Decent insurance, to cover general skiing and off-piste - any suggestions?

john101 wrote:hard to find good cover.
worked in a resort, was with a ski instructor friend who took kids off piste, he fell and broke his back, ended up crawling back onto the piste for a helicoptor!funny looking back but not at the time!
If im right though, snow mobiles/helicoptors will only rescue you on piste anyway, perhaps im wrong apologies every1 if i am! :oops:

you're not right but don't worry, it's not very simple at all :lol: it hugely depends on the country you're in who is it that's going to come and rescue you and how they charge.

OTOH, an instructor should be taking people places his own insurance doesn't cover, that doesn't sound too good.

I understand the BMC policy is pretty good, it's a mountaineering based thing so more risk aware than guys who normally cover beach holidays.

BMC (British Mountaineering Club) definitely cover off piste - my son was rescued by helicopter last year after an off piste accident and no probs with the claim. If you are in France your best option is to take out the Carte Neige insurance at 3 euros a day with your lift pass. This covers you for all off piste rescue which many of the cheap UK policies do not. Also speeds up treatment on piste and you don't have to pay up front. I will never forget the screams of a teenager in Chamonix, being brought down in a lift with a broken leg by his mother because she had not taken out the Carte Neige...

ParalyticSkiCrazie, do you ever have 'user-name regret'?

If so I have been there and know how you feel... it is a lonely place.

ParalyticSkiCrazie wrote:BMC (British Mountaineering Club) definitely cover off piste - my son was rescued by helicopter last year after an off piste accident and no probs with the claim.

The annual policy is something like 140 quid and covers trips upto 90 days I think. It's an Alpine and Ski policy so if you wanted to climb Mt Blanc and ski down (which I don't recommend, it's too busy nowadays) then it would cover you.

The problem is that it's for members only. Anyone can join but it does cost £29.95 per year. The other route is to join an affiliated club, that's often a cheaper option as the affiliated club fee is (I think) £11.75

The Ski Club one never quite looks as good although it's apparently managed by Perkin Slade now. I would think they also do the BMC one, Perkin Slade are the professional insurer for mountain leaders so they're known in this market.

Personally, I'd go with the BMC one although if you're not a member it bumps the cost up and for a single trip that might be too much

RossF wrote:And avvy danger was that bad :shock:

I didn't think the interior was hit too bad, where did you ski?

Starting Jan 4th, we skied Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, Panorama and Sunshine.

We had fresh powder at Revelstoke and Kicking Horse, but it was unusually heavy for early Jan and the base was really in need of the new snow.

They had just had an extended period of -40C and sparse coverage prior to the snowfall when it also warmed up to the minus single digits, followed by high winds. On top of a Nov raincrust this provided serious avalanche conditions for the two weeks from 5th. (Rated at Extreme for at least a week or so at treeline and alpine for the majority of western canada).

We attended an avalanche awarness evening in Banff on 11th where an avalanche forcaster described the then current cycle as one of the most serious in living memory. A guy from parks Canada explained that whilst helicopter bombing a couple of days earlier, the disturbance of the bomb casing hitting the snow was enough to trigger avalanches that ran the full historic path of known runnouts.

We had a day-off in Golden on the 8th and drove towards Rogers Pass. All the roadside banks from Golden to Kinbasket Lake Resort had mini avalanches. Like nothing I have ever seen.

As a result, the steeper less ski compacted terrain inbounds was closed. The conditions now seem to have come back down to Medium/Considerable.

Check out Avalanche.ca for reports.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Seems like quite a common issue. It's a pain having to consider that insurers will try every excuse they can not to pay out. A friend of mine broke her tibia and fibula last year on an area just off-piste so the danger is always in the back of my mind. Thankfully my hubby is pretty risk averse and didn't venture off-piste because he recognised it was the wrong type of snow at the time, but I know he'd love to do something a bit more adventurous if he gets the chance. Will look into the mountaineering club stuff as he also now partakes in the bonkers mountain marathons, so it might be worth his while joining up, if they include that sort of thing.

Nitty

ise wrote:

OTOH, an instructor should be taking people places his own insurance doesn't cover,

Not the best advice I have seen you give out on this site

steve, you have to go back when the terrain is open, you seriously missed out on the good stuff at Kicking Horse/Revelstoke!