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Terrain · avalanche · guide
Insuring snowshoe walking
Snowshoe walking involves no speed and no technique that can go wrong; it takes you on foot into terrain where the largest cost is not the accident but the recovery.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Insurers judge snowshoe walking not on how you walk, but on where you walk. On a prepared winter walking path it counts for the policy as ordinary walking. As soon as you pass the last waymarker, the trip continues into open snow-covered terrain and avalanche risk, hypothermia and disorientation come into play. Those two situations are sometimes a hundred metres apart and still fall into different risk classes.
The item that turns out most expensive is rarely the treatment. A sprained ankle a few kilometres from the nearest road, in snow, means a rescue team and often a helicopter. Rescue and recovery costs form a section of their own and do not automatically run with the medical costs. Check that this section exists and that it also applies outside marked terrain. Always call the emergency assistance centre first; costs you commission yourself are hard to recover afterwards.
Where your liability is concerned, something applies that does not arise in most winter sports: you move slowly through terrain where others pass quickly beneath you. If you set a mass of snow in motion above a piste or a cross-country track, that is a classic wrongful act under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code and it ends up with your personal liability insurance . Your own injury falls precisely outside that; it belongs in the accident section.
Snowshoe walking: what is covered?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Three covers
They do not always run in step.
- Medical expenses
- Accidents and disability
- Liability
In an accident
Call before you incur costs.
- Arranging a guarantee
- Salvage and repatriation
- Keep all receipts
What is covered
| Situation | Standard | With extension |
|---|---|---|
| Medical expenses after an accident | No | Yes |
| Rescue and salvage costs | No | Yes |
| Permanent disability | No | Sometimes |
| Liability towards third parties | Sometimes | Yes |
| Taking part in competition | No | Sometimes |
| Taking part without the required qualification | No | No |
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
The line runs at the last waymarker
Many policies cover winter walking on signed, maintained routes without a surcharge, and treat everything beyond them as a separate activity. The distinction is not the snowshoe but the waymarking. If you follow a marked route and step off it to take in a viewpoint, you are formally in open terrain. So do not ask whether snowshoe walking is covered, but whether trips outside marked terrain are included.
The recovery is a separate section
If you are injured far from the road, you are not collected by ambulance but by a rescue team, a sledge or a helicopter. Those costs fall under rescue and recovery costs, not under medical costs, and in a standard policy they are often limited or absent. Find out before departure which telephone number to call and whether the cover also applies when nothing is broken but you can no longer get back under your own steam.
Ignoring an avalanche warning is held against you
If you walk into a cordoned-off area or go onto the slopes while a danger level has been announced, Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code comes into play: the insurer does not have to pay for loss caused by intent or recklessness on the part of the insured. The discussion is then not about your sport but about what you knew and did anyway. Record which bulletins you consulted. Report the incident immediately as well; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to do so.
Someone else's equipment and damage to someone else
You usually hire an avalanche set, snowshoes and poles locally. Hired items are in your care and are excluded as standard on a liability policy, unless care, custody and control cover is included. If, on the other hand, a third party is injured because you set snow in motion or knocked someone over on a cross-country track, that is indeed the territory of the AVP. Your own injury falls outside that cover in both cases.
What does your premium depend on?
- Marked or open terrain — The main question: do you stay on maintained winter walking routes or do you go into unpatrolled slope terrain.
- With or without a guide — Accompaniment by a certified mountain guide lowers the risk and with some insurers is even a condition of cover away from the route.
- Area and altitude — A walk in the lower mountains is weighed differently from a multi-day route in the high mountains with nights in huts.
- Time of season — Early and late in the season the snowpack is less stable, which affects the chance of an avalanche incident.
- Rescue and recovery section — Whether this section is included, and up to what amount, affects the premium more than the medical cover itself.
- A single trip or continuous cover — One winter week a year calls for a different set-up from a continuous policy with a winter sports module for the whole season.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
How we arrange it
- You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your wishes.
- We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
- You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
- We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
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Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
Am I covered on a marked winter walking path?
Generally yes. A maintained, signed winter walking route is treated by most insurers as ordinary walking, snowshoes included. The cover changes the moment you leave the route and enter open snow-covered slope terrain. Because that transition is not always visible, it is better to have it recorded in advance that trips away from the waymarking are included as well.
Who pays for the helicopter if I can go no further?
That falls under rescue and recovery costs, a separate section that is not in every policy and sometimes applies only within marked terrain. Always call the emergency assistance centre first and let it give the instruction. If you instruct a rescue service yourself, there is a risk that the costs are not paid or only paid in part, even where the cover exists in principle.
Am I liable if I set off an avalanche?
You may be. If the mass of snow hits people or property lower down the slope, the test is Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code: should you have acted differently in those circumstances. The published danger level and any closures weigh heavily in that. The loss suffered by those others falls under your personal liability insurance (AVP); your own injury does not.
Do I have to go with a guide?
It is not compulsory, but a number of insurers cover trips outside marked terrain only under the supervision of a certified guide. If you go independently, have it expressly recorded on the application that this is included. If you state this incorrectly, that engages the duty of disclosure of Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code and the payment for a rescue operation may be at risk.
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Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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This page was written and checked by an adviser at Finass Verzekert. Last updated on .
The information on this page is general in nature and is not personal advice.