DENVER — As mountain storms bring fresh powder to Colorado’s slopes this weekend, skiers and snowboarders are getting stoked. But with millions of people expected to visit the state’s ski resorts this season, there are safety tips and legal responsibilities snowsport aficionados need to know.
“Most of ski law is the etiquette that we all understand as skiers: how we watch out for one another and take care of each other on the mountains,” said Evan Banker, who specializes in ski law as a partner with the Denver law firm Chalat Hatten & Banker .
Banker is a lifelong skier.
“I moved to Colorado for skiing. I told my parents it was for law school,” he said with a laugh.
Cameron Duckworth, Denver7Now, he uses his experience on the slopes and in the courtroom to represent skiers.
“Ski law is just holding people responsible for breaking the rules,” he said.
When it comes to you or me hitting the slopes, those responsibilities are mostly summed up in the skier’s responsibility code, also known as “Your Responsibility Code.”
You can find the code posted up at ski resorts, and it lists duties like staying in control, avoiding people downhill from you and stopping only where others can see you.
National Ski Areas Association “The law says that every skier has the responsibility to maintain control of their speed and course and to avoid acting in any way that causes injury to themselves or others,” Banker said.
If you do get into a collision, Banker said you must stay and exchange information with the other people involved.
“If you’re at fault in a collision like this, don’t panic. Take responsibility,” he said. “Hit and run is a crime. Staying on scene is a civil case. It’s a claim that we usually facilitate with homeowners or renters insurance.”
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When there is a crash at a resort, “the patrol is there to help you get safely off the mountain and to give you medical care,” Banker said. But it’s up to you to gather the information you might need in case of a lawsuit.
Banker recommends taking photographs of the scene, taking note of exactly where the collision happened and connecting with any witnesses who may have seen or documented what happened in photographs or video.
And just as you have responsibilities when you visit a ski area, the resort itself also has responsibilities under Colorado’s Ski Safety Act and regulations created by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board .
“The one thing you’re really buying when you buy a lift ticket is a safe ride up the mountain,” Banker said. So, in Colorado, “there’s about 150 pages worth of design regulations and operation regulations on how those lifts need to be run safely.”
When you buy a lift ticket or season pass, resorts require you to sign waivers.
“For a long time, that had been understood to mean you give up your right to sue the ski area just for regular negligence,” Banker said.
But that interpretation of the law recently changed following a teenager’s life-changing fall from a ski lift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
Annie Miller recounted in an exclusive interview with Denver7 how she fell 30 feet and sustained a C7 spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed.
Denver7 In the months that followed, she spent time in an intensive care unit, had several surgeries and did daily therapies. She and her father also pursued legal action against the ski resort.
Last spring, Miller’s case made its way to Colorado’s Supreme Court.
“I love helping others, and if this is one way I can make a difference, then I am going to do it, especially since this is where I am now,” Miller told Denver7.
In May, the state’s highest court ruled in a 5-2 decision that the resort “may not absolve itself, by way of private release agreements of liability of statutory and regulatory duties.”
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Banker said through this landmark decision, “what the Supreme Court reasoned was, why do we have these laws and these regulations making rules and responsibilities for ski area operators if, at the stroke of a pen, they can just get out of it?”
As we head into the first ski season since this decision, you can expect “if the ski area isn’t keeping their lifts in safe operating conditions or closing closed trails… for those duties, the ones that are written into law, the waiver does not bar claims.”
That means if you get hurt and believe a resort’s negligence caused your injury, you now have better grounds to sue the resort, even if you signed a waiver.
But before you file a lawsuit, Banker said there needs to be a duty of care, a breach of that duty and a harm. For example, if a ski area didn’t properly maintain its lift equipment and you fell and got hurt, you might have the conditions necessary to sue.
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While some situations are inconvenient — like the broken gondola that recently stranded almost 200 people at Winter Park — Banker said harm is key for a lawsuit.
“The law essentially takes a no harm, no foul approach. So if nobody’s hurt, there’s no lawsuit,” he said.
Overall, when it comes to ski safety, it’s most important for skiers and snowboarders to remember their own accountability.
“Be safe. Take care of each other. Look out for other skiers. Look out for yourself and have fun,” Banker said.
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Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.