I just finished reading the book Buried in the Sky, about a K2 climb in 2008 that resulted in 11 deaths. It's a well written book, and refreshing in that it focuses more on the Sherpa and Pakistani climbers than on the Westerners.
One comment in this book confused me, and I meant to ask about it here. On page 101:
"The foreign climbers also had to take their chances: Their lives were uninsurable. Even specialized insurers, such as Patriot Extreme, decline to extend overall coverage to climbers for accidents and deaths above 14,760 feet."
This implies there's some kind of altitude limit on standard life insurance policies - something I'd never heard of. If I'd slipped and fallen to my death while climbing Mt. Whitney, would my life insurance have refused to pay my family?
