Jim Gender

In junior high Jim saw the 1972 short climbing film ‘Solo’.  Inspired, he and his buddy started “climbing”, with a rope they found in a garage. Not many people climbed.  There were no gyms and REI was a mail order catalog.  Fast forward several adventures, a 30 year teaching career, a wife and two children later and in 2013 a newly retired Jim was introduced to Jon Richard, a guy just starting a climbing business.  He was hired as an assistant.  Jim  learned to tree climb, to rock climb at a much more competent level through the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor program. After lots of time on task assisting for VV Jim began instructing tree and rock programs throughout the Saint Louis area as well as in Illinois and Arkansas. Teaching people, kids and adults, in the outdoors is experiential learning at its best. Jim loves guiding people through safe and immersive experiences, a time for clients to  find out a little about nature and about themselves.  Jim has written lots of climbing curriculum and often teaches a weekly tree climbing class, he enjoys taking clients out rock climbing particularly at Robinson Bluff.  He also plays guitar and loves his dog.