Skiing and snowboarding is not something we get to do very often in Britain unless you live near an indoor slope or we are lucky enough to get enough snowfall to create something resembling a slope, because of this winter sports are always a popular activity when we go away and with more and more companies offering winter sports holidays in places like Switzerland it is becoming more commonplace. As such, winter sports insurance has been on the rise.
Like typical sports insurance, winter sports insurance protects you against injury to yourself and damage or loss of equipment, but unlike normal sports insurance winter sports insurance has a few extras.
Due to the danger of being on the pistes or up in the mountains a lot of normal sports cover will not help you, so you need to go for more specialist cover- in some cases even going to extra mile and getting cover specific to the sport you will be undertaking. For the more dangerous types of winter sports such as heli-skiing or tobogganing you will almost certainly need to take out specific cover and this is where sports cover companies come in useful again- whilst normal companies do offer winter sports cover in a lot of their packages it can often be cheaper to go to the specific companies. It also gives you the peace of mind that these companies specialise in the type of cover you want and aren’t just doing it as a side line thing.
As with all sports you will be expected to understand the safety rules involved in whatever you’re doing and encouraged not to take dangerous risks. For amateurs it’s always safe to have an instructor or someone with experience going out with you so you’re not left out on your own where you could be in more danger. Winter sports cover insures you and your equipment and will cover you for any injury you have and many will even insure you for mountain rescue (when the helicopters or dogs with brandy come and get you) and ensure you during your recovery.
However, if renting your equipment there will usually be different terms and conditions from the place you rent from, so always make sure you read that carefully as well before you go out to make sure you understand the limitations of what you’re allowed to do- if you break a rental agreement not only will you be in trouble with the rental company, but your insurers will be less likely to cover you in the event of an accident and any loss or breakage will more than likely have to come from your own pocket.