H. B. 4842
(By Delegates Proudfoot, Amores, Craig and Trump)
[Introduced February 24, 2006; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §20-3A-2, §20-3A-3, §20-3A-4 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 area
operators, clarifying duties of skiers and passengers and
adding provisions relating to competition.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-3A-2, §20-3A-3, §20A-3A-4 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) "Inherent dangers and risks of skiing" means those dangers
or conditions that are part of the sport of skiing, including
changing weather conditions; snow conditions as they exist or may
change, such as ice, hard pack, powder, packed powder, wind pack,
corn, crust, slush, cut-up snow, and machine-made snow; surface or
subsurface conditions such as bare spots, forest growth, rocks,
stumps, trees, or other natural objects, and collisions with such
natural objects; impact with pole lines, debris, lift or padded
light towers, signs, posts, fences or enclosures, hydrants, water
pipes, or other man-made structures and their components;
variations in steepness or terrain; whether natural or as a result of slope design, snowmaking or grooming operations, including but
not limited to roads, freestyle terrain, jumps, and catwalks or
other terrain modifications; collisions with maintenance or other
equipment which is marked by a visible sign or other warning
implement in compliance with Section 20-3A-3 and collisions with
other skiers. Nothing within this section shall be construed to
limit the liability of the ski area operator for injury caused by
the use or operation of any aerial passenger tramway.
(b) (e)
"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.
(c) (f)
"Ski area" means any property owned or leased and
under the control of the ski area operator or operators within West
Virginia.
(d) (g)
"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.
(e) (h)
"Skiing area" means all ski slopes and trails not
including any aerial passenger tramway.
(f) (I)
"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 which includes, without limitation,
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 the ski slopes and trails, or for the purpose of using
any of the facilities of the ski area, including, but not limited
to, ski slopes and trails, but does not include a passenger using
an aerial passenger tramway.
(g) (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. Such designation shall be set forth on trail maps, if
provided, and designated by signs indicating to the skiing public
the intent that such areas be used by skiers for the purpose of
skiing. Nothing in this subsection (k) or in subsection (j) of
this section, however, shall imply that ski slopes or trails may
not be restricted for use by persons using skis only or for use by
persons using any other device described in subsection (j) of this
section.
§20-3A-3. Duties of ski area operators with respect to ski areas.
Every ski area operator shall:
(1) Mark all trail maintenance vehicles and furnish such
vehicles with flashing or rotating lights which shall be in
operation whenever the vehicles are working or are in movement in the skiing area.
(2) Mark with a visible sign or other warning implement the
location of any hydrant or similar equipment used in snowmaking
operations and located on ski slopes and trails.
(3) Mark conspicuously the top or entrance to each ski slope,
trail or area to designate open or closed and relative degree of
difficulty using the appropriate symbols approved by the National
Ski Areas Association as of the effective date of this article and
as may thereafter be modified by the association.
(4) Maintain one or more trail boards at prominent locations
at each ski area displaying that area's network of ski trails and
slopes with each trail and slope rated thereon in accordance with
the aforementioned symbol's code and containing a key to the code
in accordance with the designations in subdivision (3) herein.
(5) Designate by trail board or otherwise which trails or
slopes are open or closed.
(6) Place, or cause to be placed, whenever snow grooming or
snowmaking operations are being undertaken upon any trail or slope
while such trail or slope is open to the public, a conspicuous
notice to that effect at or near the top of the trail or slope.
(7) Post notice at prominent locations of the requirements of
this article concerning the use of ski retention devices. This
obligation shall be the sole requirement imposed upon the ski area
operator regarding the requirement for or use of ski retention devices.
(8) Maintain the ski areas in a reasonably safe condition,
including complying with safety recommendations of federal, state
or insurance company inspectors, except that such operator shall
not be responsible for any injury, loss or damage caused by the
following: variations in 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
components thereof; or, collisions with snowmaking equipment which
is marked by a visible sign or other warning implement in
compliance with subdivision (2) of this section; any of the
inherent dangers and risks of skiing.
(9) When no certified ambulance service is available in the
vicinity, have on duty at or near the skiing area, during all times
that skiing areas are open for skiing, at least one trained and
currently certified emergency medical technician.
§20-3A-4. Responsibilities of passengers.
(a) No passenger shall:
(1) Board or embark upon or disembark from an aerial passenger
tramway except at an area designated for such purpose;
(2) Drop, throw or expel any object from an aerial passenger
tramway;
(3) Perform any act which interferes with the running or
proper or safe operation of an aerial passenger tramway;
(4) Enter the boarding area of or use any aerial passenger
tramway if passenger does not have sufficient physical dexterity,
ability and knowledge to negotiate or use such facility or until
the passenger has asked for and received information sufficient to
enable passenger to use the equipment safely without requesting and
receiving instruction on its use from ski area operator, unless the
passenger has the ability to use it safely without instruction;
(5) Engage in any harmful conduct, or willfully or negligently
engage in any type of conduct which contributes to or causes injury
to any person; or
(6) Embark on an aerial passenger tramway without the
authority, expressed or implied, of the ski area operator;
(7) Embark on an aerial passenger tramway marked as closed;
(8) Place in an uphill track for a J-bar, T-bar, platter pull,
rope tow or any other surface lift any object that could cause
another skier to fall; or
(9) Disobey any instructions posted or any verbal instructions
by the ski area operator regarding the proper or safe use of an
aerial passenger tramway.
(b) No passenger shall move uphill on any passenger tramway
while the passenger'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 the passenger is under the influence of alcohol
or any controlled substance or drug.
§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 accepts and assumes the
risk of and all 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 any of the inherent dangers and risks of skiing. the
following: Variations in 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 or which crosses 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 nor shall any 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, and No no skier shall fail to wear such 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 an opportunity to reasonably visually inspect the
course, venue or area.
(b) The competitor shall be held to assume the risk of all
course, venue or area 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.
NOTE: The purpose of the bill is to update the terms of the
West Virginia Skiing Responsibility Act to reflect the addition of
snowboarding and tubing as skiing.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§20-3A-9
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.