Ski and Snowboard Injuries in Pennsylvania: The Skier Responsibility Act

What you are taken to have assumed

Pennsylvania’s approach means a skier accepts the inherent risks of the sport: changing snow and weather conditions, variations in terrain, ice, bare spots, and the ordinary hazards of skiing among other people.

That is a meaningful limitation and it defeats a considerable number of potential claims. It is not a complete immunity for ski areas.

What falls outside

• Lift malfunctions and negligent lift operation, including loading and unloading incidents. Lifts are inspected and maintained, and those records exist.
• Man made hazards that were not marked, including snowmaking equipment, hydrants, groomers and equipment left on trails.
• Failure to mark trail closures or to warn of unusual conditions created by the operator.
• Collisions caused by another skier, which is a claim against that person rather than the area.
• Negligent instruction or supervision, particularly in lessons and children’s programmes.
• Defective rental equipment, including bindings that did not release.

Rental bindings

A recurring category. Bindings that fail to release cause knee and lower leg injuries, and rental shops record the settings applied based on height, weight, boot length and skier type. Those records exist and can be checked against what the settings actually were.

Do not return the equipment if you can avoid it, and photograph the bindings and the setting indicators before it goes back.

Collisions between skiers

Ordinary negligence applies. The uphill skier generally has the responsibility to avoid those below, and stopping in a blind spot or below a rise is relevant to fault. Get the other person’s details at the time, because they will not be findable later, and ask the ski patrol to record the incident.

Report to ski patrol

Their report is the contemporaneous record. Ask for a copy and note the patroller’s name. As with any incident, a verbal exchange with staff on the hill creates nothing.