Mandatory insurance standards, the realities of rescue, evacuation authority and financial responsibilities for remote journeys.
This policy forms part of the booking framework. Your booking confirmation may add trip-specific dates, prices, inclusions or requirements.
Every participant must take out and keep suitable insurance from the time cancellation costs begin until the journey and any related travel are finished. The policy must cover Pakistan, the booked dates, the actual activity and the maximum altitude of the trip. We recommend cover valid to at least 6,000 m, whatever the stated altitude of your trek.
We do not sell or arrange personal insurance and cannot say how an insurer will treat a claim. Read the full policy wording, disclose what is relevant and get written confirmation from the insurer if anything is unclear.
The cover must suit the cost and risk of the journey. Depending on the activity it should include:
A policy described only as “adventure travel” or “medical evacuation” may not be enough. Rescue memberships, credit-card benefits or assistance subscriptions may not be insurance and may not pay medical, cancellation or repatriation costs.
Before departure, send us the certificate, policy number, insurer and assistance contacts, coverage dates, and the maximum-altitude and activity wording. Our guide may ask to see proof of cover, and a trekker without valid high-altitude and evacuation cover may be declined boarding on the trek.
Our check is an operational one, not insurance advice or a guarantee of cover. We may ask you to clarify or replace cover that does not fit the itinerary. Carry offline and printed copies of your policy, certificate, assistance number, passport and emergency contacts, and make sure a family member knows how to reach your insurer.
Insurance can help authorise and pay for an eligible rescue. It cannot make an aircraft fly through unsafe weather, darkness, cloud, high wind or unsuitable terrain.
Rescue may be delayed or impossible because of location, altitude, visibility, weather, daylight, aircraft availability, landing conditions, communications, government coordination, crew safety, or decisions of the provider or insurer.
Every emergency plan has to allow for ground evacuation, assisted descent, stretcher movement, animal or vehicle transport, waiting for conditions and transfers between facilities. Evacuation to the nearest suitable care does not necessarily mean direct repatriation to your home country.
The trip leader decides the immediate safety response and tells our operations team where communications allow. Doctors, authorities, aircraft operators and insurers keep their own decision-making authority.
Safety comes before the itinerary, a summit plan or group preference. The team may start a descent or other reasonable help before the insurer approves where waiting would create greater risk, although a provider may still ask for financial authorisation before supplying a service.
The participant is responsible for rescue, medical, transport, accommodation, repatriation, communication and related costs incurred on their behalf. Great Adventure does not provide, arrange or pay for helicopter evacuation. Any evacuation is coordinated between you and your insurer at your own expense, and where an insurer covers the event, payment remains subject to the insurer’s process and decision.
We are not required to fund your emergency costs. If we or anyone else advances money for you, you must repay it promptly unless it is recovered directly from the insurer or provider.
Keep receipts, reports, correspondence and any evidence needed for a claim. We will provide the operational records reasonably available to us, but we do not prepare, control or decide your insurance claim.
Tell us immediately if your cover is refused, cancelled, changed or becomes invalid. We may suspend or cancel your participation if mandatory cover is not kept in place. This is treated as a failure to meet a booking requirement and does not normally create a right to a refund.
If you go ahead without valid cover despite our instructions, you accept full financial responsibility and may be removed from the activity where it is safe and lawful to do so.
Common exclusions relate to pre-existing medical conditions, age, intoxication, travel advisories, unapproved routes, competitive or professional activity, altitude, technical grades, not using required equipment, or buying cover too late. Only the insurer can say how its exclusions apply.
A rejected or limited claim does not move the cost to us. Insurance is a financial protection tool. It does not replace preparation, honest medical disclosure, guide authority or conservative decisions in the field.