Adrian Montaño

About me

As an Arizona native, Adrian grew up adventuring in the Superstition Mountains outside of Apache Junction, Arizona. In 2014 he moved to Tucson, Arizona and started exploring the Catalina Mountains (Mount Lemmon) and Cochise Stronghold. In 2016, he began instructing rock climbing and guiding trips through the University of Arizona's Outdoor Recreation program. As a bilingual person of color, Adrian has taught introductory rock climbing classes to Spanish speakers since 2017, and was a translator/guide on camping trips to Grand Canyon National Park for foreign exchange students from Central America. He also served on the board of the nonprofit Climbing in Color whose mission is to provide climbing opportunities to underprivileged and systematically marginalized demograhics. Adrian is a Wilderness First Responder through NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) and has established first ascents of long-standing projects in Cochise Stronghold and Mount Lemmon some of which are the most difficult free climbs in the area. He is also active in hardware-replacement efforts across the state through the American Safe Climbing Association.