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General Climbing Discussion

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Climbing Insurance

MrKyle

6-Nov-2007
6:15:54 PM

It is now possible to get international travel and climbing insurance within Australia, from insure4less.

Currently the policy is limited, but the ACA (www.climb.org.au) is working with the insurers to organise better coverage, to include more activities such as mountaineering and traditional climbing. In response they have proposed a rock climbing extension and an alpine extension. Details and pricing (including discounts for members) will be available in the new year.

Until then, policies can be awarded on an individual basis. We encourage climbers to support it, and provide feedback on their experience. This is a good opportunity to work close with an insurer and get a really useful service.

Details can be found at :
http://www.insure4less.com.au/page/Travel-Insurance-Rock-Climbing

vwills

6-Nov-2007
6:32:05 PM

I dont understand the logic behind this

"You are climbing up to and including Australian Grade 28 or equivalent for overseas"

Not that I'm ever going to be in danger of breaking that part of the policy. It could be taken the other way- you are not covered unless you are climbing 28.

Onsight

6-Nov-2007
6:52:08 PM

Nice work Kyle. Sounds promising.

Agreed the grade 28 bit sounds weird. I think climbers climbing harder are probably less likely to get injured (more experienced and on better protected routes generally).

ademmert

6-Nov-2007
6:56:55 PM

are they planing anything for trad climbing or aiding?

what about a mix of all three?

year long+ trips?

i agree it is v.v. promising

MrKyle

6-Nov-2007
7:33:20 PM

The grade 28 peculiarity is exactly the kind of thing we have asked them to address, and to their great credit they have been very responsive and taken all our feedback on board.

Essentially there will be a standard insurance which allows bouldering and sport climbing. Then you buy other options on top, such as trad/aid climbing and alpine. So you can have all three at once.

As I said, the details are still being worked out and should be available in the new year. In the meantime, if you need to arrange insurance, they can provide a quote on an individual basis depending on what you need.

JamesMc

6-Nov-2007
7:54:36 PM

The "no more than 2500 m above sea level" is a bit of a problem too. This would exclude a lot of American crags like Half Dome, Long's Peak, Tuolome Meadows etc.

Mind you, I'm not a likely customer. The onle place I am likely to climb outside Australia is NZ, which has its ACC.

But at least an insurance company is at least thinking about climbing.

JamesMc

MartinR

6-Nov-2007
9:23:21 PM

Yes, we also asked them to change that 2500 m sea level limit, as is does not really make any sense.

Cheers,

Martin

ademmert

6-Nov-2007
9:58:22 PM

so good to see an insurance company listening
nice one insure4less

although the price still remains to be seen

gfdonc

6-Nov-2007
11:01:51 PM

The 2500m above sea level may have come from an exchange I had with them back in May, regarding a trip we planned to Austria (and used them for insurance).

Without checking the emails, I recall their initial proposal only covered climbing to 1500m which wasn't very useful. On specific request they extended it to 2500m (which is higher than any route we were contemplating).

Bear in mind this is rock-climbing insurance rather than Alpine climbing insurance.

jono_1

11-Jan-2008
11:03:56 AM

Found a link to International Health Insurance Group based in Denmark ( http://www.ihi.com/english.asp ) on the NZAC link below
http://www.alpineclub.org.nz/default.aspx?p=344

Have only had a quick look on their site and it is available for Australians and there is no restrictions on "hazardous sports or occupations (except motorsports)". In the NZAC link there is a recommendation from Lincoln Hall who had IHI insurance for Everest and he really did use it. There is a max payout of $300,000 US but unfortunately it doesn't appear to cover luggage.

If you are 17-36 the cost is $US163 for 30 days, $447 for 90 days and $834 for 180 days. This is a similar price to what Flight Centre etc offers and twice the price of what you can find online. If it included luggage it would be by far the best insurance policy available to Australians that I have come across that covers all types of mountaineering.

They also have an annual policy which limits each trip to 30 days and is $163 for the year.

Anway I haven't read the fine print. I'll leave that to anyone that is interested.

Jono

Romfrantic

11-Jan-2008
11:11:34 AM

I suspect the NZAC will update that information in the near future once we get further details from recent negotiations ... Meanwhile, IHI has been widely used by Australian based NZAC members and non-members alike, particularly for mountaineering trips o/s...

dennisanthem

31-Dec-2009
2:21:28 AM

Some insurance companies actually cover high risk activities without getting additional coverage as long as you are just doing that activity for a living. like mountain climbing I have Blue Cross and they have worked for me http://www.getmymedical.com/blue-cross-health-insurance

ajfclark

31-Dec-2009
9:19:39 AM

You climb mountains for a living?

GravityHound

31-Dec-2009
12:31:54 PM

On 31/12/2009 dennisanthem wrote:
>Some insurance companies actually cover high risk activities without getting
>additional coverage as long as you are just doing that activity for a living.
>like mountain climbing I have Blue Cross and they have worked for me http://www.getmymedic
>l.com/blue-cross-health-insurance

Sir SPAM-a-lot?

the profile states

"When it comes to the matter of California health insurance you should never have to choose between quality health care and your budget."

have sent email requesting quote as i assume he realised he was posting to an australian website.

wallwombat

31-Dec-2009
12:51:52 PM

The profile also states that he boulders, climbs in the gym and climbs big walls.

Cool.

There are 15 messages in this topic.