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StumbleUponDoes Your Ski Insurance Cover Foolishness?
We’ve posted a lot of information about the dangers of skiing off-piste or out of bounds, or when weather forecasts or warnings are posted about the existence of dangerous conditions such as avalanches. If you choose to ignore the warnings you could find your ski insurance will not cover you if something goes wrong. Plus you or your family could face hefty bills to cover any rescue operations.
As part of the TIA team, I can vouch for the very real dangers that exist when you choose to go skiing out of bounds. While skiing in Megeve several years ago my companions decided to go skiing out of bounds. The weather seemed okay at the time but we had no idea of the forecasted conditions and also would have had no idea what to do to survive if the worst happened. My main concern was the time of day – it was already early afternoon – and it just didn’t seem like a smart idea to go skiing into a bowl and off into unknown territory where there were no lifts to bring you back up, and without maps or any knowledge of the area. All the women, led by one rather macho male, decided to follow him and go off on this grand adventure. I could sense them sniggering at me for being a coward as I skied back down to base and called it a day.
Back at the lodge I became concerned when darkness fell and they hadn’t returned. I consoled myself that they were probably having a hot toddy and enjoying some après ski activity at a local bar. Unfortunately that was not the case. They arrived back at the lodge a while later, almost frozen stiff and in very bad shape. They had become lost and unable to find their way back. They had to take their skis off and carry them while they climbed back up a steep mountain in deep snow wearing ski boots (not easy, in case you haven’t tried it). The women were exhausted, terrified, and close to hysteria. All were put to bed with warm clothes and blankets and a doctor was called to check on them. They developed terrible colds and the rest of the ski trip was ruined for everyone. I never said ‘I told you so’ of course, but could sense the resentment that I’d had more common sense than the rest of them put together. They were lucky to survive. It could have been so much worse.
This weekend saw more tragedies, with two Scottish skiers found dead on a mountain in Norway. A third man survived and was found sitting next to his dead companions, but was barely conscious. The skiers ignored warnings about bad weather. Worse yet, no one knew they were missing or had reported them missing! To add to this tragedy, they set off on their cross-country skis without any survival equipment. The third man would no doubt also be dead had they not been discovered on Sunday, by chance, by a Red Cross patrol out on exercises. The most heartbreaking part was that the group included a father and son. The father is the one who survived; the son died. Reports stated that the men were not dressed appropriately and weren’t carrying any survival equipment at all, let alone a shovel to dig a snow shelter which might have saved lives.
In Aspen, Colorado, recently three US actors: Chad Lowe, Rob Morrow and Fisher Stevens had to be led to safety by Ski Patrol when they got lost in fog and snow and ended up in an area that was out-of-bounds. They all claimed to be good skiers, but the weather doesn’t care how experienced you are and once visibility is gone you have little chance of finding your way back. They ended up with some other lost skiers and used a mobile phone to summon help. The Ski Patrol had to endanger their lives to lead the group back on a three-hour journey through heavy snow. Unbelievably, the actor Rob Morrow stated afterwards, “It ended up being great because it was a good adventure.”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 10:04 am and is filed under Ski Holidays, Travel News, Traveller's Tales .You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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