Privacy Policy
This privacy policy applies to Alpine Backcountry Guides Kabushiki Kaisha ("ABG Japan"), which operates our guided day tours, and Alpine Backcountry Guides Pty Ltd ("ABG Australia"), which handles bookings for our other trips and products. Together, references to "ABG", "we", or "us" in this policy cover both entities. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how we protect it, regardless of which entity you are booking or corresponding with.
Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information:
Contact details — name, email address, phone number, and postal address, when you make an enquiry, sign up for our newsletter, or make a booking.
Booking and participant information — names, ages, skiing/riding ability level, and group details for everyone included in a booking.
Medical information — health and fitness information you disclose on our booking form or waiver, which we collect to assess suitability for backcountry travel and to respond appropriately in the event of a medical emergency during a tour.
Payment information — payment details provided to complete a booking, processed through Square, WeTravel, or direct bank transfer. Card details are handled by Square or WeTravel and are not stored by us directly. Bank transfer payments involve the exchange of account details necessary to complete the transfer.
Photos, video, and audio — images or recordings taken during your tour, where you have consented to this under our Assumption of Risk & Release Agreement.
Website usage data — meta records of site visitors and cookies, as described below.
How We Use Your Information
We only use your personal information for the purpose for which it was supplied, including to:
Respond to your enquiries and process your booking
Plan and conduct your tour safely, including responding to any medical incident
Meet our obligations under our Tour Conditions and Assumption of Risk & Release Agreement
Send you information you have requested, such as newsletter updates
Use consented photos, video, or audio for marketing and promotional purposes
We do not share, sell, or trade any of the information collected via our website or booking forms, including email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, names, or medical information, with any other companies or organisations, except where necessary to deliver your tour (for example, sharing relevant medical information with emergency services in the event of an incident).
Retention of Information
We retain booking, waiver, and medical information for as long as reasonably necessary to meet our legal, insurance, and safety record-keeping obligations. Because claims related to personal injury can be brought a significant time after a tour, and different rules can apply where a participant was a minor at the time, we may retain this information for an extended period.
Your Choices
You may opt out of receiving marketing information from us at any time, and you may request that we remove your contact information from our databases, subject to any records we are required to retain for legal, safety, or insurance purposes. To make a request, please contact us at admin@alpinebackcountryguides.com.
Cookies
We use cookies to enhance your use of our website, such as remembering your previous visits. A cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in your browser. Each time you load our site, your browser sends the cookie back to us, allowing us to recognise your previous activity, such as pages visited. You can opt out of cookies through your browser's preference settings.
Other Websites
Our site may contain links to other websites related to our business. When you click on one of these links, you are leaving our site. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any linked site, as it may differ from ours.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how your information is handled, please contact us at admin@alpinebackcountryguides.com.