Chapter 3 - § 3.1 • DUTIES AND LIABILITIES OF SKIERS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 3.1 • DUTIES AND LIABILITIES OF SKIERS

C.R.S. § 33-44-109 of the Ski Safety Act enumerates the specific duties with which skiers must comply. As discussed in § 2.1 of this handbook, the Act requires that skiers refrain from acting in any manner that could cause injury. Id. Skiers must control their speed and course, know the range of their abilities, heed warnings, and maintain a proper lookout so as to avoid colliding with other skiers and objects. Id. Violation by a skier of any provision of the Ski Safety Act, to the extent the violation causes injury or property damage, constitutes negligence per se. C.R.S. § 33-44-104(1).

While a skier generally may not bring a cause of action against a ski area operator for injuries resulting from a collision with another skier, as skier collisions are considered "inherent dangers and risks of skiing" for which ski area operator liability has been limited under the Ski Safety Act, a skier may bring suit against another skier for injury or property damage resulting from the other skier's acts or omissions. C.R.S. §§ 33-44-103, -109, and -112. The Act provides that while each skier

expressly accepts and assumes the risk of and all legal responsibility for any injury to person or property resulting from any of the inherent dangers and risks of skiing . . . the risk of a skier/skier collision is neither an inherent risk nor a risk assumed by a skier in an action by one skier against another.

C.R.S. § 33-44-109(1).

The Ski Safety Act places the primary duty on the person skiing downhill (the uphill skier) to avoid collision with objects and people below (downhill skiers). C.R.S. § 33-44-109(2). Although the uphill skier has primary responsibility for avoiding accidents, nothing in the Act makes this duty exclusive to the uphill skier. Ulissey v. Shvartsman, 61 F.3d 805, 809 (10th Cir. 1995). Rather, each skier has a duty to maintain control of his or her speed and course and keep a proper lookout so as to avoid collision. Id.; C.R.S. § 33-44-109(2). When a collision occurs, the Ski Safety Act creates a presumption that the uphill skier had a better opportunity to avoid the collision. Id. This presumption is rebuttable. Id.; Pizza v. Wolf Creek Ski Dev. Corp., 711 P.2d 671, 679 (Colo. 1985).

Which skier is the "uphill skier" presumed liable for a collision may not be immediately clear, particularly in the case of a collision between a skier going straight down a slope and a skier traveling across it. For example, in Ul...