The American Alpine Institute is an international climbing school and guide service that operates in six states and in sixteen countries. The American Alpine Institute (AAI) Mission: AAI strives to provide students with the skills they need to independently access the mountains, to employ the most modern travel and climbing techniques, understand the hazards associated with mountain travel, to develop the most progressive self-rescue skills available, to accept the serious responsibility of mountain partnerships, to understand mountain environments and the threats to them, and to develop preservationist attitudes, so that the mountain environments are there for generations to come.