Travel/Medical insurance for snowsports

[TooNice]

From January, I am going to spend the next couple of months e̶s̶c̶a̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶o̶r̶r̶o̶r̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ at a ski resort in Canada learning to become a snowboard instructor and have fun
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a medical insurance (or travel insurance with good medical coverage) suitable for snow sports, including some of the slightly more adventurous stuff like backcountry snowboarding, heliboarding and such.

[Butcher]

The BMC do travel cover for almost anything you might be doing. Not the cheapest, but a friend had to use his insurance (while nearly 4000m up in the alps no less) and they were excellent.
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/insurance

[peterb]

The place teaching you to be an instructor may be able to help. You might need specialist public liability insurance as an instructor, or some enhanced insurance if you are training to be an instructor, rather than 'just' on holiday.

Not that I have any qualifications as an insurance broker, but I do know this is a potential issue for instructors in other sports.

[TooNice]

Thanks, yeah I asked if they had any lead I could follow but weren't much help suggesting that I look "in my country". But I am in a weird situation where I've been in Japan for a couple of years but will probably go back to the UK at least for a while after this, so it probably doesn't make sense for me to get something from Japan (and I really do not feel like reading pages upon pages of legal jargon / fine prints in Japanese).

BMC seems to have a strong dislike for snowboarders. Adding the cover for snowboarding more than doubles cost!



And they still have quite a bit of restrictions in what I am / am not covered.

After spending quite a bit of time looking, ERV seems to have the most attractive policy on paper. They are one of very few that seem to cover freestyle, and with a 15% coupon they are one of the cheapest.. and even without they more or less on par with half a dozen others I've looked at. Worth keeping in mind if anyone is thinking of doing this in the future.

For me though, none of them are any good because the policies are only valid between the time I live the UK and when I come back. Well, I am not in the UK right now.

But if this is standard practice, I am pretty stuffed since once I leave Japan, I won't be a resident here any more.

Back to square one. I did find one lead for medical insurance based in Canada and I think that is going to have to do. It won't have all the things you'd find in a travel insurance like cancellations, curtailment etc. but it looks like there is none that I can sign up.

[TheAnimus]

BMC seems to have a strong dislike for snowboarders. Adding the cover for snowboarding more than doubles cost

Way too many broken wrists at a guess!

Are you going via the UK or direct from Japan? If the latter you might find yourself needing to chat with a specialist broker I'm afraid.

[TooNice]

But skiers need to contend with busted knees! I wonder if there is any statistic to back that snowboarders are more prone to worse injuries. I would expect insurance companies to know, given that they have a monatery incentive to make risk assessments based on numbers.. My own casual Googling doesn't suggest that snowboarding is worse though.

Where can I find such broker? (I am flying straight from Japan - it seemed like a good idea at the time to cut a journey I didn't need)

Right now I am thinking stuff the travel part of the insurance (they all seem to want start destination = return destination and no option to start policy while abroad), and looking at emergency coverage available for visitors in Canada.

Edit: Also, I must say that I find some exclusions or coverage slightly amusing despite the serious nature of the issue. Take the hijack coverage. If I end up in, and somehow manage to get out of such a traumatic experience alive, I am not sure how money is a suitable compensation. Yet sometime it isn't covered which is also problematic if the person need psychiatric treatments after the ordeal.

And then, I also find it interesting that while medical treatment can up to £10 millions or more, death is actually pretty cheap in pay-out. I suppose that a dead man can't complain..

Edit2: I am now looking at World Nomad and True Traveller. (I had a look at Globe Link too, but they only cover for people who are out of the UK for no longer than 18 months).

[TooNice]

By sheer coincidence (honest), I find myself once again shopping for winter sport insurance a year later, on the same date.

Though it should be a little bit easier this time as I should count as an UK resident and will depart from the UK.

I've been looking for insurance that will cover me for freestyle snowboarding (including park and pipe), and at the moment I've narrowed down to ERV, Snowcard and Boardsure.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with them, or would like to throw another name into the suggestion into the least.

I will need coverage for at least 90 days (preferably a bit more, which is why I am favouring ERV over Snowcard at the moment), that allows advanced (but non-competitive) freestyle and park riding on a snowboard.

[TheAnimus]

Well if it helps I can add some more examples of someone breaking their wrists snowboarding! It wasn't me, but someone I used to work with.

The problem is if you fall backwards it's tempting to put your hands out behind you, to break your fall, but you only break your wrist, you've got to take it on the bum.

Skiing doesn't have this same tendency due to how skis are designed with your center of mass.

I'm afraid it's just expensive.

[ik9000]

I've always found direct travel to be good when it came to winter sports. As with any insurance policy read the terms and small print carefully before signing up. Make sure you're covered off-piste. If you're a beginner off-piste within the ski-resort is a good compromise - so if you fall off the side and break your leg you're still able to claim for the mountain rescue! It also means you can play around the sides of the piste when there's a fresh powder dump - which in Canada is quite likely!

Where in Canada are you going? Trying not to be jealous here....

[TooNice]

@TheAnimus

Oh yeah, I am definitely not disputing that broken wrists are the most common injury amongst snowboarders. One of the first thing I tell my students (I did get my licence to teach last season) is to hold them hands near their chest if they do fall forward, though I understand it is much easier said than done. And after last year, where I am pretty sure 30-40% of the people I rode with ended up needing medical treatment (not necessarily for broken wrists or broken something - though there were a few), my risk assessment of the sport has changed somewhat. That said, I do question that skiing is really less risky. For the wrists certainly, but it is also known to be more risky on the knees, so rather than less risk overall, it might just be more risks on different parts. And nowadays, I see quite a lot of skiers in the parks too, so perceived profile of "skiers" and "snowboarders" might not be all that different.

@ik9000
Last year, I spent the season in Whistler, and had a couple of magical day including one heliboarding some fiiine powder. I can't even play it down, we all had this massive grin on our face () the whole day and the next week. I swear, heliboarding guides have the best job ever.

This year, I am might not get a lot of powder riding if any (if I do, it might be in Japan, which I will briefly stop by before heading to Canada - and I would like to mention that for powder, Hokkaido is still my gold standard so far and if the chances arise, I highly recommend it). Instead I will be heading towards a purpose-built freestyle park on the East Coast hoping to really level up my game. I expect some pain, but hopefully no more some bruises

[Zak33]

BMC seems to have a strong dislike for snowboarders.

me too tbh

Snow boarders just flop about like disabled seals, and whenever you crest a blind...er... crest.. you can BET it's a snowboarder sat like a blancmange in the route, just out of site, smoking something....chillin

Dragging their back legs along or hopping like paralyzed rabbits to the lifts, blocking everything and generally getting in the way of Skiing

Skate Boarding
or
Surfing
or
Skiing


end of

/sore spot touched HARD

[TooNice]

*Adds Zak33 to ignore list*

-Denied due to admin status-

Well darn

Aren't biting though.

Not the one losing out from superficial prejudices.

[TeePee]

If you ain't speed riding....

[ik9000]

Tried boarding. Couldn't endure the pain of the learning process. Nor the pressure on my toes when trying to front edge it. Went straight back to skis. Much better IMO, but each to their own. I do hate the way boarders scrape all the snow off the piste though because they edge down the tricky bits, just to make it extra difficult for everyone else. Lazy piste-ruining sheet-ice making galumfers. On the upside, sharing lift cars with boarders is great cos you get more room for your skis in the door pockets. And they get better boots for when you have to climb stairs/walk round the huts/run for the ski-bus etc. And if it came to a riot at the ski-lift they can provide shelter with their might plank - try hiding behind carving skis. Unless you're a size zero you're not going to get too much shelter from those.

[TooNice]

Usually I recommend people to give it 3-5 days (on the safe side - some people pick it up much faster too). I can see why day one is tougher on a board. Simply standing up, on a slope, with both feet attached, is more demanding than just leaning on a pair of poles standing up. That said, the last time I was with people who have never skied or snowboarded before, and decided to try 1/2 a day on each, they ended up more comfortable on the board. And personally, I actually find progression after that initial stage to be a lot more steady on a board than on skis.

I reckon that uncomfortable pressure on toes could be down to ill-fitting boots (if your heel were lifting as you press down on the toe, then that is definitely it) and/or snowboard that is too wide for your feet. As you said though, to each their own. I've got over 600 days on skis, and about 150 days on a snowboard. I really enjoy skiing, but I don't think there is a single sport out there, or I might dare say a single activity that I enjoy more than snowboarding. We'll see what happens after another 450 days on a snowboard, but at the moment, I really wish that those numbers were swapped and I'd started on a snowboard.

There are also a number of things about certain skiers that frustrate snowboarders too. But we are all paying to use and enjoy the mountains, so we should all learn how to share it.

[ik9000]

to be fair their are a certain number of things about some skiers that annoy the heck out of me too. Starting with the moron who gave my wife concussion and wiped out her ski-trip. You know the one, wears all white, in zero vis, and despite having iced-up goggles tanks straightline down the piste thinking he's a the dogs nads when all he does is fail to see the skiers in front of him. Then once he's damaged people and their kit, starts to try to argue it wasn't his fault. Luckily my German is good enough to deal with the fruity side of things.