Terms, Policies & Insurance
Terms & Conditions of Booking
Conditions: You have booked a place on a course only when British Backcountry has received full payment. Once this has been received you will be sent a confirmation email. If you cancel within 28 days of the course start date, and British Backcountry cannot fill your place, a refund will not given. British Backcountry will try hard to re-sell any cancelled spaces however as we understand that plans change.
Any refunds offered by British Backcountry does not include a refund on accommodation or ski pass that may have been booked. Arrangement of accommodation, travel to the venue and ski pass if needed is your responsibility unless otherwise mentioned.
You will need to ensure you are physically fit enough for the requirements of the day. If you have concerns about this please contact British Backcountry and we will advise on what to expect.
While every precaution will be taken to ensure a safe and enjoyable day you must understand that skiing and ski touring are activities with a danger of injury or death. You need to be aware of and accept the inherent risks and be prepared to take responsibility for your own actions and involvement during the course. You must also agree to abide by safety decisions made by the group instructor on the day.
British Backcountry has access to a stock of touring skis with skins, and avalanche search and rescue kits. British Backcountry charges a rental charge of £20 for the skis. If you are borrowing skis from us you must provide your own boots and ski poles. We will need your ski boot sole length, your height and your weight in advance to set the bindings. There is no charge for the avalanche equipment. British Backcountry checks the equipment fully before and after each course but is not responsible for any injury caused by using it.
Pre-Course Info: Upon booking British Backcountry request that you complete the necessary pre-course information at the point of booking. This is necessary for emergency contact details, ski requirements and medical information.
British Backcountry Privacy Policy
British Backcountry will be a “controller” of the personal information that you provide to us.
When you register with British Backcountry or make a booking (including if you are registering or renewing on behalf of a child under the age of 18), we will ask you for the following personal information:
Contact details – name, address, telephone numbers, email address, date of birth, qualifications (coaches only) and personal development plans;
Medical information – details of any medical treatment you are currently receiving, details of any regular medication you are currently taking, likelihood of requiring assistance or special treatment for any reason, medical or otherwise.
Why we need your personal information – contractual purposes
We need to collect our clients’ personal information so that we can manage your membership with British Backcountry. We will use our members’ personal information to:
Send you communications by email in relation to essential services, including but not limited to, booking information and relevant courses.
If you do not provide us with all of the personal information that we need to collect then this may affect our ability to offer the above services and benefits.
Why we need your personal information – legitimate purposes
We also process our clients personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests to:
Promote and encourage participation in the sport of skiing by sending clients communications and booking information for upcoming training sessions, competitions and events. Our training sessions, competitions and events may be filmed or photographed, your personal information may also be used in images captured from our training sessions, competition and events, which we use for promotional, education and development purposes;
Provide competition in the sport by accepting and managing entries for our competitions and checking your personal information to ensure you are entered into the correct category;
Develop and maintain our clients and instructors qualifications, including sending email communications to inform you of upcoming courses, renewal requirements and verify that you have completed any mandatory training and PVG/child protection requirements; and
Respond to and communicate with clients and instructors regarding your questions, comments, support needs or complaints, concerns or allegations in relation to the sport. We will use your personal information to investigate your complaint and take action where appropriate.
To pass on your details for contact tracing to the relevant Health Body such as NHS track and trace, if required to follow up on any infection related contact tracing.
Where we process your personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to any of the above processing, please contact us at enquiry@british-backcountry.com. If we agree and comply with your objection, this may affect our ability to undertake the tasks above for the benefit of you as a client.
Why we need your personal information – legal obligations
We are under a legal obligation to process certain personal information relating to our clients for the purposes of complying with our obligations under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 to check that our instructors and volunteers are able to undertake regulated work with children and vulnerable adults.
Other uses of your personal information
We may ask you if we can process your personal information for additional purposes. Where we do so, we will provide you with and additional privacy notice with information on how we will use your information for these additional purposes.
Who we share your personal information with
We may be required to share personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organisations to comply with statutory obligations. Such organisations include the Health & Safety Executive, NHS track & trace services, Disclosure Scotland, and Police Scotland for the purposes of safeguarding children.
We may also share personal information with our professional and legal advisors for the purposes of taking advice.
In the event that we do share personal information with external third parties, we will only share such personal information strictly required for the specific purposes and take reasonable steps to ensure that recipients shall only process the disclosed personal information in accordance with those purposes.
How long we keep your personal information
We will only keep your personal information for as long as necessary to provide you with membership services. Unless you ask us not to, we will review and possibly delete your personal information where you have not renewed your membership with us for 3 years.
Your rights
You can exercise any of the following rights by writing to us at enquiry@british-backcountry.com
Your rights in relation to your personal information are:
You have the right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you by making a “subject access request”;
If you believe that any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you have a right to request that we correct or complete your personal information;
You have a right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information for specific purposes; and
If you wish us to delete your personal information, you may request that we do so.
Any requests received by British Backcountry will be considered under applicable data protection legislation. If you remain dissatisfied, you have a right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk.
British Backcountry is a partnership run by BASI 4 Instructors and Mountain Leaders Gavin Carruthers and Blair Aitken. Together they deliver a wide range of ski touring courses in Scotland, for beginners all the way through to steep gully skiers.
British Backcountry is a trading name of Brit Backcountry LTD.