Many discussions have been had about trip insurance and policies that specifically exclude climbing and mountaineering. But recently I become a true adult and started looking at life insurance. I specifically asked my broker about whether or not the plans he had quoted me had any exclusions for sports like climbing and backcountry skiing. He gave me some questionaires, which had been prepared by an insurance company, to fill out and anonymously submit to the different insurers for a quote. The phrasing of the questionaires was strange. They had some sport-specific technical words in there, but they had the words linked into phrases that suggested they didn't know what they were talking about.

When the results came back, my climbing pursuits weren't too much of a problem, but backcountry skiing was a big problem. Some companies wouldn't cover it at all, and those that would, would only do so at double the premium cost. Even my partner, who goes out only a few times a year to places like zoa or Paul's ridge, was getting the same response.

Clearly the insurance companies my broker was speaking with do not know what backcountry skiing is and how to price that risk.

Does anyone have experience with getting life insurance coverage that includes b/c skiing?

I'm in the process of writing a letter to potential insurers to explain what b/c skiing is and what I do. Has anyone gone this route before?

Thanks!

>>Does anyone have experience with getting life insurance coverage that includes b/c skiing?

Do you refer to out-of-province Emergency Medical Treatment expenses? BCAA Travel Insurance doesn't specifically exclude b/c skiing, and is not expensive. That's what was already suggested here (thanks to Francis for the tip) and what I recently purchased for my alpine trips in the U.S. Should be good for b/c skiers.

No. Life insurance is a type of insurance that pays out a lump sum if you die. Important if you have children, for example.

My experience is that the life insurance companies have no understanding of outdoor pursuits and little willingness to learn. For a few years, I paid 4 times my base premium to be covered for climbing - now I just accept the fact that climbing is excluded from my policy. You can certainly try writing a letter to the insurers, but I would not expect it to change anything.  But please let us know if you do have success. 

Howdy folks,

This thread is well-timed. I'm actually just negotiating with an insurance provider right now to provide discounted travel insurance policies (that actually include things like climbing, b/c skiing etc.) to BCMC members. I understand that they may also provide life insurance that would cover the same sports. I'll ask them about that too if you guys want. Might as well get a great deal and be sure that you're covered for all the fun things you do! 

Marlaina

Marlaina - if you could negotiate life insurance at a reasonable multiple to the base cost that would be a tremendous benefit for club members!

Neil.

Ok great! I've sent the email to the insurance rep and am just waiting on a reply. If for some reason you don't hear back from me, feel free to follow up just in case I forgot! I'm trying to juggle a lot of things at the moment and occasionally things slip through the cracks. I'll do my best :D 

I would also jump on life insurance that covers climbing and BC skiing at a reasonable cost.  When we looked into this in the past the multiplier was 2.5x for climbing and another 2.5x for skiing so we just accepted the exclusions instead.  Now that we have kids we don't go often and accept less risk.

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to update you all here. I've reached a deal with Northman (www.northman.co). We are just putting the final touches on a dedicated webpage just for BCMC members which will be launched really soon (in the next week if all goes well). As the webpage will describe, we as BCMC members will get 20% off their in-house travel insurance, 20% off Tugo travel insurance, and 10-15% off other types of insurance including Life. The biggest thing is that all the policies they are offering to us INCLUDE the activities we like to do - mountaineering, backcountry skiing, ice climbing etc. 

Once the page is operational, I'll post the link here (please remind me if I forget!!). We'll also endeavour to announce it to all club members via the newsletter, e-News, at socials, and other avenues. We'll also provide links here on the website somewhere (location to be determined by the webmaster). 

Cheers!

Marlaina

Hi again folks,

As promised, here is the webpage I was talking about: https://northman.co/bcmc/

We have reached a deal with Northman where they are offering us 10-20% off of Tugo travel medical insurance, their in-house travel medical insurance, and a few other in-house policies such as life insurance. All the plans they offer cover the types of activities that we love to do, including mountaineering, rock climbing, backcountry skiing etc., which is unlike most insurance providers. 

The Tugo products are available right away, while their in-house products should be launching in the next week or so. Feel free to give them a call and speak directly about what they can offer!

I'd love to get some feedback from you as well if you do decide to take advantage (or not) of their deal with us, so let me know how it goes! 

Marlaina

A big "thank you" to Marlaina for volunteering her time to organize a discount deal for all current BCMC members looking for travel medical insurance that covers mountaineering activities... very much appreciated.  Paul :-)

Just wanted to provide some feedback on life insurance through Northman. I have an existing life insurance policy with exclusions for climbing, so I reached out to Northman to get a quote. They elected to quote on a policy which would only cover climbing - that is, my existing policy would remain, and an additional policy would cover the excluded climbing related activities. The quoted cost for the additional coverage was 2.5 times the cost of my base life policy. I am debating whether to go ahead with this, probably leaning towards not given the cost. 

Gasp! Well that's quite the price difference, eh? 

Thanks for the feedback - I've brought up the price issue with our Northman rep and will see what he has to say. I'll just be generally giving them feedback, so please continue sending it my way. The more feedback we can give, the better they can try to cater to our needs. 

I'm comparing BCAA and the discounted Northman Rugged Sport travel medical insurance as my BCAA plan is due for renewal.

Bottom line: It doesn't look to me like the Northman plan is competitive in my case.

BCAA: $120 for the year

Northman $384 per year or $140 for 90 days

Note: BCAA coverage is $10M vs $1M and covers peaks over 6,000m.

=========== More details ======================

BCAA:

$10M coverage, worldwide, unlimited # of trips, each trip 30 days long max (in my case this is the option I choose, but many other options), many options on deductible amount, covers all non-professional mountain sports (optional rider available for additional cost, but not needed in my case) (covers 6,000+ m peaks)

Cost for me (54 yrs old, so cheaper if younger):

$500 deductible: $120 per year (this is my preference as I wish to insure catastrophic events, not minor cuts & bruising)

$0 deductible: $144 per year

Option to add trip cancellation, baggage insurance, air travel insurance and accidental & dimemberment insurance either each one individually or as a package for $81 for the year. (I never buy this coverage as some or all of it is available for free through credit cards if buying a plane ticket on that card).

Northman:

$1M coverage, worldwide, unlimited # of trips of any length, $0 deductible, covers all non-professional mountain sports but excluding peaks over 6,000m (additional cost unspecified), includes trip cancellation and interruption & baggage loss or theft.

Cost:

$384 per year (includes taxes?), or

$140 for 90 days.