An Act To Modernize the Laws Pertaining to the Sport of Skiing and Use of Ski Areas No. 1171 March 7, 2007
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1171
Committee: Business, Research and Economic Development
Sponsors: BRYANT, CARTER, GOO LEY, SULLIVAN, TURNER, HOLMAN, LUNDEEN, MILLS, MIRAMANT, PATRICK
Amends: 32 MRSA §15202

Legislative Document 
S.P.419 
An Act To Modernize the Laws Pertaining to the Sport of Skiing 
and Use of Ski Areas 
No. 1171 
March 7, 2007 
Reference to the Committee on Business, Research and Economic Development suggested 
and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator BRYANT of Oxford. 
Cosponsored by Representative CARTER of Bethel and 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senators: GOO LEY of Franklin, SULLIVAN of York, TURNER of Cumberland, 
Representatives: HOLMAN of Fayette, LUNDEEN of Mars Hill, MILLS of Farmington, 
MIRAMANT of Camden, PATRICK of Rumford. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 32 MRSA §15202, sub-§14, as amended by PL 2001, c. 573, Pt. B, §7 
and affected by §36, is further amended to read: 
14. Skier. "Skier" means any person while weariFlg skis or USiFlg a sFlowboard aFld 
aFlY perSOFl while aetually 01'1 a ski slope or trail loeated at a ski area for the purpose of 
skiiAg, iAeludiAg a perSOA eAgaged iA sAowboardiAg or eross eouAtry, Flordie or telemark 
skiffig who engages in any of the activities described in section 15217, subsection 1, 
paragraph B. 
Sec. 2. 32 MRS A §15202, sub-§15, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 560, Pt. H, §14 
and affected by § 17, is amended to read: 
15. Ski area. "Ski area" means the ski slopes and trails, adjoining skiable terrain, 
areas designated by the ski area operator to be used for skiing as defined by section 
15217, subsection 1, paragraph B and passenger tramways administered or operated as a 
single enterprise within this State. 
Sec. 3. 32 MRS A §15217, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 560, Pt. H, §14 and affected 
by § 17, is amended to read: 
§15217. Skiers' and tramway passengers' responsibilities 
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A. 
"Inherent risks of skiing" means those dangers or conditions that are an integral 
part of the sport of skiing, including, but not limited to: existing and changing 
weather conditions; existing and changing snow conditions, such as ice, hard pack, 
powder, packed powder, slush and granular, com, crust, cut-up and machine-made 
snow; surface or subsurface conditions, such as dirt, grass, bare spots, forest growth, 
rocks, stumps, trees and other natural objects and collisions with or falls resulting 
from such natural objects; lift towers, lights, signs, posts, fences, mazes or 
enclosures, hydrants, water or air pipes, snowmaking and snow-grooming equipment, 
marked or lit trail maintenance vehicles and snowmobiles, and other man-made 
structures or objects and their components, and collisions with or falls resulting from 
such man-made objects; variations in steepness or terrain, whether natural or as a 
result of slope design; snowmaking or snow-grooming operations, including, but not 
limited to, ski freestyle terrain, jumps, roads and catwalks or other terrain 
modifications; the presence of and collisions with other skiers; and the failure of 
skiers to ski safely, in control or within their own abilities. 
B. 
"Skiing" means the use of a ski area for snowboarding or downhill, telemark or 
cross-country skiing; for sliding downhill or jumping on snow or ice on skis ffi', a 
toboggan, sled, tube, snowboard, snowbike or any other device; or for similar uses of 
~ny of the facilities of the ski area, including, but not limited to, ski slopes aOO, trails 
and adjoining terrain. 
Page I - t23LR1875(Ol)-1 
C. 
"Skier" means any person at a ski area who participates in any of the activities 
described in paragraph B. 
D. "Competitor" means a skier actually engaged in competition or a special event or 
training or practicing for competition or a special event on any portion of the ski area 
made available by the ski area operator. 
E. "Freestyle terrain" includes, but is not limited to, terrain parks and terrain park 
features such as jumps, rails, fun boxes and all other constructed or natural features, 
halfpipes, quarterpipes and freestyle-bump terrain. 
2. Acceptance of inherent risks. Because skiing as a recreational sport, and the use 
of passenger tramways associated with skiing, may be hazardous to skiers or passengers, 
regardless of all feasible safety measures that may be taken, each person who participates 
in the sport of skiing accepts, as a matter of law, the risks inherent in the sport and, to that 
extent, may not maintain an action against or recover from the ski area operator, or its 
agents, representatives or employees, for any losses, injuries, damages or death that result 
from the inherent risks of skiing. 
3. Warning notice. A ski area operator shall post and maintain at the ski area where 
the lift tickets and ski school lessons are sold and at the loading point of each passenger 
tramway signs that contain the following warning notice: 
WARNING: 
Under Maine law, a skier assumes the risk of any injury to person or property 
resulting from any of the inherent dangers and risks of skiing and may not recover 
from any ski area operator for any injury resulting from any of the inherent dangers 
and risks of skiing, including, but not limited to: 
existing and changing weather 
conditions; existing and changing snow conditions, such as ice, hardpack, powder, 
packed powder, com, crust and slush and cut-up, granular and machine-made snow; 
surface or subsurface conditions, such as dirt, grass, bare spots, rocks, stumps, trees, 
forest growth or other natural objects and collisions with such natural objects; lift 
towers, lights, signs, posts, fences, mazes or enclosures, hydrants, water or air pipes, 
snowmaking and snow-grooming equipment, marked or lit trail maintenance vehicles 
and snowmobiles, and other man-made structures or objects; variations in steepness 
or terrain, whether natural or as a result of slope design, snowmaking or grooming 
operations, including, but not limited to, ski freestyle terrain, jumps, roads and 
catwalks or other terrain modifications; the presence of and collisions with other 
skiers; and the failure of skiers to ski safely, in control or within their own abilities. 
4. Duty to ski within limits of ability. A skier has the sole responsibility for 
knowing the range of the skier's own ability to negotiate any slope or ski trail, and it is the 
duty of the skier to ski within the iimits of the skier's own ability, to maintain control of 
the rate of speed and the course at all times while skiing, to heed all posted and oral 
warnings and instructions by the ski area operator and to refrain £i'om acting in a manner 
that may cause or contribute to the injury of the skier or others. 
4-A. Competition and freestyle terrain. The ski area operator shall. prior to the 
use of any portion of the ski area made available b,.y the ski area operator, allow each 
90mpetitor an opportunity to visuallv inspect the course, venue or area. The competitor 
accepts, as a matter of law, all risks of course, venue or area conditions, including, but not 
limited to, weather and snow conditions; obstacles; course or feature location, 
construction and layout; freestyle terrain configuration or condition; and other courses, 
layouts or configurations of area to be used, and to that extent may not maintain any 
action against or recover from the ski area operator, or its agents, representatives or 
employees, for injury or death to any competitor caused by course, venue or area 
conditions that a visual inspection should have revealed or by collision with other 
competitors. 
5. Responsibility for collisions. The responsibility for a collision between any skier 
while skiing and any person or object is solely that of the skier or skiers involved in the 
collision and not the responsibility of the ski area operator or its agents, representatives or 
employees. 
6. Liability. A ski area operator or its agents, representatives or employees are not 
liable for any loss, injury, damage or death resulting from the design of the ski area. 
7. Provision of name and current address required. A skier involved in, causing 
or contributing to a collision or other accident at a ski area that results in a fall or injury 
may not leave the vicinity of the collision or accident before giving that skier's name and 
current address to an employee or representative of the ski area operator or a member of 
the ski patrol, except for the purpose of securing aid for a person injured in the collision, 
in which case the person leaving the scene of the collision shall give that skier's name and 
current address after securing such aid. A ski area operator, or its agents, representatives 
or employees, is not liable for a skier's failure to provide that skier's name and address or 
for leaving the vicinity of an accident or collision. 
8. Actions not prohibited. This section does not prevent the maintenance of an 
action against a ski area operator for: 
A. 
The negligent operation or maintenance of the ski area; or 
B. 
The negligent design, construction, operation or maintenance of a passenger 
tramway. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the definitions of "skier" and "ski area" and expands skiers' and 
tramway passengers' responsibilities to include forms of skiing and other uses of ski 
facilities that have arisen since the last time these statutory provisions were amended.