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Snowboard insurance

Tuesday, 01. 9. 2007  –  Category: Snowboarding

I tend to deal with travel insurance annually, rather than each time I go away. It really takes the hassle factor out, and as I’m fairly lazy with such things, suits me down to the ground.

I’m onto the third year now, but it occurred to me the other day that my initial policy may not be sufficient for my current needs.

Here are a few things you may want consider if you’re after ski or snowboard insurance particularly:

• Off-piste cover: a surprising omission from many policies is off-piste cover. I must admit, I don’t think I’m covered off-piste, and need to check this out before my next trip.
• Equipment cover: how much are you covered for? Loss? Damage? Own gear or rental? Almost had to find out how good my cover was when I lost my old Salomon W4 in Chamonix last year. (Don’t miss those heavy old Flow Amp 5’s too much)
• Heli/cat days: a bit more than you’re standard off-piste. Is this covered?
• Lift closure: worth knowing the limits here. Just cos only the crap runs were open doesn’t necessarily mean you can claim for any loss. In fact you almost certainly can’t. Go build yourself a kicker soldier.

Well worth doing your research on this. I don’t have a recommendation at the moment, as I don’t know who I’ll be using next. I can point you in the direction of the following sites however:

• Gavin at afterbang did a summary recently of some of the snowboard insurance options.
• J2Ski posted about choosing the right ski insurance.
• Specialist snowboard and ski insurance from Complete-Ski.com might be worth a look. You can read their policy here.

Tags: Mountain safety, Ski travel