I may be the last LDWA member to discover this, but for travel insurance limited to medical, repatriation, search and rescue ONLY (ie no cancellation or baggage cover) one could hardly pay less than by joining the Austrian Alpine Club. Membership includes the insurance and costs £41 per calendar year for those born 1950-1984 or £31 for those born before 1950. Children of 2 members are covered free. There is NO UPPER AGE LIMIT and no questions are asked about medical conditions. This in itself seems to me almost miraculous. (As many members will have noticed, travel insurance can double in price for over-70s and be hard to get at all for over-80s.) You can download a leaflet about the insurance from the AAC site:

https://www.aacuk.org.uk/benefits.aspx

It seems too good to be true, but I have read and re-read the literature and I can't see any snags. You do have to use your EHIC card first, and you do have to leave info on your proposed route in case they have to search for you - but unless you were unfortunate enough to be unconscious, the combination of mobile phone and GPS should make a sweep search unnecessary. I'd be most interested to read about any members' experiences using this insurance.

I am now wondering about insuring my luggage just for the flights - has anyone found a cheap way to do this? I suspect claiming on my house insurance would just lose me my no claims bonus.

NB I have no financial interest in promoting the AAC or EHIC cards!