If you live permanently in Switzerland, regardless of whether you are a Swiss national or a foreigner, you already have accident insurance — either through your employer if you work more than eight hours a week, or through your own policy if you are self-employed.
In some cases, accidents are covered under your compulsory health insurance (KVG / LaMal); this applies particularly to stay-at-home partners, children, students, and retirees.
The insurance will cover most of the accident-related costs, including those of rescues by helicopters, though some policies will cover more or less of the expenses incurred.
But what happens if you choose to ski outside the marked ski runs — in other words, if you are willingly exposing yourself to known dangers of avalanches, crevasses, and other obstacles that are more common off-piste.
Will your Swiss insurance cover the costs if have an accident?
But first, where do the marked slopes end and off-piste begin?
In the Swiss Alps, next to the marked ski slopes, there is a two-metre strip which is still secured by the ski lifts. “But as soon as you leave the strip, you are already in off-piste skiing," said Nicolas Duc, president of the Swiss Commission for the Prevention of Accidents on Snow Sports Descents (yes, that’s the actual name).
Off-piste enthusiasts will be glad to know that off-piste skiing is legal in Switzerland.
"You simply have to respect the rules and take a few common-sense precautions before venturing out there,” Duc said.
This means "you need to equip yourself with an avalanche victim detector, as well as a shovel and a probe to be able to perform first aid and free a person if an avalanche were to occur. But the most important element is training. Courses are organised in various Alpine resorts to raise awareness and train for this activity, which requires a certain number of skills, like any other sporting activity."
Since off-piste skiing is legal, insurance companies can’t withhold coverage if you get injured, especially if you have taken the recommended precautions.
However, if the insurance company manages to prove that you ventured into a dangerous territory unprepared or untrained — the so-called 'reckless enterprise' — you could see your insurance benefits reduced.
And it doesn’t stop there
Say you ski off piste and trigger an avalanche (yes, it does happen).
If you are injured in this ‘reckless enterprise’ of your own doing, then the accident insurance can refuse to pay your medical bills, Duc said.
And consequences could be even more dire if your self-triggered avalanche lands on the groomed slope and injures other skiers.
"If the avalanche is triggered while off-piste skiing when the danger is high and it lands on the marked slope, the person risks being convicted for obstructing public traffic,” Duc pointed out.
You would also have to pay for the costs of rescue and evacuation of the injured skiers.
And if you yourself were injured in the avalanche you activated, accident insurance can refuse to pay all the costs associated with your medical treatment.
READ ALSO: Should I take out insurance before I go skiing in Switzerland?
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