 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm no longer a member of the Ski Club of Great Britain, which I used to get my travel insurance through, which covered off-piste skiing. I may join again before a possible holiday in a month or so's time, but if not, I am wondering about just going with the travel insurance I get with my Nat West bank account, which covers snowsports. Like most general purpose travel insurance, though, this doesn't cover off-piste. I was wondering whether it is possible to buy something on a per day basis in the resorts? I seem to recall there was something like this in Monte Rosa, but I didn't look into it (as I was already insured). I also have a vague recollection of some French organisation you can become a member of which covers you.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Austrian Alpine Club?
A lot of people use BMC or Dogtag
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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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Snowcard.
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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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Or just don't get the 15% off and buy the Ski Club insurance as a non member.
There's also snowcard but do check all their pop up boxes for T&Vs, especially for longer breaks.
There's also carre Neige or carte Neige in France, but the cover is limited if you end up in hospital for a long time. It's more for the rescue costs and then insertion into the French medical system.
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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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Thanks, all. The Carre Neige is what I was thinking of for France. Dogtag only seems to cover in resort off-piste, i.e., between pistes, although I'm not really sure what this means in European terms. What I would be looking for would be something which I could use when skiing in an area such as Monte Rosa in Italy, where there are lots of known routes which wouldn't probably be counted as being within any of the 3 resorts as such (Champoluc, Gressoney, Alagna).
I haven't come across BMC. I used to use MPI and may go back to them. I'll also look at Snowcard. My sister is a member of Austrian Alpine Club so I'll ask her about that.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'm not really sure what this means in European terms
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There was a lot of discussion on SHs some years ago about dogtag. I talked to them on the phone, and gave up. Once I had bashed my head for a while against the "resort boundaries" question I spent some time on the "skiing against local advice" issue. Obviously that would rule out closed pistes, but that's fair enough. When I queried avalanche warning levels they said well no, obviously you daft woman, if there are any avalanche warnings, you wouldn't be insured. What if the level was, say, 1 or 2, I asked and I was on a gentle slope? No, it was one thing they were sure of. Any avalanche warning, and all bets are off.
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@pam w, ? idiots, there's always an avalanche warning 
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I had a similarly frustrating call with the Ski club insurance re their definition of ski mountaineering vs ski touring, as the former was excluded
Since then I have used BMC which seems very broad in terms of cover
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There was a lot of discussion on SHs some years ago about dogtag. I talked to them on the phone, and gave up. Once I had bashed my head for a while against the "resort boundaries" question I spent some time on the "skiing against local advice" issue. Obviously that would rule out closed pistes, but that's fair enough. When I queried avalanche warning levels they said well no, obviously you daft woman, if there are any avalanche warnings, you wouldn't be insured. What if the level was, say, 1 or 2, I asked and I was on a gentle slope? No, it was one thing they were sure of. Any avalanche warning, and all bets are off.
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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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I'm leaning towards Austrian Alpine Club at the moment. Anyone here have any experience of dealing with them?
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AAC cover will be sufficient most of the time. It may not fully cover a major incident. How much cover you want is a personal thing tied to how much risk you are comfortable with
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@J2R, last time we checked MPI are not offering cover this year.
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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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AAC just covers the off piste rescue part. The hospital treatment is down to your general travel insurance.
Another one to look at if LV. Certainly for their annual, multi-trip cover the winter sports add-on includes off piste - but like Dogtag with the meaningless in Europe "...within the ski area boundaries of a recognised ski resort and follow the ski patrol guidelines.", whatever that means. If you're only going "off piste" and not "way off piste" that might work for you - if it's also on their single-trip policies?
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@Mjit, I would hope that my general travel insurance would kick in in such an eventuality. Don't really know how to be certain, though. And certainty is the key, as with the Dogtag insurance. I really don't want them to have the wiggle room not to pay out.
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You know it makes sense.
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Actually, it would help me if I understood a bit better what I was insuring against here. Is the exclusion of off-piste from most policies because of the cost of the off-piste rescue element, in which case AAC covers it? Or is there something else, such that the rescue etc. may well be perfectly covered by the AAC membership, but that any further treatment may not be if it was the result of off-piste skiing? I would have thought that this was dealt with by EHIC or its replacement anyway, as long as it's within Europe?
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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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It's mainly down to the risk of a large mountain recovery bill.
Almost any accident up a mountain could require a helicopter but most don't and it's actually quicker to scoop someone up on a skidoo or stretcher and get them to a medial centre/paramedic ambulance, and that's all you need really if you've tweaked your knee or something. At least it's quicker if you're on a piste, with piste staff handy and with nice groomed routes to get to you. If you're off piste and tweak your knee a helicopter's often the only practical option, just a very expensive one.
The winter element of general travel insurance covers the risks of on piste skiing, which is what 99% of skiers do. They don't tend to cover the risks of off piste skiing as that would get spread over everyone's premiums, pushing them up and making one companies policy look expensive and less attractive compared to the competition.
The AAC set-ups based on your general insurance kicking in. It should do as you're just making a claim for medical, etc costs and not anything to do with skiing. I've not had to tested it in anger yet, thankfully but I use LV+AAC and will be relying on it next week...
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Poster: A snowHead
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I took up Carre neige insurance for whole season for 42 euro seems a very good deal covers all expanses treatment and rescue. worth looking into
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Main benefits for AAC are in the link below. Offers 25k Euro for rescue and a subsequent 10k Euro for hospital treatment.
Snowcard offer 100k GBP for search and rescue and up to £10m for medical expenses. BMC offers the same level of cover.
It depends how much risk you are willing to take. Most ski injuries will not require anything like the amount of cover offered by the AAC and in some places (e.g. outside of French ski domaines) search and rescue is not chargeable. Elsewhere it may be chargeable (Switzerland) and potentially very expensive.
https://www.alpenverein.at/portal/service/mitgliedschaft/mitgliedervorteile/membership-english-version/0100_insured-worldwide.php
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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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Thanks. I'm definitely not going to be doing much that is risky, although of course any off-piste skiing can be risky if things turn bad, whatever precautions you have taken. AAC is looking like the winner at the moment for me.
Carre Neige looks good but presumably only applies in France? And this would concern me: "Accident while skiing or doing other winter sports in the ski area including the off-piste ski area that is accessible via ski-lift". So, if you take skins with you, take a lift, skin up somewhere and then have an accident are you not covered? Carre Neige would still be a very affordable option, though, if we decide to go to France for our holiday, as we're not really likely to be doing any touring.
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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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@J2R, We had a similar look around the market when MPI were unable to renew our annual policy last year and ended up with LV= for annual travel insurance, topped up with AAC to cover helicopter rescue etc. I'm very much hoping not to claim on either, but friends have been very happy with the AAC following injuries in Switzerland which required a helicopter (one skiing and one parapente accident).
We also looked at the Swiss only top-up options of REGA or Air Glacier - but wanted cover to also ski/climb/bike elsewhere in Europe.
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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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@oui4ski, excellent, that sounds like another good plus point for AAC, then. I think I'll wait until I know where we're going to be going. If France, I'll use Carre Neige, otherwise AAC.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@J2R, Carte Neige is complicated but in France I think rescue is free out of ski areas defined by where you can access by lifts. It's some law of the mountains or other, but my old policy document is in France.
Carre Neige is also limited to the resort for which you bought the Ski pass with.
It's also worth remembering that it only covers the sporting element of your holiday not the falling over on the pavement bit.
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Your AAC card also gets you discounts at a few retailers. If you still have any shopping you might be able to save more on the shopping than the cost of the AAC membership.
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There's also an option with AAC to pay extra for a single trip policy to increase the medical limit from €10k to €500k. I paid this for a month-long trip to Japan in 2020 and it was good value compared to other off-piste insurance options I was looking at.
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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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@chocksaway, thanks. The falling over on the pavement bit would be covered by the regular travel insurance, though.
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@J2R, Absolutely, but I have heard a number of travellers saying oh with Carte Neige and EHIC I'm golden. So whenever I reply to this kind of question, I do clarify to prevent someone getting the wrong end of the stick.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Per @musehead, the AAC sell relatively cheap extension cover (fixed price for various lengths).
Given the relatively low medical cover as standard I would suggest this is probably worth adding on (n.b. fairly sure AAC + the extension is still very, very competitive if doing serious off piste that is difficult to cover (£57 membership + 25€ for up to 17 days (other periods available, but starts at 5 days and has to cover whole trip/from departure)), even if you don't use anything else the AAC offers, though it doesn't cover usual holiday stuff (e.g. theft, illness preventing travel etc etc...) only rescue.
I would also be careful about having multiple insurances (as it can make for arguments as to who is liable). You may be better having travel insurance without any ski cover and AAC cover (and accepting this means you aren't insured for no snow or skis being stolen etc) than having both and ending up debating who pays out...
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FAQ
