How many peaks in my mountain range?

CJam (32 26 24 21 bytes)

0q~0]e`1f=2ew::>2,/,(

Expected input is space-separated numbers.

Online demo ; full test suite (expected output is a 1 per test case).

Thanks to Martin for informing me that the current version of CJam improves one of the operators used, saving 2 chars; and for a further 3-char saving.

Dissection

Two phases: deduplicate, then identify local maxima in each set of three.

0q~0]      e# Put the input in an array wrapped in [0 ... 0]
e`1f=      e# Use run-length encoding to deduplicate
2ew::>     e# Map [a b c ...] to [(a>b) (b>c) ...]
2,/        e# Split on [0 1], which since we've deduplicated occurs when (a<b) (b>c)
,(         e# Count the parts and decrement to give the number of [0 1]s

JavaScript (ES6), 54 51 bytes

m=>m.map(n=>{h=n<p?h&&!++r:n>p||h;p=n},r=h=p=0)|r+h

Explanation

Takes an array of numbers

m=>
  m.map(n=>{       // for each number n in the mountain range
      h=
        n<p?       // if the number is less than the previous number:
          h&&      // if the previous number was greater than the number before it
          !++r     // increment the number of peaks and set h to 0
        :n>p||h;   // if the number is greater than the previous number, set h to 1
      p=n          // set p to the current number
    },
    r=             // r = number of peaks
    h=             // h = 1 if the previous number was higher than the one before it
    p=0            // p = previous number
  )|r+h            // return the output (+ 1 if the last number was higher)

Test

var solution = m=>m.map(n=>{h=n<p?h&&!++r:n>p||h;p=n},r=h=p=0)|r+h

Mountain Range (space-separated) = <input type="text" id="input" value="87 356 37673 3676 386 909 909 909 909 454 909 908 909" />
<button onclick="result.textContent=solution(input.value.split(' ').map(n=>+n))">Go</button>
<pre id="result"></pre>

Pyth, 25 23 bytes

L._M-M.:b2s<R0y-y+Z+QZZ

Explanation:

L              y = lambda b:
  ._M -M .:          signs of subsets
           b          of b
           2          of length 2. That is, signs of differences.

s <R              number of elements less than
     0              0 in
     y -            y of ... with zeroes removed
         y +          y of
             Z        the input with zeroes tacked on both sides
             + Q Z
       Z