Nepal Mountain Academy

Days back in the history of mountaineering in Nepal, Nepalese climbers were not aware that they need training techniques to climb the mountains. They assumed; they were climbers by birth. They can climb any mountain if it had not been for religious values.
It was in 1979 that Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) established a mountaineering school in Manang, Nepal. In the beginning, NMA invited trainee climbers from its registered member trekking agencies and it was free of cost for Nepalese climbers and a nominal cost was charged for foreign beginners. Only 20 trainees took part in the first training of mountaineering.

Most of the instructors were from former Yugoslavia at that time who had contributed financial support to establish the mountaineering training school in Nepal. The training that was started then has been continued to date. In 1981, two years later after the beginning of basic mountaineering training, NMA got another support from French Alpine Club to initiate an advance mountaineering training in Nepal.

As both trainings had foreign instructors, Nepalese climbers got the opportunities to exchange the technologies from their countries and experiences. They were able to get the latest knowledge on mountain gears and equipment.

The trainees were able to lead the group with confidence after they got the training from NMA. Furthermore, these trained climbers and mountaineers were also eligible for further advanced training as mountain leaders, aspirant mountain guide and further for Instructor trainings depending upon their interest and passion towards the profession. Otherwise, they also have the option to opt for international mountain guide training.

NMA runs various trainings such as Basic Rock Training, Advance Rock Training, Trek Tour Leader Training, Junior Basic Training, Mountain Rescue Training, Female Training, Instructors' Upgrade Refreshment Course, PETZL Training(Mountain Leader Course), Aspirant Guide Training, Mountain Guide Training, Ice Climbing Training, Heli Marshalling and the list goes on.

Though there were various trainings in Nepal, they had no academic valuation. That was the main problem faced by Nepalese climbers and mountaineers. Now, Nepal Mountain Academy has come in order to exist to fill the gap between training and academic prosperity of the field. Hence, the academy has just started Bachelors in Mountaineering and is now preparing up with Master in Adventure Tourism. This is the first of its kind in mountaineering history of the world's mountaineering activities.

Till today, mountaineering has been constrained only as an adventure sport. In a time span of a few years, it will have academic essence with the benevolent effort from Nepal Mountain Academy.