Telemark changes little about the accident, but a good deal about the binding: a free heel releases where an alpine binding holds, and a ski that comes loose is a liability risk.
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In brief
For your cover, your skiing technique is rarely the question. On a prepared, open piste insurers treat telemark as ordinary alpine skiing and it comes under the winter sports module. What is distinctive about telemark lies elsewhere: the equipment lends itself to climbing skins, and many telemark skiers use their kit on the same day outside the ski area as well. At that moment you move into ski touring, and for the policy that is a different activity with a different risk class.
The second difference lies in the binding. The heel is free and the release works differently from an alpine binding. Some bindings also have no ski brake but a leash. If the ski comes loose and slides down the slope, the damage it does on the way is injury or property damage to a third party. That ends up with Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code and with your personal liability insurance, not with your travel insurance.
The third point is the equipment itself. Telemark kit falls under the luggage or winter sports equipment cover, but breakage through normal use, wear and tear or an inherent defect is almost always excluded from it. If you hire a set locally, it is in your care and damage to it is excluded on the liability cover without a care, custody and control extension.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The essentials
Declare in advance
What you do not declare is not covered.
Notify before departure
Surcharge or separate module
Also for one-off participation
Note all three
Three covers
They do not always run in step.
Medical expenses
Accidents and disability
Liability
Emergency assistance centre
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.
From piste to touring terrain is one skin away
Telemark kit is ready to climb: skins on and you walk out of the ski area. In insurance terms you thereby step from the winter sports module into ski touring or off-piste, which often calls for a separate declaration or extension. The line runs at the boundary of the prepared, patrolled area, not at the difficulty of the descent. On the application, have it expressly recorded that you also outside the ski area climb and descend.
The free heel and the ski that slides away
In telemark the heel lifts and the release works differently from an alpine binding. Some bindings have no ski brake. There is a leash, or nothing at all. If the ski shoots off on a steep slope, it travels a considerable distance on its own. What it hits on the way is loss to a third party and falls under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Check before departure that brakes or leashes are present and intact.
The wide turn and the rules of conduct on the piste
The telemark turn is long and uses the full width of the piste. That increases the chance of a collision with someone approaching from above or someone you overtake from behind yourself. The FIS rules of conduct do not have the force of law, but courts use them to give substance to what careful conduct is: whoever comes from behind must leave the way clear. If you ski on after a collision, that weakens your position considerably.
Competitions, judges and official training
Telemark has a competition format of its own with a jump, gates and a skating section. Taking part in a competition setting and the official training that goes with it is excluded on most travel and accident policies, or covered only on separate declaration. The exclusion applies to amateurs as well. See speed contests for the wider competition clause. Declare your participation in advance, otherwise it engages the duty of disclosure of Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What does your premium depend on?
Piste, off-piste or touring terrain. The main weighting factor: do you stay within the patrolled ski area or do you climb beyond it on skins.
Climbing under your own steam. Ski touring brings avalanche risk and recovery in unpatrolled terrain with it and is therefore assessed as a separate activity.
Taking part in races. Telemark competitions and official training fall outside ordinary cover and call for a separate declaration or module.
Ski area and length of season. One week a year calls for a different set-up from continuous winter sports cover for the whole season.
Equipment: your own or hired. The value of your own set determines the luggage cover; hired equipment engages the care, custody and control provision on the liability cover.
Sections chosen and the excess. Whether rescue and recovery costs and permanent disability are included weighs more heavily than the medical section alone.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
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.
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.
On an open, prepared piste generally yes, through the winter sports module. Insurers look at the terrain and not at the type of binding, so the free heel in itself makes no difference. The distinction only arises when you leave the patrolled ski area or take part in a competition. Both situations have to be declared in advance, even for a single day.
Am I liable if my ski slides away and hits someone?
You may be, and with telemark that is a real scenario because not every binding has a ski brake. The question is whether you should reasonably have acted differently within the meaning of Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, for example by using a leash or by not laying the ski loose on a slope. Injury to that third party falls under your personal liability insurance (AVP).
Is my telemark equipment insured against breakage?
Usually not where the breakage arises through normal use. Luggage and winter sports equipment cover pays for theft and damage from outside, but excludes wear and tear, inherent defect and damage while practising the sport itself. A binding that breaks while you are skiing therefore generally falls outside it. For hired equipment the care, custody and control provision on your liability cover applies as well.
What if I go on a tour with skins?
Then the insurer assesses that as ski touring and no longer as piste skiing, even though you are using the same telemark equipment. Outside the patrolled area, avalanche risk and expensive recovery come into play, and without an extension those often fall outside the cover. State in advance that you climb and descend off the piste; if you do not, there is no cover for a rescue operation.
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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