Colorado § 33-44-108 - Ski area operators - additional duties.

§ 33-44-108. Ski area operators - additional duties.

(1) Any motorized snow-grooming vehicle shall be equipped with a light visible at any time the vehicle is moving on or in the vicinity of a ski slope or trail.

(2) Whenever maintenance equipment is being employed to maintain or groom any ski slope or trail while such ski slope or trail is open to the public, the ski area operator shall place or cause to be placed a conspicuous notice to that effect at or near the top of that ski slope or trail. This requirement shall not apply to maintenance equipment transiting to or from a grooming project.

(3) All snowmobiles operated on the ski slopes or trails of a ski area shall be equipped with at least the following: One lighted headlamp, one lighted red tail lamp, a brake system maintained in operable condition, and a fluorescent flag at least forty square inches mounted at least six feet above the bottom of the tracks.

(4) The ski area operator shall have no duty arising out of its status as a ski area operator to any skier skiing beyond the area boundaries marked as required by section 33-44-107 (6).

(5) The ski area operator, upon finding a person skiing in a careless and reckless manner, may revoke that person's skiing privileges. This subsection (5) shall not be construed to create an affirmative duty on the part of the ski area operator to protect skiers from their own or from another skier's carelessness or recklessness.

Source: L. 79: Entire article added, p. 1242, § 1, effective July 1. L. 90: (5) amended, p. 1542, § 4, effective July 1. L. 2004: (2) amended, p. 1384, § 3, effective May 28.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 1990 act amending subsection (5), see section 1 of chapter 256, Session Laws of Colorado 1990.

ANNOTATION

Warning sign must be posted when maintenance equipment is present on slopes for purposes of "grooming and maintaining" a slope, but is not actively "grooming" in that particular location. Phillips v. Monarch Recreation Corp., 668 P.2d 982 (Colo. App. 1983).

Issue of duty to warn is an issue of fact to be determined by a jury if the issue is alleged to be one of the factors that led to plaintiff's injuries. Graven v. Vail Assocs., Inc., 909 P.2d 514 (Colo. 1995).