I'm writing this from the UK on a spectacular winter's morning - a fresh fall of snow covers everything and ice crystals sparkle in the sun as they gently fall through the freezing air.

But there is a downside to everything as we approach Christmas and most of the countries of Northern Europe experience heavy snowfalls and plummeting temperatures. The disruption to travel plans is headline news in this country. Airports have had to close with holiday makers sleeping on concourse floors or being sent home, Eurostar is running on reduced trains with queues stretching round the block - sorry, that should read three blocks -  and the traffic on the roads... well, we could write a book on that.

People intending to go away for a Christmas ski holiday have faced a lot of disappointment and many have had to cancel. Let's hope they had adequate ski insurance and winter sports cover. As long as they were covered they should at least be able to get back their cancellation costs from their insurers.

In passing it may surprise you to know that if you are resident in the EU you can now get a European Health Insurance Card for nothing. In fact everyone who travels regularly abroad should have one. The card is underwritten by a particular country's health insurance scheme and both medical and hospitalisation expenses may be covered depending on your destination country. It's the 'maybe' that you should be aware of; whether you have the card or not, you should still take out a ski insurance policy or annual travel insurance cover.

Ski insurance works on the optimistic principal that only a small percentage of those who go on a ski holiday are going to have an accident. That's the good news for most of us; the bad news is that a few of us are going to have accidents and we therefore have to take adequate precautions.

In forty years I have had two big claims. The first was a catalogue of incidents thirty years ago that involved two broken legs, some lost equipment and a painful stitching up job at the doctor's surgery.

The second happened last year. I was way off piste on my own in the Three Valleys, France. I'd done exactly the same trip several time without mishap. It involved a chair to the highest point and a short walk up along a mountain ridge. It was then possible to ski down into another valley devoid of lifts and skiers. To get out of the valley and back to civilisation meant a long three mile push.

I skied down through incredibly light knee deep powder snow, and was in sight of a manned mountain refuge on the valley floor when I lost my balance. As I fell a loose ski smacked me in the face. For a few seconds I thought just my pride and nose had been hurt, but as I stood up I saw a fountain of blood came from somewhere on my head. By the time I discovered the severed artery in my right cheek, I was getting worried but I managed to partly staunch the blood and ski the last half mile to the refuge.

There was little the man in charge of the refuge could do - I couldn't ski out of the valley one-handed as I would have needed both hands and the blood loss would have been too great. We decided on a helicopter, which cost £550 to ferry me down to Courchevel. The ambulance and hospital bill to stitch up my face cost a staggering £720...

I was very glad I had ski insurance!


©Simon Dewhurst - 22 December 2010

Copyright Simon Dewhurst 2010 - Ski Insurance - Winter Sorts Cover - Travel Insurance