Virginia law states that skiers are presumed to be assuming the inherent risks that come with participating in skiing and other winter sports. However, the law also states that skiers are not assuming the risk of an operators’ negligence. Additionally, a ski participant may offer evidence to show that he or she did not actually know of a particular risk of a winter sport that caused his or her injury and therefore did not knowingly assume that risk. Under these circumstances, the assumption of risk defense would be invalid, and the winter sports area operator could be liable.