Terms and Conditions

Guiding Packages and Courses

• A deposit of 35% is required to book any of our Alpine or Winter courses
• Deposits are non-refundable in the event of cancellation by the client for any reason other than as covered by clause 7 below
• The balance of the course fee must be paid no later than 8 weeks (56 days) before the course commences. If fees are not received by then we are under no obligation to hold your reservation or refund your deposit
• In event of late cancellation up to 4 weeks (28 days) before commencement we will refund 25% of the total fee; thereafter no refunds can be made. Cancellation insurance cover is strongly recommended to all clients as no refunds will be given other than as stated here
• At least two bookings are required for any advertised Alpine or Ice Climbing course to go ahead (with the exception of 1:1 courses) and at least 3 bookings for ski tours/courses to go ahead
• Unless otherwise notified to individual clients, our Package Tours are operated by:
  • Skiing, Ice Climbing, North Faces, Grandes Courses & Performance Alpinism trips: FG Snow and Ice Limited
  • Alpine Introduction, Mont Blanc and Trekking Peaks trips: FG Intro and Trekking Peaks Limited
  • Matterhorn, Eiger and Monte Rosa trips: FG Summits Limited
• All other Alpine Mountaineering trips are operated by Frost Guiding Courses Limited

Private Guiding and Groups

• A deposit of 50% of the fee is required to secure a booking, together with a completed and signed booking form
• The balance is due no later than 8 weeks before the first day of private guiding. We cannot guarantee your place if the balance is not received on time
• Cancellation policy: in the event of cancellation up to 8 weeks before commencement - loss of deposit; in the event of cancellation less than 8 weeks before commencement - loss of 100% of the total fee
• Unless otherwise notified to individual clients, our Private Guiding Packages are operated by FG Private Clients Limited

General Terms applicable to all Courses, Expeditions and Private Guiding

1. Bookings are only confirmed when your deposit is received.
2. Whilst we ensure a high professional standard of instruction, care and safety, all our clients must be aware that participation in mountaineering activities involves an acceptance of objective risk and of responsibility for the consequences of one’s own actions. This is the essence of adventure pursuits such as mountaineering, climbing and ski touring. Please read the British Mountaineering Council’s participation / risk & safety statement.
3. Mountaineering, climbing and ski touring, even when undertaken with instructors and guides, are adventure pursuits with high levels of uncertainty and potential risk. No specific element of an advertised service can be guaranteed with certainty in such an environment.
4. Having suitable rescue and travel insurance is mandatory, such as the BMC's Alpine and Ski policy. Insurance against cancellation, injury, death or loss of earnings is strongly recommended.
5. All monies paid in advance for courses / holiday packages will be held in a Client Trust Account with Barclays Bank until completion of the course / holiday as legally required by the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.
6. We reserve the right to cancel bookings in the event of unavoidable circumstances or if a trip doesn’t have enough participants. If so, a trip may be cancelled and an alternative trip or full refund offered instead.
7. If we are forced to cancel or curtail a course due to strike, riots, acts of war or terrorism, natural disaster or disease epidemic we will endeavor to provide an alternative holiday. In the event that this is not possible, for trips covered by the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 we will refund all monies received for such trips minus a £200 administration fee per person. Refunds are not available for "Guiding Only" bookings cancelled for the above reasons.
   * If you need to quarantine upon arrival in Switzerland/France/Italy for your trip with us and prefer not to do so, then we will apply this clause and limit loss of deposit to £200.
   * The need to quarantine upon returning to your home country is not covered by this clause and is at the clients risk/choice regarding cancellation. Our trips will still operate if Switzerland is on the UK's "Amber list" for travel, and refunds will not be offered to clients travelling from the UK who choose to cancel in this circumstance.
   
8. We recommend that clients follow Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice. There are links to the latest advice on the "Covid-19 Update" page of our website.
9. Our advertised courses are open to anyone of appropriate experience in the age range 14 to 70. Students of 14 to 16 years old must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and 17 year olds must provide a parental letter of consent. Clients over 65 years old are required to send a Doctor's letter confirming good health to undertake the proposed activities. We will exceptionally consider applicants over 70 years old – please contact us by email to discuss.
10. The guide will endeavour to complete the itinerary proposed but reserves the right to change this for reasons related to safety, client fitness/ability, bad weather or snow conditions, etc.
11. To ensure that clients understand the level of fitness and ability required for each course, we publish Course pre-requirements on our web site. It is the client’s responsibility to read the course pre-requirements for courses before booking and to arrive at the start of the course with the appropriate level of fitness and skills. Our Guides, Instructors and Leaders reserve the right to exclude any member from participating in planned mountain activities if he or she might endanger the success or safety of the rest of the party through lack of fitness, ill-health, poor acclimatisation or dangerous technique. We can make no refunds of fees paid to members so excluded.
12. Any clients who act in contravention of the decisions or advice of their Guide, Instructor or Leader, or else undertake independent mountaineering activities during the course period forfeit all professional protection and duty of care from the Guide, Instructor or Leader.
13. Loaned or hired equipment must be returned in a reasonable condition or the repair or replacement cost will be charged.
14. The information in our website is for guidance. We make every effort to ensure it is correct but cannot be responsible for any inaccuracies or subsequent alterations of itineraries which are beyond our control.
15. Accommodation venues may differ to those advertised on our web site from time to time. In such event, alternative venues will be of at least the same standard as those advertised.
16. No liability can be accepted for services provided by a third party even if it is recommended by frost guiding or somebody working for frost guiding.
17. Frost Guiding stores and uses the personal data you provide to us to enable us to run your mountaineering trip in a safe and efficient way. We will hold your data to be used to manage future trips that you book with us aswell. If you would like us to delete this data after your trip has ended, or would like a copy of this data, please write to our Information Officer, Janine Frost at: Janine@frostguiding.co.uk, and we will provide a copy/erase your data to the extent permitted by law within 7 days. Clients data will be deleted after 10 years and will not be shared with other organisations. If you are aged 16 or under, please obtain your parent/guardian’s permission before you provide any personal information to us.
18. We want all our clients to be delighted with the service they received and enjoy their holiday with us to the full. However, should any complaint about a service we provide arise, it should be raised at the time or as soon as possible thereafter. If the complaint is unresolved to your satisfaction during your trip a written complaint should be made to us by post at:
    1 Bryniau Terrace, Mynydd Llandegai, Wales LL57 4BJ or email (info@frostguiding.co.uk) within 28 days. Our customer service team can be contacted during office hours on +41 7887 47 831.
19. If you have a complaint about the way in which we process your personal data, you may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at https://ico.org.uk.
20. We aim to resolve client problems and complaints quickly. However, if a dispute arises and there is recourse to legal proceedings English law will govern any litigation.

Safety

We want all of our Alpine Climbing and Skiing Courses to be safe, informative and fun.

Skiing and Mountaineering by their nature involve some risk, some of it out with our control. However, in 15 years of guiding with hundreds of clients we have rarely had anything more serious than cuts and bruises. In those incidents where clients have needed medical assistance, it is usually the result of a pre-existing physical problem (e.g. persistent dislocated shoulder or ongoing knee injury). This is why we ask all of our clients to make us aware of existing medical conditions before they climb or ski with us. That way, we can make informed decisions about the level of activity to undertake and ensure the safety of all of our groups.

We ask that you read the British Mountaineering Council's participation statement before booking your mountain guide / course to be clear about the potential risks involved in mountaineering activities. By booking a mountaineering trip with Frost Guiding you confirm that you accept these risks.

You must arrange your own suitable travel and accident insurance before your trip and we recommend cancellation insurance as refunds will not be given by Frost Guiding other than as noted above.