How to Run Your First CTC Assessment
From sending the questionnaire to reading the output and acting on the flags. A complete walkthrough for guides and guide service owners. 6 steps, approximately 30 minutes total.
Ascents Team
March 20, 2026
Before you begin: you need two documents from the toolkit — the client questionnaire (which the client fills in) and the CTC scoring spreadsheet (which you work in). Both are available as a free download from the Ascents platform.
Who does what:
- Guide — downloads the toolkit, sends the questionnaire, enters logbook data, sets the objective type and minimum requirements, reads the output.
- Client — completes the 24-question questionnaire and provides their logbook (route history). The client never sees their CTC score, profile, or flags.
Step 1 — Download the toolkit and open the spreadsheet
Estimated time: 2 minutes
Once you have downloaded the toolkit, you will have two files: CTC_Questionnaire_v2.pdf and CTC_Scoring_v2.xlsx. Open the spreadsheet first and familiarise yourself with the five tabs before sending anything to your client.
- Guide: Open the scoring spreadsheet. Review the Dashboard tab first — it shows the time commitment guide, the phase gate tracker, and the pre-launch critical path.
- Guide: Note the five tabs: Dashboard, CTC Assessment, Grade Reference, Objective Weights, Profile Descriptions. The Grade Reference tab is your lookup when converting client-reported grades to the 1–5 scale. Keep it open while entering logbook data.
- Guide: Review the questionnaire PDF before sending it. 24 questions across 6 domains. Estimated client completion time: under 5 minutes. Domains: experience background, terrain comfort, technical skills, psychological readiness, physical readiness, equipment proficiency.
Important: Do not show clients the questionnaire domain labels or explain what each question is measuring. Knowing that a question feeds the “psychological readiness” score will bias responses. Present it simply as “a short background questionnaire to help me prepare for our trip together.”
Step 2 — Send the questionnaire to your client
Estimated time: 3 minutes to send — allow 3–5 days for return
Send the questionnaire PDF at least 5 days before the trip, ideally at the time of booking confirmation. This gives you time to review the responses, identify anything that warrants a follow-up conversation, and complete the logbook entry step before departure.
The questionnaire covers six domains:
| Domain | Questions | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| D1 — Experience background | 4 | Years active, disciplines practised, annual days in the mountains, recent technical activity. Used to check logbook completeness. |
| D2 — Terrain comfort | 6 | Self-rated comfort across steep snow/ice, ice screws, mixed climbing, trad multi-pitch, alpine navigation, steep off-piste skiing. Feeds discipline scores. |
| D3 — Technical skills | 6 | Anchor building, glacier/crevasse management, crampon proficiency, avalanche terrain assessment, self-arrest, and steep axe technique. |
| D4 — Psychological readiness | 6 | Exposure comfort, stress self-management, independence in the mountains, conservative decision-making, self-regulation, and retreat history. Scored independently from technical grades. |
| D5 — Physical readiness | 4 | Fitness for technical objectives, training specificity, medical considerations, and pack-carrying endurance. Low scores on the medical question raise an automatic flag. |
| D6 — Equipment proficiency | 4 | Equipment ownership and use, fitting and adjusting technical gear, essential knots, and familiarity with emergency procedures. |
Suggested covering note to your client:
“Ahead of our trip I would like to send you a short background questionnaire — it takes about 5 minutes and helps me prepare the day specifically for you. Please also send me a brief route history: routes climbed, grades, rough dates, and whether you led or followed.”
- Guide: Send the questionnaire PDF with a brief covering note.
- Client: Complete the 24-question questionnaire and return it. Likert scale (1–5) for most questions. Answer honestly based on current ability, not best-ever performance.
- Client: Send their route history / logbook. Can be informal — a list of routes with grade, approximate date, and whether led or followed is sufficient. A few key routes are more useful than an exhaustive list from a decade ago.
Step 3 — Enter the logbook data into the scoring spreadsheet
Estimated time: 10–15 minutes
Open the CTC Assessment tab in the spreadsheet. Enter each logbook entry the client has provided. For each entry you need: the route name, discipline, grade as reported, date completed, environment, whether they led or followed, conditions, and whether it was guided.
The spreadsheet converts grades automatically using the Grade Reference tab. Examples of what the grade parser accepts:
| Grade reported | System | Normalised score |
|---|---|---|
| 5.10a | YDS rock | 2.5 / 5.0 |
| 6b+ | French sport → YDS 5.11a | 3.25 / 5.0 |
| WI4 | Water ice | 3.5 / 5.0 |
| AD+ | French alpine | 2.75 / 5.0 |
| S5 | Ski grade / ~45–52° | 3.5 / 5.0 |
| M7 | Mixed | 3.75 / 5.0 |
For each entry, the spreadsheet asks you to select the environment, role, and conditions from dropdown menus. These drive the multipliers. If you are unsure about any of these, default to the more conservative option — it is better to slightly underestimate than to overestimate.
Example logbook entry — how it looks in the spreadsheet:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Route name | Cascade Falls, WI4 |
| Discipline | Water ice |
| Grade (as reported) | WI4 |
| Normalised score | 3.5 / 5.0 (auto-calculated) |
| Date completed | Feb 2023 |
| Environment | Single-pitch outdoor (0.80×) |
| Was lead | No — seconded (0.95×) |
| Was guided | Yes (0.92×) |
| Conditions | Ideal (0.92×) |
| Adjusted entry score | 2.03 / 5.0 — recency 0.83× (2+ yrs), env 0.80×, cond 0.92×, follow 0.95×, guided 0.92× |
Checklist:
- Guide: Enter all logbook entries provided by the client. Focus on entries from the past 3–5 years. Entries older than 5 years carry a 0.68 recency multiplier and have limited impact, though they are worth logging if the client considers them significant.
- Guide: Enter the questionnaire responses from the client’s returned form. The CTC Assessment tab has a questionnaire input section below the logbook. Enter each 1–5 response against the question ID. Scoring is automatic.
- Guide: Check the Grade Reference tab for any grades you are unsure how to categorise. Particularly relevant for: British tech grades (4c, 6a), UIAA grades, Scottish winter grades (I–VII), and French alpine grades with +/− modifiers.
Step 4 — Set the objective type and minimum requirements
Estimated time: 5 minutes
This step is what makes the CTC objective-specific rather than a generic competency score. Select the objective type — and if you want to use the gap analysis — set minimum required scores per discipline for your planned route.
Available objective types: Alpine ice · Alpine rock · Ski mountaineering · Technical alpine · Glacier travel · Mixed / ice · General mountaineering
The weight row below the column headers updates automatically when you select an objective type. Confirm the weighting looks right for what you are planning.
On setting minimum requirements: Minimum requirements are optional but strongly recommended. They are the most direct way to use the CTC for go/no-go pre-trip planning — they tell you specifically whether this client meets the bar for your planned objective, not just what their general profile is. You set them based on your professional judgment about what the route requires. The spreadsheet surfaces the gap automatically.
Example — alpine ice objective:
| Discipline | Minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| Water ice | 2.5 minimum |
| Alpine | 2.0 minimum |
| Psychological readiness | 2.5 minimum |
| Ski, Mixed, Rock | Not required |
- Guide: Select the objective type from the dropdown in the spreadsheet.
- Guide: Enter minimum required scores for each relevant discipline. Leave irrelevant disciplines blank. For a glacier travel day, you might set Alpine ≥ 1.5 and Psych ≥ 2.0 and leave everything else empty.
Step 5 — Read the output
Estimated time: 5 minutes
The output section of the CTC Assessment tab shows six things. Read them in this order:
1. Profile label — Novice / Intermediate / Advanced / Expert / Elite
This is the adjusted composite score mapped to a profile. It reflects current capability on this objective type, after all multipliers. Use the Profile Descriptions tab for a full guide on what each profile means in the field and how to manage that client.
2. Adjusted composite score — the number behind the label
The 1.0–5.0 score after all multipliers and objective weighting. Useful for distinguishing between a strong Intermediate (2.55) and a weak one (1.65) even when the label is the same.
3. Discipline breakdown — per-discipline adjusted scores and objective weights
Look at the disciplines that carry the most weight for your objective. A low score in a low-weight discipline (e.g. rock on a glacier travel day) is not a concern. A low score in a high-weight discipline is.
4. Psychological readiness flag — Strong / Good / Moderate / Low / Concerning
Scored independently from technical grades. Read this alongside the profile, not as part of it. A technically Advanced client with a Low psych flag needs specific field management planning.
5. Gap analysis — client score vs your minimum requirements, per discipline
Only appears if you entered minimum requirements in Step 4. A negative gap in a high-weight discipline is the most important signal in the output. Do not ignore it.
6. Active flags — Block / Warning / Caution / Info
Read Block flags first — these require action before you can proceed. Then Warning, then Caution. Info flags are contextual notes. See Step 6 for how to act on each type.
Step 6 — Act on the flags
Estimated time: varies — may require a follow-up conversation
Flags are prompts, not vetos. Each one points to something that warrants attention before the trip departs.
Block — client score below minimum requirement
This is the most serious flag. The client does not meet the minimum score you set for a specific discipline on this objective. Your options: (1) have a direct conversation with the client about the gap and what it means for the planned route, (2) modify the objective to one the client is adequately prepared for, or (3) if there is a specific, verifiable reason the score underestimates them (e.g. a very recent trip not in their logbook), update the data and rerun. Do not proceed to the planned objective while a Block flag is active.
Warning — low psychological readiness score
Have a direct conversation before the trip. Ask specifically about their experience with exposure, how they respond when they are frightened in the mountains, and whether they have been in situations where they had to manage themselves in challenging terrain. Use the conversation to calibrate your field management plan. Consider whether the objective needs to be modified, or whether specific planning for exposure management is warranted. Document your assessment of the conversation.
Warning — medical consideration indicated
The client scored below 3 on the medical conditions question. This is a prompt for a conversation, not a diagnosis. Ask whether there is anything they would like you to know about that might affect their performance or safety at altitude or in strenuous conditions, and whether they have discussed the planned objective with a doctor if relevant. Document that the conversation took place.
Caution — stale grades on a primary discipline
The recency multiplier on a high-weight discipline is below 0.80, meaning the client’s grades in this area are primarily more than 2 years old. Consider: asking whether they have had any recent activity that they did not log, building in a warm-up objective or pitch before the main event, or adjusting the technical scope of the planned objective to account for potential detraining.
Caution — self-report above logbook evidence
The questionnaire responses suggest higher competency than the logbook supports. The most common cause is drawing on observed rather than led experience, or remembering past peak fitness rather than current ability. Ask specific questions: “When did you last lead at that grade?” “Was that guided or independent?” “What were the conditions like?” Use the conversation to calibrate which source is more accurate for this client.
Info — all significant entries are guided
All the client’s entries above grade 2.5 were on professionally guided trips. This is not a problem for a guided objective, but is relevant context if any independent movement is planned. Factor it into your field management approach and do not assume the client can self-manage in technical terrain based on their grade alone.
On documentation: Save the completed spreadsheet for each client assessment. The combination of logbook data, questionnaire responses, objective type, minimum requirements, and the output profile constitutes a pre-trip risk management record that maps to ISO 31000. If an incident occurs, this record demonstrates that you conducted a structured client assessment before departure — the same standard courts and insurers use to evaluate whether a professional exercised reasonable care.