UKC

Hi,me & my partner are heading to chamonix soon, I am looking for advice on what insurance people use, we are thinking of sport climbing & possibly some walks involving glacier crossing, also maybe some mountain biking.

In reply to sloth: BMC is the best, Austrian Alpine Club the most cost effective.

In reply to sloth:

Another vote for BMC.

In reply to MattJP: Just to be clear, I wasn't endorsing BMC Insurance. Personally I use the AAC(UK) after the BMC costed themselves out of the market as far as I'm concerned. I think AAC is adequate at least for Europe.

In reply to GridNorth:
Austrian Alpine Club for me

In reply to sloth:
Me and the other half use Snowcard. £90 oddfor the pair per annum and covers for everything including cave diving. Been told they re very good in the event of a claim. Don't forget your EU heaalthcare cards (need to supply natiional insurance numbers) takes about 10 working days

In reply to GridNorth: I was on a trip where a friend of mine needed help through his AAC insurance and they were useless at the point where it really mattered. Hopefully that was just a one off but it caused him a lot of problems. BMC might be expensive but when things go wrong and you're not in a position to be arguing it does at least feel like they're on your side. If you're in a bad way you need your insurers to agree treatment immediately, not be haggling over the cheapest possible solution.

In reply to RBK: And I've been on a trip where a friend encountered similar problems with BMC. Specific, individual experiences are meaningless until they start to contribute to an overall trend.

Having used both snowcard and BMC and had to phone them both to discuss cover I can safely say SC hadn't a clue about climbing whereas I've been able to discuss details of my cover with the BMC with total confidence that they understood what I was doing and everything they insure.

Calling the insurance required for trad "sport climber" didn't instill confidence in SC either!

I've never claimed on either.

In reply to RBK:

Are you connected to the BMC in some way ?!

As with duchessofmalfi I don't think you will be talking directly to the BMC in the event of a rescue/medical claim but to ACE Assistance, and Tyrol Air Ambulance for the AAC. I don't know whether one of these assistance services is much better to deal with than the other.

Before moving to France, we had insurance with BMC but it was expensive. Before we moved to France we took our cover out with a French C.A.F. but it wasn't world wide, just European. It was half the price of BMC and we are insured for a lot more activities, including ice climbing and alpine expeditions.

We have been stuck on top of a mountain with a high risk of avalanche and picked up by a helicopter. The insurance paid up without question.

Most C.A.F. in France are willing to to let you join and take up insurance with them even when you are not resident in France.

It may be worth looking at your nearest C.A.F in Chamonix and making enquires.