Youth Climbing Courses

Wilderness Adventure and Leadership Programs for Young Climbers

While the majority of the Institute's courses are designed for adults, we also offer climbing programs for teenagers and younger children. Climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, and backcountry skiing all provide young people with an opportunity to step into a different world, an unplugged world of adventure and teamwork where they can experience new ways to thrive. Departing from the everyday pressures of school and the pull of screen time and social networks, teenagers can re-acquaint themselves with face-to-face interaction, hands-on learning, and activities in which the stakes are clear and decisions take on urgency and consequence. AAI offers a variety of public and customized programs for high-school age teens, tweens, and younger children, all designed to impart age-appropriate technical skills as well as the social and personal skills of leadership, followership, judgment, and introspection that go into successful adventures.

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  • Mt. Baker Approach
  • Approaching Basecamp on Mt Baker
  • Rock Climbing at Mt. Erie, WA
  • Glacier Travel on Mt Shuksan
  • Leading up Becky Route on Liberty Bell
  • East Buttress Direct
  • Crossing the Whaleback
  • South Early Winters Spire
  • Munter-Mule
  • SW Butt SEWS
  • Crevasse Hang
  • Crevasse Rescue Team

  Leaders of Tomorrow

  AAI’s flagship youth leadership program focuses on situational judgment and decision-making in a mountain setting while providing a base of general outdoor know-how and mountain sense. Participants learn rock-climbing skills, glacier travel techniques, crevasse rescue, navigation and other skills necessary for an attempt on 10,781-foot Mt. Baker as well as on other peaks.

  • Location:North Cascades, WA
  • Season:July - August
  • Length:6 or 13-Days
  • Cost:6-Day: $2295; 13-Day: $5225- All Inclusive Pricing

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  • Cragging Instruction
  • Teen Climber-1
  • On Rappel
  • Teen Climbers Mt. Erie

  Rock Climbing Camp

  This six-day all-inclusive course was designed to provide teenagers with the foundational skills required to rock climb outside. During the program, students will learn how to set up top-ropes, rappel, build basic anchors, and otherwise manage themselves in a single-pitch rock climbing setting.

  • Location:WA
  • Season:July-August
  • Length:6 Days
  • Cost:$2295 - All Inclusive Pricing

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  • Cyclops
  • Girl Guides
  • Riding Hood Wall
  • Rescue Team
  • On Rappel
  • Klahanie Crack
  • Self-Arrest
  • Crevasse Hang (1)
  • Rappelling in Leavenworth

  Mountain Programs for Youth Organizations

  The American Alpine Institute has extensive experience putting together unique mountain programs for facilitated groups. These programs may include a variety of mountain skills, including backpacking, rock climbing, bouldering, ice climbing, Leave No Trace, backcountry skiing, or avalanche awareness. AAI has developed several custom programs that meet the needs of Boy Scout and Girl Scout units, schools and universities, as well as summer camps and church groups.

  • Location:AK, WA, CA, NV, UT, CO, NC
  • Season:Year-Round
  • Length:Varies
  • Cost:Varies (Inquire with AAI for a Quote)