| Booking Information for Expeditions | |
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Booking other trips Alps summer climbing See also: |
We offer expeditions with fixed departure dates, which you can join, or private trips for you and (maybe) your friends. The booking process is similar for both. |
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| Step 1 | The first step in booking an expedition with us is to contact us and find out if there is room on a particular trip, or if dates are available for a private trip. You can also check our availability page to get a general idea, but you'll still need to check with us personally to confirm. We'll discuss what trip would be good for you and you can ask any questions about the trip that have not been addressed on the web site. We're happy to answer whatever questions you might have. We love all these places and, as a consequence, love to talk about them! A note about private trips: Different seasons have varying degrees of limitations for us. For example, we tend to be less busy from about October to March, but it is harder for us to arrange a private expedition during the other parts of the year. But even still, if you want to go somewhere between March and October, please let us know and we'll see if we can work something out. |
| Step 2 | Some of our trips are priced on a "cost-plus" basis, where we'll end up charging you a daily wage for the guide, plus actual expenses. We do this in areas where costs are unstable or in areas where we may be unable to make good estimates. For these we'll calculate and estimate, base the deposit and final payment on these, and then make any necessary adjustments after the trip is over. You'll need to fill out our registration form and return it to us, either by mail or electronically. Also, please fill out our online emergency contact and evacuation insurance form. To reserve your spot, we'll need a deposit of 25% of the total fees for the trip. The balance due date is 60 days prior to the start of the trip. If you are booking within the balance due date, full fees are required. See our cancellation and refund policies lower on this page. Payment Options We can accept payment by check, credit card (via PayPal), bank transfer, or Google Pay. If you are booking only a short time before your trip, please contact us to determine the best way to make a payment. Sometimes we are not at home to receive your payment by check. Please do not make payments until you have contacted us and confirmed that:
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| Step 3 | We'll confirm your booking and discuss with you what additional trip information or advice you might need. |
Online Registration Forms |
Fill in our online Emergency Contact Form Please take a moment to fill in this online form. There is no hurry with this, but we'd like to have it before the start of your trip. |
Payment and Cancellation Policies Deposit & Payment Schedule In order to secure your place in a program a deposit of 25% of the trip fees is due at the time of registration. We cannot hold your place without this deposit. Phone reservations can be held for 6 days while we await your payment. The balance of the trip fees is due 60 days prior to the starting day of the trip. This is the balance due date. For registration after the balance due date, full payment is due at the time of registration. If full payment is not received by the balance due date and other arrangements are not made with us, we reserve the right to consider your registration canceled. Cancellation & Refund Policy If you cancel your enrollment for any reason the following policy applies: Cancellation occurring after the balance due date will result in a complete forfeiture of all payments and deposit. The only exception to this occurs when we have somebody waiting to take your place, in which case we will refund all payments and deposit, less a cancellation fee of $100. If you cancel your enrollment before the balance due date you will receive a refund of all payments and deposit less a cancellation fee of $100. If we cancel a trip due to inadequate registration you will receive a full refund of all payments and your deposit. With the exception of our trip fees, we are not responsible for other expenses you might incur (such as non-refundable airline tickets or other travel and work arrangements) in the event that we cancel a trip. Trip cancellation, Interruption & Emergency Evacuation Insurance In order to protect yourself from the loss of non-refundable fees we strongly recommend you purchase trip cancellation insurance. This type of insurance will allow you to recover fees resulting from cancellation due to personal or family illness occurring before or during your program. Most types also allow you to recover non-refundable travel expenses in the event that we are forced to cancel due to inadequate registration. Emergency evacuation insurance, often included with trip cancellation, covers the normally very high cost of evacuation from remote mountainous areas. We strongly recommend that participants on trips to South America and Asia purchase emergency evacuation insurance. Policies are available through your insurance or travel agents. Conditions of Participation There are a number of conditions required for participation in our programs. These include, but are not limited to agreement with and understanding of the cancellation and refund policy. |
