Only 2 things scare me......and one is ski law

[jrmagic]

I would say it would be impossible to prove negligence on the everyday weekend warrior skier because the test that you are referring to has to make assumptions about what the individual knew and what they were thinking. Negligence is a lot easier to prove when it comes to licensed drivers, doctors, and gun owners because their are certain expectations and responsibilities. Like you said, a skier is expected to understand the risks and take action to prevent things from happening. That's why they are almost always the ones being sued.

Then I guess we will have to disagree. When using the reaonable man standard, a jury needs to put themsevles in the shoes of the plaintiff and decide whether the person took reasnable care which really comes down to an opinion, which makes it far from impossible to occur and ilkely if you looked at enough case law, I'm sure there have been numerous cases where this standard was applied and Joe skier was found to be at fault.

 

[AdironRider]

I havent made it through this whole thread just yet, but the comparison to being rear ended in a car is piss poor.

A lot of states have zero fault laws when the roads are snowy/icy. Even without that law, the majority of the time the police report is going to say due to conditions, then its on each persons respective coverage as to what to cover.

This is the same scenario with skiing. If the conditions are piss poor icyness, its not unreasonable to think that on a ski slope. someone might fall and slide into you. The assumed risk thing. Just like driving on snowy roads, where any sane adult knows the conditions are shit and something might happen to result in a accident.

 

[dmc]

And people wonder why i don't go on the AZ ski trips...

 

[andyzee]

And people wonder why i don't go on the AZ ski trips...

I don't :grin:

 

[dlague]

My wife had a rookie skier ski across the top of her skis and she broke her shoulder with seven fractures. She clearly said on you right and the idiot skied to the right. The worst part he was skiing on an intermediate narrow trail doing snow plow. Should he have been sued? Well technically a beginner can not ski in control in my opinion. They can catch an edge and not know how to adjust. Should he have been on an intermediate trail probably not but I see parents take little kids 4,5 year olds down advanced trails and it pisses me off but one again the mountain is wide open to whoever. Law suits are stupid in this context.

 

[KevinF]

My wife had a rookie skier ski across the top of her skis and she broke her shoulder with seven fractures. She clearly said on you right and the idiot skied to the right. The worst part he was skiing on an intermediate narrow trail doing snow plow. Should he have been sued? Well technically a beginner can not ski in control in my opinion. They can catch an edge and not know how to adjust. Should he have been on an intermediate trail probably not but I see parents take little kids 4,5 year olds down advanced trails and it pisses me off but one again the mountain is wide open to whoever. Law suits are stupid in this context.

You'd be amazed how often saying "on your right" (or left...) causes the person being warned to go in the direction specified.

In cycling, "on your left (right)" is a standard communication, basically meaning "hold your line, I'm coming past you". But a huge percentage of people who are "just out riding" hear "on your left" and will swerve left. This has to be one of the most-discussed topics (along with helmets...) on the various cycling forums I partake in.

Edit: hit "submit" to soon.

 

[KevinF]

Really??? When someone goes up the lift, can he (she) not see all the other people on the lift? What about that lift line we are all so fond of? Does anyone ever really think they are the only one on the slope? Is no one ever in front of them? Do they really think no one is ever behind them? Do they really think they are the fastest skier on mountain and no one will ever want to pass on the trail?

Even the dimmest dolt, if they thought for a tiny second, would recognize that just maybe there are people all around them when skiing. Please realize this and ski like there are other people on the mountain.

I'm not sure how we went from the "serious skier should have right of way over the guy dicking around" to whether or not you can see people when you're on the chairlift.

However, that point aside. The point I was trying to make was that intermediate skiers make up the biggest percentage of the skiing population. They have some questionable skills (although they would probably be loathe to admit that). My reading of the original proposal (i.e., serious skiers get the right-of-way) makes it sound like intermediate skiers would now be expected to look behind them on every turn to make sure they're not violating the right-of-way of some "serious skier" (who is presumably in total control and can avoid anybody at will).

That sounds absolutely ridiculous to me! Yes, letting 'em fly on a blue-square groomer is fun. But if you're so full of yourself that you start thinking that "lesser skiers should stay out of my way" instead of "I realize I'm on their home turf and I'm going to show them every courtesy possible", then I think it's time for an attitude adjustment.

 

[Puck it]

Mine are nuclear weapons and carnies. They smell like cabbage!

 

[ScottySkis]

Mine are nuclear weapons and carnies. They smell like cabbage!

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2
Nuclear weapons smell like cabbage lol?

 

[Puck it]

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2
Nuclear weapons smell like cabbage lol?

No carnies, they have small hands!

 

[witch hobble]

Short film idea, feel free to steal it.......................a couple of flatlander shredders on a powder quest to Jay Peak, drop acid at sunrise, somewhere around Barton or Orleans, giggle listening to an argument in french in the liftline, get off the tram and proceed to have some sort of "sidecountry" Blair Witch Project freakout bad trip, time and space melting the snow, communication breakdown, trees laughing at them, false prophets leading them astray, and then having their minds blown during the critical re-entry to civilization passing through the Disney/Burton/Princess park.

Fear and Loathing in the Kingdom

 

[ScottySkis]

Short film idea, feel free to steal it.......................a couple of flatlander shredders on a powder quest to Jay Peak, drop acid at sunrise, somewhere around Barton or Orleans, giggle listening to an argument in french in the liftline, get off the tram and proceed to have some sort of "sidecountry" Blair Witch Project freakout bad trip, time and space melting the snow, communication breakdown, trees laughing at them, false prophets leading them astray, and then having their minds blown during the critical re-entry to civilization passing through the Disney/Burton/Princess park.

Fear and Loathing in the Kingdom

I like this movie.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[dmc]

She clearly said on you right and the idiot skied to the right.

I'm dyslexic - left and right have always been an issue.... And I ski with a friend who's deaf...

How about she just waits to pass next time... Verbal cues are BS...

I hope she is OK... But... Next time tell her to just yield to the downhill skier..

 

[KevinF]

I gotta say I agree with you. But notice the last phrase in my post:

"ski like there are other people on the mountain".

This should apply to everyone, beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, young, old, etc.....
Have fun on the mountain!

Now that I can agree with. :beer:

 

[skiNEwhere]

Only 2 things scare me......and one is ski law

I'm surprised no one has asked me what the other thing that scares me is

 

[Smellytele]

I'm surprised no one has asked me what the other thing that scares me is

I was just about to...

 

[HJLynn]

Nope

 

[Cheese]

This should apply to everyone, beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, young, old, etc.....
Have fun on the mountain!

I wouldn't count on it from the beginners. They've got a lot of other things to worry about and probably haven't learned anything about skiing etiquette and won't until they're an intermediate.

 

[HowieT2]

I would say it would be impossible to prove negligence on the everyday weekend warrior skier because the test that you are referring to has to make assumptions about what the individual knew and what they were thinking. Negligence is a lot easier to prove when it comes to licensed drivers, doctors, and gun owners because their are certain expectations and responsibilities. Like you said, a skier is expected to understand the risks and take action to prevent things from happening. That's why they are almost always the ones being sued.

I have to take issue with saying negligence is impossible to prove. For example, if someone is standing on the side of a trail and another skier plows into them, that is negligent. if someone pops out of the woods without looking and yielding, that is negligent. Its a lack of ordinary care.

 

[dmc]

I have to take issue with saying negligence is impossible to prove. For example, if someone is standing on the side of a trail and another skier plows into them, that is negligent. if someone pops out of the woods without looking and yielding, that is negligent. Its a lack of ordinary care.

Yes but if someone pops out of the woods and gets hit - who's fault?

The uphill skier is supposed to avoid people downhill of him and a person entering a trail is supposed to look up and make sure it's safe..

This is my problem with the subjectiveness of this BS...
My only accident involving "hitting" someone was when a guy was making big sweeping turns near the bottom by the lift..
One of his sweeps had him coming at me diagonally - I was already against the woods and was nervous about the guy...
He basically came in from behind me on an angle and ended up in front of me and I knocked the snot out of him. He tried to say it was my fault! Saying I need to "avoid the downhill skier" the patroller that witnessed it said it was BS and the guy wasn't downhill of me until he sped his way in front of me on an angle..

The patroller asked if I wanted to make a complaint... I did not.. I felt his yard sale and embarrassment was enough...