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So I'm planning on spending several months in South America starting sometime starting next month and I've been wanting to take a Mountaineering course for some time now. I've summited several non technical mountains (Mount Adams and Dragontail Peak in Washington State and Mount Rinjani in Indonesia), but I would really like to learn the skills necessary to take on more advanced mountains independently. I've been looking at a couple of programs in South America:

Mountain Madness - http://www.mountainmadness.com/adventur ... escription
RMI - https://www.rmiguides.com/ecuador-volcanoes/
Andean Summits - http://www.andeansummits.com/available_trips/9
American Alpine Institute - http://www.alpineinstitute.com/catalog/ ... xpedition/

It seems like the Mountain Madness course one is the most legitimate one in terms of teaching skills, but I was wondering if you guys have had any experience with any of these companies or any others I should check out. I'm willing to spend up to 3 weeks and am also looking for suggestions on the best place to do it. I've seen quite a few in Ecuador (Cayambe, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo) but also I'm also entertaining the idea of Bolivia or even Aconcagua.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

American Alpine Institute is very highly respected. I would choose them over the other outfits, although MM is pretty good too.

Check out Skyline Adventure School (http://www.skyline-adventures.com/) in Huaraz. They do actual mountaineering courses and they are located in Peru (run by norteamericanos) so they will be a much better bargain. I should add that Peru and Bolivia will only be viable options during our summer months - for the time frame you seem to be talking about Ecuador would really be the only option.

Buz Groshong wrote:Check out Skyline Adventure School (http://www.skyline-adventures.com/) in Huaraz. They do actual mountaineering courses and they are located in Peru (run by norteamericanos) so they will be a much better bargain. I should add that Peru and Bolivia will only be viable options during our summer months - for the time frame you seem to be talking about Ecuador would really be the only option.

I second Skyline adventure school. Basically you will get better than North American quality at less than North American prices. I cannot say enough about good things about them, way beyond the normal level of care.