Safety is our priority, but activities in mountainous areas carry an element of risk. In order to participate in our activities you will need to be exposed to some degree of risk.

Participation in these activities could result in you suffering damage to property or person, including serious injury or death.

When selecting "book now" each activity listed on the Alpine Guides' website lists the potential risks involved, without being exhaustive, for example, avalanches, rock or ice-fall, falling, crevasse hazards, weather and other environmental hazards, and hazards caused by other participants.

When booking, you will be required to sign a waiver that you accept these risks.

When you arrive to participate, your guide will brief you about the potential, or specific risks you and the party may be exposed to for the activity you are undertaking. These discussions will continue throughout the activity.

We will ask you to sign a further acceptance and disclosure of risk document before the activity begins.

You must be as honest and transparent as possible about your mountaineering experience, fitness, and health as part of the booking process. Information provided for each Alpine Guides trip details a minimum level of experience required.

In the case of a private guiding program, if you fail to meet minimum experience/fitness requirements, alternate objectives will be arranged.

In a group instruction situation, if your lack of fitness/ability severely affects the safe and efficient running of the trip, you may be asked to remain at a hut, or other location, for certain activities. Arrangements may be made to evacuate you at your own cost. The guide is the final arbiter in these decisions

Our mountain guiding activies are recreational and not designed for people under 18 years of age.

We do not accept bookings for people under 16 years of age, except on specific and specified activies.

Persons under 18 years at the time of the activity are considered as legal minors. In all cases minors must be accompanied by a parent/guardian, a maximum of 2 minors per guardian.

A minor's waiver and acceptance of risk must be signed and acknowled by their legal parent/guardian.

Bookings will be confirmed on receipt of a completed booking form/waiver and a deposit of 25% of the trip fee, per person. In some circumstances, the full amount may be required on the application.

The 25% deposit is non-refundable.

The balance of payment is due 60 days before the start of your trip. If you book within 60 days, the full amount is payable when booking.

Bookings for private guiding programs must be made for specific dates. The period of time booked is the period that must be paid for, regardless of the weather and/or other circumstances that may alter the itinerary. For example, if your booking is for 4th to 10th January inclusive, the guide fee applicable is 7 days.

If a trip is involuntarily lengthened by bad weather (the guided party being unable to safely leave the mountain venue), a standby rate of 75% of normal guiding rates may be charged.

Private Guiding programs: no refunds are due for trips voluntarily reduced in length, except in exceptional circumstances. If weather and/or conditions require the trip itinerary to be modified, no refund is due. However, any trip costs not incurred may be returned.

Scheduled Programs: no refunds are due for abandoning the trip for medical or fitness reasons. We recommend travel insurance to cover a medical situation.

Travel insurance is recommended to cover last-minute cancellations and potential loss of payment/deposits due to injury or travel disruption. Most standard travel policies will cover you for this, up to specific limits.

We accept no responsibility for illness or personal accidents, or evacuation costs if necessary. In NZ, Accident Compensation will cover most accidents, but not an illness.

Rescheduling a Trip

Rescheduling to a later date, within 60 days or less of the trip start date, is considered a cancellation.

If we can work around your request we will happily do so. However, if we have assigned a guide for you and are unable to fill your guide’s work schedule, our standard refund/cancellation conditions will be applied.

If you need to reschedule your trip 60 days or more in advance, we are happy to hold your deposit as a credit for a further 12 months.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

• For cancellations made 15 days or less before commencement, no refund will be made.

• For cancellations made within 30 days before commencement, we reserve the right to retain 75% of the full fee.

• For cancellations made within 60 days before commencement, we reserve the right to retain 50% of the full fee.

COVID-19 Related Cancellations

We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance that provides cover, should your travels or mountain trip be disrupted by COVID-19.

If you cancel due to a border closure, or lockdown event we will provide a refund, less a 10% administration fee per person.

In this case, if requested, we can hold your payments as a deposit for up to 12 months for a return visit. The 10% administration fee will still apply. No refund will be due after 12 months.

Personal COVID-19 infection

If you are unable to travel and cancel due to COVID-19 infection (or being a close contact) our normal cancellation policies apply. Travel Insurance may protect you.

When booking a package that combines 2 or more courses or trips, our standard terms and conditions apply for cancellations, treating each trip as a stand-alone booking.

For example, if your package is for 2 courses, but you cancel the 2nd course, the standard cancellation policy applies around loss of deposits.

If a trip is severely affected by weather, a credit may be allowed on a future trip, at Alpine Guides discretion. Any trip costs not incurred (aircraft costs, for example) may be returned.

Alpine Guides reserves the right to alter or modify itineraries, accommodation or transportation if necessary, due to circumstances beyond our control.

Scheduled courses are based on an economic minimum. If fewer bookings are received, courses will be shortened as per the specific trip information provided.

The cost of road transportation within the Aoraki Mount Cook area, or the local area of the trip, is included. Where a trip may require extensive road transport, the costs involved will be discussed. Aircraft access and egress details, where included, are stated in each set of trip information.

Prices are subject to change without notice. Some cost increases (e.g. aircraft costs) are not under our control.

Some trips/courses may include specific terms and conditions, ascents of Aoraki Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, for example. These additional or unique terms are described in the specific trip/course detailed information.

While we try to honour requests for specific guides, we provide no guarantee that guide will be able to run your trip, if through injury, pressure of bookings, or other circumstances beyond our control they are not available. An alternative guide will be provided and we will advise in advance of the trip starting. It is not possible to cancel a trip if your guide of choice is unavailable.