 Poster: A snowHead
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From the forum I get the message of the normal skiing holiday insurance, taken out with a UK insurance company or the resort insurance provider, can adequately cover the insuer as long as the accident takes place within marked piste. This I supposed is the prepared or groomed area by a snow basher with marker poles on both sides.
Skiers/boarders go off piste require an additional or a different cover.
Many Austrian and Swiss resorts have ski routes which are not prepared or groomed but just sign-posted. Thus a skier/boarder can deviate away from the marker 1m or 1km. In the latter he/she is clearly skiing elsewhere. So how far away from a marker should the insurer be regarded "on piste" to qualify for the cover? or the normal insurance simply does not cover the ski route at all? I am assuming the ski route being an integral part of the piste map so the skiing insurnace should have no problem in covering it except a ski route has no defined boundary.
Never have to claim yet but just curious.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Solve the problem simply by making sure you have an insurance that covers unrestricted off-piste. Direct Travel does European annual insurance for under £50. SCGB is similar, slightly pricier.
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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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I agree, wouldn't chance it, and always go for insurance that covers off-piste....
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GrahamN,
What happen to someone who has no desire to go off piste, hence has no additional cover, but skiing everything according to the piste map and finds oneself standing in front of a ski route of either taking a long walk back or going with the ski route which is also showed on the piste map. A ski route should be accurately stated and often depicted in a broken line or a different colour but not all resorts pay attention to details.
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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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It varies depending on the policy, but the last couple I have had define "on piste" as being any marked route, so you would be OK with those policies.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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How much do you pay for your insurance as it stands? If a full cover policy costs less that some gash TO job, why not take it even if it covers more than you normally need. Their weekly rate is from £13.00.
Answering your original question, I don't know, it's a bit of a grey area. But with deals like this, I really don't care. The piste map also clearly marks routes differently to regular pistes, so you should never be in the quandry you pose in your second post - that's only due to an inability to read a piste map. Similar kind of incompetence as if you end up at the bottom of the wrong valley when the lift close.
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| GrahamN wrote: |
How much do you pay for your insurance as it stands? If a full cover policy costs less that some gash TO job, why not take it even if it covers more than you normally need. Their weekly rate is from £13.00.
Answering your original question, I don't know, it's a bit of a grey area. But with deals like this, I really don't care. The piste map also clearly marks routes differently to regular pistes, so you should never be in the quandry you pose in your second post - that's only due to an inability to read a piste map. |
Do you actually ski in a variety of resorts?
As Saikee said, Routes are usually marked by a dotted line.
But if you have skied much at all in different places, you are surely aware that not all piste maps are entirely accurate 
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if you believe that the piste maps aren't reliable or accurate then you should definitely get yourself covered for those eventualities.
If that means you need an off-piste variation, then you should have it..
I use Snowcard mostly to level 4 which is either a form or Ski touring or Heli skiing...can't recall which exactly at this point, but I make sure it fits my plans.
The cost of this is from about £34 for a week, but less than £50 for sure. I only have accident and medical and do away with all the other junk.
It is quite easy to streamline it via the policy choices..
I also take the local variation of Carre Niege or the equivalent that the Swiss offer....and only a few eu/chf per day...
If you consider that you may get lost and then want to argue about whose faults it is... personally, I'd put well-being and insurance ahead of that but insurance will only have the potential to rescue a situation...doesn't stop you from getting into one
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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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| Quote: |
I also take the local variation of Carre Niege or the equivalent that the Swiss offer....and only a few eu/chf per day...
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I think that has to be the simplest answer for anyone who is concerned - in the event of an accident, even one covered by your UK insurance, it also makes life far easier, especially if the injured person is alone.
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pam w,
yes, hopefully, it has a real local benefit, but from the users POV, it is instantly recognised and acted upon..which takes a lot of potential nonsense out of the equation and gets you off the mountain PDQ and into hospital, should you require that.
Maybe it would overlap with some UK policies...you can then decide which language you want to pursue things...
I don't use just local as I would want my UK one to follow me home with any care I might need. If the local just got me off the hill and into hospital then that would be a good start, IMV
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Not convinced now that there is any point at all in taking out insurance.
The E111 card paid out over 99% pf my medical bolls when I broke my leg skiing.
The lift pass top-up insurance covered the 1% and 50% of the pisteurs and helicopter cost.
If I had no further insurance at all that would have left a fairly insignificant bill.
Neither of thoses care one way or the other if you were on piste or on a cliff. They just pay.
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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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rungsp, by "lift pass top up insurance" do you mean Carré/Carte Neige? who paid the other 50% of the helicopter/pisteur cost? Who paid to get you home?
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rungsp, You were relatively lucky, in that your injuries allowed to to return on the flight originally booked, without much in the way of special arrangements.
It would have been a large bill if you had no insurance and needed a special flight to get you home.
And of course the other thing insurance gives you is third party liability cover (i.e. if you cause somebody else harm and they claim against you).
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, the other 50% was paid by ski pass top up (the swiss version of Carte Neige).
alex_heney, I flew home a few days later, insurer paid the cost.
So yes my holiday insurer did pay out. BUT if I had had to cover the flight home it would not have been all that expensive. A few hundred pounds.
I know that is by no means insignificant, but considering the amount I've paid over the years in premiums I doubt if it is even break even.
My point is that the E111 and Catre Neige take the brunt, in fact the vast majority.
So is paying for holiday insurance worth it for skiing? I think probably not.
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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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rungsp, but your injury (though horrible enough) was straightforward. I have a friend who had to spend several months in Switzerland in a full body cast after a bad snowboarding crash - fortunately her dad lives in Zurich, but the cost of private physio, water therapy etc would have been huge. And if the injured person is the driver and the whole family have to be got home, or is too badly hurt to go in an ordinary plane, the costs can become astronomical. As are the costs of private ambulances. In many cases insurance is unnecessary - but I wouldn't take the risk. Another friend, driving home after half term in a rather tired old car, had taken AA 5* insurance and was very glad when her car broke down north of Dijon - involving very long tow, a hired car back to Calais, another from Calais - home, and then a trip back later to pick up her car. There were four of them in the car - it would have cost more than the car was worth to get them all back without insurance.
Taking Carte Neige on top of travel insurance is a bit "belt and braces" - but I've often done it.
My daughter in law injured her knee in Les Gets. She had to have a private ambulance to the airport (she couldn't get in ordinary car), three seats on the plane, a scheduled flight to her nearest airport (Bristol) then another private ambulance the other end. Her holiday insurance paid all that, and for our son to accompany her (we were all on a package, but she couldn't use the package flight home, which was a full charter plane. I don't think E111 would have covered much of that.
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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, E111 would have covered your friend in Switzerland, including all the extras.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You would be barking mad not to get insurance if going to the USA though.
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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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| alex_heney wrote: |
Do you actually ski in a variety of resorts?
As Saikee said, Routes are usually marked by a dotted line.
But if you have skied much at all in different places, you are surely aware that not all piste maps are entirely accurate |
Since you ask so nicely, 7 different ones last year (although 2 didn't have piste maps, as there were no pistes). Never came across anything that would have resulted in a problem. There were a couple of cases where we had the converse problem - we had to stay on a groomed piste as we couldn't find the route that was marked.
But still no-one has answered the question - how much do people pay for insurances that do not cover off-piste? How much (if anything) do people save by not getting a full cover insurance? Anything more that a pint in resort? If the problem posed did occur though, I would have thought that the far more serious problem is that you then get into conditions that are beyond your capabilities.
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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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| GrahamN wrote: |
| alex_heney wrote: |
Do you actually ski in a variety of resorts?
As Saikee said, Routes are usually marked by a dotted line.
But if you have skied much at all in different places, you are surely aware that not all piste maps are entirely accurate |
Since you ask so nicely, 7 different ones last year (although 2 didn't have piste maps, as there were no pistes). Never came across anything that would have resulted in a problem. There were a couple of cases where we had the converse problem - we had to stay on a groomed piste as we couldn't find the route that was marked.
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That is certainly a more common difficulty IME, agreed.
I have also quite commonly found pistes marked with a different colour on the ground to what the map says they should be.
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But still no-one has answered the question - how much do people pay for insurances that do not cover off-piste? How much (if anything) do people save by not getting a full cover insurance? Anything more that a pint in resort? |
I did wonder that. I have found very few policies in the last few years that don't include off-piste, although the conditions surrounding it vary.
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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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| Quote: |
the conditions surrounding it vary.
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That's the problem.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| rungsp wrote: |
Not convinced now that there is any point at all in taking out insurance.
The E111 card paid out over 99% pf my medical bolls when I broke my leg skiing.
The lift pass top-up insurance covered the 1% and 50% of the pisteurs and helicopter cost.
If I had no further insurance at all that would have left a fairly insignificant bill.
Neither of thoses care one way or the other if you were on piste or on a cliff. They just pay. |
That might work in France, depending on the resort. Didn't work for us in Austria this year where it was a private medical centre in resort who refused to deal with insurance companies or EHIC cards - we had to pay up front and then claim back on our insurance. About £1,000 you'd have lost if you hadn't had insurance and that was just fairly basic x-rays, drips, pain relief, ambulance etc for a couple of hours.
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As already stated, Direct Travel policy is for off-piste as part of their standard cover. It's about £60 IIRC for the two of us for an annual policy. We get this if only to cover us for small 'strays' off the piste.
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| cathy wrote: |
Didn't work for us in Austria this year where it was a private medical centre in resort who refused to deal with insurance companies or EHIC cards |
Which resort was that?
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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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Serfaus/Fiss
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cathy, I have been led to believe by others on here, that everything in Austria was covered by EHIC, and that France was the rip off. Obviously not. Most of hubby's expenses were covered by EHIC, apart from ambulance costs (I have no idea what these were as they dealt directly with insurers),flight home for him and son, and a daily hospital charge of 18€ (I think) per day. The insurers paid these, and refunded the cost of his ski pass, although only to a value of £25 per day. What wasn't covered was refund of mine and sons' ski passes etc , hotel expenses in Grenoble, and the rebooked ferry crossing for the rest of us as we had to curtail our holiday after only one day. Insurers eventually paid out, but not without a struggle, as it wasn't a typical snow injury case.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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it wouldn't help to have an EHIC for a private ambulance or other facility in France, either, AFAIK. On the other hand my son smashed his ankle toboganning in Austria (Alpbach) and pretty well all his treatment was "state", I think. He had some very good surgery done on his ankle, though he said the conditions in the hospital (food, lack of privacy etc) was positively third world. And he knows the third world. And speaks German.
It's luck of the draw, and insurance is not a major additional expense - we do have to pay a lot because a lot of the otherwise good policies, like Direct Line, don't cover the amount of time we spend skiing, and the length of our trips. Seems churlish to complain, though. 
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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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pam w, only the Sapeurs Pompiers ambulance is FOC as far as I know. All others are private and have to be paid for. In julesb's case this was sorted with the insurer by phone, but others in other resorts might have to pay up front. Treatment was first class, food appalling.
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Helen Beaumont, yes, it was because it was a private medical clinic that the costs there weren't covered by EHIC and also their private ambulance took the OH to hospital. We had to pay by credit card. The hospital costs were of course covered by EHIC - we didn't receive a bill and AFAIK the insurers dealt with them direct.
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