Is ski pass insurance worth it?

When you are buying your ski pass, you will be asked if you wish to add insurance onto the pass. There are a few misconceptions of what ski pass insurance actually covers, so we wanted to give you a bit more of an idea of whether it’s worth it.

We recommend for holiday-makers that everyone takes travel insurance when going on any ski trip, which will cover you outside of your home country for events such as travel delays or disruptions, lost luggage, issues with accommodation as well as illness or injuries and accidents including during snowsports activities.

There is the option when buying your ski pass to add additional insurance, which you may want to do if your own insurance doesn’t cover certain eventualities, or especially if you are travelling locally and therefore do not have travel insurance.

The most common ski pass insurance, and the one offered in Verbier is snow-assist insurance. This is specifically designed to cover you if injured while skiing. This insurance covers the following for those holding a ski pass for 2 days or more:

• Search and rescue costs
• Costs for transport by ambulance or helicopter
• Medical expenses
• Medical repatriation
• Refund of the skipass (if beneficiary required emergency medical care)
• Refund of the skiing lessons (if beneficiary required emergency medical care)
• Refund of the rented skiing equipment (if beneficiary required emergency medical care)

The cost of snow-assist insurance is usually around CHF 6 a day (as of 2021-22) so it can be a minor additional charge for extra peace of mind on your ski insurance.

The insurance is only valid on the skiing slopes covered by the ski-pass issued by the ski resort. All the guarantees are only valid if the ski patrol team has been involved at the accident spot.

We would advise you to review your own insurance policies, and if the above is not covered then it is worth taking this insurance to ensure in the event of an accident, you are fully insured for all the above eventualities.

The above is just a summary and we of course recommend reading the insurance terms and conditions in full, of whichever insurance you are offered when visiting the resort in question.