INSURANCE FOR MOUNTAINEERS

One of the biggest problems for mountaineers is trying to get both life insurance and travel insurance. As this activity has a reputation of being high risk most insurance companies don't want to play ball. Here are a few tips that might help:

Travel insurance:

If you are going on a mountaineering trip make sure that your travel insurance policy covers you for mountaineering activities. Most policies DO NOT. Those that do are often expensive. We are currently searching for insurance affiliates that can provide suitable cover for mountaineering trips. We'll keep you posted.

A plan available through AIG Travel Guard can provide you with comprehensive coverage while on a trip, but like most policies will not cover you while you are actually on the mountain climbing. Their policies would be ideal for trekkers, hikers, backpackers and most general travellers.

AIG insures travellers worldwide including travellers residing in the US and Australia but not all of their policies are available to all countries.

Life insurance:

While this is a subject that none of us like to talk about, TreksandClimbs.com is committed to providing our visitors with the facts:

It is a fact of (mountaineering) life that mountaineering is a potentially dangerous activity and life insurance companies know this. BEFORE even thinking about taking up mountaineering you MUST make sure that you have the most up to date and comprehensive life insurance policy in place. You will find it near impossible to find an insurer anywhere on the planet who will insure the life of a person who is currently involved in mountaineering. If you take out a policy BEFORE THINKING ABOUT the sport, most insurers are obligated to honour their policies if you decide to take it up at a later stage.