Q We are going skiing in January and my 16-year- old son wants to try snowboarding. Do we have to get him different insurance or is it covered under our existing travel insurance?

A What a great family holiday. The good news is most insurers treat snowboarding and skiing identically for the purposes of insurance cover, so you shouldn’t need anything extra for your son.

However, you don’t say who your insurer is, so do double check. In addition, make sure winter sports are covered for all of you under your existing insurance plan — particularly if it is an annual policy bought before you decided on a skiing and snowboarding holiday.

Insurance for winter sports covers all the standard areas such as medical cover, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment and lost luggage.

But it also covers your equipment — your own and hired skis and snowboards— and lift passes, compensation if the pistes are closed and you can’t ski, and avalanche delays.

You’ll also get personal liability cover in case your skiing or snowboarding injures other people and reimbursement of hire costs if you are unable to use your equipment, lessons or ski passes due to illness or injury.

However, there are caveats to the insurance that are worth knowing about. Insurance policies will differ in the ones they exclude so read your policy before you go.
Insurance policies typically cover you for off-piste skiing and snowboarding without a guide, but you must remain in the resort boundaries.

So make sure you know the limits, or if you want to go further afield go with a guide. Some may require off-piste snowboarders to have a guide inside the resort boundaries as well as outside.

You will not be covered if you run into difficulties while under the influence of alcohol or drugs — so moderate the lunchtime mulled wine if you’re skiing back.

On that note, you are also expected to take reasonable care of your equipment — so if it was stolen while you were at lunch you would need to show you had left it in racks provided by the restaurant, for example, or you could see it from your table.

Some policies have harsher wording and will not cover any equipment that has been left unattended at all.

You need to wear the correct headgear and protective equipment, particularly when snowboarding.

This is both for your own safety and because your insurer may refuse to cover the cost of medical treatment if you haven’t. This may be as detailed as not enough layers to keep warm and goggles and gloves, as well as the more obvious wearing of a helmet.

Finally, if you and the family are more adventurous, make sure your insurer covers the activities you intend to do.

For example, you’ll likely be covered in full for snow zorbing and air boarding, but if you kite snowboard or skidoo, you may have to do them without personal accident and personal liability insurance.