{"id":19771,"date":"2019-10-30T10:27:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T16:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=61199"},"modified":"2019-10-30T10:27:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T16:27:25","slug":"have-you-ever-read-the-fine-print-on-a-ski-area-waiver-heres-what-you-agree-to-when-you-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/have-you-ever-read-the-fine-print-on-a-ski-area-waiver-heres-what-you-agree-to-when-you-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Have you ever read the fine print on a ski area waiver? Here\u2019s what you agree to when you sign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Breckenridge Ski Resort\u2019s QuickSilver SuperChair pictured Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. <\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

BRECKENRIDGE SKI RESORT \u2014 When you buy a lift pass at any ski area, you have to sign a waiver. Most people don\u2019t actually read it, but it severely limits liability for a ski resort, even in cases when claims are based on resort negligence.<\/p>\n

Monika May, a 55-year-old from Colorado Springs, knows that all too well. On Feb. 11, 2017, she was taking a lesson for advanced skiers at Breckenridge Ski Resort.<\/p>\n

As May stood at the loading zone of 6 Chair, which provides access to black diamond terrain, she said a lift operator walked into a moving chair. It ricocheted off his body, swung wildly and hit her, she said. May said she remained standing, loaded the chair and continued riding up the lift. At the top, she stopped in a warming hut, where she called ski patrol to take her down the mountain.<\/p>\n

May reached out to the Summit Daily News about the incident after it published a story about lift safety at Colorado ski areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

May said she sustained 13 injuries, including to her spine, cartilage in her knees and wrist, and ligaments in her ankles in addition to nerve damage. She said the injuries resulted in multiple surgeries and ongoing pain.<\/p>\n

Her injuries put her work as a graphic designer on hold, and she had to live with her parents for several months when she said she could not take care of herself. Her medical care came with a hefty price tag, and she had to go on Medicaid, she said.<\/p>\n

Almost three years later, May said she cannot ski and is still recovering from her injuries. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t ski anymore,\u201d May said. \u201cI\u2019ve skied Breckenridge since I was 9 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Vail Resorts passholder and a participant in a ski lesson, May signed two waivers that limited the company\u2019s liability.<\/p>\n

The waiver a season passholder signs when purchasing an Epic Pass from Vail Resorts bars a skier or snowboarder from suing the company. At the top of the liability waiver<\/a> is a statement bolded and highlighted that reads, \u201cWarning: Please read carefully before signing! This is a release of liability & waiver of certain legal rights including the right to sue or claim compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farther down the waiver, passholders sign away their right to sue or make any claims for any injury, including death, even if the claims are based on resort negligence. <\/p>\n

There is similar language in all ski area waivers.<\/p>\n

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area Slopes Maintenance Manager Louis Skowyra said that while A-Basin\u2019s waiver does not absolve the ski area of all liability, the waivers are very strong.<\/p>\n

By signing the waiver, May was barred from taking any legal action against Vail Resorts, and several lawyers declined to take her case. May wrote to high-up officials within the company, including Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Buhler and Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz, asking for help with her medical expenses, but company representatives said Breckenridge was unable to provide compensation. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to lobby the state to change the law,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n

Because the incident happened while loading the chair, it was not reported to the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board, which does not track incidents or injuries that take place while loading or unloading.<\/p>\n

Those incidents are tracked at the resort level, according to an email from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies spokeswoman Lee Raizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoading and unloading incident logs are collected by ski areas and annually reviewed during unannounced inspections by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board (CPTSB) in an attempt to identify trends and enact any actionable corrections,\u201d Raizer wrote in an email to the Summit Daily.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
The incident report provided to Monika May by Breckenridge Ski Resort.<\/strong>
Courtesy Monika May<\/em><\/strong>
lift-sdn-103019-2-1-1024\u00d7871<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s something critics says essentially allows the ski industry to regulate itself.<\/p>\n

May\u2019s incident was reviewed by Breckenridge, which she said provided a very vague report. The small \u201cincident card\u201d includes the date, time and location of the incident, May\u2019s personal information, a 10-word description of the incident and a 15-word description of the first aid she received from ski patrol.<\/p>\n

That exceeds the Tramway Safety Board\u2019s requirements for logging loading and unloading incidents, which calls only for the name of the lift, the date of the incident, and the name, addresses and age of the person injured.<\/p>\n

May\u2019s incident remains under investigation by the Tramway Safety Board.<\/p>\n

When asked about the incident, Breckenridge spokeswoman Sara Lococo said the resort could not provide information on specific guest incidents or internal practices.<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Breckenridge Ski Resort\u2019s QuickSilver SuperChair pictured Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com BRECKENRIDGE SKI RESORT \u2014 When you buy a lift pass at any ski area, you have to sign a waiver. Most people don\u2019t actually read it, but it severely limits liability for a ski resort, even in cases when claims are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 10:47:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}