 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Wow.  Bearing in mind that stretchering off seems to be uncharged for in some countries (Austria & Scotland for exampe), it's curious that winter sports insurers don't have tiered pricing depending on European destination.
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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'll bet it costs a lot more than that to send an ambulance out a few miles to a minor RTA. They have to pay for all the overheads and sitting-around-time too, after all. It costs about £30 to see my chiropracter for 10 minutes.
Seems fair enuff for skiers and their insurers to meet the full cost of "stretchering off" - not sure why local taxpayers should have to pay when many of them are a lot less well-off than the visiting skiers.
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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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pam w, Ah the old 'skiiers are wealthy' tag line 
For me Im not sure why we should pay for the saturday morning football players to go to casulty when they hurt themselves?
what about the Middle aged men in Lycra on bikes? surely they are wealthy too?
Im not sure that the Tax payers do pay for ski patrol would be nice if they did might drop the lift prices.
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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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FlyingStantoni, my recent trip down the mountain took four different modes of transport. The only bit that we (or insurance company) seems to have been charged for was the €683 for the heli bit. No mention of the stretcher, skidoo or landy  So maybe more of a bargain than originally thought?!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
the old 'skiiers are wealthy' tag line
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well they're certainly not poor and the cost of decent insurance is a tiny proportion of the cost of a ski holiday. A cost of a small beer each day for Carte Neige? I'm not arguing that skiers should have to pay to go to casualty (skiers from within the EU are entitled to the same treatment as local people, after all) but I'd find it hard to argue that the cost of keeping a small army of trained personnel and equipment ready to come and pick me up if I fall and hurt myself on a ski run (or even out in the middle of nowhere) should be met by the general taxpayer. I agree it's hard to know where to draw the line, with sports activities, but hundreds and thousands of skiing foreigners descend on the mountains each week through the winter, and a fair few of them hurt themselves. I feel it's reasonable to ask them to pay. I don't begrudge having to pay the insurance costs.
Lou, don't count your chickens. It can take months for the bills for stretchers/skidoo etc to catch up with you.  How are the legs?
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shouldn't the ski patrol costs come from the lift pass? Would make more sense? I imagine this is how they pay for it in austria? I may be wrong?
You'll have to get your own snowmobile and do it privately for 370euros
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pam w, Just to stir the pot
Hundreds of thousands of visitors bring a huge ecconomic benifit to area.
Even Scotish skiing brings in 37million or so and represents a big portion of the total eccomonic activity for those areas.
Im just not sure why skiers are different to say mountain walkers/bikers, just because they are percieved to be wealthy.
The cost of a lot of the mountain bikes out on the hill is many many time the cost of the kit needed by skiiers?
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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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| kevindonkleywood wrote: |
| Im not sure that the Tax payers do pay for ski patrol would be nice if they did might drop the lift prices. |
No, it's not the tax payer. Ski patrol are funded by the ski centres / resort operators.
Even though the lift pass in Ischgl earlier this month was less expensive than at similar sized resorts in France, when one of our group of 4 (who was already tired and struggling but ignored advice & insisted on continuing rather than taking a gondola down) ended up getting sledded down a couple of miles when a calf cramp left him unable to ski any further, no details were taken & no charge was expected by the sled team. I just wanted to poke him with my poles until he put his skis back on but some passing French (not German or Austrian) skiers insisted on calling rescue. He lost the next day's (midweek freshies) skiing so I hope some 'know your own limits' kind of lesson was learned.
Anyhow, it actually makes France a rather more expensive proposition in the Eurozone for insuring incident prone Brit skiers and it gets me wondering how much my premiums go to paying for the morning pastis' drinking when rescues are charged / funded on a bonus basis.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Yep, it's 320 euros in Pralognan or 640 if you're off piste!
Bear in mind that your not paying just for your 20 minutes of glory but for all those blokes to sit around in a hut all day waiting for you to go crunch.
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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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| Quote: |
Im just not sure why skiers are different to say mountain walkers/bikers
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I'm not sure they are. If a mountain biker needs a helicopter off a French mountain, is that provided by the state? If a French lifeboat tows you out of danger, there's a bill.
I suppose it's partly a numbers game. If the Scottish mountains in winter were suddenly covered with lots of people incapable of getting themselves out of trouble I suppose that the volunteer MRT system wouldn't be able to cope. If too many mountain bikers (in any country) smash their faces in places which are hard to get to, questions might well be asked about that, too. There's a case for many sports people to be insured (and cyclists and skiers arguably ought always to have 3rd party insurance too).
You CAN pay for the rescue cover with your lift pass in France - just buy carte neige. Costs the same as a small beer a day (or less, in the expensive resorts). I really don't see that it's a big deal.
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can you not buy carre neige with your pass? it's about 2.50 a day and covers the cost of getting you off the mountain...even off piste i think
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, the original post referred to being carried down the hill on a sled not flown off the hill by helicopter. I think it was an on-piste premise rather than an off-piste one too. On the lift served terrain in Scotland (and in Austria) it's not MRT that stretchers or skidoos folk to the bottom of the hill, nor is it the State paying for someone to do it, it's done by a standby ski patrol crew who multitask. Simply put, France is charging for a provision that is inclusive elsewhere within the cost of (often cheaper) lift passes.
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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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Yes, moffatross, it was an on-piste rescue and involved no more than a 10 minute ski down. Two pisteurs, one sled and no medical attention required. (Had he been a better skier he could have probably skied down, but he gave it go and couldn't.)
I realise there are overhead costs, but I agree that most of these should be covered in the lift pass.
371 euros strikes me as a cynically high charge that has no relation to costs and is it designed to be paid by insurance companies.
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Poster: A snowHead
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BTW - pam w, I agree with your point about buying a carre neige.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
On the lift served terrain in Scotland (and in Austria) it's not MRT that stretchers or skidoos folk to the bottom of the hill
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yes, I realise that, I was just responding to the point about other sports. If there were huge numbers needing mountain rescue there would have to be some "paid for" (by someone) service, not relying on the good will and skill of volunteers.
Clearly if the French charge too much for their ski passes people will go somewhere else - there's plenty of competition.
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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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| FlyingStantoni wrote: |
| 371 euros strikes me as a cynically high charge that has no relation to costs and is it designed to be paid by insurance companies. |
I don't see that it is.
Five blokes were involved in B's rescue - plus a sledge, a skidoo and an enormous wheelbarrow. Add on the cost of their hut at the top of the mountain and all their kit. Say they average 3 rescues a day gives about 1000 euros. I doubt this really covers the total cost of the above.
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FAQ
Had two really good days and then today required rest although I don't think I had overdone it. Still waiting for physio (Wed) with all the bank hols etc, they are really stretched. Brufen is my friend.
