October 26, 2023 | Words by Alison Jones
Nobody likes to think about worst-case scenarios when booking their dream trip. But in reality, life happens when you’re busy making plans. Being prepared is the best way to protect yourself from the unexpected – and for heli-skiing, that’s getting trip insurance.
In this post, we’ll go over what trip insurance is, what it covers, and how it protects you in different scenarios.
What is trip cancellation and medical insurance?
For many, a heli-skiing trip is an experiential investment as well as one in time and money.
In short, pre-purchased trip cancellation/interruption and medical insurance protect this investment with a safety net from financial hardship should there be the need for an unexpected cancellation, an unplanned travel interruption, or a medical emergency that stops you from travelling or that requires extra assistance during your trip.
“Just as you would safeguard your car, your wedding ring, or any other significant purchase with insurance, we encourage you to do the same for your heli-skiing trip,” said Patrick Murphy, CMH Inside Sales Representative. “Your trip is an investment. Unexpected things happen. Protect yourself so if something does come up, you’re not in a difficult position.”
Without trip insurance, you will forfeit your money if you need to cancel and you’re outside of the cancellation policy, regardless of the reason.
Whether you need to cancel within our policy dates due to work commitments, a sudden injury, or anything else that life throws at you – having trip insurance helps cover you and provide peace of mind.
What is CMH’s Cancellation Policy?
To confirm your space, a non-refundable 20% deposit of your estimated trip cost (based on double occupancy) is due at the time of booking.
Final payment of the remaining 80% is due 12 weeks (90 days) before your trip’s start date.
Should you need to cancel a regular heli-skiing trip for any reason, the deposit and potentially the full trip (timing dependent) are non-refundable.
For a detailed breakdown of what happens if you must cancel, see our full Terms of Booking. (Please note that different policies apply for Private Trips and Lodge Buyouts.)
Real-life scenarios guests were covered by trip insurance (or wished they were)
With hundreds of trips booked each year for nearly 60 years, we’ve encountered a lot of unexpected moments. Here are just a few real-life examples:
- Injury – One of the more common reasons for trip cancellation is a guest sustaining an injury shortly before their trip. Perhaps it’s a popped knee or a strained back, injuries can happen to anyone.
- New job and no time off – Career moves are another common reason for guests not being able to join a trip. Job moves often come unannounced, and there is little room to maneuver with a new employer and few built-up vacation days.
- Passport expiry – This one can catch even the most seasoned traveller. For anyone travelling into Canada, no passport means no travel and definitely no heli-skiing.
- Failure in airport systems – A topical example is the recent failure of the entire FAA system in the United States in 2023. Every flight was grounded or delayed as the Federal Aviation Administration attempted to fix a system outage.
- Natural disasters – From a hurricane in Florida to the more frequently occurring wildfires across the globe and even the Icelandic volcano that disrupted all cross-Atlantic flight paths, natural disasters do happen and impact travel in multiple ways.
Trip insurance also covers you outside of needing to entirely cancel; even if you haven’t cancelled your trip, you might run into issues along the way, such as:
- Lost luggage – For some guests, lost luggage means the loss of EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. of their ski gear: jacket, pants, helmet, goggles, gloves, thermals, boots.
- Missed flight – Whether it’s your fault (running late) or not (airplane technical problems and flight cancellations), missed flights mean missed transfers and missed trips.
- Heli evacuation – Like any adventure-based trip, if you sustain an injury like a broken leg while exploring more remote corners of the world, you will most likely require a heli evacuation to the nearest healthcare.
Where can you get trip insurance?
Like any insurance policy, prices vary between custom-made quotes.
CMH is not officially affiliated with a provider, but from experience, we recommend contacting Uniglobe Specialty Travel for your insurance. This is a local company that specializes in covering heli-skiing trips. In other words, they know the nuances of our type of adventure travel and are well-versed in CMH.
There are added benefits if you buy trip insurance within 72 hours of booking your trip, so consider planning early.
You may be tempted to rely on your credit card’s insurance. While this type of insurance might cover the cost of forfeiting your deposit if you cancel, it will likely not cover other things that could happen on your trip, like a medical flight.
Who should buy trip insurance?
Everyone should. Whether it’s your first trip or your 20th, and whether you’re travelling internationally or domestically, our message is simple: please, buy insurance.
Like any travel, having comprehensive insurance is an industry-standard practice. Ultimately, as a responsible business, we want to ensure you have a great experience, including protecting your investment.
Questions? Our team is here to help.