If you choose to ski a closed run, are you still insured? This is a question that all skiers should consider before passing a sign like the one in the picture.

It is particularly pertinent in view of last winter's tragedy of a party of French schoolchildren being caught in an avalanche while skiing on a closed run.
The answer is usually in the conditions of the skier's policy. But beware – some insurers' conditions can be confusing. For example, below is an exclusion in a ski travel insurance policy, recently drawn to our attention:

‘... off piste activity undertaken against local authoritative advice.’

Closing a run technically makes it off piste, but off piste is neither open nor closed (unless it is an itinerant run). It therefore follows that skiing a closed run would breach the example above and the skier would be skiing it with no insurance.

In MPI’s view, this example places a restriction on a skier’s activity – and unless he was to read the policy wording and understand it he would be unware of the risk he was taking. In the event of an injury on a closed run the rescue services would still attend, but they might charge more – and the skier in this case would have to pay.

Leading ski journalist Peter Hardy (The Telegraph and We Love To Ski), writing after the French tragedy, says: "Skiing outside the patrolled area is not illegal in France. Entering a closed piste is the same as going off-piste. Any notice telling you that it is closed is advisory rather than mandatory. It’s a matter for the individual."

Michael Pettifer, Managing Director of MPI Brokers, says: "If you decide to ski a closed run think carefully of the consequences. Why is it closed? Are they blasting and is there an avalanche danger? Has it been pisted? Is the lift shut at the bottom? Is there a lack of snow – or is it just the end of the day?

"In the event of an incident you may have to justify your decision to ski the run. That said, here is an extract from MPI’s policy:

‘...... your deliberate exposure to unnecessary danger, except in an attempt to save human life or whilst participating in an activity covered by this insurance’
[in this case skiing]."