Now taking reservations for
AIARE Avalanche Training
Backcountry Skiing
Ice Climbing
Mountaineering
Summer Rock Climbing
2019 Summer Youth Camps
Acadia National Park • Camden Hills • Clifton • North Conway
Alpine Rock Climbs on Katahdin or Mt. Washington
Reserve today • 888.232.9559
Maine's foremost climbing school and one of the most respected leaders of climbing instruction and guide education in the United States. Our strength is in designing unique and personalized experiences for individuals, families and small groups. Join us for a climb!
Fully accredited by the AMGA and the PCIA. Climbing instructors are certified by either the AMGA or the PCIA - many are certified by both. All guides are trained or certified by the AMGA.
Summer Youth Camps for ages 8 - 18
Acadia Mountain Guides manages the rock climbing and rappelling portion of the Untamed New England Adventure Race
Watch Video and Scenes from Untamed New England Adventure Race
| Acadia Mountain Guides orchestrated the set up and operation of the rock climbing and rappelling portions of the 2012 and 2014 Untamed New England Adventure Races. Here are some pics from the 2012 race in which over 200 participants rappelled, paddled, ascended and and completed a 300' rope traverse as part of the 200+ mile 3 - 4 day human powered racing journey across remote Maine. The races, held every other year, are qualifying races for the world championships. Congratulations to all who stepped across the starting line. |
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Enjoying a day of guided climbing on the South Wall, Acadia National Park.
Integrity • Competency • Personal Service
Since 1993 AMGCS has been providing climbing instruction and guiding to discerning clients from around the world. Our diversity of clients and programs speaks to the quality and value provided by our premium service.
Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School is Maine's only full service climbing school. We are committed to sharing our passion for the mountains with you throughout the seasons from the shores of coastal Maine to the peaks of the world's greatest ranges.
Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School offers a complete selection of beginner through advanced rock and ice climbing programs in our home areas of Acadia National Park, Camden, Clifton and Katahdin. AMGCS also provides instruction and guiding in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. If you are looking for more adventure then consider a climbing, mountaineering or skiing trip to the western states, South America, Europe, Canada or Asia. Whatever your mountain dreams are, AMGCS can help you reach them!
Acadia Mountain Guides is the only Maine accredited climbing school that has been consistently accredited by the American Mountain Guides Association since inception nearly two decades ago. In 2007 Acadia Mountain Guides also became the first school in New England to achieve accreditation by the Profession Climbing Instructors Association. We remain the only school in Maine with this distinction. The school was founded by and is owned and directed by Jon Tierney. Jon is an AMGA certified Rock Guide, Ski Mountaineering Guide and Alpine Guide making him the only fully certified and internationally licensed IFMGA mountain guide working regularly in Maine.
All of our staff are friendly, seasoned climbers who have invested a great deal of time into professional training courses and certification exams to further insure you of a high quality and memorable experience with the utmost attention to your safety. Acadia Mountain Guides is based on Mount Desert Island, home to Acadia National Park where dramatic cliffs and vertical granite walls rise from the sea to offer some of the best rock climbing and scenery in New England.
For those interested in alpine climbing, nothing else in the east rivals the approach, setting and quality of routes on Katahdin - Maine's highest peak.
Our mission is to provide state-of-the-art instruction and guiding that maximizes your experience and minimizes physical and emotional risk and environmental impacts. We seek to continually develop and share cutting edge methods with our peers that improve the delivery of instruction to clients and that promote responsible guiding, recreational climbing and wilderness use.
Save15% on outdoor gear and clothing. When you climb with AMGCS you also receive a lifetime discount on purchases made in our store and online at AlpenglowGear.com. Alpenglow carries a full selection of hiking, climbing, and backpacking equipment and clothing.
A few of our clients...
The California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) selected AMG owner Jon Tierney to develop and teach a pilot course for their instructors who teach personnel to do road scaling and geo technical work on steep slopes and cliffs along highways.
March 2015: Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School provided an advanced rescue training session to Acadia National Park Rangers and MDI Search and Rescue personnel. AMG instructed the park staff and local volunteers on the use of simple mountaineering techniques to perform what could otherwise turn into complicated rescues.
September, 2015: For the fifth year running, Acadia Mountain Guides will return to the Princeton University Outdoor Action Program, one of the leading university outdoor programs in the U.S. to train their climbing instructional staff. Each year, AMG provides a PCIA Single Pitch Climbing Instructor course and a PCIA Climbing Wall Instructor Course.
Paramount Pictures selected Acadia Mountain Guides to provide technical safety rigging and a stunt climber in the production of the movie Shutter Island - filmed partly at Otter Cliff in Acadia.
September 2014: We returned for the 3rd time to Japan to provide climbing instructor, guide training and wilderness medical training to US military forces stationed overseas.
April 2015: The Maine National Guard recently selected us to provide instructor training to their cadre of climbing instructors.
REI (Recreational Equipment Inc) chose AMG to oversee climbing site safety during production of climbing video and photography for a recent catalog.
We spent a day ice climbing with Maine outdoor personality Bill Green. Check out the video on Bill's Green Outdoors.
For the past several years, AMG has been selected to work with Teens to Trails, a Maine based consortium of high school outing clubs, to sponsor a climbing experience for high school students across Maine each October.
This winter AMG provided several field training courses in mountaineering, avalanche awareness and ice climbing to leaders of collegiate outdoor programs such as Dartmouth, Colby, Bates, and MIT.
For the eighth year in a row, AMG was selected by AORE (Association for Outdoor Education and Recreation) to provide professional climbing instructor training courses and skill clinics at the 2014 International Conference.
Reach your Peak with Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School. Reserve today.
A History of
Leading the way...
Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School is the preeminent leader in climbing instruction and guiding in Acadia and across Maine. We specialize in designing customized experiences or training for you, your family or your group.
Directed by internationally recognized IFMGA guide Jon Tierney who has been climbing in Acadia since 1982. Jon has over 30 years of local and worldwide experience. The IFMGA requires full AMGA certification as a rock, alpine and ski mountaineering guide.
Climbing instructors are certified by either the AMGA or the PCIA - many are certified by both. All guides are trained or certified by the AMGA.
• Since 1994 •
AMGCS is one of 30 AMGA accredited programs in the US and was one of the earliest to achieve accreditation.
AMGCS is the only climbing school in Maine to remain continuously accredited by the AMGA for twenty years - several years longer than any other local service. We have also had one or more full time AMGA certified rock instructors or rock guides on staff each year since 1994 - sixteen years more than any other local school.
• Since 2007 •
AMGCS also has the distinction of also being accredited to the highest standards of the Professional Climbing Instructors Association. The PCIA requires all staff to be individually trained and certified.
Experience the difference.
Reach your peak with Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School.
- Reviews of Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School in Bar Harbor
Over 25 years of teaching through WMAI - the world leader in wilderness medicine.
AMG is the one of the original supporters and the oldest provider of AIARE courses in New England.
A founding supporter and accredited member of the Professional Climbing Instructors' Association
Since 1994. Maine's first accredited school and home of the first certified guides in Maine.
Committed to supporting the education of future outdoor leaders.
