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Are you ready to hit the slopes?

With the Winter Olympics this month and the restrictions on travel reducing, many ski & snowboard enthusiasts are eager to hit the slopes in early 2022.

Unfortunately, it’s estimated that as many as 1 in 10 will suffer an injury and need medical treatment during their holiday.

Standard travel insurance does not generally include cover for skiing and other winter sports. Many single trip winter sports policies cost more than regular annual policies; so anyone going abroad twice a year or more could make significant savings with an annual multi-trip policy that includes winter sports insurance.

Covéa Insurance’s Executive Travel Policy includes emergency medical cover up to £10 Million (this would include mountain rescue costs as a result of an accident) and you can easily increase your policy to include winter sports.

the winter sports extension includes

An accident you don’t want to happen but an example of how we can help

Last winter a customer who is an experienced skier, had his winter sports holiday cut short when an accident on the slopes landed him in hospital. He was skiing in the French Alps when he fell awkwardly and sustained a serious fracture and laceration to his knee

He was rescued by the local mountain rescue team and due to the nature of his injuries was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he required urgent surgery. The costs of this were covered under the terms of the reciprocal health agreement.

The operation was successful and after a few days he was fit for repatriation to the UK for follow-up treatment. Our assistance team arranged for him to be brought home by an air taxi with a nurse, as he needed to be lying flat on a stretcher for the journey home.

His insurance met the cost of his piste rescue, helicopter and ambulance transfers and air taxi.

If you have already booked or are planning a trip this Winter…

• The government website includes an excellent guide on “staying safe on the slopes”

• If you do fall ill or have an accident whilst abroad you should contact the 24hr assistance helpline. We strongly recommend that you keep a copy of this number and your policy number on you at all times.

• As of 2022 skiers heading for the slopes of Italy are now legally required to buy winter sports liability insurance or face fines. The Executive Travel Policy includes personal liability cover up to £2 million (including legal expenses).

• If you are heading off-piste this is covered as long as you are within the ski area boundaries of a recognised ski resort and following local ski patrol guidelines.

• It’s not just skiing and snowboarding that are covered, other winter sports activities such as tobogganing, snow biking, snow kiting, snow rafting and snowmobiling are also included*.

*For some activities, special conditions and coverage exclusions may apply. Please check your policy for further details.

This article was written by Rob Amati, Managing Director at Millstream.