Gipfelbuch — Alpine Companion
Version 1.0, effective 26.07.2026
The German version of this document is authoritative. In case of discrepancies, the German text prevails, unless mandatory consumer protection provisions require otherwise.
### ⚠️ Before you continue
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Gipfelbuch is a planning and information aid. The app does not replace your own assessment of conditions on site, does not replace reading the official avalanche bulletin in its original form, does not replace official weather warnings, and does not replace alpine training. Mountaineering, ski touring and flying are undertaken at your own risk and on your own responsibility.
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The full safety information and the technical limits of every individual feature are set out in the Disclaimer and Safety Information, which forms an inseparable part of these Terms. Read it. It is short, and it tells you what you must not rely on.
These Terms govern the relationship between Niklas Eder, Dornauberg 11a, 6295 Ginzling, Austria ("we", "us", "the operator") and you as a user of the Gipfelbuch app and website ("the service"). Full provider details: https://gipfelbuch-alpin.com/impressum.
The following also form part of these Terms: the Disclaimer and Safety Information (https://gipfelbuch-alpin.com/haftung), the Community Guidelines and Reporting Procedure (https://gipfelbuch-alpin.com/community), and the Privacy Policy (https://gipfelbuch-alpin.com/datenschutz).
Gipfelbuch is free of charge. There are no paid features, no subscription, no advertising and no sale of user data. Safety-relevant features remain permanently free.
The project is financed by voluntary donations. A donation is a unilateral contribution without any consideration in return. Donors receive no additional features, no extended access, no badge and no other advantage. Non-donors are in no way disadvantaged. Donations are not refunded.
We may change, extend or restrict the feature set at any time. There is no entitlement to availability, to any particular feature, or to the continued existence of the service. If we discontinue operation, we will announce this in the app at least 30 days in advance and provide a data export.
By first using the service you accept these Terms. Creating an account requires separate, active consent.
Minimum age: 16. By registering you confirm you have reached this age.
You undertake to provide truthful information at registration, to keep your credentials confidential and notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorised access, and not to create or use an account for another person. One account per person. Automated registration is prohibited.
You are responsible for everything you upload, write or enter. You warrant that you hold the necessary rights and that your content does not infringe third-party rights — in particular copyright, trade mark, personality or data protection rights.
If you depict persons in photos, you need their consent. Do not upload content copied from other sources — including other touring portals, guidebooks or maps.
You retain all rights in your content. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free right to store, reproduce, technically adapt (format conversion, scaling, cropping) and make your content publicly available within the service. This right serves solely the operation and display of the service.
We do not transfer your content to third parties for independent exploitation, do not sell it and do not sub-license it. If you delete a contribution, the licence ends — subject to the technical exception of backups already created, which are overwritten within 30 days, and copies already downloaded by other users.
Condition reports, assessments of avalanche or trail conditions and information about launch sites are personal observations at a specific point in time — not clearances, not recommendations, not hazard assessments. Phrase them accordingly: what you observed, when, and where. Avoid blanket statements such as "the tour is fine" or "no danger".
Mountain conditions change within hours. A report from yesterday may be grossly wrong today.
It is prohibited to post content or take actions that:
1. are unlawful or violate criminal law;
2. infringe third-party rights, in particular copyright, trade mark, personality or data protection rights;
3. are insulting, defamatory, threatening, harassing or degrading, in particular towards persons or groups on the basis of origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or belief;
4. are pornographic, sexualised or otherwise inappropriate for the app's age rating — zero tolerance;
5. glorify violence, incite criminal offences or contain terrorist content;
6. contain deliberately false safety-relevant information — fabricated condition reports, incorrect route information, misleading hazard assessments. This is the most serious breach of these Terms because it can put people in mortal danger, and results in immediate permanent suspension;
7. constitute advertising, spam or commercial offers;
8. contain or distribute malware;
9. contain personal data of third parties without their consent;
10. circumvent access restrictions, scrape the service in an automated manner, place a disproportionate load on it or compromise its security;
11. disclose the locations of particularly sensitive objects, such as nesting sites of protected bird species or wildlife sanctuary zones.
Also prohibited: creating accounts to circumvent a suspension, and misusing the reporting function.
| Level | How it works |
|---|---|
| Automated pre-screening | On submission, contributions are automatically checked against a word list, for spam patterns and for implausible geodata. Matches are not automatically deleted but flagged for human review and hidden until then. There is no automated removal without human confirmation. |
| Reports | Every contribution has a "Report" function. The procedure follows Art. 16 DSA and is described in the Community Guidelines. |
| Human review | All decisions on removal, suspension or demotion are taken by a human being. Following a report, review normally takes place within 24 hours, and faster for safety-relevant content. |
| Spot checks | Periodic review of new contributions independent of reports. |
Graduated by severity and repetition: labelling with a warning notice, restricting visibility, disabling or removing the content, temporary account suspension, permanent account suspension and termination.
For deliberately false safety-relevant information (5.6) and for content under 5.4 and 5.5 we act immediately and without graduation.
For every measure taken against your content or account we inform you of: the measure taken and any territorial or temporal scope; 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 relied on and an explanation of why the content is illegal on that ground; for breaches of these Terms, the specific provision and an explanation of why the content is incompatible with it; and the redress available to you — the objection procedure under 6.4, judicial redress, and a complaint under Art. 53 DSA.
If you consider a decision to be wrong, you may object informally within six months of receipt to gipfelbuchalpin@gmail.com. Procedural rules:
We enforce these rules diligently, objectively and proportionately, having due regard to the rights and legitimate interests of all parties involved, in particular the fundamental rights under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Art. 14(4) DSA). Independently of this, legal remedies remain available and you may lodge a complaint with KommAustria pursuant to Art. 53 DSA.
Where there are concrete indications of a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person, we inform the competent authorities pursuant to Art. 18 DSA. This expressly includes indications of an acute emergency in the mountains or of suicidal intent.
You can block other users. Their contributions and comments will no longer be shown to you and they can no longer contact you.
You may terminate your account at any time without giving reasons, in the app under Settings → Account → Delete account or at https://gipfelbuch-alpin.com/konto-loeschen. What happens to your data is set out in the Privacy Policy, section 6.
We may terminate the agreement without notice in the event of serious or repeated breaches, and otherwise with 30 days' notice. Termination without notice will be reasoned in accordance with 6.3.
Regardless of whether we qualify as an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 1 of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act, we treat you as a consumer and apply the consumer-law limits on exclusions of liability to ourselves.
We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, and in all cases of injury to life, body or health. We are likewise liable without limitation where liability arises under product liability law or other mandatory statutory provisions. Such claims cannot be excluded by agreement.
For slight negligence, our liability for damage to property and pure financial loss is excluded. The exclusions in this clause 9.2 expressly do not apply to personal injury or to the cases set out in 9.1.
In particular, we are not liable for: the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of third-party data (weather, warnings, avalanche bulletins, maps, terrain models); content contributed by users; the availability of the service, the delivery of push notifications and the existence of a network connection; or data loss where you have failed to make reasonable backups of your own.
Art. 6 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 applies: we are liable only upon actual knowledge of illegality and after acting expeditiously. There is no general monitoring obligation (Art. 8 DSA).
Mountaineering, ski touring and flying involve substantial risks that cannot be fully controlled. Anyone moving in alpine terrain is exposed to those risks and assumes the risk and responsibility personally. Using Gipfelbuch does not change this and does not release you from the duty to assess conditions on site yourself.
If your content infringes third-party rights and claims are brought against us as a result, you shall indemnify us against such claims to the extent you are responsible for them. We will inform you without delay and give you the opportunity to comment before acknowledging any claim.
We may amend these Terms where there is an objective reason — a change in law, a change in case law, new or discontinued features, or requirements imposed by the app stores.
Material changes will be announced at least 30 days in advance in the app and by email. If you do not object before the changes take effect, they are deemed accepted; we will point out this consequence and your right to object expressly and prominently in the announcement. Where such deemed acceptance is not permitted under the mandatory law of your country of residence, we will obtain your express consent. If you object, you may terminate the agreement with effect from that date. Changes that shift clause 9 to your detriment require your express consent.
Austrian law applies, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your country of residence remain unaffected. You may bring proceedings against us before the court of your place of residence; we may sue you only there (Art. 17 et seq. Brussels Ia Regulation, § 14 of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act).
Should any provision of these Terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions is unaffected. The invalid provision is replaced by the applicable statutory rule.