Earth Treks Climbing Centers

Earth Treks' Climbing Centers are state-of-the-art indoor climbing gyms located in Columbia, Timonium and Rockville, MD. We pride ourselves on offering the best rock climbing in the greater Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland region. Each climbing gym is among the largest in the country, with plenty of climbing for every ability level. We make It easy to learn to climb. Each year we teach over 20,000 people to climb.

Earth Treks' rock climbing and ice climbing guide service, founded in 1990, is the oldest and largest in the region. Our international mountaineering guide service has lead over 150 international expeditions, specializing in expeditions to the Andes of Ecuador and Kilimanjaro.

Shared Summits Makalu Expedition: sharedsummits.com/
Makalu, the “Great Black”, has been summited 323 times: only 13 times by Americans. The last time a new route was completed on Makalu was in 1997. It isn’t that Makalu is totally ignored, it is really hard. Almost every ascent is made by the French Route on the North Western side. Like most 8000 meter climbs, it is accomplished with the help of Sherpas, bottled Oxygen and big teams.

Our plan is to attempt to climb a new route on this giant peak. Our team is small, just two climbers. Chris Warner and Marty Schmidt are among the leading American 8000 meter climbers, with over 40 years of experience in the Himalaya, and over 55 years of exploring the world’s mountains.