How your information is handled.

Who we are

Vertical Connection Guiding Company LLC ("Vertical Connection Guiding," "we," "us") is a guiding company based in Randolph, Vermont. We guide rock climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing and hiking in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.

verticalconnectionguiding@gmail.com
(518) 618-7055

What we collect

When you send an inquiry

The Connect form asks for your name and email. It also asks what the day is for and the terrain you are interested in. You can add a phone number, group size, the number of adults coming with a group, preferred dates, your climbing experience and any questions.

When you share a testimonial

The Share Your Day form asks for your name, your email and your words about the day. It also records how you chose to have your name shown, and the exact permission wording you agreed to. Your email is used to match your words to your trip and is never shown.

When you download a packing list

The packing-list form on the rock, ice and hiking pages asks for your email. Downloading a list adds you to the Vertical Connection Guiding mailing list, and we record the wording the form showed you.

When you book

Before anyone climbs, we need these forms completed and signed for each climber:

• a Participant Agreement for adults, or a Minor Participation Agreement for anyone under 18;
• a Health History and Medical Authorization.

When you accept the Booking Terms, we record the version you were shown, the date and time you accepted, the name you typed and the IP address you accepted from. That record lets us show later exactly what was agreed.

Health information

The Health History form asks about medical conditions, medications, allergies, injuries and an emergency contact. It is covered in its own section below.

Photographs

Photography on a guided day is covered by a separate, optional release. If you decline it, we record that with your booking and your guide knows before the day starts.

Payment

Payments are made through a Stripe payment link. Stripe collects your card details. We never see or store your full card number.

What the website collects on its own

The site runs no analytics or advertising tools of its own. When a page loads:

• The company that hosts the site keeps standard server logs, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested.
• The site's typefaces are loaded from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address when the page loads.
• The home page shows recent posts from our Instagram account through LightWidget, a feed service. Your browser loads the feed from LightWidget and the pictures from Instagram, which is owned by Meta, so both receive your IP address and may set their own cookies. Their own privacy policies apply.

How we use it

We use your information to:

• reply to your inquiry;
• plan your day, including the route, the gear and the number of guides;
• keep you safe on the day and get you care if you need it;
• take payment and keep the records the law requires;
• send occasional trip news to people on our mailing list;
• show your testimonial or photographs only in the ways you gave permission for;
• meet a permit condition or a legal obligation.

We do not sell your information. We do not rent it or trade it. We do not add you to a marketing list because you sent an inquiry. Downloading a packing list does add you to our mailing list. Every email has a link to unsubscribe, and you can also email us to be taken off.

Health information

Health information is handled more strictly than anything else we hold.

• Who sees it. The guide or guides working with you on the day, and the person who reviews health information before a trip.
• Who never sees it. Other participants. A school, employer, troop leader or organizer who booked on your behalf.
• When it goes further. Only to a medical provider, rescuer or emergency service caring for you, to an insurer handling a claim, or where the law requires it.
• Where it is kept. Apart from your other booking records, with restricted access.
• On the day. A copy goes into the field with your guide, because it is no use in an office. That copy is destroyed or returned to the file at the end of the trip.
• How long. Seven years. For anyone who was under 18, until their eighteenth birthday plus seven years.

You can ask for a copy of your health form at any time, at no charge, and correct anything on it.

Climbers under 18

Children climb with us, from age 6. A parent or legal guardian completes and signs the forms for anyone under 18, and the young person signs the Minor Participation Agreement alongside them. The inquiry and testimonial forms on this site are meant to be completed by adults. If you believe a child has sent us information directly, contact us and we will delete it.

Who else handles your information

SPARC Executive Development and Consulting

Vertical Connection Guiding and SPARC are affiliated companies. SPARC runs the systems that hold our records: the database where inquiries and mailing-list sign-ups arrive, the online client page where booking forms are completed, and the Stripe account that takes payment. Access is limited to the people who run those systems for us. SPARC does not use your information for its own work and does not add you to its mailing list.

The service providers behind those systems

Each handles your information only to provide its service:

• Supabase hosts the database and private file storage that hold inquiries, booking records, signed forms and trip photographs.
• Netlify hosts this website and the client page, and keeps standard server logs.
• Stripe processes payments.
• Google provides our email and the site's typefaces.

When we must share it

A land manager or permitting authority may require participant records, use reports or incident reports as a condition of our permit. If that applies to your trip, we will tell you before the day. We also give information to an insurer, a rescue service, a medical provider or a lawyer where we have to.

How long we keep it

• Inquiries that do not become a booking: for as long as the conversation is active and a reasonable period after.
• Booking records and signed agreements: seven years. For anyone who was under 18, until their eighteenth birthday plus seven years.
• Health forms: as set out in the health section above.
• Payment records: seven years, for accounting and tax.
• Testimonials: for as long as we show them. Email us and your words come down.
• Mailing list: until you unsubscribe. After that we keep a record that you unsubscribed, so you are not added back by mistake.
• Photographs: as set out in the photography release. If you ask us to stop using a photo of you, we stop using it in anything new, remove it from our own website and social media within a reasonable time, and tell you where we know it has already gone.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us to:

• show you the information we hold about you;
• correct anything that is wrong;
• delete your information.

You can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time, from the link in any email or by emailing us.

Deletion has limits. Signed agreements, health forms and payment records are kept for the periods above because insurance, legal and tax obligations require it. If you ask us to delete one of those, we will tell you which obligation applies and when the record is released. Anything not covered by them, we will delete.

To make a request, email verticalconnectionguiding@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

How we protect it

The website and the client page are served over an encrypted connection. Records are held in systems with restricted access, and health information is kept apart from everything else. Payment is handled by a processor that meets the card industry's security standard. No system is completely secure, so we cannot promise that information will never be exposed. We can promise that we hold only what the day needs.

Changes to this statement

When we make a material change, we update the date at the top of this page.

Questions

Email verticalconnectionguiding@gmail.com or call (518) 618-7055.