FAQs: winter snow sports cover insurance

To protect your winter snow trip with our snow sports insurance cover, simply head to our website and complete your trip information to get a quote. You’ll need to know your destination, dates of travel, and if you want any other travellers included on your policy.

Next, select the travel insurance plan that suits your holiday. You can choose between a Comprehensive+, Comprehensive or Basic plan, depending on the level of coverage you want and your budget. If you’re unsure about what coverage you need, you can compare our travel insurance plans here.

After selecting your preferred plan, you will then need to select ‘Yes’ to our Snow Sports Cover. Here, you have two options available:

1. Snow Sports, which provide cover for on-piste snow skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing.
2. Snow Sports+, which includes the above cover as well as cover for snow skiing/boarding off-piste and heli-skiing on a guided tour with a licensed tour operator.

At this stage, you can also select your level of cancellation cover or increase your luggage limits – which can help protect any of your own expensive ski or snowboard gear that you’re travelling with.

Need help understanding which coverage is best suited to your trip? Call our team on (0800) 500 225. We’ll happily guide you through policy options, as well as help you make a purchase if you wish to do so.

A winter holiday isn’t your average holiday. When you’re shredding up the slopes on a snowboard or a pair of skis, the likelihood you’ll injure yourself increases.

Plus, injuries that occur on the snowy mountains often require urgent medical attention, and it’s generally costly to evacuate people or bring in medical help because of the isolation and high terrain of snowfields.

For these reasons, snow sports cover is considered a higher risk activity, and the premium for adding this option to your travel insurance costs more than a regular travel insurance policy without snow sports cover.

Like skiing in Australia varies to snowboarding in Japan, different travel insurance policies cover different winter sport activities. Because of this, it’s important to familiarise yourself with our Policy Wording so you know exactly what you’re insured for while on the slopes.

We have two options of Snow Sports Cover – all you need to do is pick the one that’s best for you:

1. Snow Sports: this provides cover for on-piste snow skiing, snowboarding or snowmobiling, or cross-country skiing, so is ideal for people who are staying within resort boundaries on their winter snow trip.
2. Snow Sports+: this increased level of cover includes the above covered activities, plus snow skiing/boarding off-piste and heli-skiing on a guided tour with a licensed tour operator. Those who want a more adventurous snow trip should consider this choice.

You can read more about our Snow Sports Cover here.

Other popular winter activities – such as husky dogsledding, ice fishing on an organised tour, ice skating, and tobogganing – are not included in our Snow Sports Cover insurance. These are classed as Adventure Activities and are automatically included in our travel insurance plans.

Check out our activities cover page for more information on which ones are automatically included, and which more extreme activities – like ice climbing – require additional coverage via our Adventure Activities Cover or Adventure+ Activities Cover.

Alternatively, call us on (0800) 500 225 to discuss.

If you’ve chosen to purchase our International Comprehensive+, Comprehensive or Basic plan, our overseas medical expenses benefit will apply for the duration of your trip, up to the limit described in your policy. However, if you are injured on the slopes, we will only be able to consider your claim if you have purchased our optional Snow Sports Cover for an additional premium.

If you are injured while participating in snow sports without our Snow Sports Cover, you would be responsible for the costs of your medical treatment – which could be very expensive.

Before you step foot on the mountain, it’s important to know what you are – and aren’t – insured for on the snow.

Under our Snow Sports Cover, you are only eligible for cover if:

• you are snow skiing, snowboarding or snowmobiling on‑piste, or cross-country skiing;
• you are not participating in a professional capacity; and
• you are not racing.

With the upgraded Snow Sports+ Cover (which enables off-piste skiing), you are only covered if:

• while heli-skiing/boarding, you are on a guided tour with a licensed tour operator;
• when skiing or snowboarding outside piste boundaries, you are not going against local advice or warning;
• you are not participating in a professional capacity; and
• you are not racing.

There is also no cover for sporting equipment damaged, lost or stolen while in use.

We recommend you carefully consider if our snow sports cover insurance is right for you by reading the Policy Wording for policy conditions.

When you’re on a snow trip, you want to have fun – not worry about your personal items.

It’s unlikely you’ll be heading off on a snow trip without using any form of ski or snowboard during your trip, so we can help protect your owned equipment while you’re away.

This protection falls under our luggage and travel documents cover. This can provide coverage for personal items that are lost, damaged or stolen on your trip. However, this doesn’t mean you should be careless with your belongings. When you’re at home, you take care of them; it should be no different when you’re travelling! Importantly, there is no cover for sports equipment when it's in use.

The benefit limit for luggage and travel documents depends on the level of coverage you chose.

*Item limits apply. See Policy Wording for details.

If you’re travelling with valuable snow equipment, you may be able to increase the item limit on a specific item of luggage by paying an additional premium. This can be added during the quote process.

Want to ensure your valuables are covered when you’re next hitting the slopes? Call us on (0800) 500 225 or get a quote online.

At Cover-More, our luggage and travel document benefit only provides cover for personal items that are lost, damaged or stolen on your trip (provided they are not in use when it happens). Unfortunately, it does not provide cover for any hired winter sporting equipment.

When hiring ski equipment on a snow trip, you engage in a contract with your chosen ski rental company. Always ensure you’re aware of your rights and responsibilities prior to hiring the ski gear on your winter holiday, so you know what to do should something happen to your hired ski and snowboarding equipment.

It doesn’t matter if you’re riding a snowboard that’s brand new or 10 years old – we don’t have any specifications regarding the age of your winter sporting items to provide cover for them as a luggage item. However, depreciation is applied to items that are more than 24 months old.

If your item wasn’t recently purchased, our team will apply reasonable depreciation to the item when assessing the claim.

Further details about depreciation calculations can be found in the Policy Wording.

Can I apply Cover-More's Snow Sports Cover to a portion of my trip?