Sports Financial Services were originally established as Summit Financial Services ( www.summit-fs.co.uk ), over 20 years ago, to meet the financial protection needs of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers. Sports Financial Services naturally grew from this base of offering life insurance, mortgage protection, critical illness cover and income protection cover for climbers and mountaineers. In the early years we discovered that climbers and mountaineers would enquire about cover for a whole range of other outdoor sports such as cycling, canoeing, skydiving and skiing.
Such enquiries for cover for other extreme outdoor sports naturally led to the development of Sports Financial Services to meet the growing interest from other extreme sports participants. You can take reassurance that the same team that handles rock climbing enquiries for Summit Financial Services also handles enquiries for Sports Financial Services – so you benefit from our long legacy and experience of helping climbers and mountaineers.
Life insurance company for rock climbers
The interest in rock climbing and associated activities, such as, outdoor adventure, extreme sports, outdoor recreation and adventurous activities has gained a greater profile in recent years. This could be driven by a number of factors such as greater participation on artificial structures at indoor climbing walls, training for rock climbing, rock climbing for fitness, engagement in more social fitness at climbing walls and greater media profile (e.g., Alex Hannold’s ascent of El Capitan or climbing in the 2021 Olympics).
In addition to indoor climbing, we understand that outdoor climbing can take place in a number of diverse environments, such as:
- Gritstone of Stanage Edge in the Peak District
- Limestone Malham in the Yorkshire Dales
- Slate Quarries of North Wales
- Gabbro of Cuillin Ridge on Skye
- Sandstone of Harrisons Rocks in East Sussex
Whether you are a beginner rock climbing, a social club climber or pushing routes extreme rock climbing we will be happy to speak to you to discuss your rock climbing insurance cover needs.
Understanding the needs of rock climbers
Because we have grown up providing life insurance cover for climbers, we understand the sport and are happy to differentiate between:
- Indoor rock climbing / Indoor climbing
- Outdoor rock climbing
And disciplines, such as:
- Bouldering
- Deep water soloing
- Lead climbing
- Trad climbing
- Top roping
- Sport climbing
- Via Ferrata
And climbing grades, such as:
- French grades
- UIAA grades
- UK adjectival grades (for example Moderate (M), Difficult (D), Hard Diff (HD), Very Difficult (VD), Hard Very Difficult (HVD), Severe (S), Hard Severe (HS), Very Severe (VS), Hard Very Severe (HVS) and Extremely Severe, the last category being split into E1, E2, E3 etc)
- UK technical
- Bouldering grades
- Via ferrata grades
Whatever style of climbing you pursue please speak to the experienced team at Sports financial Services today about life insurance and financial protection to meet mortgage commitments or provide for a family should an accident happen.
Life insurance for rock climbing
As outlined above our long association with climbing means that we have a long legacy of helping climbers and mountaineers. We’ll discuss your climbing grades (trad, sport, UIAA, French, Bouldering, Via Ferrata), type of climbing, where in the world your climbing takes, your maximum climbing altitude and current climbing plans.
Our close association with many who enjoy the outdoors and extreme sports means that we understand that some people may be interested in enquiring about cover for a range of other outdoor activities, for example:
- Canoeing / kayaking
- Caving
- Cycling
- Mountaineering
- Mountain biking
- Skydiving
- Sailing
- Skiing / ski mountaineering
This list is not exhaustive and we can offer cover for a wide range of other sports as well – please contact us to discuss your mountaineering life insurance needs and more. In addition, we have found that some climbers carry their recreation into their occupation. For example, a rock climber that conducts industrial rope access (IRATA) work or similar rope access activities. If you are engaged in a hazardous occupation, you can also speak to us about the availability of cover for that as well.
Insurance company for rock climbing
We have built a strong recognition of climbers’ needs and are happy to discuss the different aspects of your climbing in order to understand your needs and determine the various financial protection products that are available to you. Even if you have existing cover in place, it may be worth a quick conversation with Sports Financial Services to discuss your current cover and obtain a no-obligation quotation. In addition, different insurers come to the market over time and others may change their terms. This may mean that different terms are available in the market place now than when you first applied for cover. We will be happy to discuss rates and the availability of cover for rock climbing life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection even if it only to provide you with peace of mind that the cover you have in place is comparable with current market offerings.
Rock climbing resources & links
Training/skills – Plas Y Brenin (National Mountain Centre): www.pyb.co.uk
Climbing forum – UK Climbing: www.ukclimbing.com
British Mountaineering Council: www.thebmc.co.uk
Mountaineering Scotland: www.mountaineering.scot
Mountaineering Ireland: www.mountaineering.ie
Life Insurance options for rock climbers
As a climber you may have different needs based on your interests, grade of climbing, type of climbing, current occupation, mortgage protection amounts and family needs.
There are commonly 3 types of financial protection that rock climbers like to discuss:
- Life Insurance – typically a lump sum to pay off a mortgage, bills or support a family in the event of death
- Critical Illness Cover – typically cover to provide financial peace of mind in the circumstance that you are diagnosed with a specific condition detailed in the policy
- Income Protection – if you have concerns that an accident or illness may stop you from working for a period of time then an Income Protection policy maybe something to discuss with Summit Financial Services
Subject to the type of rock climbing activities (or other sports) or occupational activities that you pursue there may be loadings, restrictions or exclusions applied to certain types of cover.
We work with the whole of market to find cover and are not restricted to a captive or select number of financial protection products. This includes working with many insurance companies to identify where your requirements and higher risk activities impact on the type of policies that are available to you. Examples of factors that could affect premiums and the availability of cover include:
- Climbing above certain heights
- Climbing grade
- Type of climbing
- Professional engagement with climbing
- Maximum altitude
- Climbing in remote areas
- Ice climbing
Applying for life insurance for rock climbing
Finally, here we’ll take a quick look at how an application for life insurance insurance for rock climbers, critical illness cover or income protection is processed. Typically, we’ll discuss your type and level of participation including discussion on grade(s), geographic locations and altitude limits of your climbing.
As with any enquiry for life insurance cover, we’ll also ask some common questions to better understand you, your climbing and your life, such as:
- Your current health and any pre-existing medical conditions
- Your present occupation
- Your need for cover in relation to any outdoor instructional work or a hazardous occupation
- Your different type(s) of climbing (e.g., trad, sport, indoor, bouldering, Alpine climbing, Scottish Winter climbing)
- Your climbing grade/s (e.g., sport grade, trad grade, French grade, UIAA grade, Alpine grade, Scottish Winter Grade, Via Ferrata grade)
- Where you participate in climbing activities (e.g., UK, Europe, Worldwide)
- Your maximum climbing altitude
- Your sports governing body membership (e.g., British Mountaineering Council, Mountaineering Scotland, Mountaineering Ireland)
- Your current income (if enquiring about cover for Income Protection)
Further to questions about your lifestyle, health, climbing and occupation we will also discuss the duration that you require cover for and the amounts of cover required:
- Amount (£) of financial protection required
- The duration of policy – number of years cover is required for
- The type of policy you required – e.g., increasing, decreasing or level term cover
This combination of your climbing, lifestyle, health, recreation, occupation and other factors (such as those detailed above) will assist in the determination the financial protection options that will be available to your particular circumstances and the associated premiums. Even if you have a policy in place elsewhere, we will be happy to hear from you even if this is only to provide you with the peace of mind of knowing how your cover and premiums compare with current market products.
To discover more about the benefits of cover for rock climbers please call and speak to an experienced adviser today. You can call us for a free, no-obligation quote, on 0345 565 0935. Alternatively, to enquire online, please click the link above and complete the online form.
Finally, we work closely with our parent company, Suttons Independent Financial Advisers. So, if you require any further information about other financial services such as pensions, investments, mortgages or financial planning please visit www.suttonsifa.co.uk . Your adviser at Sports Financial Services will also be able to refer you to a contact at Suttons who best suits your interests.
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