Terms and Conditions

​Please read before booking
Here is the important booking information, written as clearly as possible to avoid disappointment or confusion. These terms explain what you can expect from At The Edge Mountaineering and what we need from you.
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“We”, “us” and “our” mean At The Edge Mountaineering. “You” means the client making the booking. Participant responsibilities apply to everyone taking part.
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You will receive these terms before booking and a copy with your booking confirmation. Please ask about anything you do not understand before paying.
 
For Skye and Cuillin bookings, please read sections 3 and 7 carefully. Mountain objectives are not guaranteed. A suitable alternative guided day is charged at the normal rate. Where no safe and worthwhile guided day is possible, the specific £100 weather-day arrangement may apply. An optional extra flexible day costs £100 per booking to reserve.
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Nothing in these terms removes or limits your statutory consumer rights.
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1. Participation, risk and our responsibilities
2. Booking and payment
3. Prices
4. What is included
5. Client cancellations, date changes and refunds
6. Cancellation by us and course numbers
7. Skye and Cuillin weather, flexible days and rest days
8. Course content and reasonable changes
9. Fitness, health, equipment and insurance
10. Privacy
11. Changes to these terms and questions
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1. Participation, risk and our responsibilities
Climbing, scrambling, hillwalking and mountaineering involve a risk of personal injury or death. Participants must understand these risks, take responsibility for their own actions and follow the instructor’s safety directions.
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We provide guiding and instruction with reasonable care and skill. We plan activities, assess conditions and use appropriate safety measures to manage risk, but cannot eliminate the inherent risks of mountain activities or guarantee a risk-free experience.
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Our guided service runs from the agreed meeting point and start time until the instructor confirms that the activity has finished and the group has dispersed. Independent travel before and after the activity is your responsibility unless expressly included in your booking.
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Participants receive a safety briefing and must follow instructions throughout. We may alter, stop or refuse participation where behaviour, equipment or circumstances create an unacceptable safety risk. Any refund or deduction will take account of the circumstances, services provided, reasonable losses and your statutory rights; removal does not automatically mean that all payments are forfeited.
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Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
 
2. Booking and payment
A booking enquiry, telephone conversation or completed booking form alone does not secure a place.
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Unless the group-payment requirement below applies, a deposit of 50% of the total booking price is required.
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Your booking becomes confirmed when we receive the required payment and send written acceptance. If we cannot accept it, we refund the payment.
The balance is due four weeks before the course starts. Bookings made within four weeks require full payment.
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Private group bookings for two or more people require full payment at booking unless a different payment schedule is expressly agreed in writing. Your quote will identify the payment schedule, including for Skye bookings.
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Deposits form part of the total price. Refunds and deductions are governed by these terms and your statutory rights, rather than an absolute rule that deposits can never be refunded.
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If payment is overdue, we will contact you and give a reasonable opportunity to pay before cancelling. Any cancellation charge is subject to section 5.
Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or over who is also booked onto the same course. The activity must be suitable for the young person, with the required parent or guardian consent.
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For a group booking, the lead client coordinates payment and passes all course information and terms to the group. Every participant must complete the required booking information and accept the participation requirements; a parent or guardian must do so where appropriate.
 
3. Prices
Prices are in pounds sterling. Your written quote confirms the total price, participant numbers, dates, inclusions and any agreed extra charges before you book. Later advertised price changes do not change a confirmed booking.
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General private group bookings
These starting prices are per group, per day, for suitable activities. They do not apply to Skye/Cuillin guiding or courses with their own published prices. Group size remains subject to the safe ratio for the activity.

• 2 persons = FROM £250 

• 3 persons = FROM £280

• 4 persons = FROM £310

• 5 persons = FROM £340

• 6 persons = FROM £370

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Skye and Cuillin guiding
The prices below are total booking prices, not prices per person. A 1:1 booking is one instructor with one client; 1:2 is one instructor with two clients.
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Guided Cuillin Munro days: 1:1 = From £320 per day. 1:2 = From £350 per day
Guided Inaccessible Pinnacle ascent: 1:1 = £330 per day. 1:2 = £360 per day
Classic Skye and Cuillin scrambles: 1:1 = From £330 per day. 1:2 = From £360 per day
Classic Skye and Cuillin rock climbs: 1:1 = From £330 per day. 1:2 = From £360 per day
Cuillin Ridge training and preparation: 1:1 = From £270 per day. 1:2 = From £300 per day
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Guided Cuillin Ridge Traverse: from £1,050, offered at 1:1, with three- and five-day booking options. Your quote confirms the exact package price and what is included. Preparation courses may take place away from Skye; the agreed location will be stated in your booking.
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Optional flexible weather/rest day: £100 per day, per booking, subject to availability and the rules in section 7. This reserves an agreed additional date; it does not buy a full guided day for £100.
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The quote for a multi-day booking will identify the booking window, included guided days, rest or contingency days, any separately reserved flexible days, and the values used to calculate a weather refund. Package totals must not be divided by calendar days unless that allocation has been expressly agreed.
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4. What is included
Unless your quote states otherwise, the price includes planning, organisation, course resources, instruction or guiding, and agreed specialist safety equipment where required.
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It does not include:
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• Travel to and from the meeting point, or transport between venues unless expressly agreed.

• Accommodation, meals or personal insurance.

• Personal clothing, footwear and equipment listed on your kit list.

• Boat transfers, parking, admission or other third-party charges unless specifically included. Known compulsory charges will be explained before booking.

 
Station collection or other transport may be available by prior agreement at an additional quoted cost.
 
You are responsible for bringing suitable personal equipment and taking reasonable care of it. We are not responsible for ordinary wear or damage inherent in the activity, but this does not exclude responsibility for loss or damage caused by our negligence or breach of contract.
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5. Client cancellations, date changes and refunds
Please notify cancellations or date-change requests by email to info@attheedgemountaineering.co.uk. The notice period is measured from receipt to the course start date.
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Cancellation charges
The following are maximum charges, expressed as a percentage of the total booking price, including the deposit:
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Notice before the start date | Maximum cancellation charge
30 days or more: 50%
29–21 days: 75%
20 days or fewer, including non-attendance: 100%
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The deposit is included in these figures and is not deducted again. When the booking has been paid in full, the corresponding minimum refunds are 50%, 25% and 0%, subject to the loss adjustment below.
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Charges will not exceed our reasonable net loss resulting directly from your cancellation. We will take reasonable steps to reduce that loss, including trying to resell your place. We will account for costs saved and replacement income, avoid recovering the same loss twice, and refund any amount paid above the justified charge. We can explain the calculation on request.
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Reserved instructor time and unavoidable instructor commitments may form part of our loss, but the maximum charge is not automatically payable in every case.
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Date changes requested by you
A change of date is subject to availability. We will explain any price difference and reasonable unrecoverable costs before you decide whether to proceed. A separate date-change charge will not exceed 25% of the original booking price or our reasonable net loss caused by the change, whichever is lower. Payments already made remain credited to the booking.
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If we cannot agree a new date and you cancel, the cancellation provisions above apply. We will not apply both a transfer charge and a cancellation charge for the same loss.
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Weather-related rearrangements agreed by us within an existing Skye booking window are handled under section 7, without this client-requested date-change charge.
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Gift cards
Gift cards are not normally exchangeable for cash, except where a refund is required by law. Any validity period and redemption conditions will be provided before purchase. Statutory cancellation rights, where applicable, are unaffected.
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6. Cancellation by us and course numbers
If we cancel a course before it starts for reasons other than the specific Skye weather circumstances in section 7, you may choose a full refund of the course payments or an available alternative date. You do not have to accept a credit or replacement date.
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If we cancel part of a course after it has started, we refund the undelivered part, subject to section 7 where applicable and without limiting any further statutory remedy.
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Open-enrolment courses
Unless a different minimum is stated before booking, an open-enrolment course requires at least half its advertised maximum participant number, rounded up. If that minimum is not reached, we may offer another date at no transfer charge or cancel and provide a full refund.
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If we ask you to help fill an under-subscribed course and you recruit enough paying participants to reach that minimum, we will refund 50% of your own course fee once those participants have paid in full. We will confirm the required number and eligibility in writing before you recruit them.
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These minimum-number and recruitment provisions do not apply to confirmed private bookings, including private 1:1 and 1:2 Skye/Cuillin bookings.
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7. Skye and Cuillin weather, flexible days and rest days
This section applies to Skye and Cuillin guiding and expressly agreed Skye weather/flexible-day arrangements. It takes priority over the general cancellation provisions only for the specific situations described here, and always subject to your statutory rights.
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7.1 Objectives and safety decisions
Booking secures the agreed guiding service and instructor availability. A particular summit, route, number of Munros or complete Cuillin Ridge Traverse is an objective, not a guaranteed outcome.
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The instructor makes operational safety decisions using the forecast, actual conditions, terrain, available daylight, participant fitness and experience. We may change the route, start time, venue, order of days or activity, or turn back, where reasonably necessary for safety.
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7.2 Poor weather and alternative activities
Poor weather does not automatically cancel the day. Where appropriate, we may offer another scramble, a more sheltered route, suitable rock climbing, navigation, ropework or mountain-skills instruction.
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We will discuss alternatives with you. They must be safe, worthwhile, suitable for your ability and reasonably consistent with the guiding or instruction you booked. A substantially different service will be agreed with you; we will not treat every suggested replacement as automatically equivalent.
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Where a suitable alternative guided or instructional day goes ahead, the normal agreed guiding fee applies. Missing the original summit or route does not, by itself, create a refund entitlement. Any rights arising from a failure to supply the agreed service with reasonable care and skill remain unaffected.
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If you decline a reasonable alternative within the agreed scope simply because you prefer the original objective, the client-cancellation provisions apply, including their limits on charges. A legitimate concern about safety, suitability or a substantial change will be considered on its merits.
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7.3 When no safe and worthwhile guided day is possible
If we decide that conditions prevent both the planned day and any reasonable alternative, we will first discuss whether the day can move within the agreed booking window or to another mutually agreed date.
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Where the affected guided day cannot be delivered or rearranged by agreement, the agreed Skye weather arrangement is to retain £100 per booking, per affected day, and refund the remainder of that day’s agreed guiding value. The intended charge contributes to reserved availability, planning and unavoidable booking-related costs. It is not £100 per person and is not an additional charge on top of the day’s price.
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This retention applies only where disclosed and agreed before booking, and only to the extent permitted by consumer law. We will reduce or refund it where legally required; these terms do not establish an automatic right to retain money for an undelivered service.
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For example, for a £350 day shared by two clients, the proposed settlement is £100 retained and £250 refunded, subject to the safeguards above. No separate deposit deduction is made from that refund.
 
A credit towards another booking may be agreed instead, but you are not required to accept credit where a refund is due. Any credit’s value and conditions will be agreed in writing.
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This provision does not cover cancellation because we are unavailable, have double-booked or cannot provide an instructor for reasons unrelated to weather. Section 6 applies in those circumstances.
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7.4 Optional extra flexible weather/rest days
You may reserve an additional agreed date for £100 per booking, per day, subject to availability. We keep that date available to improve flexibility around weather, recovery and your objectives.
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• If the date is held available as agreed but is not used for guiding, the £100 reservation fee remains payable, subject to statutory rights. It purchases the agreed reserved availability.

• If you use it as an additional guided day, the £100 is credited towards the normal agreed guiding fee for that day. You pay only the difference.

• For example, if the guided day costs £350 and you have paid £100 to reserve it, the additional balance is £250.

• If we cannot provide the availability we agreed to reserve, we refund its fee.

• An unreserved extra date is not guaranteed, even if you are staying on Skye for longer.

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If an original guided day is moved onto a reserved flexible date, payments will be reconciled in writing. The same guided service will not be charged twice, and no single calendar day attracts both a £100 no-guiding weather retention and another £100 reservation charge. The settlement will identify what was delivered and what availability was separately reserved.
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7.5 Multi-day bookings and rest days
We may rearrange guided objectives and planned rest or contingency days within the confirmed booking window by agreement. This flexibility does not guarantee suitable weather or successful completion.
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An included rest/contingency day is part of the package described in your quote; it does not automatically generate an extra £100 charge. Equally, an advertised three- or five-day booking window does not necessarily mean guiding on every calendar day. The quote will specify the arrangement.
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An unplanned rest day requested by you does not automatically qualify for the £100 weather rate. We will explain the applicable charge using the agreed booking terms and the cancellation safeguards in section 5.
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If part of the guiding has been delivered before weather forces an early finish, the day is not automatically treated as a completely unused weather day. We will consider the amount and nature of the service delivered, the agreed scope and any statutory price-reduction or refund entitlement.
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7.6 Cuillin Ridge Traverse preparation
Before a guided full traverse, you must have attended a Cuillin Ridge training/preparation day or a mountaineering course with us, and meet the agreed fitness and experience requirements.
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Completing preparation does not guarantee a traverse. If the original traverse is unsuitable, we will discuss appropriate alternatives and apply the charging provisions above to the service delivered or days genuinely lost.
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8. Course content and reasonable changes
Course descriptions explain the intended content. We may make reasonable adjustments for conditions, safety, participant ability or agreed learning goals while keeping the course relevant to the booking.
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We will discuss significant changes with you. We do not have an unrestricted right to substitute a materially different course or remove your rights where the service no longer matches what was agreed.
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9. Fitness, health, equipment and insurance
You must provide accurate information about experience and fitness and tell us about health conditions, injuries, disabilities, allergies or medication that may affect safe participation. Please notify us of relevant changes before the course.
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We will discuss suitability and reasonable adjustments where appropriate. A medical condition does not automatically prevent participation. We may restrict or stop participation where an actual safety concern cannot reasonably be managed; any refund is considered under these terms and applicable law, rather than automatic forfeiture.
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You are responsible for bringing your required medication and explaining any relevant emergency arrangements. Do not assume that your instructor can supply or administer medication.
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Please bring the clothing and equipment on your kit list. Tell us in advance if you are missing anything so that we can discuss options.
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We strongly recommend insurance covering your booked activities, cancellation, curtailment, medical expenses and rescue where relevant. Check cover for guided scrambling, climbing, mountaineering and weather disruption, including any retained fees. Insurance exclusions and claims decisions are the insurer’s responsibility; insurance does not replace our contractual obligations.
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10. Privacy
We use personal information to manage enquiries and bookings, plan and deliver activities, communicate with you and meet relevant obligations. Relevant health information is handled with particular care.
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Please read our separate Privacy Policy for details of what we collect, the lawful grounds for processing it, retention, necessary sharing and your rights. Relevant information may need to be provided to an appointed instructor or emergency services where there is an appropriate lawful basis. We do not sell your personal information.
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11. Changes to these terms and questions
The version supplied and agreed when your booking is confirmed applies to that booking. Website updates do not automatically change an existing contract. Any necessary amendment will be discussed and agreed, except where a change is required by law.
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Please raise questions or concerns promptly so we have a reasonable opportunity to address them. You can contact us before, during or after your course at info@attheedgemountaineering.co.uk. Completion of a course does not end rights or obligations that continue by law.
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If any provision cannot lawfully be enforced, this does not remove your statutory rights or prevent the remaining provisions from applying where appropriate.