Travel insurance for high altitude trekking

Eponym

In November I bought an annual travel insurance policy for the first time, shortly after booking a short break to Iceland and in the knowledge that I was planning (but hadn't booked) a trip to Peru later in the year. I got a good deal through Coverwise.

Since booking the Iceland trip, we've decided to go glacier walking one day. Checking what's covered on my insurance, that isn't included but is part of the winter sports package, so I rang the company to ask them to add winter sports cover, which they won't do.

I also checked whether it covers high altitude trekking, as we're doing the Inca Trail while in Peru. I can't remember if I checked whether it covers this when I bought the insurance. Unfortunately it only covers up to 3000m as standard and the Inca Trail goes above 4000m. They won't add cover for this for me either.

To try to prevent the purchase of this insurance being a complete waste of money, I was wondering if there's anything to stop me buying winter sports cover just for the day in Iceland where we're doing the glacier walk, and high altitude cover just for the Inca Trail days in Peru. (We're going for three weeks and the Inca Trail is only four days of the trip.) That way I'd be covered the whole time but wouldn't need to spend more for the extra insurance than necessary, as I'd only be covering a few days.

Thanks for your thoughts!

callum9999

No there's nothing stopping you, you can have as many policies as you like. There won't be many providers offering that though so it might be a bit pricey. I managed to get a days skiing insurance for about £10 though so you should be ok.

Peccary

Are you spending any time in Cuzco before or after the trail? If so maybe consider covering the whole period you are there in case you want to do other activities,, the city is above 3000m.

Eponym

Many thanks both for your views. We are staying in Cusco for a couple of days first so that's a good idea, thanks.

callum9999

Peccary wrote: »

Are you spending any time in Cuzco before or after the trail? If so maybe consider covering the whole period you are there in case you want to do other activities,, the city is above 3000m.

Normal policies don't forbid you from being at high altitude, they just don't cover strenuous activities like trekking. If they're just wondering around the town etc. then I'm 99.9% certain they'd already be covered.

And as they said they are this isn't aimed at the OP, but you'd be a fool not to spend a few days there before doing a trek. Aside from it being a nice little town, you need to acclimatise before starting.

pmramsay

Interesting half your problem wont necessarily be the trecking altitude, when I went last year the hardest altitudes that I had to deal with were Cusco, Puno and the route between Puno an Arequipa which went above 4000ft!

Machu Picchu is only around 2500ft, granted the route to it can be higher and Ollantaytambo is at around 2700ft (amazing place!)

I had the same concerns as you with travel insurance but with the majority of the "trekking" is was doing was below the 3000ft mark I took the risk on the cover I had.

May be worth a look at alpha travel insurance as they cover a lot more sport type activities.

Have a great time in peru and watch out for the altitude sickness, it really hits!!

callum9999

pmramsay wrote: »

Interesting half your problem wont necessarily be the trecking altitude, when I went last year the hardest altitudes that I had to deal with were Cusco, Puno and the route between Puno an Arequipa which went above 4000ft!

Machu Picchu is only around 2500ft, granted the route to it can be higher and Ollantaytambo is at around 2700ft (amazing place!)

I had the same concerns as you with travel insurance but with the majority of the "trekking" is was doing was below the 3000ft mark I took the risk on the cover I had.

May be worth a look at alpha travel insurance as they cover a lot more sport type activities.

Have a great time in peru and watch out for the altitude sickness, it really hits!!

What's the half problem?

You must be talking in metres. The trek I took went above 15,000ft...

You might as well have had no cover at all then. If the insurer found out any part of the trek went above your policy limit then you most likely would have been covered for none of it at all!

pmramsay

apologies, mixing up my ft and mtrs. I found the altitude sickness problems to be greater not when doing the sacred valley but when spending time in cusco/puno and the trip between puno and arequipa. I really struggled in puno with headaches, dizzyness, lack of sleep and used oxygen to help and surrochi pills

For reference approximates

Machu Picchu - 2400m/8000 ft (yes the mountain is actually lower than a lot of the towns and cities!)
Ollantytanbo - 2800m/9200 ft
Cusco - 3400m/11,200 ft
Puno - 3800m/12,500 ft
Puno to Arequipa - Hit 4500m/14,750 ft

As you can see from that MP and OL aren't the highest in terms of your travels around Peru! If you can it helps to acclimatise in OL or that sort of area, acclimatising in cusco can be hard work!

With regards to insurance, most of the trecking I did (i know the full inca trail spends a bit more time above 3000m) was below 3000m and the cities/towns visited were above 3000m but not done as trecking so unless insurance doesnt cover you for walking around cusco at 3400 then I would have thought I would have been fine.

callum9999

pmramsay wrote: »

apologies, mixing up my ft and mtrs. I found the altitude sickness problems to be greater not when doing the sacred valley but when spending time in cusco/puno and the trip between puno and arequipa. I really struggled in puno with headaches, dizzyness, lack of sleep and used oxygen to help and surrochi pills

For reference approximates

Machu Picchu - 2400m/8000 ft (yes the mountain is actually lower than a lot of the towns and cities!)
Ollantytanbo - 2800m/9200 ft
Cusco - 3400m/11,200 ft
Puno - 3800m/12,500 ft
Puno to Arequipa - Hit 4500m/14,750 ft

As you can see from that MP and OL aren't the highest in terms of your travels around Peru! If you can it helps to acclimatise in OL or that sort of area, acclimatising in cusco can be hard work!

With regards to insurance, most of the trecking I did (i know the full inca trail spends a bit more time above 3000m) was below 3000m and the cities/towns visited were above 3000m but not done as trecking so unless insurance doesnt cover you for walking around cusco at 3400 then I would have thought I would have been fine.

Oh well that's a completely different story then. If you weren't trekking then height restrictions are irrelevant! I'm not sure how high the Inca Trail goes (I just know it's lower) but the Salkantay goes to something like 15,200ft (and it's incredibly cold up there!).

You're definitely right though - the more gradually you ascend the more likely you are to stave off altitude sickness. Though for most (importantly that doesn't mean the fittest - you could be the pinnacle of fitness and suffer greatly, or be unfit and obese and barely notice it!) people spending a couple of days in Cuzco before the trek is good enough. When I first arrived in Cuzco I got out of breath just walking along the street, but after a couple of days I adjusted a bit to that and thankfully never really noticed altitude sickness (though a couple of people on the trek did and ended up hiring a mule half way through).

DTDfanBoy

Dead Woman's Pass is the highest point on the 'Classic' Inca Trail at a little over 4,200m.

I'd say that the most important thing is to spend a couple of days in Cusco getting used to the altitude, hopping off a plane from sea level then trekking up to 4,200m is the worst way to do things IMHO.

The trail itself isn't difficult in the least, I walked the whole thing in my sandals, but the lack of oxygen will slow you down.

If you really want to push the boat out try joining in a soccer game on your first night, it only takes about 5 minutes of racing around before you're completely stuffed

pmramsay

Everyone reacts to altitude differently but having acclimatised in cusco last time, if I was to do it again I would fly into cusco and head straight for Ollantytanbo or urubamba as its only around the 2500m level.

After a few days in altitude in cusco, although we had got as used to the height as we could do, my wife was ill from the effects and it ruined our time in sacred valley/machu picchu. If you are doing the trail then I am sure you will have acclimatised before getting there but I would certainly start in the sacred valley and not cusco.

But as has been said, everyone reacts differently to altitude. Fit or unfit!!