Heli-skiing insurance

Untracked snow is the "ultimate winter high" and no better experience can be gained than by going Heli-skiing.

When Heli-skiing you are really travelling to areas which have not been groomed and are in their raw natural state. Ski resorts have had a lot of the danger removed and well trained ski patrollers who are specialists in assessing the risk to skiers and snowboarders are on hand to provide assistance.

When Heli-skiing the insured don't have the ready access to this support structure and you are really relying on the experience of the guides and pilots to determine the danger levels. In addition you are heavily reliant on mechanical means to get to the top of a mountain and flying especially in a high alpine environment can be extremely hazardous. From an skiing holiday insurance perspective therefore, underwriters tend to see these as particularly high risk activities and such you may have to pay an additional premium to cover this activity.

How to book heli-skiing insurance?

Our booking engine has already been preset to include heli-skiing as an activity under Action pack 3 provided you are skiing with a qualified guide. The price shown on screen includes the full price to the cover the high risk of heli-skiing.

A Cautionary Tale

A widow whose husband died while heli-skiing in the Canadian Rockies has lost her lawsuit against his “ski buddy” for not keeping an eye on him.

The skier who died was from Colorado and he died after falling into a tree well on a remote mountain north of Revelstoke, whilst on a heli-skiing trip in January 2009.

In her lawsuit, the skiers Widow alleged her husband was paired with a British skier by the event organiser as her husbands designted “ski buddy.” She claimed the Englishman, was therefore contractually obligated to stay close to her husband, keep him in sight, and assist or alert guides and other skiers if he observed his buddy in need of assistance.

The lawsuit alleged the Englishman failed to perform his duties as a “ski buddy” and therefore delayed the search and possibly a chance to rescue and revive her husband.

But a Judge dismissed the lawsuit in her ruling issued on Monday. "It is indeed very sad that the Colorado man met a tragic and untimely death, but he did so after a terrible accident while participating in a high-risk sport and responsibility for his death cannot be placed on the Englishman," wrote the Judge.

"It is my view that the nature of any obligations assumed by the pair was not contractual. There is no basis on which to find the existence of a contract or any contractual intention."

The Englishmans lawyers had argued he was paired with the Colorado man without any consultation and that he alerted guides as soon as he noticed the skier was no longer with the group, shortly after he and the other skiers arrived at the bottom of the run.

The deceased was a successful trial lawyer in Colorado before his death and his wife was seeking compensation for the loss of her husband’s future earnings.

Please note that this activity is not covered by all our providers so please refer to the policy terms and conditions for each policy for full details.

Winter sports Activities list

Photo: Alex Grechman Under licence.