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

Greeley Ski Accident Lawyers, and the Long Way to the Snow

Greeley skiers take the long way. US-34 runs west out of town and turns into Trail Ridge Road, which closes for the season in mid-October, so the day starts before dawn on I-25 instead and finishes late. Weld is also its own judicial district, the 19th, and it holds 2 designated trauma centers at 2 different levels inside one city. A ski claim from here touches several counties before it is finished. We handle Colorado Ski Safety Act claims from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., and we charge no fee unless we win.

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Our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla espanol
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  • Colorado has a statute written for ski injuries, and it decides a lot before negligence is argued.
  • Chairlift injuries sit under different rules from injuries on the snow, damages included.
  • A release is a contract, and it stops where reckless and grossly negligent conduct begins.
  • The deadline is 2 years on both routes, drawn from 2 different statutes.
  • The consultation is free, and our fee comes only from a recovery.
The law on the mountain

What the Colorado Ski Safety Act does to a ski injury claim

Colorado handles ski injuries under a statute built for them, and that statute answers a question before anyone asks whether somebody was careless. It asks instead which risks belong to the sport. The Ski Safety Act of 1979, C.R.S. 33-44-101 and following, sets out what a resort owes, what a skier owes, and a catalogue of hazards that come with no claim attached.

That catalogue lives at C.R.S. 33-44-103, in the definition of the inherent dangers and risks of skiing, and it is written to be wide. Weather that changes. Snow in any state the mountain can produce it, ice and hard pack and powder and crust and slush and cut-up snow and the machine-made kind. Bare spots. Forest growth, rocks, stumps, streambeds, cliffs, extreme terrain, and trees. Steepness that varies, whether the mountain made it that way or slope design, snowmaking, and grooming did. Striking a lift tower, sign, post, fence, hydrant, water pipe, or another built structure. An injury that fits the catalogue stays with the person who suffered it.

What makes the section useful to an injured skier is where it stops. It says the term does not include the negligence of a ski area operator as described at C.R.S. 33-44-104(2). It says nothing in the section limits an operator's liability for injury caused by the use or operation of ski lifts. Nearly every viable claim against a resort comes through one of those 2 openings.

Worth correcting at the outset, because summaries of this Act circulate in versions that are simply wrong. The statute is built on the term "ski area" and on sliding downhill or jumping on snow or ice. It does not classify resorts by kind of skiing, and it requires a helmet of nobody, at any age.

The critical distinction

Two lists, and your injury is on one of them

The statute keeps 2 lists. Which one your injury belongs to shapes the value of the claim, the identity of the defendant, and whether there is a claim at all.

Inherent dangers (no recovery)

  • Snow and ice in all conditions, plus the bare ground where the cover gives out
  • Weather, and the visibility that goes with it
  • Natural features: rocks, stumps, streambeds, cliffs, forest growth, and trees
  • Terrain that changes pitch, naturally or through slope design, snowmaking, or grooming
  • Hitting a lift tower, sign, post, fence, hydrant, or water pipe positioned where it normally sits

Operator negligence (recovery possible)

  • Lift failures, including mis-loads, sudden stops, drops, and unloading injuries
  • Signage the Act requires that was missing, incorrect, or unreadable
  • Grooming or snowmaking equipment worked on an open trail without the required warning
  • Built obstacles in a skiing area left unmarked or unpadded
  • Careless work by resort staff, instructors, or ski patrol

Nobody should treat the initial classification as settled. Striking a lift tower belongs to the first list on its face, and it moves to the second if the tower was supposed to be padded and was not. Getting the records is what answers that, and the records take asking.

Skier duties and the downhill rule

Claims against another skier under C.R.S. 33-44-109

Against a resort, the inherent-risk defense does most of the damage to a claim. Against another skier it is not available, and the statute says so directly. C.R.S. 33-44-109(1) provides that the risk of a skier-skier collision is neither an inherent risk nor a risk assumed by a skier in an action by one skier against another.

  1. Control and lookout

    A skier owes a duty to maintain control of speed and course at all times and to keep a proper lookout. The statute then places the primary duty on the person skiing downhill, the skier descending from above, who must avoid a collision with any person or object below them. Who was above whom is normally the contested fact.

  2. Posted warnings and closed trails

    Posted information and warnings must be heeded, and a trail posted closed must not be skied. The Act presumes a skier saw and understood what was posted near base area lifts, on the tramways, and on the trails in use.

  3. Entering the flow

    Starting to ski from a stopped position, or joining a trail from the side, carries a duty to avoid the skiers already on it.

  4. Devices that stop loose gear

    Every ski or board needs a strap or comparable device capable of stopping it if it comes off. The requirement does not extend to cross country skis.

  5. Impairment, and staying at the scene

    Riding a lift or skiing a trail while impaired by alcohol or a controlled substance is barred. Leaving the area of an injury collision without giving your name and current address to a resort employee or patroller is barred as well, though the statute permits leaving to secure aid where the details are supplied afterward.

  6. What the current penalties actually say

    This part of the Act was rewritten, and reproductions still in circulation reprint the superseded text, so the specifics are worth stating carefully. C.R.S. 33-44-109(12)(a) makes it a civil infraction, with a fine of not more than $1,000, to violate the closed-trail provision, the impairment provision, or the provision covering a knowing entry onto closed adjoining lands. C.R.S. 33-44-109(12)(b) makes leaving the scene of an injury collision a petty offense, a distinct classification that is not part of that $1,000 group.

  7. Comparative fault

    Colorado then allocates blame between the parties. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111 a claimant recovers only where their negligence was not as great as the negligence of the party sued, with the award cut by the claimant's proportion. Once the claimant carries half the blame, recovery ends. That is why an insurer's early framing of a collision deserves resistance.

The truth about waivers

What a signed release really covers

Release language turns up on every pass, ticket, and rental agreement in the state, and it is drafted to end conversations before they start. It rarely does what it appears to do.

Colorado treats a release as a contract, so contract rules govern it. The wording must be clear and unambiguous, and it operates only on the conduct it actually names. A clause built for ordinary negligence does that job and reaches no further.

The boundaries are the useful part. Willful and wanton conduct, recklessness, and gross negligence all sit outside a release. Where a resort knew a hazard existed and left it alone, passed on an inspection it was required to make, or kept defective equipment running, the form does not accomplish what the resort expects.

For families the rule is set out separately. C.R.S. 13-22-107(3) allows a parent to release or waive a child's prospective negligence claim on the child's behalf, and subsection (4) provides that nothing in the section permits a parent to 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.

Do not read the release by yourself and decide it is over. Bring it, and it gets read against the facts of the accident.

Local Knowledge

A county that is its own district, 2 trauma centers in town, and a road that shuts in October

Courthouse

Weld County is the 19th Judicial District

Greeley is the seat of Weld County, and Weld County makes up the 19th Judicial District on its own. The Colorado Judicial Branch's own overview of the district, dated March 2025, puts its population at 359,442 and its bench at 21 judicial officers. District matters are handled at the Weld County Courthouse, 901 9th Ave., Greeley, CO 80631. Having the courthouse in town changes less than you would expect for a ski case. Venue in these matters generally follows the resort and the site of the injury, so a crash in Summit, Eagle, Grand, or Routt county is usually litigated where it happened. A Greeley resident's ski claim commonly gets filed in a county they only visit on weekends, which is normal and not a complication. Where you live limits neither the venue nor your choice of counsel.

Trauma Care

Two designated centers, 2 different levels, one city

Greeley holds 2 designated trauma centers inside the city limits, at different levels. North Colorado Medical Center, 1801 16th St., is designated Level II. UCHealth Greeley Hospital, 6767 W. 29th St., is designated Level III. For a ski injury that means the question of where you were treated has more than one answer even at the home end of the trip, and the mountain end adds more. The hospitals closest to the resorts are themselves designated at Level III, so a serious head or spinal injury generally gets stabilized there and moved. By the time the case is worked up, the file can hold a patrol report, a mountain hospital chart, a transport record, and a chart from whichever Greeley facility took over. Those come from separate institutions on separate timelines, and reassembling them into a single account of the injury is standard work in a case like this.

The Corridor

There is no winter road straight west

This is the geographic fact that shapes a Greeley ski day. US-34 runs west from Greeley toward Loveland and Estes Park, and then becomes Trail Ridge Road inside Rocky Mountain National Park. The National Park Service describes Trail Ridge as not designed to be an all-season road, notes that 11 miles of it sit above 11,500 feet, and closes it to through travel from about mid-October until the last week of May, weather permitting. The direct westward line is shut for the entire season. The workable routes go around: south on I-25 and then west on I-70 toward Summit and Eagle county, or north and west toward Steamboat. Either way it is a long drive both directions in one day, and that is where a specific problem enters the file. A skier who crashes, drives 3 hours home, and wakes up much worse on Sunday has a gap between the accident and the first medical record. Insurers use that gap. It is explainable, and explaining it is far easier when somebody documented the symptoms at the time.

Compensation

What an injured Greeley skier may be able to recover

With negligence shown, Colorado splits the harm into losses that can be documented and losses that cannot.

Economic damages

  • Getting off the mountain, air ambulance included where it was necessary
  • Emergency care, surgery, and specialist treatment through discharge
  • Wages lost while recovering, and earning capacity lost afterward
  • Rehabilitation, physical and occupational
  • Treatment still ahead, including a life care plan where the injury calls for one
  • Out-of-pocket costs traceable to the injury

Non-economic damages

  • Pain and suffering after orthopedic, spinal, or head trauma
  • Permanent impairment, or physical function that does not return
  • Loss of enjoyment of life, including the loss of the sport
  • In a death case, funeral costs and loss of companionship

The operator cap, and what sits outside it

Damages recoverable from a ski area operator are limited by statute. C.R.S. 33-44-113 fixes a total ceiling of $1,000,000 present value, limits a derivative claim by another claimant to $250,000, and limits non-economic loss to $250,000. Four points inside the section change how it applies.

  • The statute excludes injuries occurring to a passenger while riding a passenger tramway from the cap, which is why chairlift claims get separated out at the first meeting.
  • The cap reaches claims against an operator. A claim against the skier who caused the collision is not subject to it.
  • On good cause shown a court may award above the ceiling, restricted to excess future lost earnings or excess future medical and health care costs, and only where applying the limit would be unfair.
  • The limits and the exceptions to them are not disclosed to the jury.
Deadlines and fault

Two years, and the right statute for the right defendant

Two years is the answer whichever route the claim takes, and the routes draw that period from different places.

Against a ski area operator or its employees, for damages caused by the maintenance, supervision, or operation of a passenger tramway or a ski area, C.R.S. 33-44-111 applies and requires the action to be brought within 2 years after the claim for relief arises. Against another skier, that section does not reach the claim, because it is addressed to operators and their employees. There the limitation comes from C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a), the general 2-year period for tort actions.

How long the period runs and when it opens are separate questions. C.R.S. 13-80-108(1) provides that a cause of action accrues on the date both the injury and its cause are known or should have been known through the exercise of reasonable diligence. For most ski crashes that is the day it happened. For injuries that surface slowly, which describes a good deal of head and spine trauma, the rule is written to fit. Holding off to learn how bad it will get does not extend anything.

Fault is handled separately from timing. C.R.S. 13-21-111 permits recovery while your negligence stays under that of the party you sued, reducing the award by your percentage, and ends recovery at an even split. That threshold is well known to insurers. The account that keeps a claimant clear of it is assembled from witnesses and records early, not argued later.

Why CGH

Why injured Greeley skiers choose CGH Injury Lawyers

Trial-Ready

Built for trial.

A file that is visibly ready for a courtroom gets valued differently from one that is not.

The Statute

Ski cases follow their own rules.

Inherent risk, statutory duties, the operator cap, and release language behave nothing like standard negligence.

Fast Evidence Action

Evidence has a shelf life.

Lift maintenance logs, grooming records, incident reports, patrol notes, and signage conditions all change or vanish. Preservation demands need to go out quickly.

No Win, No Fee

No fee unless we win.

The consultation costs nothing, and our fee comes out of a recovery. How case costs are treated is set out in the fee agreement before you sign.

Local Reach

The driving is ours.

Greeley is an hour from our office, and when the trip is hard on an injured client, we make it instead.

How it works

How we handle a Greeley ski accident case

  1. Free consultation

    Tell us what happened and get a direct answer on whether a claim exists, including when the answer is no.

  2. Preservation

    Written demands go to the resort for lift logs, grooming records, incident reports, and video before retention periods run out.

  3. Investigation

    Witnesses are located, patrol and clinic records obtained, and where the mechanism of injury is disputed, an accident reconstruction expert is brought in.

  4. Medical picture

    Records are gathered from every facility in the chain, and in serious cases treating physicians and life care planners set out what recovery actually requires.

  5. Demand and negotiation

    The claim goes out supported by evidence.

  6. Litigation where needed

    Where the offer does not match the harm, suit is filed in the correct venue and the case is worked up for trial.

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Questions

Greeley ski accident, frequently asked questions

Which judicial district is Greeley in?

The 19th, which is made up of Weld County alone. District matters are handled at the Weld County Courthouse, 901 9th Ave., Greeley.

The courthouse is here. Will my case be heard here?

Often not. Venue in ski cases generally follows the resort and the place the injury happened, so a crash in Summit, Eagle, Grand, or Routt county is usually litigated in that county. That is ordinary, and it does not restrict who represents you.

I drove home to Greeley and didn't see a doctor until the next day. Does that damage my claim?

It is a question that will come up, and it has a reasonable answer. Delayed symptoms after a fall are common, especially with head and spine injuries, and a long drive home is a normal reason care starts the following day. Documenting symptoms as they appear and getting evaluated as soon as you can is what helps most.

Does the release on my pass end my claim?

Not by itself. A release is read as a contract in Colorado and reaches only the conduct it clearly identifies. It cannot cover willful and wanton conduct, recklessness, or gross negligence, and under C.R.S. 13-22-107(4) a parent cannot waive a child's claim for conduct in those categories.

Another skier hit me. Isn't that part of the risk?

Not in a claim between skiers. C.R.S. 33-44-109(1) provides that a skier-skier collision is neither an inherent risk nor a risk assumed in an action by one skier against another, and the statute assigns the primary duty to avoid the collision to the person skiing downhill, the one coming from above.

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

It can be. C.R.S. 33-44-103 provides that nothing in the inherent-risk definition limits an operator's liability for injury caused by the use or operation of ski lifts, and C.R.S. 33-44-113 excludes injuries to a passenger riding a passenger tramway from the damages cap.

How long do I have?

2 years. Against a ski area operator or its employees, C.R.S. 33-44-111 sets the deadline. Against another skier, C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a) does. The period generally starts when both the injury and its cause were known or reasonably should have been known.

Is there a cap on what I can recover?

Against a ski area operator, yes. C.R.S. 33-44-113 sets $1,000,000 present value overall, with $250,000 on derivative claims and on non-economic loss. Passenger tramway injuries are excluded, the cap does not apply to a claim against another skier, and a court may exceed it on good cause shown for excess future earnings or future medical costs.

Do I have to wear a helmet in Colorado?

The Ski Safety Act imposes no helmet requirement at any age. Wearing one is sensible, and it is not what decides whether a claim exists.

What if I was partly at fault?

Recovery remains available while your negligence stays below the other party's, with the award reduced by your share. At half or more, C.R.S. 13-21-111 ends recovery, which is why the early version of fault is worth challenging.

What will this cost me?

Nothing to begin. Consultations are free, and the fee is taken only from a recovery. The fee agreement sets out how case costs are handled before you sign.

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