A wise friend in insurance
Ski Travel Insurance
Winter sports holidays are amongst the most popular.
Before you start your search for the best value travel insurance for your holiday you need to decide what activities you are going to do while you are away. If you are just going to ski or board on piste the choice is much wider than if you intend to go off piste or on the glaciers or use one of the crazier methods to get yourself down the slopes.
Snowsurfing, snowshoeing and glacier skiing can all be covered but expect to pay higher premiums and have a larger excess to pay if you make a claim due to something linked to one of those activities.
Winter sports and skiing holidays have a double whammy when it comes to travel insurance. The activities are far more dangerous than most of those undertaken on a summer holiday and the cost of medical treatment is very high in some of the popular winter sport destinations. When you see someone limping onto the plane with their leg in plaster in Switzerland after a skiing accident that treatment may have cost as much as £25,000, more if a helicopter was used to get them to hospital. In the US the same treatment may cost 3 times as much. Complete Ski has an interesting leg fracture map here.
Add ski cover to a general travel policy or go for specialist cover.
Common sense would probably tell you that the more extreme your activities are then the more likely you are to need a specialist policy. If you plan to ski on piste then an add on, perhaps to your standard annual travel policy, may be good value but check the wording to be sure that you have the cover you need.
Here are some specialists to try.
More travel insurance guides and information on this site.
Your use of this web site is subject to your acceptance of our Terms of Use.
Don't leave reading the small print until you need to make a claim. If you do it may be too late if you find that you have not complied with a specific requirement of the policy......................
In addition to what you would expect from a standard travel policy for skiing insurance look out for:
- Adequate medical cover
- Cover for search and rescue
- Repatriation costs
- Hired equipment or own equipment cover
IMPORTANT: Make sure that the activities that you plan are fully covered and check for exclusions. You will probably have no cover if you are under the influence of drink or drugs. Remember the morning after a few schnapps that you may still have alcohol in your blood stream.
Ski tips and slope safety.