Aaron Hjelt Was a Coach, Mentor, and DJ Who Helped Kids Escape Their Comfort Zones

Every January, we share a tribute to members of our community who we lost last year. Some were legends, others were pillars of their community, all were climbers. Read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2025 here.

Aaron Hjelt, 46, June 26

Aaron Hjelt was a self-made man. He started his own company, Alpha Climbing, offering summer trips and gap-year experiences for young climbers, and also earned a living as a DJ, photographer, climbing coach, and AirBnb host, among many other endeavours. But unlike most entrepreneurs, Hjelt never really cared about making money. “He was brilliant, but he was a terrible businessman,” his older brother Duane joked.

Duane said his late brother’s goal wasn’t to make a living, but to never turn anyone away. He recalled how Hjelt often let participants come on Alpha Climbing trips for extremely low prices (sometimes in return for just a few hours of yard work), routinely took photos or DJ’d events for free, and, essentially, showed little interest in monetizing any of his substantial talents.

“He didn’t take a loss on these trips, but he really didn’t make money,” said Duane, who has been managing his brother’s estate in the aftermath of his passing. “Aaron was doing it because he loved doing it.”

Born in northern California and raised in Minnesota, Aaron was a standout achiever from a young age. He was an active Boy Scout, earning the highest rank, Eagle, and was selected for the prestigious Order of the Arrow. He also competed on his high school’s cross country, track, and downhill skiing teams, and was elected student body president his senior year.

After high school, Hjelt headed west to Montana, where he earned an art degree and ended up working as a radio DJ in Bozeman. He quickly became active in the town’s climbing scene, where he served as head coach of the local climbing team. In 2017, he capitalized on his passion for mentorship and founded Alpha Climbing.

Hjelt’s mission was simple: help young people challenge themselves. “He wanted to get kids out of their comfort zone,” Duane said. Hjelt started off by taking teens on trips to the Bighorn Mountains and other nearby wilderness areas, but soon expanded to international destinations like Spain, Greece, South Africa, and Mexico.

“At his memorial, kids were coming up to me and saying, ‘I had never left the state, and all of a sudden, I was helping pick olives and make olive oil in Greece,’” Duane recalled. “The kids just loved him. He helped them get out of their bubbles, gave them opportunities to do things they never expected to do.

In 2021, priced out of Bozeman, Aaron moved to Lander, Wyoming. The move brought him closer to Duane, who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. The brothers began to see each other more often, bonding over gardening, the environment, and spending time with Duane’s wife, Jeannie, and two children, Rylan and Caleb.

Hjelt was also very close with his two nephews, Duane’s children, Rylan and Caleb. Duane said some of his favorite memories with his brother, in recent years, was of the time they spent with his kids. “As an uncle, you get to have all the fun without the responsibilities, right?” He laughed. “Aaron was the perfect uncle.”

In Lander, Hjelt bought a house and listed it on Airbnb to subsidize the cost of his climbing camps. Preternaturally gifted, he taught himself a number of technical skills to maintain the property, even becoming a certified HVAC technician simply to install a unit in his rental.

“I was going through his emails recently, and he was getting plumbing and electrical journals sent to him,” Duane remarked. “He was teaching himself all kinds of things, constantly. He took a lot of pride in self-learning. He honestly had the aptitude to do anything, but he always did exactly what he was supposed to be doing.”

At the time of his death, he was hoping to turn part of his property into a free hostel for traveling climbers and other outdoors enthusiasts. He was also extremely politically active, and this spring helped organize No Kings and Hands Off protests in Lander.

Although Duane was two years older, he said his younger brother taught him a lot, and that after his passing, he actually realized he’d always looked up to Aaron. “We had two completely different lives,” he said. “He was the nomad, traveling, DJing mentor of kids. I was the traditional go-to-school, build-a-career, have-a-family guy. Two amazing, but polar opposite lives. I would never change my life, but I’ve always been a little jealous of being able to do what Aaron did and have the hair he had. I think at times the feeling was probably mutual to some extent… except for the hair.”

“The most important thing Aaron taught me was to be myself, something which admittedly, I fail at frequently,” Duane said.

He recalled a moment from high school, when the brothers were driving to the memorial service of a friend who had died in a car accident. Duane was dressed in a suit; Aaron was dressed casually. “I remember lecturing Aaron about his inappropriate attire and how disrespectful it was,” Duane recalled. “But he just lectured me right back, saying this is how she would’ve remembered him and asking, why would he dress any other way?”

“That was over 30 years ago, but it has remained one of my most powerful memories of him,” Duane said. “Trying to fit in is hard, but trying to be who you are not, I think, is even harder.”

Aaron Hjelt drowned in a waterfall near Huesca, Spain, on June 26. In addition to Duane and his family, he is survived by his parents, Polly and Gary Hjelt, and a large network of friends and other loved ones. Readers can donate to the Aaron Hjelt Memorial Fund, which is intended to support scholarships for future Alpha Climbing participants and keep its mission alive.

Read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2025 here.

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