ENROLLED

H. B. 4842


(By Delegates Proudfoot, Amores, Craig and Trump)

[Passed March 10, 2006; in effect ninety days from passage.]






AN ACT to amend and reenact §20-3A-2 and §20-3A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §20-3A-9, all relating to the Skiing Responsibility Act; amending and adding definitions; modifying duties of ski skiers; and adding provisions relating to ski competitions.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §20-3A-2 and §20-3A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §20-3A-9, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 3A. SKIING RESPONSIBILITY ACT.

§20-3A-2. Definitions.

Unless the context of usage clearly requires otherwise:

(a) "Aerial passenger tramway" means any device operated by a ski area operator used to transport passengers, by single or double reversible tramway; chair lift or gondola lift; T-bar lift, J-bar lift, platter lift, conveyor lift or similar device; or a fiber rope tow.

(b) "Competitor" means a skier actually engaged in competition, a special event, or training or practicing for competition or a special event on any portion of the area made available by the ski area operator.

(c) "Freestyle terrain" includes, but is not limited to, terrain parks and terrain park features such as jumps, rails, fun boxes, and all other constructed and natural features, half-pipes, quarter pipes, and freestyle-bump terrain.

(d) "Passenger" means any person who is lawfully using an aerial passenger tramway, or is waiting to embark or has recently disembarked from an aerial passenger tramway and is in its immediate vicinity.

(e) "Ski area" means any property owned or leased and under the control of the ski area operator or operators within West Virginia.

(f) "Ski area operator" means any person, partnership, corporation or other commercial entity and their agents, officers, employees or representatives, or the State of West Virginia, or any political subdivision thereof, who has operational responsibility
for any ski area or aerial passenger tramway.
(g) "Skiing area" means all ski slopes and trails not including any aerial passenger tramway.

(h) "Skier" means any person present at a skiing area under the control of a ski area operator for the purpose of engaging in the sport of skiing in locations designated as the ski slopes and trails, but does not include a passenger using an aerial passenger tramway.

(i) "Skiing" means sliding downhill or jumping on snow or ice on skis, a toboggan, a sled, a tube, a snowbike, a snowboard, or any other device by utilizing any of the facilities of the ski area .

(j) "Ski slopes and trails" means all ski slopes or trails and adjoining skiable terrain, including all their edges and features, and those areas designated by the ski area operator to be used by skiers for the purpose of participating in the sport of skiing in areas designated for that type of skiing activity. Ski slopes and trails shall be designated on trail maps, if provided, and by signs indicating to the skiing public the designated skiing activity for skiing areas.

§20-3A-5. Duties of skiers.

(a) It is recognized that skiing as a recreational sport is hazardous to skiers, regardless of all feasible safety measures which can be taken. Each skier expressly assumes the risk of and
legal responsibility for any injury, loss or damage to person or property which results from participation in the sport of skiing including, but not limited to, any injury, loss or damage caused by the following: Variations in terrain including freestyle terrain; surface or subsurface snow or ice conditions; bare spots, rocks, trees, other forms of forest growth or debris; collisions with pole lines, lift towers or any component thereof; or, collisions with snowmaking equipment which is marked by a visible sign or other warning implement in compliance with section three of this article. Each skier shall have the sole individual responsibility for knowing the range of his or her own ability to negotiate any ski slope or trail, and it shall be the duty of each skier to ski within the limits of the skier's own ability, to maintain reasonable control of speed and course at all times while skiing, to heed all posted warnings, to ski only on a skiing area designated by the ski area operator and to refrain from acting in a manner which may cause or contribute to the injury of anyone. If while actually skiing, any skier collides with any object or person, except an obviously intoxicated person of whom the ski area operator is aware, the responsibility for such collision shall be solely that of the skier or skiers involved and not that of the ski area operator.
(b) No person shall place any object in the skiing area or on the uphill track or any aerial passenger tramway which may cause a
passenger or skier to fall.
(c) No skier shall cross the track of any T-bar lift, J-bar lift, platter lift, conveyor lift or similar device, or a fiber rope tow except at a designated location, nor shall any skier place any object in such an uphill track.

(d) No person involved in a skiing accident shall depart the ski area without leaving personal identification, including name and address, with an employee of the ski area operator or without notifying the proper authorities or without obtaining assistance when that person knows or reasonably should know that any other person involved in the accident is in need of medical or other assistance.

(e) A ski or snowboard used by a skier while skiing or snowboarding shall be equipped with a strap or other device capable of stopping the ski or snowboard should the ski or snowboard detach from the skier. No skier shall fail to wear retention straps or other devices to help prevent runaway skis or snowboards. This requirement shall not apply to cross country skis.

(f) Each skier has the duty to maintain control of his or her speed and course at all times when skiing and to maintain a proper lookout so as to be able to avoid other skiers and objects. However, the primary duty shall be on the person skiing downhill to avoid collision with any person or objects below him or her.

(g) No skier shall ski on a ski slope or trail that has been
posted as "Closed."
(h) No skier shall use any ski slope while such person's ability to do so is impaired by the consumption of alcohol or by the use of any controlled substance or other drug or while such person is under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance or other drug.

(i) Each skier has the duty to heed all posted information and other warnings.

(j) Before beginning to ski from a stationary position or before entering a ski slope or trail from the side, the skier shall have the duty to avoid moving skiers already on the ski slope or trail.

§20-3A-9. Competition.

(a) The ski area operator shall, prior to use of any portion of the area made available by the ski area operator, allow each competitor the opportunity to conduct a reasonable visual inspection of the ski slopes and trails or freestyle terrain used in the competition.

(b) The competitor shall be held to assume the risk of all ski slopes and trails or freestyle terrain conditions including, but not limited to, weather and snow conditions; obstacles, course or feature location, construction or layout, freestyle terrain configuration and conditions; and other courses, layouts, or configurations of the area to be used. No liability shall attach
to a ski area operator for injury or death to any competitor caused by course, venue, or area conditions that a visual inspection should have revealed or by collisions with other competitors.