So I am in need of travel & climbing insurance for a potential trip to Nepal in October. It is a requirement with the company I am planning on using. While I have been to Mexico and SA on climbing trips I didn't purchase any insurance for those trips so this is totally new to me.

Anything to look for or request? Any recommendations? They had Global Rescue as one company but seeing as how this is totally new to me I figured I'd throw it out here and see what others have used. Do a little research while I have a bit of time.

Any advice, info or other is greatly appreciated. Right now I basically know nothing other than 1 random google search.

Herd,

Have you checked out TravelGuard? You should be able to build and buy a self-tailored insurance policy online.
They used to have an adventure sports component (for an additional fee) that covered things like ww rafting, skydiving and (I believe) climbing..

http://www.travelguard.com/travelinsura ... -Adventure

If I remember correctly, if you buy policy very close to your commercial trip down payment (I'm thinking within 10 days), you can save a few bucks. But then again..things might have changed..
Also, check earlier threads here on Summitpost for climbing/trip insurance policies. I think forum participants discussed the American Alpine Club member insurance options, etc..

Happy trails!
JM

The two big travel insurance companies are Travelguard and Alliance. We get travel insurance on our big trips and most likely any issues you'll need the insurance for will revolve around the travel, not the climbing. Something like you get sick after spending 10k on a trip and can't go. Well worth a few hundred bucks. This is an area were a good travel agent can help out and the costs would really be the same and just all around easier.

The AAC life insurance isn't much, but it allows you to segue nicely into augmenting it into a real policy via Fidelity (the underwriter for the AAC insurance policy) - just call AAC or Fidelity and tell them what you want to do and how much you'd like, but they'll really want to write you a policy for a year, of course, or more. For one-off/short term trips going with Travelguard is easier, but be SURE of the terms (ie, covers climbing pancakery etc) - many policies also pay our double if you leave this mortal plane on 'public' means of transportation - airplane and bus included. just be sure to ask

I've always gone through insuremytrip.com to find insurance. So many companies won't insure climbing at all or have a low altitude limit, maybe 4500m. Some will have a rider you can purchase that will cover high altitude climbing. Most don't. When I have been required to buy insurance, I've never been able to find general travel insurance that will cover high altitude. I have been able to find medical travel insurance policies that cover it and have a low lost baggage limit and trip interruption attached.

Whatever you purchase, be sure to look carefully through the exclusions and limitations sections. That's where you'll find that they don't cover climbing or anything above X meters in a long list of other no-nos. Read through carefully and if there is an adventure sports or extreme sports rider available, look at that very closely too. Maybe they cover paragliding and bungee jumping but not mountaineering.

I got curious so took a quick look over at insuremytrip and found a policy for Nepal 30 days sept-oct for a 44 year old for under $60. That one had no listed exclusion for high altitude mountaineering. Didn't say it did cover it, either. One other policy covered HA climbing with an additional rider, $70.

I generally only bother with insurance when it's required by the trekking outfit I'm using, but I've taken enough trips that I'm used to looking for the cheapest policy and reading the exclusions. Also, if you find a policy that takes care of your needs this year and take another trip in the future, be sure and look at the exclusions each time you shop. I have seen a policy cover HA one year and the same policy from the same company won't cover it the nest year.

I have no connection to insuremytrip other that as a customer. Since they're a broker you can compare several different companies' offerings side by side.

Hope this helps,
JimS

FYI, the web interface of www.travelguard.com now lists mountaineering as excluded in the normal policy "certificate". If you call them, an agent can help you add "adventure travel waiver" to the policy. Somehow, this waiver is not accessible from the web interface itself.

Another viable option is www.adventuresportsinsurance.com, their web interface for "Diplomat International" plan offers "athletic sports" rider that explicitly mentions altitudes of coverage if you choose "medium" or "high" options.

There are lots of different kinds of travel and climbing insurance. Are you looking for life / injury insurance? Emergency evacuation insurance? Trip cancellation / interruption insurance? All of the above? I typically maintain a Global Rescue policy for emergency evacuation and buy a trip cancellation / interruption policy if I have spent a large sum with some expedition outfitter. I don't buy extra life insurance because I have enough of that already. In 2015 when the Nepal earthquake happened, a trip to Cho Oyu was cut short and I was glad I had trip interruption insurance with M.H.Ross, it ended up paying me more than $20K. If you are going to be climbing over 6000 meters above sea level, you have to choose carefully because most trip insurance companies have exclusions which target climbing expeditions to the worlds highest mountains. Some policies allow you to get rid of the exclusions by paying a small extra fee (as did M.H.Ross last year) but after the Nepal earthquake a number of companies added restrictions. This spring I went back to the Himalayas but had to switch companies because M.H.Ross added restrictions and no longer covers high altitude climbs. You can still find insurance which covers 8000 meter climbs though. Check out Travelex for example. This year I used them, fortunately I did not need to make a claim. I used InsureMyTrip.com to compare policies and pick one.