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The start of the ski season
in Europe have has been particularly poor this year
with a mild January, this may be nice for those at home,
but for skiers it is bad news as they have been left
with no snow on the slopes and holidays booked and paid
for.
The
unseasonal weather in the mountains can trigger anything
from avalanches to no snow to high winds that leave
the ski lifts unable to operate. This means that skiers
who go to Europe for holidays can be left unable to
ski, All this means that those skiers who have not taken
adequate travel insurance will be left with nothing
to show for their ski holiday.
The
majority of holiday insurance companies pay between
£20 and £30 for piste closure and with 2007
looking like one of the warmest on record, piste closure
claims are set to rise this year as there is little
chance of decent snow below 2000 metres.
There
is however a double-edged sword to the piste closure
clause travel insurance companies, generally,will not
pay out for this if at least one ski lift is open the
resort is open therefore no compesation is payable and
resort operators will do everything they can to keep
at least one ski lift open to ensure they get some business
and ensures they can report a better tally of days open
figure.
The
majority of the main UK insurers will not pay out unless
all the lifts are shut including: American Express,
Boots, Churchill,
Norwich
Union, HSBC, Insure &
Go, Liverpool Victoria, More
Than, Natwest, The
Post Office, Tesco and Sainsbury's and the Ski Club
of Great Britain.
Some
of the less well known insurers such as Flexicover Direct
and Direct Travel will pay out if 80% of the lifts are
closed.
This
may seem like a benefit to all, however there is a further
issue, the definition of what constitutes a 'closed
resort' may not extend over the whole season, in high
ski areas this is taken as the five months from December
to April inclusive. But these insurers who allow for
a more flexible definition of 'closed resort' only provide
the cover from December to March inclusive - missing
the key Easter ski period.
While
travel insurance my claim they provide cover for "no
snow" there are other ways lifts may not work such
as too much snow, high winds, power cuts and these may
not be covered. Though some of the main insurers do
provide this cover include Boots, Debenhams, More
Than and Insure & Go.
In
an attempt to escape this skiers are turning to the
American Rockies with skiing over 3500 metres, however
this may be cheap on the exchange rate but medical bills
are not. America is a very expensive place to end up
in hospital with common ski injuries such as a broken
leg costing well over double the price in hospital care
compared to Europe. As such insurance to the US is much
more expensive particularly for skiing and the elderly.
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