Recent Ski Cases
Linda: In 1980, Jim Chalat published a law review article about the Colorado Skier Safety Act. It had been enacted in 1979 in order to protect ski area operators from liability in cases involving the “inherent risks of skiing. Since then, we have developed a practice area concerning skier accidents. In 1998, I created and […]
What is a ski collision case? Skiing is not a contact sport and being blindsided by another skier or snowboarder is not an inherent risk under either Colorado or Utah law. Colorado law presumes that the uphill skier or boarder is at fault in a skiing accident, because the overtaking skier has the primary duty […]
Colorado’s “Ski Safety Act,” located at Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 33-44-101 to -114 provides for skier assumption of inherent dangers, and creates statutory duties for skiers and operators. Skiers, inclusive of sledders and snowboarders, have duties to ski within their abilities, with uphill skiers having a primary duty to avoid collision. Breach of skier […]
The National Association of Ski Areas trade group announced on May 1, 2019, that skier visits in the U.S. increased by nearly 11% over last season with more than 59 million visits. The growth was most dramatic in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions. Rocky Mountain regions saw skier and snowboarder visits increase by […]
Parents have joined forces to urge Colorado lawmakers to be aggressive towards the legislation renewing the Colorado Passenger Tramway Board into 2030. Parents want more flexibility to safeguard the state’s chairlifts. Lisa Wilder, a parent and ski safety advocate and other parents of skiing children, are pressuring lawmakers to be stricter with the board that […]
In 2016 12-year-old J.A. was snowboarding for the first time at Mountain Creek Resort, when he slipped on an ice patch and slid into R.B., a young child on the bunny slope. J.A. was in shock after striking the child and his immediate thought was to get up to make sure R.B. was ok. As […]
A six-year legal battle by a family who lost their son ended yesterday with a jury verdict in favor of Vail Resorts. Thirteen-year-old Taft Colin was killed at Vail Mountain on Jan. 22, 2012 by an in-bounds avalanche. His parents filed a lawsuit against Vail. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that under Colorado’s […]
On February 11, 2018, C.F. was skiing on the skier’s right side of Andrews run as he passed the treeline on the right side of lower Sashay, and continued slowly on Andrews while looking down Sashay eyeing a location to drop in. As C.F. began turning towards Sashay, intending to enter Sashay on the left […]