Carve more and worry less with snow sports travel insurance

Some people call it ski travel insurance, snowboarding travel insurance or even winter sports travel insurance, but whatever you want to call it, travel insurance for snow sports is a unique kind of cover that can protect you on and off the mountain. Because winter sports trips aren’t like relaxing beach holidays – they come with risks you likely won’t come across on a sun lounger.  

If you’re hitting the slopes, this type of insurance can help cover unforeseen costs if you have a slip on the slopes and need medical assistance, as well as protect your snow gear. It’s super important to consider, because while snow-based holidays are fantastic fun, doing winter sports can increase your risk of injury. You’re also likely to be travelling with more stuff – often more expensive stuff – so it’s smart to get cover that includes luggage cover, too. You’ll know this if you’ve checked the PDS, but don’t forget we can’t cover your gear when it’s in use. So, take good care of it, yeah?

Whether you want travel insurance for skiing in Japan, a snowboarding adventure in New Zealand, or snowmobiling fun in Canada, our Snow Sports Cover offers protection for the popular winter sports you might want to try on your snow trip. If you pack our cover and something does go wrong on the slopes, we can help care for you.  

Snow-related injuries don’t just happen to beginners. So, even if you’ve been carving up the mountains for years, our cover could help you if you take a tumble. Remember: ski fields are often isolated and have rugged terrain, which means it can cost a pretty penny to airlift you off the slopes and get you to the nearest hospital for medical assistance if you need it. Hospital bills can also be pricey – and unpredictable.  

But you can worry less when you travel with us, because we’ve got you. We’re here for the good times and the not-so-good times. There’s no mountain our 24/7 assistance team isn’t happy to climb (metaphorically speaking!) to help you get the care you need.

Plus, when you include either one of our two levels of snow sports travel insurance in your travel insurance policy, you can access all our other great coverage. Think: protection for your luggage, travel delays, additional expenses, and more.

So, if you’re planning to don some snow boots and ski, snowboard or snowmobile on your next trip, consider choosing our travel insurance for winter sports holidays. 

We do indeed! We offer two levels of winter sports travel insurance cover so you can choose the one that suits your trip plans best.

Here they are:

1. Snow Sports: This cover option could be great if you’ll be spending your time doing on-piste skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and/or cross-country skiing. It doesn’t offer cover for off-piste or backcountry skiing.
2. Snow Sports+: This cover option includes cover for the above activities, plus off-piste skiing and snowboarding, and guided heli-skiing and heli-boarding tours. It could be the option for you if you’re more advanced at snow sports or planning to do more adventurous activities on the mountains.

Note to self: Even if you include one of our Snow Sports or Snow Sports+ cover options in your policy and pay the additional premium, you’ll only have cover if you meet the conditions outlined in the PDS. For example, you can’t be a pro-skier or boarder, must not be racing, must always follow local advice and warnings, and more.  

Also, be good while you’re out on the slopes. Always familiarise yourself with your ski resort’s guidelines and only take on the runs that are within your ability. We want you to have fun, but we also want you to come home safely.

Ready to buy? Get a quote online now.

Buying our travel insurance including winter sports cover is as easy as doing a snow plough…  

To start, hit the big ol’ quote button on this page. You’ll need to tell us your destination, dates of travel, and details of any other travellers you want included on your policy.

Then, you’ll need to select the travel insurance plan that best suits your snow holiday. You can pick from our Basic, Comprehensive and Comprehensive+ plans, depending on how much cover you want and how much you want to spend. If you’re unsure about which ones to choose, you can compare our travel insurance plans first.

Once you’ve decided on the plan you want, we’ll ask you some questions to help you tailor your cover to your trip. This is where you can add our Snow Sports Cover to your policy.

You’ll need to select ‘Yes’ when we ask if you’ll be doing any winter sports. Then, you can select the cover options that’s best for you:

1. Snow Sports: provides cover for on-piste snow skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing.
2. Snow Sports+: includes cover for the Snow Sports activities above, plus cover for snow skiing and snowboarding off-piste, and heli-skiing and heli-boarding on a guided tour with a licensed tour operator.

Good to know: Planning to travel with your own ski or snowboard gear? This is a great time to opt to increase your luggage limits if you need it. Check out the Luggage and Travel Document cover limits for your selected plan to see if it’s enough to cover your gear. If not, you can choose a limit from the available options that works for you.

If you still need help understanding which cover is right for your trip, call our team on 1300 72 88 22. We’ll happily guide you through our policy options, as well as help you buy a policy when you’re ready. 

This Yes – if our Snow Sports Cover is included in your international travel insurance policy. If it is, we can provide cover for winter sports-related injuries that happen on the snow fields (provided you were complying with the conditions set out in the PDS at the time – rules are rules!). All three of our international plans include $Unlimited~ cover for emergency overseas medical expenses, so if you need us, we’ll be here for you.

If you’ve got a domestic travel insurance policy, we can’t include cover for medical, hospital, ambulance or dental expenses. It’s not because we don’t want to – it’s because you’ll have access to Medicare and potentially private health insurance while you’re in Australia.  

Here’s more good news: It doesn’t matter if you’re hitting the mountains in Australia or overseas, if you’ve included one of our Snow Sports cover options in your policy and you’re injured while taking part in a covered winter sporting activity, we can still provide cover for other expenses such as additional transport and accommodation expenses.

Got a question that’s not featured here? Call our friendly team on 1300 72 88 22 or check out our top FAQs.

~Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury.

Great question – knowing what we can’t cover is as important as knowing what we can cover.  

Our cover differs depending on which of our two cover options you choose: Snow Sports and Snow Sports+.

If you include our base level option in your policy – Snow Sports – you’ll only have cover if:

• you're snow skiing, snowboarding or snowmobiling on‑piste, or cross-country skiing
• you're not participating in a professional capacity – let's leave that to Aussie Olympic snowboarder, Scotty James!
• you're not racing.

If you include our top-level option in your policy – Snow Sports+, which enables off-piste skiing – you’ll only have cover if:

• your heli-skiing or heli-boarding is part of a guided tour with a licensed tour operator
• when skiing or snowboarding outside piste boundaries, you’re not going against local advice or warnings
• you're not participating in a professional capacity
• you're not racing.

Oh, and a couple of other things to note:  

1. There is also no cover for sporting equipment that’s damaged, lost or stolen while in use. So, remember to take good care of it!
2. No cover will apply under our Personal Liability benefit for snowmobiling. This means you’re responsible for paying the costs associated with damage to the vehicle or property or injury to another person.

Ready to get a quote and hit ‘buy’? Have a good read of the PDS for any other policy conditions you’ll need to think about to understand if our skiing and snowboarding travel insurance cover is good for you.

Unfortunately, no. When you buy our travel insurance and add Snow Sports Cover to your policy, the cover applies to the whole duration of your policy. The good news is, though: it gives you flexibility when booking the ski or snowboarding part of your holiday. You can hit the mountains for as long – or as little – as you like knowing your cover is already locked in.

Good question. Our Luggage and Travel Documents cover only provides cover for personal items that are lost, damaged, or stolen on your trip (provided they are not in use when it happens – for sports equipment anyway). So, this means we don’t provide cover for any hired winter sporting equipment.

If you’re hiring ski equipment on a snow trip, ask the ski rental company about cover – and read the contract carefully. It’ll list your rights and responsibilities and potentially mention your cover conditions. So, give it a read before you sign and so you know what to do if something happens to your hired equipment.

If you’re taking snow sports equipment on your trip, cover is included under our Luggage and Travel Documents cover. The cover limit will differ depending on which plan you choose, so make sure you check it’s high enough to cover your gear.

If it’s not, we can help. When getting a quote, we give you the option to increase the cover limit for individual items for an additional premium. This means you can get the cover you need for your (likely expensive!) snow sports equipment and worry less while you’re on your trip.

We’ve said it before but we’ll say it again: Check the PDS so you know what we can and can’t cover. For example, we can't cover gear that is stolen while left unattended, or sporting equipment whilst it’s in use, and our Luggage and Travel Documents cover only applies to personal gear or equipment owned by you – not hired equipment.

If you’ve bought one of our international Basic, Comprehensive, or Comprehensive+ plans, you’ll have $Unlimited~ overseas medical expenses cover for your whole trip.  

But – and this is a big but – you’ll only have medical cover for snow-related injuries if our Snow Sports Cover is included in your policy. If you choose to risk it and go without including this cover, you’ll be responsible for paying for your medical treatment.

Yes, our Snow Sports Cover does come with an additional premium, but snow sports can be risky and medical bills can be expensive. It’s smart to think about packing this cover, so you can worry less knowing you’ll get help if you need it.

~Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury.

Not at all. We don’t mind if you’re riding a snowboard that’s brand new or 10 years old – we’ll still cover it as a luggage item. However, we do apply depreciation to items that are more than 24 months old.

So, if your item wasn’t bought recently and you need to make a claim, we’ll apply reasonable depreciation to the item when assessing it.

Our PDS has a great table on depreciation and how to calculate cover for older items, so check it out. We also talk about it on our luggage cover page.