Remembering Rock Guide and Educator Cody Bradford
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s toll-free phone number: 9-8-8. 988lifeline.org.
Cody Bradford was a talented and well-known rock guide with a decade of guiding experience under his belt. But his impact went far beyond in-person clinics and chance encounters at the crag; if you’re a climber who uses social media, chances are you’ve seen Bradford’s wildly popular instructional videos, notably his #TechTipTuesday clips, a vast resource of free professional instruction.
Bradford, 34, died by suicide last week, after a long battle with mental illness. According to longtime friend and fellow guide Karsten Delap, Bradford was always open with friends and family about his mental health struggles, and he’d dealt with them for as long as Delap knew him.
Bradford began his guiding career in the late 2000s while studying at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation Management and started working with the state’s Outward Bound chapter in 2011, earning his AMGA Single Pitch Instructor cert the following year. He went on to guide for a few smaller outfitters in the Southeast before meeting Delap in 2014 at Fox Mountain Guides (FMG), one of the oldest and most prominent guiding companies in the region.
Shortly after they met, Delap became a co-owner of FMG and Bradford worked under him full-time. “He was always super driven, a guide who deeply cared about the clients,” Delap told Climbing. He recalled an instance where Bradford worked tirelessly with a younger client with a disability, helping him learn to climb. “The kid’s father was really stoked on how Cody worked with his son, but that was just Cody. Always super patient, super caring.” All told, Bradford was an upbeat, hard-working guide. “There was a reason people wanted to learn from him, be around him, interact with him,” Delap said, whether on the wall or social media, through his TechTip videos.
In 2018, Bradford earned AMGA Rock Guide certification and left FMG, moving west to chart his own course as a guide. At the time of his death, he lived in Salt Lake City, regularly guiding in the Wasatch and Red Rock, among other locales. He was also an apprentice Alpine Guide, working towards earning his full AMGA Alpine and Ski Guide certifications. Along with Rock, Ski and Alpine are the other two-thirds of the IFMGA curriculum, and Bradford hoped to earn the prestigious IFMGA certification within the next few years.
Bradford guided for many outfitters in the western US and was a leading ambassador for the guide-booking platform 57Hours, among other brands. “It was [Bradford’s] love for people, enthusiasm for guiding, and determination to become a fully certified mountain guide that impressed us and motivated us to build this company,” 57Hours penned on his author page in memoriam. “Cody was more than just an ambassador for 57Hours; he became a great friend to all of us,” said founder Viktor Marohnic. “I learned from him every day by watching him work hard and take on challenge after challenge.”
While Bradford was still in the early years of his journey as a mountain guide, his instructional videos were already incredibly successful, perhaps more popular than any other climbing instructor online. Each of his Instagram videos—offering advice on anchor building, knot tying, gear placement, and other crucial climbing skills—regularly racked up several thousand likes, and he’d garnered nearly 70,000 followers as a result. With his death, climbers have lost much more than a skilled climber and guide, but a passionate educator with a true knack for presenting valuable knowledge in an engaging, concise format.
Delap, who often posts his own instructional videos on social media, noted that it’s no easy task to balance work as a guide while regularly producing and distributing informational content online for free. “Just look at the sheer [amount of videos] of Cody … out there online,” he said. “Then think about him preparing to film those clips, editing them, posting them. I mean, it’s 15 or 20 minutes just to prepare to post one and have it looking good.”
“Sure, as a guide it’s a way to get your name out there and grab some business,” Delap continued, “but it’s also a way that people who can’t afford traditional climbing education can see and discuss and learn new skills. It provides a resource. [Bradford] really wanted to get that info out there for the community.”
But to look at Bradford’s social media channels, you’d have no idea of his internal struggles. Just days before his death, he published an upbeat Instagram post about his new Patreon: a significant investment in his future. “I hope to see you all there and to chat, hang out, and learn from each other in this new and exciting space!” he wrote. “As someone who is no good at selling something, this took a lot of energy, humility, and sweat. I hope it pays off and that I can bring you even better learnings in the future, the likes of which I never had!”
With that in mind, Delap noted that Bradford’s death is a lesson that “people have real problems, no matter who they are, no matter how it might seem online.
“I’ve had two rescuers I know personally kill themselves in the last year,” he said, “and now Cody. This is something that’s a big deal in America, something that’s happening, and people should know. The more we continue to hide the circumstances behind these tragedies, make them ‘taboo’ [to talk about], the more they’ll continue to happen.”
Bradford’s friends and family have set up a GoFundMe to cover his memorial costs, with the remainder donated to a forthcoming recipient organization that will “continue Cody’s legacy of helping people see what they are truly capable of.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s toll-free phone number: 9-8-8. 988lifeline.org.
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