UKC

So I am going xc skiing in Finland, with a sled so nothing fast or dangerous. There won't be anything particularly valuable in our checked luggage, just regular outdoor gear. It seems EHIC will pay for emergency medical treatment, and TobyA wrote in another thread that rescue is free (though where we are going I worked out a road will be at most about 15-16 miles away so nothing crazy remote).

With everything worked out it seems the only significant risk is major injury (such as spinal fracture or head impact, or perhaps hypothermia if we do something really stupid) and as such the cost of medical repatriation once stabilised. The cost of BMC insurance (I currently don't have a membership) would be at least £93 (though I need to check their definition of 'polar areas' doesn't mean anywhere in the arctic circle), AAC doesn't cover the arctic circle and SnowCard want a detailed itinerary so haven't got round to getting a quote from them yet. The responsible part of me is saying 'get the insurance, that's the sensible thing', but the other part of me is a bit hacked off to pay near or more than £100 for the extremely remote chance that I'll be hit with a life changing injury whilst slowly trudging around snowy Finland. You could get hit by a car in Paris, or trip down some stairs in Amsterdam - do people really get travel insurance whenever they leave the country?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:
Have you looked at companies like Insure and GO, with their skiing cover ? I've used them for XC skiing trips before on a multi trip annual policy.

https://quote.insureandgo.com/AMT/compare.aspx

Click "More benefits" to show winter sports cover

In reply to IPPurewater:

Interesting, it would work out at around £30pp for their cover, assuming they cover the whole of Finland and multi-day cross country tours (they mentioned they only cover 'ski-touring with a guide'). Well worth a phone call, thanks!

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

It's pretty muhch as you wrote... but I'd actually just write an email to OeAV:s insurance provider and verify... after all most normal insurances cover Finland & Sweden (even above the Artic Circle) and same applies for mainland Norway (Spittsbergen might be off limits).
http://www.alpenverein.at/portal_wAssets/docs/service/versicherung/2018_AV-...

Also, unlike climbing the kind of "winter hiking" you're doing is not considered an extreme sport and even regular insurance will cover it (don't use the term ski-touring, as it will get mixed up with the ski-touring/mountaineering one does in the alps).

So, you could also look for "regular" holiday insurances.

In reply to IPPurewater:

Just gone with them - £30 each for winter sports cover, so that's out medical bills and repatriation sorted. Cheers

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

A bit late now but I use the BMC trekking insurance £50, I am a member. I asked about being north of the Arctic cycle and was told it was fine as long as i didn't go above 5000m.