Life insurance for backcountry skiers and ski tourers
- Resort skiing rarely affects life insurance. Backcountry and avalanche terrain often does.
- Fully underwritten policies may add a rating or exclude skiing deaths.
- Simplified-issue plans can cover ski tourers with no skiing exclusion.
Why ski touring gets flagged
To an underwriter, "skiing" covers two very different things. Resort skiing on patrolled runs is a normal activity. Travelling in avalanche terrain, whether ski touring, splitboarding or ski mountaineering, is treated as a hazardous sport.
What insurers ask
A typical avalanche or winter-sports questionnaire asks:
- Whether you ski outside resort boundaries, and how many days a year
- Whether you travel in avalanche terrain, and if you're guided
- Your avalanche training and what safety gear you carry
- Whether you ski mountaineer or ski steep couloirs
- Heli-skiing, cat skiing and trips abroad
What can happen on a regular policy
Depending on your answers, a fully underwritten policy may be issued normally, carry a flat extra charge (often around $4 per $1,000 of coverage a year), exclude deaths from skiing or avalanches, or be declined. An exclusion leaves your family unprotected in exactly the situation you're most worried about.
The climber plan for skiers
Simplified-issue plans ask short health questions and skip the medical exam. The ones we use don't exclude or surcharge backcountry skiing. Each insurer caps coverage, so we combine up to 4 to reach the amount your family needs. How the stack works →
FAQ
Does avalanche training change my price?
Some underwriters ask about it. Training won't usually remove a rating on a regular policy, but it's worth mentioning.
What about heli-skiing and cat skiing?
Guided heli and cat skiing are asked about separately on most questionnaires. The climber plan covers them.
I only ski at resorts. Do I need the climber plan?
Probably not. Resort skiing is usually treated as a normal activity, so a regular plan is often cheaper. Book a call to confirm.
Philip Setter has been a licensed life insurance advisor since 2014 and founded Affinity Life in 2020. He's a climber, ice climber and ski tourer based in Calgary.