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To amend sections 4169.01, 4169.03, 4169.08, and | 1 |
4169.09 of the Revised Code to modify duties and | 2 |
liabilities of ski area operators and skiers, | 3 |
including duties and liabilities relating to the | 4 |
use of freestyle terrain and tubing parks in ski | 5 |
areas. | 6 |
Section 1. That sections 4169.01, 4169.03, 4169.08, and | 7 |
4169.09 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows: | 8 |
Sec. 4169.01. As used in this chapter: | 9 |
(A) "Skier" means any person who is using | 10 |
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ski area, including, but not limited to, the ski slopes and ski | 13 |
trails, for the purpose of skiing, which includes, without | 14 |
limitation, sliding or jumping on snow or ice on skis, a | 15 |
snowboard, sled, tube, snowbike, toboggan or any other device. | 16 |
(B) "Passenger" means any person who is being transported or | 17 |
conveyed by a passenger tramway. | 18 |
(C) "Ski slopes" or "ski trails" means those sites that are | 19 |
reserved or maintained and are open for use, as designated by a | 20 |
ski area operator. | 21 |
(D) "Ski area" means all the ski slopes, ski trails, and | 22 |
passenger tramways that are administered or operated as a single | 23 |
enterprise within this state. | 24 |
(E) "Ski area operator" means a person or organization that | 25 |
is responsible for the operation of a ski area, including an | 26 |
agency of this state or of a political subdivision thereof. | 27 |
(F) "Passenger tramway" means a device used to transport | 28 |
passengers uphill, whether on skis or other devices or without | 29 |
skis or other devices, or in cars on tracks or suspended in the | 30 |
air, by the use of steel cables, chains, or belts or by ropes, and | 31 |
that is usually supported by trestles or towers with one or more | 32 |
spans. "Passenger tramway" includes all of the following: | 33 |
(1) Aerial passenger tramway, a device used to transport | 34 |
passengers in several open or enclosed cars attached to and | 35 |
suspended from a moving wire rope or attached to a moving wire | 36 |
rope and supported on a standing wire rope, or similar devices; | 37 |
(2) Skimobile, a device in which a passenger car running on | 38 |
steel or wooden tracks is attached to and pulled by a steel cable, | 39 |
or similar devices; | 40 |
(3) Chair lift, a device on which passengers are carried on | 41 |
chairs suspended in the air and attached to a moving cable, chain, | 42 |
or link belt supported by trestles or towers with one or more | 43 |
spans, or similar devices. Chair lifts need not include foot-rests | 44 |
or passenger restraint devices. | 45 |
(4) J bar, T bar, or platter pull, devices that pull skiers | 46 |
riding on skis or other devices by means of an attachment to a | 47 |
main overhead cable supported by trestles or towers with one or | 48 |
more spans, or similar devices; | 49 |
(5) Rope tow, a device with one span and no intermediate | 50 |
towers that pulls skiers riding on skis or other devices as they | 51 |
grasp a rope manually, or similar devices; | 52 |
(6) Wire rope tow, a device with one span and no intermediate | 53 |
towers by which skiers are pulled on skis or other devices while | 54 |
manually grasping a bar attached to a wire hauling cable; | 55 |
(7) Conveyor, a flexible moving element, including a belt, | 56 |
that transports passengers on one path and returns underneath the | 57 |
uphill portion. | 58 |
The operation of a passenger tramway shall not constitute the | 59 |
operation of a common carrier. | 60 |
(G) "Competitor" means a skier actually engaged in | 61 |
competition, a special event, or training or practicing for | 62 |
competition or a special event in any portion of the area made | 63 |
available by the ski area operator. | 64 |
(H) "Freestyler" means a skier utilizing freestyle terrain | 65 |
marked with signage approved by the national ski areas | 66 |
association. | 67 |
(I) "Freestyle terrain" means, but is not limited to, terrain | 68 |
parks and terrain park features, such as jumps, rails, fun boxes, | 69 |
other constructed or natural features, half-pipes, quarter-pipes, | 70 |
and freestyle-bump terrain. | 71 |
(J) "Tubing park" means a ski slope designated and maintained | 72 |
for the exclusive use of skiers utilizing tubes to slide to the | 73 |
bottom of the course and serviced by a dedicated passenger | 74 |
tramway. | 75 |
Sec. 4169.03. (A) Before a passenger tramway operator may | 76 |
operate any passenger tramway in the state, the operator shall | 77 |
apply to the ski tramway board, on forms prepared by it, for | 78 |
registration by the board. The application shall contain an | 79 |
inventory of the passenger tramways that the applicant intends to | 80 |
operate and | 81 |
require and shall be accompanied by the following annual fees: | 82 |
(1) Each aerial passenger tramway, five hundred dollars; | 83 |
(2) Each skimobile, two hundred dollars; | 84 |
(3) Each chair lift, two hundred dollars; | 85 |
(4) Each J bar, T bar, or platter pull, one hundred dollars; | 86 |
(5) Each rope tow, fifty dollars; | 87 |
(6) Each wire rope tow, seventy-five dollars; | 88 |
(7) Each conveyor, one hundred dollars. | 89 |
When an operator operates an aerial passenger tramway, a | 90 |
skimobile, or a chair lift during both a winter and summer season, | 91 |
the annual fee shall be one and one-half the above amount for the | 92 |
respective passenger tramway. | 93 |
(B) Upon payment of the appropriate annual fees in accordance | 94 |
with division (A) of this section, the board shall issue a | 95 |
registration certificate to the operator. Each certificate shall | 96 |
remain in force until the thirtieth day of September next ensuing. | 97 |
The board shall renew an operator's certificate in accordance with | 98 |
the standard renewal procedure in Chapter 4745. of the Revised | 99 |
Code upon payment of the appropriate annual fees. | 100 |
(C) Money received from the registration fees and from the | 101 |
fines collected pursuant to section 4169.99 of the Revised Code | 102 |
shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the | 103 |
industrial compliance operating fund created in section 121.084 of | 104 |
the Revised Code. | 105 |
(D) No person shall operate a passenger tramway in this state | 106 |
unless the person has been registered by the board. | 107 |
Sec. 4169.08. (A)(1) The general assembly recognizes that | 108 |
skiing as a recreational sport is hazardous to skiers regardless | 109 |
of all feasible safety measures that can be taken. It further | 110 |
recognizes that a skier expressly assumes the risk of and legal | 111 |
responsibility for | 112 |
person or property that | 113 |
skiing, which include, but are not
limited to, | 114 |
injury, death, or loss to person or property caused by | 115 |
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or ice conditions; hard pack, powder, packed powder, wind pack, | 117 |
corn, crust, slush, cut-up snow, and machine-made snow; bare | 118 |
spots, rocks, trees, stumps, and other forms of forest growth or | 119 |
debris; lift towers or other forms of towers and their components, | 120 |
either above or below the snow surface; variations in steepness or | 121 |
terrain, whether natural or as the result of snowmaking, slope | 122 |
design, freestyle terrain, jumps, catwalks, or other terrain | 123 |
modifications; any other objects and structures, including, but | 124 |
not limited to, passenger tramways and related structures and | 125 |
equipment, competition equipment, utility poles, fences, posts, | 126 |
ski equipment, slalom poles, ropes, out-of-bounds barriers and | 127 |
their supports, signs, ski racks, walls, buildings, and sheds; and | 128 |
plainly marked or otherwise visible snowmaking and snow-grooming | 129 |
equipment, snowmobiles, snow cats, and over-snow vehicles. | 130 |
(2) Provided that the ski area operator complies with | 131 |
division (B)(4) of this section, no liability shall attach to a | 132 |
ski area operator for injury, death, or loss to person or property | 133 |
suffered by any competitor or freestyler using a freestyle | 134 |
terrain, which injury, death, or loss to person or property is | 135 |
caused by course, venue, or area conditions that visual inspection | 136 |
should have revealed or by collision with a spectator, competition | 137 |
official, ski area personnel, or another competitor or freestyler. | 138 |
(3) Provided the ski area operator complies with division | 139 |
(B)(5) of this section, no liability shall attach to a ski area | 140 |
operator for injury, death, or loss to person or property suffered | 141 |
by any skier using a tubing park, which injury, death, or loss to | 142 |
person or property is caused by course design or maintenance or | 143 |
conditions that visual inspection should have revealed or by | 144 |
collision with another skier. | 145 |
(B) | 146 |
operator to
a skier with respect to any injury | 147 |
to person or property resulting in any way from an inherent risk | 148 |
of the sport shall not be those of the common law duty of premises | 149 |
owners to business invitees. A ski area operator shall have, | 150 |
however, the following responsibilities: | 151 |
(1) To mark all trail maintenance vehicles and to furnish | 152 |
such vehicles with flashing or rotating lights that shall be in | 153 |
operation whenever the vehicles are working or are moving in the | 154 |
ski area; | 155 |
(2) To mark with a visible sign or other warning implement | 156 |
the location of any hydrant or similar equipment that is used in | 157 |
snowmaking operations and located anywhere in the ski area; | 158 |
(3) To mark, at the base of a slope or hill where skiers | 159 |
embark on a passenger tramway serving the slope or hill or at the | 160 |
top of a trail or slope, such slopes, trails, and hills with signs | 161 |
indicating their relative degree of difficulty. The signs must be | 162 |
the type that have been approved by the national ski areas | 163 |
association and are in current use by the industry; | 164 |
(4) Prior to the use of any portion of a freestyle terrain | 165 |
area made available by the ski area operator, to allow each | 166 |
freestyler or competitor a reasonable opportunity to visually | 167 |
inspect the course, venue, or area of the freestyle terrain; | 168 |
(5) To allow skiers using a tubing park visible access to the | 169 |
course. | 170 |
(C) A skier shall have the following responsibilities: | 171 |
(1) To know the range of the skier's ability to negotiate any | 172 |
slope or trail or to use any passenger tramway that is associated | 173 |
with a slope or trail, to ski within the limits of the skier's | 174 |
ability, to ski only on designated slopes and trails, to maintain | 175 |
control of speed and course at all times while skiing, to heed all | 176 |
posted warnings, and to not cross the track of a passenger tramway | 177 |
except at a designated area; | 178 |
(2) To refrain from acting in a manner that may cause or | 179 |
contribute to the injury of another person, to refrain from | 180 |
causing collision with any person or object while skiing, and to | 181 |
not place any object in a ski area that may cause another skier or | 182 |
a passenger to fall; | 183 |
(3) When involved in a skiing accident in which another | 184 |
person is involved who needs medical or other assistance, to | 185 |
obtain assistance for the person, to notify the proper | 186 |
authorities, and to not depart from the scene of the accident | 187 |
without leaving personal identification; | 188 |
(4) If the skier is a competitor, freestyler, or user of | 189 |
freestyle terrain, to assume the risk of all course, venue, or | 190 |
area conditions, including, but not limited to, weather and snow | 191 |
conditions; obstacles; course or feature location, construction, | 192 |
or layout; freestyle terrain configuration and conditions; and | 193 |
other courses, layouts, or configurations of the area to be used; | 194 |
(5) If the skier is utilizing a tubing park, to assume the | 195 |
risk of collision with others on the course. | 196 |
Sec. 4169.09. A ski area operator, a tramway passenger, | 197 |
freestyler, competitor, or | 198 |
injury, death, or loss to person or property caused by | 199 |
operator's, passenger's, freestyler's, competitor's, or skier's | 200 |
failure to fulfill any of the responsibilities required by this | 201 |
chapter. A ski area operator, a tramway passenger, freestyler, | 202 |
competitor, or | 203 |
injury, death, or loss to person or property caused by another's | 204 |
failure to fulfill any of the responsibilities required of another | 205 |
by this chapter. A ski area operator, a tramway passenger, | 206 |
freestyler, competitor, or | 207 |
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caused by | 209 |
competitor's, or skier's failure to fulfill any of the | 210 |
responsibilities required by this chapter. | 211 |
Section 2. That existing sections 4169.01, 4169.03, 4169.08, | 212 |
and 4169.09 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed. | 213 |