Expedition Insurance

[Daisy]

Before going to Nepal in March I took out worldwide, annual cover category 4 (Alpine & Ski and all climbing & mountaineering in alpine glacial and non glacial areas up to 6500m) with the BMC. This cost me £214. I've just found out that for Aconcagua I need to upgrade to expedition cover which means paying an additional £570 for the year!! £784 in total! 

Just wondering what the rest of you are doing and if there is any cheaper means of getting insurance. This is a crazy amount to have to pay given that I already paid for annual cover. I'm paying £570 more for 500m. Feel like I'm being ripped off 

[Tasty]

Daisy,
   in the past I have used IHI (www.ihi.dk)...based out of Denmark these guys provide pretty outstanding coverage relatively cheaply. The nice thing is everything is covered (i.e. no exclusion for going above 8000m or anything in between). Last time i used it I think there was about 1,000,000 usd of coverage and onle paid 300usd or so for 3 months.

Hope this helps...

Tasty

[maximus]

Is Insurance required before the Climbing permit is issued, or is it just receommended?

If required, is a certain type required? 

[Daisy]

I believe the permit covers you for helicopter rescue from base camp but I'm not 100% sure. Maybe someone can confirm this. The insurance required for Aconcagua would be expedition cover. I was told that I need this kind of cover because we are taking a route other than the normal route. Perhaps on the normal route you could get away with general trekking insurance??
Personally I wouldn't travel without some kind of insurance cover and most expedition leaders insist on team members being covered. It's in your interest anyway because unfortunately things can go wrong and you don't want to be hit with an enormous medical bill on top of everything else. I just hadn't realised it would cost so much since I had already purchased annual cover for all climbing and mountaineering up to 6500m.

[maximus]

We will be climbing independantly, so no worries on the requirements of any trekking company.  Just wondered about getting the Permit, which requires a insurance company name, policy number and phone number.  Surely they're not going to check everyone for full coverage.  I think I have some general travel insurance, but noting mountianeering specific.

Thanks for the info, Daisy.  How's your knee?

[Daisy]

Hi Maximus, my knee is much better thanks. Fingers crossed it will hold out a bit longer. As for the insurance, I'm still trying to find out what's the best thing to do myself. I might have to go with what I have and hope for the best 

[MikeW]

Hi Daisy!

I can't believed that you are not able to get good mountaineering insurance through your federation.

Here in Québec, through my federation (Fédération Québécoise de Montagne et d'Escalade), it will cost me only 80$can (about 60$us) for the trip on Aconcagua of a duration of 22 days to get insured specifically for alpinism and mountaineering.

Your price is a rip off.

MikeW

[Daisy]

Hi MikeW

It is a rip off here because there is not enough competition. The cheapest I was quoted for 22 days on Aconcagua is 220 euro approx. This annoys me because I already spent 314 euro on annual cover so it'll be an additional 220 euro. To be honest, I think I'm going to go with what I have and keep my fingers crossed  or move to Canada