Gipfelbuch — Alpine Companion
Version 1.0, effective 26.07.2026
Implements Articles 16 and 17 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) and supplements the Terms of Use.
The German version of this document is authoritative.
Gipfelbuch lives on people writing down what they saw on the mountain. The value of that collection rests on a single property: that you can trust people to describe honestly what was there.
For that reason the most serious violation here is not insult or spam, but false safety-relevant information. A fabricated condition report can cost someone their life.
Observation, not evaluation. Write what you saw, not what follows from it.
Good: "14 Feb, 11:30, north slope below the summit ridge at approx. 2,400 m: fresh wind slab, a hand deep, whumpfing while traversing. Turned back."
Bad: "Tour is safe."
Always include time and place. A report without a date is worthless. A report without elevation and aspect nearly so.
Name your uncertainty. "Could not see the summit slope" is useful information.
Update. If you realise something you wrote no longer holds, correct it.
Phrasing that reads like a clearance: "no problem", "harmless", "anyone can do it". You know neither tomorrow's conditions nor the abilities of the person reading your report.
This section elaborates on clause 5 of the Terms of Use. For the purposes of a statement of reasons under Art. 17 DSA, the numbering in the Terms of Use is authoritative.
Prohibited is content that:
1. is unlawful or violates criminal law;
2. infringes third-party rights — copyright, trade mark, personality rights, data protection. Do not copy from guidebooks, other touring portals or third-party maps;
3. is insulting, defamatory, threatening or degrading, in particular towards persons or groups on the basis of origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or belief;
4. is pornographic or sexualised or otherwise inappropriate for the app's age rating — zero tolerance, immediate permanent suspension;
5. glorifies violence, incites criminal offences or contains terrorist content — zero tolerance;
6. contains deliberately false safety-relevant information — fabricated condition reports, incorrect route information, misleading hazard assessments. Zero tolerance, immediate permanent suspension;
7. constitutes advertising or spam;
8. contains or distributes malware;
9. contains personal data of third parties without their consent — including identifiable persons in photos;
10. discloses locations of particularly sensitive objects: nesting sites of protected bird species, wildlife sanctuary zones, sensitive habitats;
11. instructs on circumventing closures, access restrictions or protected area rules.
Also prohibited: creating accounts to circumvent a suspension, misusing the reporting function, automated scraping of the service.
In the app: every contribution, comment and profile has a "Report" function. This is fastest because the reference is attached automatically.
By email: gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com
Via the web form: https://gipfelbuch-alpin.com/melden
Reporting is possible whether or not you have an account.
Four items, so that we can process it and so that it takes effect under Art. 16(3) DSA:
1. A sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the content is illegal or breaches these guidelines. Please be specific: not "inappropriate", but what exactly the problem is.
2. The precise location of the content — the URL or contribution ID. When reporting from the app this is inserted automatically.
3. Name and email address of the reporting person. Exception: reports concerning offences under Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU — sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, child sexual abuse material, solicitation — may be made without these details.
4. A confirmation that you believe in good faith that the information in your report is accurate and complete.
A report containing all four items establishes our actual knowledge within the meaning of Art. 16(3) DSA, to the extent it enables a diligent provider to identify the illegality without a detailed legal examination.
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Automated acknowledgement of receipt by email | without delay |
| Review by a human being | normally within 24 hours; immediately for content involving imminent danger to life or limb |
| Decision communicated to you, with reasons and information on redress | without delay after review |
| Notification of the affected person whose content is concerned, with a statement of reasons under Art. 17 DSA | at the same time |
We process reports in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner (Art. 16(6) DSA).
Use of automated means: we use automated tools to pre-sort incoming reports (detecting duplicates and spam waves). The decision itself is always taken by a human being. Content is never permanently removed on the basis of an automated assessment alone.
The report is unfounded and the content remains, with reasons given to you; the content is labelled (e.g. outdated safety information); visibility is restricted; the content is removed; the account is temporarily suspended; the account is permanently suspended.
Anyone repeatedly submitting manifestly unfounded reports may be excluded from the reporting function. We give advance notice.
If content of yours is removed, disabled or demoted, or your account is suspended, we tell you: which measure was taken and whether it is limited in time or territory; the facts and circumstances relied on, including whether the decision was taken pursuant to a notice under Art. 16 DSA or on our own initiative and, where strictly necessary, the identity of the notifier; whether and how automated means were used; for illegal content, the legal ground and an explanation of why the content is illegal on that ground; for breaches of these guidelines, the specific provision and an explanation of why the content is incompatible with it; and the redress available to you — the objection procedure below, judicial redress, and a complaint under Art. 53 DSA.
This notification is sent to the email address of your account and is also available in the app under Settings → My reports.
You may object within six months of receipt, informally, to gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com. We will review the case again, through a human being — where organisationally possible a person not involved in the original decision — and respond with reasons, normally within 14 days. The decision is not taken solely by automated means.
An internal complaint-handling system under Art. 20 DSA and out-of-court dispute settlement under Art. 21 DSA are not mandatory for micro enterprises under Art. 19 DSA. We nevertheless offer the objection procedure because it makes sense.
Independently of this, legal remedies remain available to you at any time. You may also lodge a complaint directly with the Austrian Digital Services Coordinator pursuant to Art. 53 DSA:
KommAustria, supported by RTR-GmbH, Media Division
Mariahilfer Straße 77–79, 1060 Vienna, Austria — www.rtr.at
Where there are concrete indications of a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person, we inform the competent law enforcement or judicial authorities without delay. Where the Member State concerned cannot be identified with reasonable certainty, we inform the Austrian authorities as those of our Member State of establishment, or Europol (Art. 18(2) DSA).
Particularly relevant in mountain sports: if a contribution indicates an acute emergency — someone stuck, injured or missing — or suicidal intent, we alert the emergency services immediately.
If you are in an emergency yourself, do not wait for us. Alpine emergency 140, European emergency 112.
| Matter | Contact |
|---|---|
| Report content | gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com · in the app: "Report" |
| Object to a decision | gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com |
| Data protection | gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com |
| Everything else (Art. 12 DSA point of contact) | gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com |
| Authorities (Art. 11 DSA point of contact) | gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com |
Languages of communication: German and English.