The Little Book of Skiing Law

Skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, and other types of snow sports attract an affable and interesting mélange of people, and one has to be impressed that the sport can exert such strong influence on so wide a variety of humanity. But all glamour and eccentricities aside, skiing can be--how to say it?--dangerous.

Because all skiers know the sport is somewhat hazardous, the thorny question the courts wrestle with is whether the particular risks the skier is about to encounter have been voluntarily assumed. For instance, is falling down an unmarked ravine near a ski run an "inherent danger and risk" of skiing?

There are also much more novel and diverse legal questions surrounding skiing than one might imagine, including whether the Utah tourism bureau can freely use the phrase "The Greatest Snow on Earth" without offending the venerable circus trademark. And then, of course, there are the more amusing moments on the slopes, like the flight attendant who on a layover day was injured while skiing and then applied to the airline for workers compensation, and the skier who parked illegally, had her car towed, then stealthily "reclaimed" the car from the impound lot without paying--and who claimed indignantly that her constitutional rights were violated.

Many more equally interesting controversies are covered in The Little Book of Skiing Law, arising from such alluring ski resorts as Aspen, Vail, Copper Mountain, Snowbird, Jackson Hole, Killington, and Stratton Mountain.