Chicago Rock & Ice Guides

Specialties

Rock Climbing, Ice Climbing, Top Rope Anchoring, Single Pitch Traditional (Trad.) Lead Climbing.

History

Established in 2011.

Owner/​operator Jason Cook started rock climbing indoors in 2007 while working as a structural engineer in Chicago. He grew to love the sport very quickly and has been climbing regularly ever since. He has a very diverse climbing history including rock, ice, alpine, and glacial mountaineering. Jason took his American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Single Pitch Instructor (SPI) course in Estes Park, Colorado in the summer of 2010 and went on successfully complete the course assessment in the fall of 2010 at Joshua Tree National Park in California. In early 2011, Chicago Rock & Ice Guides was formed to serve rock and ice climbers in the greater Chicago area.

Meet the Business Owner

Jason C.

Business Owner

I grew up in Michigan, where his family still resides. In 2005 I graduated from Michigan Tech University in the upper peninsula where I grew to love outdoor activities. After completing a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology I moved to Chicago to pursue a careen in structural engineering.

It was a great time to be an engineer. I worked on some very exciting projects domestically and internationally and still had time to pursue outdoor activities. I started climbing at a local gym. Met some really cool people and started actively climbing outdoors with the on a regular basis.

In 2009 I was laid off due to the economic situation of the world at the time. It was an opportunity for me to climb more! After the self-​proclaimed «Year of Jason» I decided that sharing the climbing activity with other was something I was seriously interested in. So the rest is sort of history, I started gaining skills and positioned myself to be a climbing guide.