Mountain Insurance.
Although we maintain a clean safety record with regard to serious injuries, the mountains are nevertheless a hazardous environment, where even minor incidents such as illness or a sprained ankle may result in the need for a costly helicopter evacuation or medical treatment. For this reason, we stipulate that for all overseas courses you must purchase specialist mountaineering – off piste/ski mountaineering rescue, medical and repatriation insurance to cover the dates, areas and activities involved as a co ndition of your booking.
Details of your insurance must be brought to the course briefing at the start of each week. We also strongly advise that for all courses you purchase cancellation insurance (most insurance packages include accident and cancellation insurance to gether). You are strongly advised to buy insurance immediately you book the course, rather than last minute – as cancellation cover is only effective from the date you take out the policy.

Resident EU Adress
If you don’t already have a European Health Insurance Card (the replacement for the old E111 form) then you need to go down the post office and apply for one. Insurers so metimes insist that you have one of these to go with your insurance package, so it is important to get hold of one.

– Resident UK adress The following companies provide appropriate mountaineering insurance.

– Resident Deutsch adress The following companies provide appropriate mountaineering insurance.

– Resident Netherland adress The following companies provide appropriate mountaineering insurance.

– Resident Spanish adress The following companies provide appropriate mountaineering insurance.

– Resident Belgium adress The following companies provide appropriate mountaineering insurance.

Resident USA and CANADA Adress
The Rescue Insurance landscape seems to change daily, as clubs and insurers change their policies and offerings. What you purchase depends mostly on where you are from and where you plan to go. Most national alpine clubs offer rescue insurance as part of, or as a supplement to the club dues. This is a good place to start looking.

The American Alpine Club offers global rescue insurance to its members. You will need to contact the AAC for details. The French as Swiss Alpine Clubs also offer rescue insurance, but currently it appears to be limited to residents of those countries.

If you are climbing or skiing wholly within Switzerland, you can subscribe to REGA. REGA rescue insurance can be purchased in most Swiss post offices and costs 30 Swiss Francs for the year for an individual. If your activities are just within Switzerland, this is a good deal. Family subscriptions are also possible. For non-Swiss it is valid only within Switzerland. See Rega for more information.

Similar to Rega, Air Glacier is another Swiss product. It is a good choice if you are climbing in the Zermatt area or Valais. Like Rega, it is limited to accidents or evacuations that occur within Switzerland. Air Glacier’s website can be found at Air Glaciers You can sign up online for about 35 CHF per year.

Currently, one of the best options for Americans appears to be to join the UK Section of the Austrian Alpine Club. Anyone can join, regardless of residence, and the associated rescue insurance is valid worldwide (with a few exceptions, such as 8000-meter peaks, Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctic). Visit their website at Austrian Alpine Club for more information.