 Poster: A snowHead
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Ok, I've bitten the bullet and have booked a week of heli skiing in March to Tordillo Mountain Lodge, Alaska - now I' seeking your advice on the best insurance company to use. As ever your advice is greatly appreciated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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www.eaheliskiing.com has a good insurer link. dog tag.co.uk also are fine. I have Chubb currently through work but it doesn't seem to be available to personal cover only.
have you been to Alaska before? I have been considering it but nervous about weather
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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BMC are good, although expensive. I injured myself heli skiing this year and got back the cost of the unused heli skiing.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Personally I self insure. They tend to think you're stupid or rich if you're riding helis and charge accordingly.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The cheapest heli cover I found by a long way was insurance via the Ski Club GB. My annual global multi-trip was less than £200, which was half the amount that most of the other companies were quoting.
I was only doing day trips, so was not looking at cancellation cover, as cancellation due to weather fully refunded. With lodge skiing you need to consider what the companies refund policy is for non-ski days. The ones I looked at, mainly offer vouchers for future trips rather than refunds.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Down-days:
It depends a bit where you go. I'm not sure how it works in places like AK for example. In BC... for "weekly" heli, broadly if you're down then you sit there and watch the weather and try not to think about how much it's costing you. Mostly refunds only cut in if you have a large number of down days - in 50 odd weeks I've only ever managed a refund once, when we were down for half a week. That is exceptionally bad.
You can either take the cash (a bad idea), or take a discount off the next trip which has about twice the value. Generally though if you're down for a day or half a day (half a day is average in a week) then you'll easily make that vertical up in any case, so you're not going to see a refund.
Insurance people could not sensibly compute those risks I'd say.
For day stuff, if you're down then you don't pay. Their cost base works a bit differently (and their cost per vertical meter is much more than lodge based).
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Cancellation:
At Powder Mountain (day cat/heli), if you cancel with over a day's notice you don't pay.
Technically at most lodge-based heli they're going to charge you if you try that. On the other hand if you're a regular customer they really don't want to insist on their rights if you're polite and reasonable.
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@philwig, Self insurance is a good idea most of the time, but you could be hit with a bill for tens of thousands (or more) if you're seriously injured in the USA or Canada.
I get travel insurance for the medical/repatriation cover primarily.
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@musehead, he knows that, but his stock answer for insurance is to "self insure"...and I get the impression he only skis USA/Canada so is clearly happy with the risk of being bankrupted in the event of a major incident ..although I guess he could be rich as Croesus
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@musehead, @holidayloverxx, hmm, I've heli'ed in Canada. Few times and didn't find insurance any sort of issue. The self insurance discussed is, I think, @philwig, ? More to do with other stuff that normal insurance doesn't handle.
Oh and I was very clear to my insurers exactly what I was going to do...
(I think it was covered explicitly on my credit card insurance )
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@under a new name, he self insures for everything from what I've read, e.g. car hire excess
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The third person thing seems a bit odd - is this a private party? Or do I need to were a furry jump suit and have a silly name to join in?
I was trying to think what I do insure. My house is insured - the cost is low and I don't want to buy another one.
I have to pay for "employees liability insurance", because it's the law. I don't insure my company machines because we write them off very quickly and their asset value is minimal.
I have to have third party insurance on my car, ditto. That's also "fully comp", but only because the price of it's so cheap as not to be worth bothering about (I do have a huge excess, really I'm only insuring against a write-off, I don't crash into things). I don't insure my bikes, I just have the world's biggest locks and I never, ever leave them unlocked.
So I do not "self insure everything", I just do a bit of cost-benefit analysis on everything. Not the same thing, just so you know.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Another option might be Life Style Financial, they provide travel and medical insurance specific to heliskiing.
Geoffrey Straight B.Comm
travel@lifestylefinancial.ca
LIFESTYLE FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD.
Ph. 250-542-8577 Fx. 250-542-8022
www.lifestylefinancial.ca
Associate member of HeliCat Canada
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I use Snowcard, they cover heliskiing and cat skiing. You select the level of danger/cover you require. I get a years policy which also covers me for mountain biking.
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You know it makes sense.
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ditto , snowcard is great as you can just specify the bits that are not covered by your house / contents/credit card insurance etc
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Try MPI - I've found there multitrip to be the best value with v good coverage
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all I ended up using Aventure insurance as they would insure a trip for £10,000, most other seemed to be be £5k. Also did not appear to charge an excess on a disclosed knee issue.
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FAQ
