Arctic Circle Expedition

What are the booking terms & conditions?

Terminology used in this agreement:
‘Experience’ refers to the adventure trip that you are booking and can include, but is not limited to, Arctic Circle Expedition, Mount Toubkal, Arctic Circle Trail Greenland. 
‘We’ refers to our company- Go Wild ltd t/a adventure.ie
‘Partners’ refers to external businesses/providers that we use to provide part of your adventure experience. 
Deposit:
A non-refundable deposit of €200 (unless otherwise advised) is payable to confirm your booking. . 
Balance of fees:
The balance of fees can be paid in installments at any time up to the deadline as detailed below or 90 days before the start date of your experience for bookings made after 01/06/2023. 
For Arctic Circle Expeditions (January – March): 50% of total fees must paid by 31st October, with balance paid in full by 31^st December.
For Morocco based expeditions (October): 50% of total fees must be paid by 30th June, with balance paid in full by 31st August.
For Greenland ACT (September): 50% of total fees must be paid by 30^th April, with balance paid in full by 30^th June. 
For Greenland ACT (Winter Crossing – April): 50% of total fees must paid by 30^th November, with balance paid in full by 31^st January.
Cancellation by you:
We strongly recommend having personal travel insurance in place as early as possible, which covers you in the event of cancellation by you, of your adventure experience due to illness, injury or family crisis ahead of your adventure. The onus is on you to have appropriate cover in place.
A cancellation will only be effective from the date we receive written notice from you to our primary email: info@adventure.ie notifying us of your wish to cancel. The following cancellation terms apply:
> Up to 121 days before the start date of your experience: The balance of your fees are fully refundable.
>Between 120 and 91 days before the start of your experience: Your deposit may be transferred to another adventure experience or appropriate person. The balance of any fees paid are refundable. 
>Between 90 days and 61 days before the start date of your experience: Retention of your deposit. We may offer you a full refund of your fees if and only if we are able to fill your place on the experience. This is contingent upon the trip being fully sold out.
>60 days or fewer prior to start date of your experience: Retention of deposit and fees paid.
Note that cancellation terms may differ on some experiences and will be notified in those instances.
Cancellation by us:
Unless otherwise specified ( as stated in our website), our trips are guaranteed once they have six fully paid participants.
If we must cancel your trip, except in cases of Force Majeure, (see below), we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible. We will provide you the option of: 
Receiving a full refund of your fees and deposit
Transferring the deposit and fees as a credit for future experience
In the event of any cancellation, there will be no claim for damages by either party against the other. There will be no compensation for any incidental costs you may have incurred as a result of your booking being cancelled, including but not limited to visas, vaccinations, equipment, attendance at training days, travel insurance excess, excursions or flights. 
Included in your fees:  
The fee for your experience includes all the following in-country items:
All accommodation as part of the itinerary
Group return transfer from the destination airport
Meals as per itinerary 
Specialist equipment hire as per experience details
Highly qualified and experienced guides
Local fees to include mules, porters etc. where required
Tips where required
Not included in your fees:   
The experience fees do not include the following:
Flights
Flight delay costs, lost baggage etc
Personal Travel and adventure experience insurance
Any extra excursions that you decide to take
Any transfer to our base/hotel that is outside the designated transfer as per your experience itinerary
Meals other than those specified in the itinerary
Visa and passport fees
Additional clothing & equipment beyond that listed in the ‘Specialist equipment list’ for your experience
Items as per force majeure to include but not limited to accommodation, meals, transport, flights etc.
Change of itinerary:
Due to the nature of the activities that we provide, you accept that changes may be made to the itinerary by our staff on the basis of safety. The reasons for these changes may/may not be communicated to the group.
Age requirement:
Our experiences are open to those aged 18 years and over. Anyone aged 65 or over you must discuss this experience with your GP, this is an insurance requirement. 
Force Majeure:
If “Force Majeure” prevents us from fulfilling your experience we will not be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected. For the purposes of these Booking Terms & Conditions, a Force Majeure occurrence is one that is outside of our control or that of our partners and the effects of which could not have been avoided, even with the use of all appropriate precautions.   any event which we or our partners in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. These events can include, but are not limited to war, threat of war, civil strife terrorist activity and its consequences or the threat of such activity, riot,  the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, labour strikes, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster, and adverse weather conditions, epidemics and pandemics or other health emergency, unavoidable technical problems with transport and all similar events outside our or our partners control. Advice from your national authority (for example, the Dept of Foreign Affairs) to avoid or leave a particular country may constitute Force Majeure. We advise that you purchase comprehensive insurance to cover as many of the above scenarios as possible. 
Insurance:
We highly recommend you purchase travel insurance as soon as possible. 
For Arctic Expeditions it must include ‘guided cross-country skiing’. 
For Mount Toubkal it must include ‘trekking to 4,200m’ at a minimum. 
For Greenland specialist rescue cover must be included. 
Please make sure that your policy includes the countries you will be travelling to. 
Any damage to rental equipment will result in the full replacement fees due for that item. 
Any damage to the lodge/huts must be paid to the owners before departure. 

Am I able for this?

This is everyone’s number 1 concern! You don’t need to be super fit but the fitter you are the more you’ll get from it. You need to be able for 5-6 continual days of activity. Each day gets harder than the previous. Imagine going for a short walk today, then tomorrow doing something a bit longer and the day after a bit more again and so on.

How many days is the expedition?

8 Days for the Expedition. The first day will be spent travelling to Northern Scandinavia, 350km north of the Arctic Circle. We then have 6 days on the snow. The last day is spent travelling back home.

Do I need experience?

No experience is necessary but fitness is important. It would certainly help but we don’t expect everyone to have experience. Back-country skiing is different than downhill. The skis are much narrower and you wear what feels like a chunky hiking boot. It’s more about technique and efficiency than speed. Full tuition will be provided over the first 4 days on the Arctic Circle Expedition.

Who is actually providing this experience?

At adventure.ie we lead and run all our own experiences. We don’t rebrand other company’s experiences and sell them as our own. We don’t send along a token ‘guide’ and hand you over to a local ground handler. You will be guided by our highly qualified and highly experienced guides from start to finish. We look after all the logistics. All the specialist equipment you will be using is owned and maintained by us: skis, pulks, tents, snowshoes, stoves, down jackets, sleeping bags, mats, mitts and more.

What kit do I need?

Included in your expedition fees is the hire of specialist cold-weather clothing and sleeping bags. You’ll need to bring thermal clothing, warm fleeces, a hat and gloves, boots etc. More details will be provided on our training sessions, however, we are endeavouring to cover as many costs as possible in the expedition fees so you won’t have to invest in specialist equipment. It’s important you have the correct type of hiking boot, we’ll advise further.

How many participants will there be?

We have space for 10 to 12 participants.

What are the costs?

The expedition fees are €2,490. Flights are extra. You can arrange your own flights but it’s important to note that unless you do so through a travel agent you will have very little support if there are problems with flights. You can fly from Ireland, UK or anywhere in the world but we ask that you are on the flight into Tromso on day of arrival. Please note that there will only be one transfer provided to and from Tromso to our accommodation.

What is not included in the price?

Insurance (see below).
Warm clothing, outdoor boots, etc this is all kit you probably have already, if not we can advise on how to best purchase, we offer all participants a 20% discount in our online store.

Do I need additional insurance?

It is essential that all participants take out additional insurance for the expedition. This should cover repatriation to your home country and rescue fees. Let us know if you need details on insurance companies. Your policy must cover Europe and have ‘guided cross-country skiing as an activity. We also advise that you apply for your EHIC (formally E11). As this is serious undertaking participants must be aware that the risk of cold injuries and ski-related injuries is higher.

Who are the guides?

Lead Guide is Ronan Mullen who has worked in the outdoors professionally for over 25 years. Ronan is a level II Arctic Expedition Guide, an extreme weather expert and has explored many areas in Scandinavia, Morocco, the Alps and beyond. He is also European Expert in Mountain Rescue and an International Mountain Leader along and a qualified Rope Rescue Operator, Emergency First Responder, and Advanced Cardiac First Responder.

What is the accommodation like?

The expedition will be based in a cosy cabin heated by wood stoves and underfloor heating. The accommodation has shared rooms with 2 to 3 people per room. The cabins are very comfortable and are a welcome retreat from the extremes outside.

How full on is this trip?

This expedition is no walk in the park, you will need to be fit but you have time to build your fitness and we will provide you with a personalised fitness program to get you ready.