SAANO ADVENTURES — Local services in San Francisco

-September 2026: Thanks to Max’s courses, I’ve completed my 1st multi-pitch in Squamish-Star Chek. I lead for all of the 4 pitches and was able to instruct my partner to follow! August, 2025: After taking the Level 1 class in May, I've been using the skills learnt from that class in my outdoor rock climbing trips, especially the concepts of redundancy in anchors, gears, etc. Now, I've signed up for 3 more advanced classes including Multi-Pitch, Advanced Rappel and Rescue, and Trad Climbing! I've done two of them during the past two weekends including Multi-Pitch and Advanced Rappel and Rescue. Very impressive that Max is able to teach such a big amount of techniques so well in just one day. I'm very excited to start my first multi-pitch climbing in the near future! And I'll be proud to tell my climbing partners that I learnt these skills from Saano Adventures. One minor comments on teaching a long sequence of techniques. It would be helpful if the steps can be divided into groups and the purpose of each group is called for more attention. For example, When passing knots on rappel, calling out weight transition using Klemheist knots and MMO; releasing the load and transition back to the rappel device. I found it helpful when I summarized what we learnt from the class onsite and when I'm back home too. May 2025: Level 1 Anchors and Rescue: Max is an awesome climbing guide! He is very knowledgeable about various aspects of climbing techniques .He is very patient and answers our questions very clearly.In addition, it was very impressive that he used very intuitive concept to help us memorize the details, e.g., how to tie various knots. Furthermore, he is very kind and always willing to help even...

I've heard about SAANO from three independent group of people before I actually took the lessons. The first time I got to know Max was through a non-profit that I was in, and the organization contacted Max to train us for anchoring & rappelling, and I instantly loved his teaching style: patient, encouraging, logical, and efficient. With Max's training, we successfully deployed a measurement device in a remote and technical terrain for science purposes. After I finished the training for free (as our non-profit paid for it), I signed up for the Tier 1 and 2 package out-of-pocket with four sessions in total. The price is less than $200 per session for an entire day with the package, and it's super affordable. During the day, Max jumped up and down on the cliff to give us feedback. It was a labor-intense task and Max always kept the vibe high and never showed a sign of fatigue. To be fair, I never took climbing lessons in other places so I can't compare SAANO to others, but sometimes you don't need comparison to know an instructor is truly outstanding when...

I've taken three courses with SAANO Adventures and Max Stewart: Level 1 Anchor & Rescue, Level 2 Multi-Pitch, and Level 2 Trad. Each one was an outstanding experience. Max is kind, patient, and truly dedicated to his students’ learning and safety. He made sure everyone understood the material thoroughly—even staying beyond the scheduled time when needed. He asks students to bring headlamps just in case, which shows how committed he is to making sure every person fully grasps the material.

Even though I came in having read literature and watched videos, I still learned valuable techniques and insights I hadn’t encountered before. Max’s teaching is grounded in physics and his years of real-world experience. He clearly explains and demonstrates not just how to do something, but why—including the reasoning behind avoiding some common but unsafe practices.

Thanks to these courses, I feel much more confident in my trad placements, multi-pitch climbing. I'm looking forward to taking more of SAANO’s courses. Highly...