UKC

I need insurance for backcountry skiing/snowshoeing and wild camping in Finland and Norway in February and insurance for off piste dog sledding in Finland in March. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

In reply to Flatus Vetus:

Have done a couple of similar trips in Canada/Alaska and always used Dogtag.

Told them exactly what I was going to do, what terrain etc even down to what the lowest temperature could be! Couldn't fault them.

In reply to Flatus Vetus:

Austrian Alpine Club UK

In reply to Flatus Vetus:

I think BMC insurance ticks all your boxes, worth phoning them

In reply to Flatus Vetus: It maybe that just regular holiday insurance is enough? Finland is EU so just make sure you have your EU health card thingy, then its all reciprocal. The Finns would come and find you for free if you got lost I'm sure. There's not really an equivalent to MRT here, probably be local police coordinating and volunteers + army (lots of bored conscripts) searching - I've met dog people who love doing rescue stuff too, they'd enjoy the challenge! So I'm not sure if special insurance is particularly needed.

I don't bother with insurance going Norway now either, again unless you've been a total spanner its seems the Norwegians don't charge for rescue and I think there is a reciprocal healthcare agreement with them too - definitely is for me as a Finnish resident - but obviously you need to check that.

In reply to TobyA:

I'm not sure exactly what the OP is intending so likelihood of broken limbs etc may be slim enough that this isn't an issue, but would regular insurance cover you for repatriation if you incurred the injury whilst skiing? (I'm guessing not.)

Might sound a bit pedantic but my wife needed nine seats booked last minute on a Lufthansa flight to be returned to Blighty on a stretcher with a back injury. That would have put a fair dent in our wallet so worth a consideration, though as above, depends on what the likely risks are.

In reply to niallk: Yep - repatriation is the obvious thing, but how many people who are popping over to France for a weekend in Paris have insurance that covers that? You could slip in the street and injure yourself - the French health service would look after you on the EU reciprocal basis, but I don't know how it works after the emergency care - do you just stay until you come home under your own steam?

Anyway hopefully mountain insurance for Finland and Norway shouldn't be too expensive for the reasons I give above.

In reply to TobyA:

I think the issue might be that if they know you broke your leg skiing, rather than falling in the street, they may declare you're not covered....

Repatriation with a broken limb wouldn't be ridiculous expense(new flights, possibly needing an extra seat for a leg) - it's the stuff that requires a full medical repatriation (maybe a head injury - qualified medical attendents, stretcher) that would be astronomical.

In reply to Carolyn:


I think this is the main reason you want the insurance. Also if a helicopter is involved in the rescue you might be presented with a big bill.

I'd steer well clear of the budget "normal holiday" policies. I know a little bit about this industry and basically they are too cheap to provide the level of cover they claim to. The end result of that is that some people find they can be difficult to get payouts from when a claim is made. There are even rumours that some of the companies have an automatic denial of cover at first notification.

It is well worth paying a bit extra for one of the premium products. The mountaineering ones (BMC/AAC) seem to me to provide the best level of cover.

Another reason why I always nag my friends about proper snowsports cover is the increasing trend towards litigation for injuries sustained on the slopes. Sure I know the aim is not to cause crashes and injuries on the pistes but a momentary lapse can result in a crash and injuries can be significant. If you were unlucky to cause an accident where someone sustained a serious head injury you could end up losing everything you own in the litigation that follows. So third party cover is a pretty important aspect of snowsports cover (maybe not for the OP in this case though).