UKC

My son (19) is planning a three month trip to India and Nepal. Most of the time he will be simply backpacking around various beach and tourist sites, so insurance cover would be relatively cheap. But for around three weeks he intends to do the Everest base camp area trek, which means going over 5,000 metres ASL.  

I've tried the obvious adventure travel insurance websites, such as the BMC, Snowcard and Dogtag, but they all seem to require him to take out the highest level of cover he will need for the entire time he's away from the UK. In the case of the BMC, this would work out at an eye-watering £1,376. Snowcard would cost £756.

Does anyone have any ideas about how he can be insured just for the three week trek at the high level and at a much cheaper rate for the rest of the time? One option would be to to take out one cheap policy for the whole period of the trip, and another covering only the trek, but usually travel insurance firms object to you taking out a policy if you're already covered. 

I used global rescue for a Nepal tri this year. The price was reasonable (£400 for a month, much better than BMC etc.). Didn't have to use it so can't comment on the service on an emergency situation. Worth a look for you I think

I used Trailfinders for my trekking trip to Nepal in Oct and took the annual cover option which was good value.

Are you sure Snowcard would be that expensive?    My annual policy at 'Extreme' activity level (to cover multiple weeks of ski-touring) was about £250, and I'm an old git so I imagine would have a higher premium than a 19 year old.

My experience on the Annapurna Circuit was that youngsters were more at risk than oldies? A tendency to push on and over-reach themselves on the higher parts where a more cautious and steady approach was required to acclimatise. We had to sort out a teenager whose 'mates' had forged on over the Thorung La and told him to catch them up later. He didn't even have aspirin. Thankfully, he recovered.

Excellent point but I think it depends how 'oldie'. 50s being very different to 75 plus or 80s. IMO

(Now watch me get shot down for ageism ha ha ha )

Out of curiosity, I got a quick quote on the Snowcard website for an Annual insurance policy to cover for trekking up to 6000m, age 18-25 and with the single trip limit extended to 90 days so that it would cover a 3 month trip.    It came out at around £350 (depending on how much excess you opt for, and how much cover for cancellation, tech pack, belongings etc).

So I think that is probably your answer.

Sportscover direct and some other insurers have have top-up policies which only cover the activity itself. And some like bigcat and truetraveller have an already travelling option, which he could purchase after starting the trip, just for the duration of the trek.

And FYI, there is this website https://compareadventureinsurance.com where you get quotes from different insurers and has information about this kind of thing.