About Us
We are a climbing school and adventure company based in Prescott, Arizona offering unique trips and destinations
Southwest Climbing offer trips for novice to expert climbers to achieve their goals and are dedicated to delivering unique adventures and learning opportunities, multi-faceted courses and guest-tailored rock climbing trips. This means that we focus on teaching the skills, and knowledge that are specific to the climbing adventure our guests dream of. Our climbers can head out on a desert tower climb with mountain bike access, spend a night on a portaledge, learn fixed anchor replacement, or rescue skills. Whatever the vision is, we work to make it happen!
Southwest Climbing operates as part of the Certified Guides Cooperative. A network of certified instructors and guides that have come together to share insurance and permit access to our public lands. All of our instructors and guides are Certified by the American Mountain Guides Association, are part of the Cooperative, and best yet; are excellent teachers!
For more information on both of these organizations, go to the AMGA's website or to the Certified Guide Cooperative website.
About Ben Traxler, Owner and AMGA Certified Rock Guide
Ben has worked as a professional guide, a climbing instructor, program director, and as a college professor. Some of the major destinations Ben has guided include; Denali (Mt. McKinley), and the St. Elias range in Alaska, Bugaboos, Canada, the North Cascades, the Sierra, Tetons, Colorado, Arizona, and the volcanoes of Ecuador. Ben is an AMGA Certified Rock Guide, is AMGA Alpine and Ski guide trained, and holds an AIARE Level 2 avalanche certification. He is also a certified Wilderness First Responder, and holds a B.A. in Wilderness Leadership from Prescott College.
"I saw the need for a place that folks could come learn to climb and leave with more than just the raw skills. When I first started I was lucky enough to spend multiple weeks in places like Joshua Tree, CA or Granite Mountain, AZ; learning to climb, and take care of the places I was climbiing at. Today there are many places to take a climbing course, with varying degrees of immersion. I want climbers to leave our courses feeling technically proficient, but also with a broad sense of how to support the community and our wild areas, and with a taste of the climbing lifestyle!"