Snow Pack

Don’t strap on that snowboard until you’ve insured yourself and your gear. A little extra goes a long way to cover medical emergencies on the slopes.

Extra cover for winter sports and gear

The Travel by Us snow add-on provides cover for overseas emergency medical and hospital expenses, for loss or damage to your own snow sport equipment, including the cost of snow sport hire equipment, as well as the cover for snow ski pack, piste closure, bad weather and avalanche closure.

• You are not covered under this option for claims under Personal accident or Legal liability, if you participate in winter sports in backcountry or off-piste, or the activities listed under Adventure Pack.
• You must be under the age of 74 at the date your certificate of insurance is issued.
• There is no cover under this benefit while travelling in Australia.
• You must provide us with confirmation in writing of the bad weather or avalanche by the appropriate authority.
• Cover is not available as shown under ‘What we don’t cover at all’.
• Not all rules and exclusions have been listed here. Please see the Combined Product Disclosure Statement and Policy Wording for full details.

Snow sports overseas emergency medical assistance

If you are seriously injured or suffer a sudden illness while overseas Travel by Us will pay for our emergency assistance provider to:

• arrange for you to gain access to emergency medical treatment by a medical practitioner for while you are overseas
• arrange medical transfer if they deem it necessary for you to be transported to the closest hospital for emergency medical treatment or if you needed to be evacuated to Australia
• provide guarantees in writing of payment of reasonable expenses for any needed emergency hospitalisation while you are overseas
• communicate with your family or employer in the case of an emergency • arrange your dependants’ return to Australia if they are left unaccompanied following you being required to be hospitalised or evacuated

If you die as a result of an injury or illness during your journey Travel by Us will also pay up to the applicable limit per person for the reasonable cost of either a funeral or cremation overseas and/or returning your remains to your home.

Keep in mind

• We will not pay expenses for hospital or medical costs that you incur in Australia or any further medical, hospital or evacuation expenses if you don’t follow any medical advice that we have given you.
• We will not pay expenses for medical evacuation or the transportation of your remains from Australia to another country.

Snow sports emergency medical and hospital expenses

If you suffer a sudden illness or serious injury on your trip we will pay you the reasonable and necessary cost of emergency medical, hospital, road ambulance or other treatment you receive overseas during the trip until you get back to Australia.

Keep in mind

• You must receive written advice of the required treatment from the attending registered medical practitioner.
• You must take appropriate action to avoid or minimise any potential claim under your policy. If the total cost of the treatment is expected to be more than AUD 1,000 because you are hospitalised or treated as an outpatient, you or a member of your travelling party must contact us as soon as possible to get their approval prior to any expenses being incurred.
• If we determine that you should return home to Australia for treatment and you do not agree to do so, we will pay you the amount which we determine would cover your medical expenses and/or related costs had you agreed to our recommendation. You will then be responsible for any ongoing or additional costs relating to or arises out of the event for which you have claimed.
• We will only pay for medical expenses incurred within 12 months after the illness first showed itself or the injury happened.
• This cover lasts only 12 months from when the sudden illness first presented or the serious injury happened. Any treatment you receive or that is prescribed must be done by a registered medical practitioner or paramedic and ceases once you return home.
• We may determine that you should return to Australia for treatment. If you do not agree to do so, we will pay you an amount which we determine would cover your medical expenses and/or related costs if you had agreed to our recommendation. It will then be your responsibility to pay for any ongoing or additional costs relating to or arising out of the event you have claimed for.

Own snow sports equipment

If during the period of insurance and while on your trip, your own snow sports equipment is lost, stolen or damaged then we will at our discretion:

• reimburse the value of the snow sports equipment after allowing for reasonable depreciation for items that are more than two years old
• arrange and pay for, or reimburse the cost of, repairing or replacing the snow sports equipment with articles in the same condition but not with articles better or more expensive than the snow sports equipment was when new.

Keep in mind

• The maximum sum insured for all items is specified in the table below. A set or pair of items (including attached and unattached accessories) will be treated as one item for this limit. For example, a pair of skis and bindings or a pair of ski boots is considered as one item.
• You must report your loss or theft to the police or responsible public transport provider within 24 hours and provide us with a written record prepared by the police or public-transport provider at the time the loss or theft is reported.

In addition to ‘What we don’t cover at all‘, we will not pay for:

• damage to items while in use
• items left unattended (other than any ski storage facility provided by your accommodation provider but not for helmet, goggles, avalanche air bag and transceiver packages)
• electrical or mechanical breakdown
• damage caused by wear and tear, vermin or any process of cleaning, repairing, restoring or alteration; or
• items sent under the provision of any freight contract
• items forwarded in advance and unaccompanied
• loss or damage caused by detention, confiscation or destruction by customs or other officials or authorities.

Snow sports equipment hire

If during the period of insurance and while on a trip, your winter sports equipment is lost, stolen or damaged and a claim has been accepted by us; or delayed by your public transport provider by more than 24 hours, then we will reimburse you the cost of hiring alternative winter sports equipment up to $1,000.

Unused snow sports costs

If during the period of insurance and while on a trip, you suffer an accidental injury or sickness and a doctor certifies you are unable to use your pre-booked and pre-paid ski passes, ski hire, tuition fees or lift passes then we will reimburse you for the non-refundable cost of the unused portion up to $1,000.

Keep in mind

• Any claims must be accompanied by a copy of a medical report provided by a doctor detailing the nature and extent of the accidental injury or sickness and as a result confirming your inability to participate in winter sports.

Piste closure

If during the period of insurance and while on a trip, all lift systems are closed for more than 24 hours due to insufficient snow, bad weather or power failure at your pre-booked ski holiday resort then we will reimburse you for the cost of transport to the nearest alternative resort and additional ski passes at that resort up to $1,000.

Keep in mind

• In addition to  ‘What we don’t cover at all’ we will not pay:
• any claims arising if your holiday resort does not have skiing facilities greater than 1,000 metres above sea level
• any claims if the resort is open and there is sufficient snow for normal on piste skiing activities.
• Not all rules and exclusions have been listed here. Please see the Combined Product Disclosure Statement and Policy Wording for full details.

Bad weather and avalanche closure

If during the period of insurance and while on a trip, you are delayed from being able to leave your ski holiday resort for more than 12 hours due to severe weather or an avalanche then we will pay or reimburse you for reasonable additional trip expenses up to $750.