Insurance cover when hillwalking

[Stefan]

Does anyone know of any insurance Companies that provide residents with insurance cover for use in the case of accidents whilst out walking in remote areas (e.g. in the mountains where recovery by helicopter might lead to expensive bills).  Most of the French walking and hiking mags imply that to get that level of insurance one has to join a local hillwalking club ( having provided the traditional doctors chit, etc ) whereas we need cover for family walks.

 

Thanks 

[Pangur]

You can get a "Carte Neige" from the local tourist office in ski resorts which will get you off a mountain any time of the year, including the summer.  It's about €50 pp per year and managed by the French Federation of Skiers I think.  As you say, the helicopter bill can be pretty large!

We bought it for skiing in the winter winter, but apparently it works in the summer too.  Might be worth looking into...

[andyh4]

My understanding is the in France as in the UK, the rescue services are provided free of charge to the victim.

 

[Jc]

Having injured myself walking in the country,not mountains,I can confirm that no charge was made by the Sapeur/pompiers who took me to hospital.The worst bit was waiting while my wife had to find a phone to call them.

[Pangur]

[quote user="andyh4"]

My understanding is the in France as in the UK, the rescue services are provided free of charge to the victim.

[/quote]

If a helicopter is involved (which is possible in the mountains, winter and summer), it is my understanding that you will be landed with the bill (sometimes immediately) and the state will not cover it.   I live in the Alps and winter and summer there are helicopters rescuing skiers and mountain bikers.  If your injuries are such that they can't or don't want to move you, they'll call the helicopter in.  There also have been many cases where nonFrench skiers or bikers have had to had over their credit cards before receiving medical attention - flashing a carte neige gets over this. http://www.ffs.fr/carteneige  I normally just ask the tourist office to add the insurance onto my day passes when skiing or biking from a resort, but you can get an annual one too.  

Les secours en montagne étant onéreux, la Fédération Française de Ski conseille à ses adhérents de s'assurer. Elle propose avec sa Licence Carte Neige, différentes formules d'assurances optionnelles adaptées aux besoins de chacun, à des conditions tarifaires avantageuses exclusivement réservées à ses adhérents. Ces différentes formules d'assurances offrent des garanties très complètes en cas d'accident, au cours de toute activité sportive pratiquée en montagne, l'hiver comme l'été, en France et dans le monde entier.

 I assumed my carte vitale wouldn't reimburse me for helicopter rescue - I have a feeling most of the rescue services around us anyway are private companies rather than state.  Private insurance may include airlifts, but as far as I am aware and have been warned repeatedly, your carte vitale doesn't cover the helicopter. 

While a European health insurance card (EHIC) - the replacement for the old E111 - can make things cheaper by letting you access medical treatment on the same terms as the locals, it won't pay for your rescue (£300 by skidoo, £2,000 by helicopter) or flights home. http://money.guardian.co.uk/travel/insurance/story/0,,1693707,00.html

[Stefan]

Thanks for the info - we tend to do our Summer walking up in the Pyrennees and in some places I'm sure if worse came to the worse rescue/casevac would be a helicopter job so we'll look into the Carte Neige.

 

Regards

STefan (09)