday 8am - 5pm

Skyward Mountaineering

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Grand Junction, CO
Skyward Mountaineering

The best little guide service in Colorado Inclusive mountain guide service run by Vince Anderson.

We specialize in mountaineering, backcountry skiing, ice climbing, and rock climbing.

09/10/2026

✋🤚 What’s your preferred crack climbing hand pro?

Link in bio for the full article with details on making tape gloves and an honest review of brand name crack gloves.

09/07/2026

💪 Start training and be ready for ice season, it’s just around the corner! Link in bio for full article with more details and training considerations.

09/01/2026

Who wants to climb with Suzanna? 🙋‍♀️

Congratulations to the newest American Mountain Guides Assoc certified Alpine Guide! 🔥 After 9 days of examination in the North Cascades, Skyward guide, Suzanna Lourie completed the AMGA Alpine Guide program, becoming a certified guide. 💪 The alpine discipline involves teaching and assessing guides on glaciers, rock climbing up to 5.10a, ice climbing up to WI4+, and complex grade V routes in the mountains.

08/12/2026

It’s kinda chic to be trendy?

05/16/2026

SPINDRIFT!! This has truly been a challenging season for alpine climbing in the AK Range and despite a promising forecast, a bit of wind and snow was enough to move the needle and created torrential loose avalanches that flushed the Ham and Eggs couloir.

With careful climbing and a bit of willingness to suffer the team was able to push through into the meat of the narrows section but ultimately descended in favor of conservative decision making. It’s fair to assume this would be purely type 2 fun but the team remained stoked and whooped and hollered in between bursts of spindrifts that lasted minutes each time. Heads down, hoods up and a firm grip on the tools!

05/10/2026

Our social media posts must have gotten lost in the snow, it’s a bit delayed but we’re back from some challenging conditions on the Moose’s Tooth. No summit this time but our team made it to the col in great time and battled some serious wind, snow and whiteout conditions.

Impressive efforts all around!

05/03/2026

Perfect rock climbing weather for Unaweep Canyon granite! Despite the warm@winter, this spring has remained mild and very pleasant for sunny rock climbs!

04/06/2026

Sketchy desert anchors series number 2: Drilled Angles!

Pitons were originally made of wrought iron (hence the name “angle iron”) which is highly malleable though most modern pins are now chromoly steel which is more corrosion resistant. Drilling a hole and hammering in angles was a very common protection method in the soft sandstone desert, such as in Zion, Moab, and Garden Of The Gods, among other places. These anchors were often stronger 1/4” bolts and prominent first ascentionist Ron Olevsky was a major proponent.

However, these pitons are not stainless steel so due to the age it’s likely many are heavily corroded despite the arid climate. In fact, many drilled angle iron pitons have been found to just be held into place by the bonding of the rust to the sand particles despite sounding good with initial hammer testing (sketchy). These pitons are also highly subject to fluctuations in size as the metal expands and contracts with cold desert overnight temps and hot sunny days, this further weakens the bond between rock and metal. Additionally, the shape of these pitons put significantly more force on the edge which is more likely to fracture rock in the event of high forces in a lead fall (yikes).

Still a common sight at desert anchors, these should be backed up with modern bolts or cams and viewed as suspect. Though significantly stronger than knifeblades, you shouldn’t rely on aging fixed gear such as drilled angles, but this piece of climbing history is still neat to appreciate.

04/01/2026

In a world of via ferratas, we’re taking the next step in the evolution of alpinism. Construction has already begun and we’re now taking reservations for the exclusive Black Canyon Adventure Chairlift!

03/18/2026

It’s sketchy anchors (desert) season! Let’s learn about some of the common anchors we see around the desert SW.

The 1/4” Star Dryvins were a common sheath bolt popular in the 1960s - 70s. It functions from a displacement nail being hammered into a split carbon sheath (there are 2 sleeves and a lead sheath that wraps around it). The strength ranges significantly due to variability in the thickness of the sleeves (Star made these thinner in the mid 70s which left the head of the sheath vulnerable to the hangar literally slicing through the sleeve and relying entirely on the nail) and quality of the hangar (most were homemade, Leeper, or thin SMC - look for the orientation of the logo, horizontal = prone to stress corrosion cracking). Unfortunately there isn’t a reliable way to inspect the length or quality of these bolts visually and should be suspected of failure at low loads due to hangar abrasion. The 3/8” ⭐️ bolts can be much stronger and in fact often quite difficult to remove, though in comparison to modern expansion and glue in bolts these bolts are all highly suspect.

Address

2392 Ridgeway Court
Grand Junction, CO
81507

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm
Saturday	8am - 5pm
Sunday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+19703253305

Website

https://www.skywardmountaineering.com/

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