1.2 million Britons went on ski holidays in 2005 and one in five of them went without being insured. This is risky business considering that accidents happening during ski holidays may involve helicopter evacuations and costly medical procedures performed by private practitioners on site.

None of these expenses are covered by reciprocal healthcare arrangements between European countries (EHIC) and the cost can be quite considerable. Buying ski holiday insurance should be a part of your holiday budget and paying attention to the bottom line and the small print may save you a lot of headaches.

Most holidaymakers going for a winter break purchase their insurance from their travel agent. This may not be the wisest choice. Most travel insurance bought from agents does not offer coverage if you decide to try some other winter sports outside of skiing, for example snow boarding. If you snow board on your ski holiday and get in an accident you will not be covered. Also, insurance bought through your travel agent is often more expensive than if you had bought it from a broker or a bank.

Nowadays there are specific policies for winter sport holidays. These policies will usually cover you for a wide range of winter sports including snow boarding, heli-skiing, curling, tobogganing, dog sleighing and ice skating. They will often cover the theft of your expensive ski equipment under certain conditions. In this day and age, you'd be wise too to make sure your policy has a provision for personal liability. You wouldn't want an accidental collision on the trail to turn into a legal nightmare. You should check your policy for this.

Another thing to check in the fine print of your policy is the policy excess, which is how much you would have to pay out on a claim. Check if the insurer offers 24-hour assistance, too. If they do, they will likely have stipulations regarding the time in which you must notify them after an accident and if you wait too long you may loose your right to claim.

If you take a few ski holidays over the season, it would be cheaper to buy an annual policy instead of specific policies for each of your holidays. Check with your broker.

Though skiing seems a dangerous sport the statistics show otherwise. There are fewer accidents from skiing than rugby or even angling. A Swiss study showed only 1 in 100 skiers and 1 in 50 snow boarders have an accident. Nevertheless, winter holiday insurance is a fairly inexpensive way to enjoy peace of mind during your ski break.