Our Guides

Meet the guides of California Climbing School

Owners Theresa and Erik with their son Forest, after climbing Fingertip Traverse at Tahquitz Rock.

Erik Kramer-Webb

Erik started rock climbing in 1987 and has been a full-time climbing guide since 1997. He has over 2200 days of experience guiding in Joshua tree. Erik is an AMGA Certified Rock Instructor.

Erik taught mountaineering and climbing courses as an instructor with NOLS and Outward Bound. He is known for his clear and patient teaching style and furthermore has a solid background in natural history. He has a B.S. in natural resources.

Erik has climbed and guided all over the western states. He has climbed El Capitan 5 times and has summited many of the glaciated peaks in the Cascades. Erik is a Certified Wilderness First Responder with Wilderness Medical Associates.

Theresa Walsh

Theresa started teaching rock climbing in 1993 and is an AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor. She is a former NOLS and Outward Bound instructor and has a B.A. in outdoor recreation. She has climbed in almost all of the western states and was a climbing guide for the Yosemite Mountaineering School.

Theresa has safely guided many groups to remote peaks despite less than ideal conditions, and her enthusiasm and positive outlook have always lifted the spirits of her companions. Theresa is a Certified Wilderness First Responder with Wilderness Medical Associates.

Dan Innamorati has been pursuing climbing as a way of life for the last seven years. Through climbing big walls, he has nurtured a belief that aiding others through the process of self growth in the mountains is a vital element to improving the lives of others. His favorite part of guiding is passing on skills that will help others succeed in climbing safely, purposefully and proficiently.

Dan is focused on advancing his craft by gaining experience in diverse areas. Areas like Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the Bugaboos In Canada, the Cascades of Washington and extensively in New England, where he learned to climb. In Yosemite Dan has done numerous ascents of El Capitan, Half Dome, Washington Column and Middle Cathedral. Dan is a certified AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, an AMGA Assistant Rock Guide, and a Wilderness First Responder. Dan aspires to be an IFMGA guide, which is the highest level a guide can achieve, requiring difficult exams in rock climbing, alpine climbing, and ski mountaineering.

Roddy McCalley grew up in Palo Alto, way before Google. Family vacations were mostly spent backpacking—spring and fall in the Coast Ranges, and summer in the High Sierra. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in biology, Roddy spent most of a decade working as an outdoor educator, with no fixed abode and all his worldly possession in a Toyota Corolla. It was during these years that he became hopelessly obsessed with rock climbing. In 2009 he settled in Joshua Tree, California, where he works as a rock climbing instructor during the fall-winter-spring season. Summers are time to leave the desert and go play in the mountains—recent summers have included trips to the mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and of course (still best of all) California’s very own High Sierra. Roddy suspects that if every person found a passion such as climbing—something that makes you want to be strong and healthy and engage in positive ways with other people—we would have far fewer problems in the world, and far healthier people.

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