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Aurora, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents ski accident victims statewide from our Denver, Colorado office.
Aurora, Colorado

Aurora Ski Accident Lawyers Who Know Anschutz and All Three of Your Courthouses

Aurora skiers cross the whole metro to reach the snow and travel only a few miles to a Level I trauma center once they are hurt, because one of the state's Level I trauma centers sits on the Anschutz Medical Campus. What surprises people is the paperwork: Aurora spans three counties and three judicial districts, and one of them did not exist until 2025. We handle Colorado Ski Safety Act claims in English and Spanish, and we never charge a fee unless we win.

No fee unless we win
Call (303) 209-9395 Get my free ski accident case review

It's More Than Money.

Get my free ski accident case review

100% confidential. No fee unless we win.

Our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla español
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The law on the mountain

The Colorado Ski Safety Act and your Aurora ski accident case

Colorado runs ski injury claims through its own statute, the Ski Safety Act at C.R.S. Title 33, Article 44. It applies to ski areas across the state and covers skiing, snowboarding, and the other ways people slide downhill on snow or ice at a ski area. Whether you were hurt at a Summit County resort on a day trip or on a week at Steamboat, the same framework governs your claim once you are back in Aurora.

Before the Act, these cases ran on ordinary negligence rules and produced inconsistent outcomes. The statute replaced that with three moving parts:

  • A defined list of the inherent dangers of skiing, meaning the risks a person accepts by taking up the sport.
  • A set of duties binding both skiers and ski area operators, enforceable in court.
  • A route to damages where negligence, rather than an inherent risk, caused the injury.

Everything downstream depends on which of those two categories your injury falls into. It determines who can be held responsible, what damages are on the table, and whether a claim exists at all.

The critical distinction

Inherent danger versus resort negligence

Colorado ski cases turn on the boundary between a risk you accepted and a failure somebody else is answerable for. Misreading that boundary is the most common reason an injured skier is told there is nothing to pursue.

Inherent dangers (recovery barred)

  • Changing weather and visibility on the mountain
  • Variations in terrain and natural snow conditions
  • Collisions with natural objects such as trees, rocks, and cliffs
  • The ordinary risks that come with the sport itself

Resort negligence (recovery may be possible)

  • Failing to mark man-made hazards such as lift towers, hydrants, and grooming equipment
  • Chairlift, gondola, or tow-rope failure traced to deferred maintenance
  • Missing or inadequate trail signage and closure markers
  • Poorly trained or poorly supervised patrol, lift, and grooming staff

The line moves with the facts. A collision with a tree is generally an inherent risk of skiing, while a sharp unmarked stump left behind by the resort's own clearing crew may not be, and C.R.S. 33-44-112 bars claims against an operator only for injuries resulting from the inherent dangers and risks of skiing.

Skier duties and the downhill rule

When another skier caused your injury: duties under C.R.S. 33-44-109

If a person hit you rather than a hazard, the analysis shifts to C.R.S. 33-44-109. The statute opens with a provision that matters a great deal to injured skiers: under subsection (1), the risk of a skier/skier collision is neither an inherent risk nor a risk you assumed, in an action by one skier against another.

The inherent-risk defense that protects a resort does not simply transfer to the person who ran into you. From there, the statute sets out what everyone on the hill owes everyone else.

  1. Control and lookout

    Each skier has to control their speed and course and keep a proper lookout so they can avoid other people and objects. The primary duty falls on the person skiing downhill to avoid colliding with anyone or anything below them, which is the provision most often at issue when somebody is hit from behind.

  2. Merging and starting from a stop

    Before beginning to ski from a standstill or entering a trail from the side, a skier has the duty to avoid skiers already moving on that run. Dropping into a run without looking uphill is a common route to liability.

  3. Closed trails and posted warnings

    Skiing a trail posted as closed is a violation on its own. Skiers are also presumed to have seen and understood the information posted at base area lifts, on the lifts, and on the trails they ski.

  4. Equipment

    Every ski and snowboard has to carry a strap or other device capable of stopping it if it separates from the skier, with cross-country skis excepted. The Ski Safety Act does not require helmets at any age.

  5. Impairment and leaving the scene

    Riding a lift or using a trail while impaired by alcohol or a controlled substance is prohibited, as is leaving an injury collision before giving your name and current address to a ski area employee or patroller, unless you are leaving to get help. Violating the closed-trail, impairment, or closed-lands provisions is a civil infraction carrying a fine of up to $1,000, and leaving the scene of an injury collision is a petty offense.

  6. How fault gets divided

    Colorado splits fault comparatively. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111 you can recover as long as your negligence was not as great as that of the party you are pursuing, with your award reduced in proportion to your share. Patrol reports, witness accounts, and resort camera footage usually decide the argument.

The truth about waivers

Does the waiver on my lift ticket end my Aurora ski case?

Every major Colorado resort puts a liability waiver in front of you at purchase, whether that is a day ticket at the window or a multi-resort pass bought in September. Those waivers are enforceable in real terms, and they are also not the whole analysis.

Colorado courts have generally enforced recreational waivers signed by adults as to ordinary negligence, while treating some categories of conduct as outside what a waiver can reach. Whether a specific waiver covers a specific injury depends on how the document is drafted and what the operator knew or should have known before you were hurt.

The legislature settled part of the question for children. C.R.S. 13-22-107(3) permits a parent to waive a child's prospective negligence claim, and subsection (4) states plainly that a parent cannot waive a child's claim for a willful and wanton, reckless, or grossly negligent act or omission. A child under 18 is covered by that rule regardless of what a parent signed at the ticket window.

We read the waiver against the facts at no charge during the initial consultation.

Local Knowledge

A Level I trauma center at home. Three counties. The whole metro to cross

Aurora spreads across three counties and sits on the far side of the metro from the mountains. After a ski injury, that produces a set of local details worth knowing before you file anything.

Trauma Care

Anschutz, and the pediatric center next door

UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital at 12605 E. 16th Ave. on the Anschutz Medical Campus is one of Colorado's Level I designated trauma centers, and it is in Aurora. HCA HealthONE Aurora at 1501 S. Potomac St., formerly The Medical Center of Aurora, is a Level II designated center, and Children's Hospital Colorado at 13123 E. 16th Ave. is a Level I pediatric trauma center, which matters when the injured skier is a child. Serious ski trauma coming off the I-70 corridor often lands at Denver Health or St. Anthony first and moves to Anschutz for specialty care, and those transfer records carry the orthopedic, neurological, and rehabilitation findings that build a damages case. We order the complete chain from the resort patrol report through discharge.

Courthouse

One address book, three judicial districts

Aurora sits in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties. At the 2020 census, about 87 percent of residents were in Arapahoe County, about 12 percent in Adams County, and under 1 percent in Douglas County. Arapahoe County is the 18th Judicial District, at 7325 S. Potomac St. in Centennial. The Adams County portion belongs to the 17th Judicial District at 1100 Judicial Center Drive in Brighton, and the Douglas County portion now belongs to the 23rd Judicial District in Castle Rock, a district created in January 2025 when the 18th was split and reduced to Arapahoe County alone. Where a ski case is actually filed is a separate question from where you live, because venue generally follows the defendant or the place of injury, and a claim against a resort commonly belongs in the ski county. We tell you which courthouse your case is headed for before you sign a fee agreement.

The Corridor

I-225, then the whole metro, then the mountains

Aurora is the east side, which means a ski day starts by crossing the Denver metro on I-225 and I-70 before the climb even begins. That drive shapes real decisions after an injury, including whether you were transported west to a mountain hospital or came home first, and it is often the reason an Aurora skier's medical record starts in Summit or Eagle County and finishes at Anschutz. Our office at 2701 Lawrence St. in Denver's RiNo neighborhood sits between the two, and we serve Aurora's Spanish-speaking community in Spanish.

Compensation

What compensation can an injured Aurora skier recover?

Where negligence is established, Colorado allows recovery for documented economic losses and for the non-economic harm that never appears on a bill.

Economic damages

  • Emergency transport off the mountain, including air ambulance
  • Surgery, hospitalization, and specialty care at Anschutz, HCA HealthONE Aurora, or another receiving hospital
  • Lost wages and lost earning capacity during recovery
  • Physical and occupational rehabilitation
  • Future medical care and life care plan costs
  • Out-of-pocket costs tied directly to the injury

Non-economic damages

  • Pain and suffering from orthopedic, spinal, or head injuries
  • Permanent disability or loss of physical function
  • Loss of enjoyment of life, including skiing and the outdoors
  • In a fatal accident, funeral costs and loss of companionship

The Ski Safety Act damages cap, and the exceptions inside it

C.R.S. 33-44-113 caps recovery against a ski area operator at $1,000,000 present value, with any derivative claim by another claimant capped at $250,000 and any claim attributable to non-economic loss capped at $250,000. Four qualifications sit inside that rule.

  • Injuries to a passenger riding a passenger tramway, chairlifts included, are excluded from the cap by the text of the statute.
  • The cap governs claims against a ski area operator, not claims against another skier whose negligence hurt you.
  • A court may award more than the limit on good cause shown, but only for excess future lost earnings or excess future medical and health care costs, and only where applying the limit would be unfair.
  • The statute directs that the limits and their exceptions are not disclosed to the jury.

Which of these applies depends entirely on your facts, so treat the figures as the start of a conversation with an attorney rather than a verdict on your case.

Deadlines and fault

The two-year filing deadline and partial fault rules

Two years, not three. C.R.S. 33-44-111 requires actions against a ski area operator or its employees, for injuries caused by the maintenance, supervision, or operation of a ski area or passenger tramway, to be brought within two years after the claim arises. A claim against another skier runs under the general two-year tort deadline at C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a), so the window is the same length whichever direction your claim points.

  • Under C.R.S. 13-80-108(1), the clock generally starts when both the injury and its cause are known or reasonably should have been known. For most collisions and marked-hazard cases that is the day of the accident, and waiting to learn the full extent of your damages does not extend it.
  • Colorado applies modified comparative negligence. C.R.S. 13-21-111 permits recovery as long as your negligence was not as great as that of the party you are suing, with your award cut by your share, so a finding of 50 percent or more against you ends the claim.
  • Ski evidence does not keep. Patrol incident reports, lift inspection records, grooming logs, and resort camera footage are overwritten or archived on short cycles, and a preservation letter has to go out before that happens.
Why CGH

Why injured Aurora skiers choose CGH Injury Lawyers

Attorneys who work the Ski Safety Act directly, bilingual service, trial-ready representation, and no fee unless we win. We do not publish ski settlement figures, because a number on a page says nothing about your injury or the resort that caused it.

The Statute

C.R.S. 33-44-101 et seq.

The Ski Safety Act is a narrow statute with rules that do not appear anywhere else in Colorado injury law. We work in it directly and know where the line between inherent risk and negligence falls.

Three Districts

Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas.

Aurora addresses fall across three judicial districts, and the 23rd is new as of 2025. We sort out venue at the start rather than after a filing goes to the wrong court.

Fast Evidence Action

We move before footage disappears.

Patrol reports and lift camera footage can be gone within weeks. We send preservation requests to the resort as soon as we sign a case.

Two-Year Clock

Shorter than you think.

The deadline against a ski area operator is two years under C.R.S. 33-44-111, a year shorter than most Colorado motor vehicle claims. We track it from day one.

Trial-Ready

8 attorneys, built for trial.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has tried more than 25 cases to verdict. We prepare every case for trial rather than for whatever the first offer turns out to be.

Bilingual

Hablamos español.

Spanish-speaking attorneys and staff serve Aurora's Spanish-speaking community, including resort and hospitality workers hurt on the job in ski country.

How it works

How we handle an Aurora ski accident case

A ski injury case runs through six stages, from a free evaluation to trial when a resort or insurer will not be reasonable. Most resolve before a courtroom, and we build every one as though it will not.

  1. Free case evaluation

    We go through what happened, explain how the Ski Safety Act applies to your facts, and answer your questions at no cost and no obligation. Call (303) 209-9395, in English or Spanish, or come to the office at 2701 Lawrence St.

  2. Evidence preservation

    We send preservation letters to the resort and request patrol incident reports, maintenance and grooming records, lift inspection documentation, and any on-mountain camera footage before it cycles out.

  3. Liability analysis

    We separate inherent risk from negligence and identify every responsible party, whether that is the operator, another skier, an instructor, or an equipment manufacturer. We also evaluate what your pass agreement's waiver does and does not reach.

  4. Medical records and damages

    We gather the patrol report, the transport records, the emergency and surgical care wherever you were taken, the specialty treatment at Anschutz or elsewhere, and the rehabilitation that followed, so no category of harm gets left out.

  5. Demand and negotiation

    We present documented damages to the resort's insurer or the at-fault skier's carrier and negotiate from trial readiness rather than a willingness to take the first offer.

  6. Filing suit

    When there is no fair resolution, we file, whether that is Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Adams County in Brighton, Douglas County in Castle Rock, or the ski county where the injury happened. Our trial attorneys are prepared to put the case to a Colorado jury.

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Questions

Aurora ski accident, frequently asked questions

I live in Aurora. Which court would my ski case be filed in?

Probably not the one nearest your house. Aurora spans three counties, so an Aurora address sits in the 18th Judicial District if it is in Arapahoe County, the 17th if it is in Adams County, or the 23rd if it is in Douglas County, and the 23rd only came into existence in January 2025 when the 18th was split. Venue in a ski case generally follows the defendant or the place of injury rather than the plaintiff's home, which often means the mountain county where the resort operates. We identify the right court early, because filing in the wrong one costs time you may not have.

How long do I have to file?

Two years. C.R.S. 33-44-111 sets a two-year deadline for actions against a ski area operator or its employees, and a claim against another skier runs on the general two-year tort deadline at C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a). Under C.R.S. 13-80-108(1) the clock generally starts once the injury and its cause are known or reasonably should have been known, which in most ski cases is the day it happened. Ongoing treatment at Anschutz or anywhere else does not pause it.

I was hurt getting on or off a chairlift. Is that treated differently?

Yes, and in a way that can matter a great deal. C.R.S. 33-44-113 excludes injuries to a passenger riding a passenger tramway from the damages cap that otherwise limits recovery against a ski area operator. Lift cases also come with their own evidence, including inspection and maintenance records and operator training documentation, which is a separate records request from the usual patrol report. Whether your injury falls inside that exclusion depends on the specific facts, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.

My child was hurt skiing. Does the waiver I signed for them control?

Only partly. C.R.S. 13-22-107(3) lets a parent waive a child's prospective negligence claim, so the waiver you signed does have legal effect. Subsection (4) then draws a firm line: no parent can waive a child's claim for a willful and wanton act or omission, a reckless act or omission, or a grossly negligent act or omission. Children hurt in Colorado ski accidents are often treated at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and we work from those records in building the claim.

Another skier hit me. Is the person behind automatically at fault?

It is a strong starting position rather than an automatic outcome. C.R.S. 33-44-109(2) puts the primary duty on the person skiing downhill to avoid colliding with anyone below them, and subsection (1) removes the skier/skier collision from the inherent-risk and assumed-risk categories in a claim between skiers. Fault can still shift if you stopped where you could not be seen or entered a trail without looking uphill, and Colorado divides fault comparatively under C.R.S. 13-21-111. These claims are sometimes pursued through the at-fault skier's homeowner or renter policy, though whether any coverage applies depends on that policy's terms and exclusions.

Can I bring a claim if my rental gear failed?

Possibly, and it is a separate claim from anything against the resort. Bindings that do not release at the correct setting, structural failures in skis, boots, or a board, and helmet manufacturing defects can support a product liability claim against a manufacturer, distributor, or rental shop. Preserving the actual equipment matters more than almost anything else in these cases. Tell us what you still have at the first call, and check with us before returning, repairing, or adjusting anything.

Does it help or hurt that I was treated at a Level I trauma center in my own city?

It generally helps the record. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus is one of Colorado's Level I designated trauma centers, and the depth of documentation a center at that level produces gives the claim a detailed medical record to build on. Many Aurora skiers are stabilized at a mountain hospital or another Front Range center first and transferred in for specialty care, and gaps between those handoffs are exactly where causation disputes start. We order the full chain rather than the excerpt the carrier requests.

What should I do right after a ski accident?

Get medical attention first. Then make sure patrol files an official incident report and get a copy before you leave the mountain, photograph the scene and your injuries without moving or adjusting equipment, and collect names and contact details for witnesses and any other skier involved. Do not give a recorded statement to an insurer before speaking with an attorney. Call our Denver office at (303) 209-9395, in English or Spanish, or use the form on this page.

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