Colorado lawyers who specialize in ski law are often called on to answer questions about how Colorado law and practice compares to that of other states. Also, many people from other states who are injured on the Colorado slopes may ask Colorado lawyers about ski law in their home states. Knowledge of other states’ laws, therefore, may be helpful in distinguishing improper application of assumption of risk rules, especially in cases involving co-participant liability such as when a passenger misloads or is unable to unload safely due to a misload of another skier on the lift or a skier/skier collision.

Most states with a significant ski industry have statutes or case law, or a combination of both, that state that skiing carries inherent risks for which damages cannot be recovered.

States with ski laws that include some form of an inherent danger scheme wherein the skier (by virtue of his or her participation in the sport) has assumed those risks inherent or integral the sport include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Utah, and Wyoming.