Ascents CGMS
The centralised management system that works how your guides already work.
Built with IFMGA guides.
Ascents Complete Guide Management System — the only platform that implements a SMS and QMS that satisfies your WorkSafe obligations, meets ISO standards, and builds institutional knowledge with every trip.
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The problem
Guiding is a uniquely dynamic, increasingly volatile, and high-risk industry — and the current tools are not built for it.
- Growing regulatory requirements with no centralised way to meet them
- Risk management lives in spreadsheets, notepads, email chains, or one person's head
- Institutional knowledge leaves when your most experienced guide does
- Rising client expectations with no structured way to assess or document capability
- High staff turnover with no system to transfer what your team knows
- Audit and inspection readiness that depends on who you ask, not what the system shows
These methods are not built with guides and guide companies in mind. After all, you chose a career in the mountains, not behind a desk.
The solution
Ascents CGMS is the only platform built for an industry that cannot afford to learn slowly.
- Implements your Safety Management System at the operational level
- Implements your Quality Management System alongside it — not as a separate project
- Builds your institutional knowledge base as a by-product of every trip
- Creates a geographical risk intelligence layer across your team
- Every guide has access to what your most experienced guide knows — before they need to learn it the hard way
- Aligned with WorkSafe and ISO standards from day one
Why it works
Built with IFMGA guides
Designed around how professional guides already think and work — not how a software company thinks they should.
Meets your regulatory obligations
Aligned with WorkSafe and ISO safety and quality standards. Every trip produces the documentation your auditor is looking for.
Institutional knowledge that stays
What your most experienced guide knows lives in the system — not just in their head.
| Feature | WorkSafe | WorkSafe NZ | OSHA | ISO 21101 | ISO 45001 | ISO 31000 | ISO 9001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured 10-step risk management workflow | |||||||
| Conditions monitoring — four timestamped timepoints | — | ||||||
| Hazard identification — structured library | — | ||||||
| Control selection — hierarchy of controls | — | ||||||
| Avalanche Safety Plan (ASP) export | — | — | |||||
| Client risk briefing record — waterfall evidence | — | — | — | ||||
| Training acknowledgment log | — | ||||||
| Documentation and policy panel | — | ||||||
| Auditor access panel | — | ||||||
| Immutable timestamped records — RLS enforcement | |||||||
| Client post-trip QA questionnaire | — | — | — | — |
Getting started
One trip. Then it runs itself.
Most guide companies are fully set up in their first trip and are implementing critical lessons by their next.
Trip one
Set up your account and add your guides in minutes. Run your first trip through the platform — hazard identification, contingency assessment, client capability, go/no-go record. The first time through takes fifteen to twenty minutes. From trip two onwards, under eight.
Week one
Your guides are running trips through the platform as part of their normal routine. The near-miss register has its first entries. The owner dashboard is live. You can see every guide's decisions without picking up the phone.
Month one
Your institutional knowledge library has real depth. The SSoG dashboard is showing where your safety evidence is strong. The season review is populating automatically. Your operation looks different — because it is.
No implementation project. No training programme. No consultant. One trip, and the system is working.
14-day free trial · 30-day money-back guarantee
Is this for me?
Ascents is built for certified mountain guides and guide companies — ACMG, NZMGA, AMGA, IFMGA. If you operate in avalanche terrain, hold a WorkSafe obligation, or guide commercially under ISO standards, this is built for you. Individual guides managing their own professional record are also supported.
Learn moreWill this work for my operation?
Every feature is built around how guides already work — not a generic management system retrofitted for the outdoors. The framework alignment table above shows exactly which WorkSafe and ISO requirements each feature addresses. Built with IFMGA guides. Tested in the field.
See framework alignmentHow hard is it to implement?
Sign up and plan your next trip. There is no implementation project, no consultant, no setup time. Your first trip produces a complete record. The trial is 14 days free with a 30-day money-back guarantee — the risk is minimal.
Start free trialWhat will my operation look like after?
Every guide on your team starts their next trip knowing what your most experienced guide knows. When WorkSafe asks for your documentation, you open your laptop. When a senior guide leaves, their knowledge stays.
See how it worksGuide Companies
SMS, QMS, institutional knowledge, and WorkSafe documentation — built for how your guides already work.
Learn moreMountaineers
Trip planning, personal logbook, and a risk framework built the way professional guides think — free, permanently.
Start your logbookThe one thing we will never do
Ascents never makes the call.
That's not a preference — it's the architecture.
The go/no-go decision is made by the guide. Recorded by the platform. Never generated, suggested, or influenced by an algorithm.
A guide using Ascents still needs thirty years of pattern recognition, field judgment, and professional experience. The platform is only as good as the person using it. That will not change.