You won’t get banned from skiing but you might be advised not to
He's back now and the "ban" is a medical certificate (in French) saying that he's unfit to ski for 21 days
Off piste is massive and within boundaries, patrolled and avalanche controlled. I’m never too sure how the insurance works though
Check your policy wording. Carefully. For family holidays, where any "off piste" is just slackcountry and well-within boundaries, we just use Columbus Direct who give pretty decent winter sports cover. Even then they have some wiggle room.
From the policy document I have from last week:
Winter sports activities
Where the appropriate additional premium has been paid for winter sports cover you will be
covered for skiing and snowboarding as well as the following winter sports activities.✓ Air boarding
✓ Big foot skiing
✓ Cross country skiing (recognised paths)
✓ Dry slope skiing/snowboarding
✓ Glacier skiing/walking
✓ Ice cricket *
✓ Ice windsurfing *
✓ Kick sledging
✓ Langlauf
✓ Mono-skiing
✓ Nordic skiing (recognised paths)
✓ Off-piste skiing/snowboarding (within resort boundaries)
✓ Ski randonnee
✓ Ski run walking
✓ Ski skimming
✓ Ski touring
✓ Skidooing ‡*
✓ Sledging
✓ Snow blading
✓ Snow shoeing
✓ Snow tubing
✓ Snow zorbing
✓ Snowcat skiing (with a professional guide)
✓ Snowmobiling ‡*
✓ Tobogganing...
YOU ARE NOT COVERED
1. For any accident occurring whilst you are skiing or snowboarding off-piste outside the resort boundaries or without a qualified guide.
(realistically who has a qualified guide when cutting off-piste, in-bounds, between two adjacent pistes?)
For proper out-of-bounds off-piste adventures I've used MPI Brokers which was set up by an off-piste skier and is recommended by Henry's Avalanche Talk.
https://henrysavalanchetalk.com/hat-advice/off-piste-piste-ski-insurance/
(realistically who has a qualified guide when cutting off-piste, in-bounds, between two adjacent pistes?)
That's part of the resort in some cases. The demand for safe off-piste runs has prompted the creation of a "zone sécurisée non damée" in some resorts. The area is made safe from avalanche, natural risks are signed but the pistes are unprepared and loosely defined.
That’s part of the resort in some cases.
Yeah it is part of the resort, controlled and within bounds. However I think the insurance company may/could still argue that you are "off piste" without a qualified guide.
I rarely ski of piste, I just prefer skiing on piste. And it has been like that for 40 years.
you are “off piste” without a qualified guide.
Even though there is no suggestion you should hire a guide to use the area (and a guide would point you at EFS), ski instructors (who aren't guides) are free to use it for teaching, it's covered by the ski patrol, in local law it's part of the resort... .
Anyhow, ask your usual insurer what they have to offer, Allianz covers me for every sport/outdoor activity which isn't specifically excluded, which as I remember it is base jumping and a couple of other crazy things you can do in the air.
Going back a decade or two, piste patrol in Val d refused to take any action for my mum until a credit card had been handed over. (ACL as it transpired after getting to Hospital)
Either you or your mum are grossly distorting the truth. The “non-assistance à personne en danger” law has been en vigeur longer than that.
Were you there Edukator? I'm not sure you were. Seems a bit rude.
It's extremely rude to grossly mislead about French law and French ski patrols, it's xenophobic, racist even.
French ski patols have not do not and will not refuse to rescue someone "until a credit card had been handed over". In France you do not need to carry money or any form of identity. Ski patrols are there to rescue people however rich or poor, whatever their origin and without discrimination. Under no condition will they ever not rescue someone because they cannot produce a credit card. If they did it would be a professional "faute grave" and they would be liable to prosecution for "non assistance en personne en danger". Nothing has changed for a very long time, 1985 for la loi de la montagne which covers rescue and 1992 for non-assistance à personne en danger. Well before your "decade or two".
I wasn't there, nor perhaps were you, that's the only reason I'm not calling you a liar. I have however skied Val d'Isere since 1987, reside in a French ski resort in the Winter, have a son who is an ESF instructor, and ski regularly with ski gendarmes. I've been present at rescues most years for the last "decade or two" because I'm often skinning up outside the jalons when people have accidents and personally take the "non-assistance à personne en danger" law seriously so I scamper over, giver first aid and stay with people until they're carried off by the ski patrol - it has never ever been a question rescue being dependant on payment.
La loi de la montagne 1985 stipulates that it's the commune (resort) that is financially responsible for rescue. Once you have been rescued they can bill you, but they can't make rescue dependant on payment.
In France you do not need to carry money or any form of identity.
Can I clarify, please, that you mean "... in order to be rescued"? I've understood that it is a legal requirement, in France, to carry ID and prove your identity to police or gendarmes if asked; is that still so?
Game, set and match Edukator.
Chateau sir, Chateau.
Really nice to see people questioning the bollox that is routinely trotted out by insurance companies and random stories.
As to the person above talking about wiggle room...... it's not wiggle room, they just won't pay out. End of. Why waste money buying it
No need to carry ID in France or even possess any. The national ID card isn't obligatory, the government says so:
https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F11601
However, it's quite handy having some form of ID on you and can save a lot of time if the police or gendarmes do take an interest, especially if you're foreign.