 Poster: A snowHead
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While away in Montgenevre in January, I took a tumble and dislocated my shoulder. Piste patrol arrived after being called for by a passing instructor. They helped me sit up, where my shoulder popped back in (old injury, knew it would go in if I was sat up). They then insisted that I was taken down to the bottom of the slope in their stretcher..... I filled in my details etc at the bottom, thinking that it was just for their records. Several weeks later, I've recieved a bill from them for nearly £200 for the pleasure. I've spoken to the insurnace company, who have sent me a claim form, however, all it seems to say on there is that they will pay for medical treatment / hospitalisation - no mention is made of 'transport'. My question? What would happen if i was to accidentally forget to pay them? Are they likely to try and extradite me / turn up on my door step with some heavies, arrest me at the airport should I ever go back to France etc? Also, the letter sent to me with the bill is all in French. Its been many years since I had to read anything other than a menu in French.
I understand that those guys and gals do a cracking job up there, and have no qualms about paying for a service, but, £200 seems a bit steep to me to be honest!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I think this is a fairly standard charge to be honest - since this happened to some people we were staying with in a chalet - their daughter felt unwell in a lesson and the instructor called the skidoo! - I have always thought we ought to buy the lift pass insurance which covers you for this. Strangely most of the tour ops we have been with don't even mention it. Actually whilst it is rather galling to have to pay it when your shoulder had popped back in I don't actually think £200 is too bad.
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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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mustdash, rescue tarifs are set by the Conseil General, not the lift companies - if that's what they've charged you, then that's what you'd be charged anywhere in Hautes Alpes. If you've gone skiing with a travel insurance policy which doesn't cover piste rescue, you will have to stump up. Or you could just 'forget' it I suppose - the ultimate result would just be that it gets more expensive for everyone else in future.
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Lizzard, As i said, its not about not paying as such, its just that £200 seems a tad excessive, when it was their insistance that I go with them. When my (now ex) girlfriend got skidooed off the mountain and into the back of an ambulance in Austria a few years ago the total charge was only £300!!
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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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I had a parallel experience climbing/scrambling in Switzerland.
We were doing the West face of the Eiger about 10 years ago in July. Unlike the famous North face, this is a scramble (probably about grade 2) albeit very exposed & dangerous in parts.
There was a *lot* of snow. Part way up a snow field an avalanche started above. We managed to shelter beneath a rock buttress until everything settled down, then we began to retreat down the avalanche debris, having decided to abandon our attempt.
About 10/15 minutes later a rescue helicoptor turned up. Aparently we had been seen heading upwards at the time the avalanche happened by someone at Kliene Schiedegg (a restuarant/tourist area reached by train from the valley) who then duly called mountain rescue.
The helicoptor landed and we were invited in. Despite quite fancying a helicoptor ride in such a setting, we were wary of hidden costs, so we declined and explained that we were properly equipped and that we were heading down now. They insisted, however, that we be lifted off, explaining that "there almost certainly wouldn't be a charge" and "as they had to go back to the landing pad at Kliene Schiedegg anyway we may as well come along".
So we did. Back at Kliene they asked for our details, which we reluctantly gave, including UK addresses.
A few weeks later when we were back in the UK we recieved an invoice for about £2000. We fought this with a few exchanges of letters over the course of some months, and eventually they didn't bother replying and we heard nothing more.
I was rather concerned about what might happen when I next flew into Switzerland the following summer. No problems at all, and I retain fond memories of the free ride through the mountains.
Not the same situation as the OP, but does show what can be acheived by being persistent.
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mustdash, you may wish to take it up with the Conseil General then. Have fun. 
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| Quote: |
They then insisted
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Ultimately, I suppose they can't "insist" - but you'd need to be pretty independent-minded to refuse; a bit like discharging yourself from hospital against medical advice. The people who come and pick you up are probably not medically qualified and are trained to be cautious; if in doubt they will put you in a neck collar and have you in hospital quick as a flash. Your UK travel insurance should pay for this rescue cost - though if you have Carte Neige/Carré Neige it's far more straightforward, and you wouldn't get a bill.
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Pisteurs (thankfully) put julesb in a neck brace, but he had already walked to the cabinet medicale by then, so no charge. We were meant to return the neck collar but it vanished in Briancon hospital.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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mustdash, Its gone up a bit in price. My son who is a bit of a drama queen or was when he was younger was blood waggoned off in Montgenevre after huting his knee. I told him to stop being a wimp but he insisted he couldn't move without pain. Little sod was running around fine five minutes after being stretchered off.
Got the money back on insurance minus the excess just sent it off to the insurance company.
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mustdash, £200 is very little, when I have been bloodwagoned off in Europe they have taken my skis as a deposit when I couldn't pay on the spot.
Each bit of an evacuation attracts a different charge- pisteurs, ambulance etc- then the medical bill.
I am guessing that you are from the UK and have grown up with the NHS. Almost anywhere else in the world (apart from Cuba) you can expect to pay for medical treatment / ambulances on the spot (but get the money back later depending on insurance etc). Perhaps the NHS isn't so dreadful after all- you even get free tea and biscuits (which you'd be billed for anywhere else and in any case tea and biscuits whilst life savers to some aren't medical treatment).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Pretty sure it's the going rate for our neck of the woods too.........just be thankful that it wasn't a helicopter  (Although if you ever need a helicopter, insist on the gendarmerie one which the pisteurs told me that was free to all though I'm not absolutely sure that's true) Aspam w, next time think about getting carte/carre neige at a couple of quid a day and you won't have pay a thing at point of service. All very painless - even if the injury isn't
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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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Is the only advantage of carte neige over other adequate insurance that you don't have to produce a CC before they'll cart you off the slopes?
BTW, a chum of ours was carted off in a blood wagon in Flaine last month, no carte neige, no question of coughing up on the spot. He's a young lad, but he was with his Dad.
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petem77, my wife was evacuated off the slopes in Zermatt with a disclocated shoulder on Christmas Day (hers didn't "pop back" - despite my best efforts  ). They wanted to use a helicopter, but since she'd had the injury before and I was a tad concerned that the insurer would use this as an excuse not to pay, she was evacuated by sled to a nearby station and then down on the mountain railway - price 250CHF. She was then taken by private ambulance to the clinic 600yds away - another 250CHF. We just shrugged our three good shoulders and paid it.
I'm quite surprised that your insurer won't pay, have you actually submitted the claim or was it not a Winter Sports insurance?
Incidentally Direct Travel have reimbursed both bits of the evacuation and the medical expenses in full.
My view however was that I was just grateful that a service was there to help and at the end of the day would have paid whatever was necessary, regardless of the cost
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Just one comment about the £200. Although it may seem a lot for the short trip, you have to remember that you are paying not only for that but also for the fact that the rescue team have to be on duty all the time, waiting to help. I assume the price is calculated to cover the costs of providing the rescue service, though I wouldn't be surprised if the service runs at a loss. Hope you get the money back from your insurance, mustdash.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I would be amazed if your insurance doesn't cover this.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| John Crawford wrote: |
By contrast, Mrs C was stretchered off the mountain in Telluride, Colorado last month after sliding into a tree and hurting her back.  5 ski patrollers attended the incident, during which she was carted off the mountain whilst I followed her on the ski patrol snowmobile. We then had a 15 minute transfer in their van to the local "E.R." The total cost of rescue? Nowt!! |
Were they volunteers who did that for the love of assisting injured people?
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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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Always have it in mind to top up with the local lift insurance.....as if you can't ski, they will refund that day, IIANM.
Also gets you off the mountain PDQ...
In the UK...heli rescue is performed by the RAF mostly and they use it for training purposes... so that along with the rescue teams on the ground plus the NHS makes us pretty lucky at home, re costs..
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In the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the Ski Patrol is employed by the lift companies and their costs are covered by what you have paid for your lift pass. So all those who don't get injured subsidise the costs of those who do. Once you get in the ambulance or to the hospital the situation changes depending on which country you are in.
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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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| Sarge McSarge wrote: |
| In the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the Ski Patrol is employed by the lift companies and their costs are covered by what you have paid for your lift pass. So all those who don't get injured subsidise the costs of those who do. Once you get in the ambulance or to the hospital the situation changes depending on which country you are in. |
And that sounds like a ridiculously sensible idea!
Why don't all resorts calculate how much they spend each year on rescues, and add it to the cost of the lift pass?
Sure, lift passes would go up by a few quid per week, but I already accept that I'm paying for maintainance/development of the resort in with the cost of the pass - so why not add safety?
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Hmmm - I guess I'll wait to see if we receive a bill for the OH being taken on the back of skidoo up the mountain (so we could take the gondola down the other side to the medical centre). I just assumed as they never asked for money or said anything about a bill that we wouldn't but they have got our details. This was in Austria.
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I got heli'd off the hill in Avoriaz three weeks ago. When the Patroller came down to assess me he asked me how I would pay or if I had insurance. I showed him my insurance certificate and he took details from that and then called the chopper. I haven't received an invoice yet but having read this story I am sure one will probably be on it's way soon
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| Sarge McSarge wrote: |
| In the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the Ski Patrol is employed by the lift companies and their costs are covered by what you have paid for your lift pass. So all those who don't get injured subsidise the costs of those who do. Once you get in the ambulance or to the hospital the situation changes depending on which country you are in. |
And often most of them are volunteers whose only "pay" is a lift pass.
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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 always pay local insurance with my lift ticket, in addition to having yearly wintersports ravel insurance - I hope that covers me for this kind of thing!
Have to agree with JT that we are pretty luck in the UK and whatever else people might say about skiing in Scotland they can be added to the list of places where ski patrol will evacuate people with no quibbles about money or any bills being posted at a later date.
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| richmond wrote: |
| BTW, a chum of ours was carted off in a blood wagon in Flaine last month, no carte neige, no question of coughing up on the spot. He's a young lad, but he was with his Dad. |
They were charged €400 for the blood wagon and a 100m ambulance trip to the doc's for which they were given a bill to send to their insurance co. for settlement. No proof of anything required, no immediate payment, no hanging onto skis pending payment. They were then charged €65 for a 150m ambulance ride from the doc's to their apartment. Hefty charges, but no argy bargy about demanding payment.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hi, first post, thought I'd gve you my experience. We did Arc 1800 in the New Year, my wife literally put her first turn in on a blue (first lift, half hour on the slope), and bust her knee. Total costs: 304 Euro (same as pounds these days) for the blood wagon (she needed it, I would have paid twice that to get her down), God knows what the medical centre bill was, insurance settled direct over the phone somehow, 170 Euro for the leg brace, anti-inflamatories and pain killers. Then the other costs start adding up, 7 days lift pass not used, ski hire ... I think we were down somewhere in the region of a grand by the end. Here's the good part: I had bought family insurance with winter sports cover, same as I normally do, forget who it was with but it was underwritten by Europe Assist. It turned out this didn't cover the blood wagon. However, I was also travelling with 2 other families, and I had booked 2 Pierre & Vacance appartments and ticked the insurance box absentmindedly (125 Euro for 9 people, seemed cheap on hindsight). It also turned out that this insurance (which incidently was also underwritten by Europe Assist) did cover the blood wagon. It's taken until now, but we have nearly claimed mosts costs back, including lift pass, etc (but endless form work with the French Europe Assist, including providing proof of relationship between me the policy holder and the injured, my wife. I hate to think about what might have occurred if one of the other parties had been injured, although everyone else also had their own insurance). Only remains to claim the leg brace costs from the NHS (Newcastle, etc). I suppose the moral here is to check your insurance carefully, if your with a party, ensure everyone has their own cover (it's scary being respsonsible for buying insurance for others), and I now realise, looking at other posts, that the insurance you can buy at the ski lift is porbably the best. Is that right?
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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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| dr-martin-white wrote: |
| ... However, I was also travelling with 2 other families, and I had booked 2 Pierre & Vacance appartments and ticked the insurance box absentmindedly (125 Euro for 9 people, seemed cheap on hindsight). It also turned out that this insurance (which incidently was also underwritten by Europe Assist) did cover the blood wagon. |
It's called Carre Neige (Carte Neige if you buy the annual policy) which is sold as an option when you buy your lift pass in (all?) French resorts.
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Thanks, only been skiing 6 years, keep hearing about this insurance. I'm currently thinking about a last minute trip to make up for the New Year fiasco, if I manage it, I'll get the Carre Neige this time.
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You know it makes sense.
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dr-martin-white, our insurers (Direct Travel) dealt with the claims from the NHS on our behalf.
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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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Helen, that's cool, we didn't even think about claiming on NHS until Europe Assist sent a garbled letter back in French asking us to claim on our 'normal insurance' and 'state insurance' (having paid all the rest), anyhow my wife phone NHS Newcastle and they were very helpful, she's just got to fill the form in ....
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Poster: A snowHead
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| dr-martin-white wrote: |
| ... I'll get the Carre Neige this time. |
When you buy your lift pass just ask for it "with insurance" and you'll get the Carre Neige policy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Rob, thanks for the advice, most certainly will do  Quick question, I was looking (drooling over the EoSB posts) where the cost includes the lift pass I think, how does this stack up with the Carre Niege, I presume if your going on the EoSB you'll need to get the Carre Niege separately.
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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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An interesting thread. Well started mustdash,
dr-martin-white, following your experience I thought I'd best check the situation with my own annual family multi-trip policy with wintersports cover policy. Thankfully it does cover evacuation from the mountain - though it is not in the documentation. So assuming what they told me on the phone is true, you could consider AXA next time round. I just renewed mine through Egg and it cost £81.15 for the 5 of us.
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Hi ray, my mistake (I say mistake, but in the end I was covered through ticking, as I say absent mindedly, the insurance box on the accomodation) was looking for, not exactly the cheapest, insurance specifically for winter sports on moneysupermarket.com. This long list came up and as a precaution, I didn't select the top one, the absolute cheapest. I selected one about 5 down, assumed recovery would be part and parcel ... My policy cost £32, so that's a big difference between that and yours, mind you it was single trip, so ... Anyhow, I got lucky with the accomodation insurance. I'll certainly consider one of the better ones, next time.
Finally, I second ray, mustdash, that was a good thread, it's clear my mind on what's best to do for insurance now.
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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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I had a similar experience to dr-martin-white, - my wife twisted her knee on the second day of our holiday which resulted in her being taken down in a stretcher to Arc 2000 then an ambulance to Arc 1600. The ambulance and piste rescue were about 500 odd Euros which was guaranteed directly by my Insurance Company (Direct Travel) to the Piste Patrol Office situated next to the medical centre. The medical bill of 179 Euros was paid at the time and claimed back from our insurance company.
The Insurance company also paid for the unused ski hire minus excess of £50. What they haven't paid for is the unused lift pass, I'm still waiting for an answer to see if it is covered (the small print in their policy document is a bit vague).
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We were able to claim back a refund from the lift pass office, for the unused portion of the lift pass, on presentation of a letter from the doctor. So there was no need to involve the insurance company with that. Had others not tried that or have they not been able to get such a refund from the lift company? This was in Serfaus, Austria.
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Sage, they should definitely pay for the unused portion of the lift pass for the injured person. Payable at 20 quid a day under section 16 if you make a claim for an injury under section 1
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| cathy wrote: |
| We were able to claim back a refund from the lift pass office, for the unused portion of the lift pass, on presentation of a letter from the doctor. So there was no need to involve the insurance company with that. Had others not tried that or have they not been able to get such a refund from the lift company? This was in Serfaus, Austria. |
A lift pass refund for medical reasons is not a given at all resorts. For example in Verbier
| Quote: |
... Verbier-Sécurité For the price of 4 CHF per day or 84 CHF per season, Verbier offers the following services in the event of an accident or illness:
# Ski pass refund...... |
In other words, you need the insurance to get the refund.
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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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Helen Beaumont, They paid the £20 per day, but I wasn't sure if this covered the Lift Pass as well as ski hire.
We received 4 Days @ £20 = £80 less £50 excess = £30 to cover a PDS liftpass at 230 Euro and £50 for ski hire. Something to watch out for in the small print.
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When my OH had to cut short a holiday in La Plagne to get back to deal with storm damage to our house (I stayed on. ) our insurance - I think it was snowcard - was very good about getting him home, refunding six-sevenths of his package cost they would not refund on the lift pass. They said to try in resort but I had no luck with my hard luck story about the roof blowing off my house in the UK and hubby having to go home to deal with it.
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