I just saw the news, and the tragedy in Utah is so sad…five young people, buried in an avalanche. My question is, once the bodies are recovered, how will the fault be apportioned? Is the resort to blame? or is the blame partly on the victim’s side? (I heard that they may have disregarded a warning). In any case, who will be liable for these unfortunate, tragic deaths?
Um…gravity?
I’m pretty sure that if you look at your ski ticket, it will contain boiler plate along the lines of “Skiing is dangerous. You could die or be maimed out there. If that happens, it’s not our fault.”
Unless there was gross negligence on the side of the ski resort (e.g. keeping a trail open despite obvious dangers), or the skiers disregarded a closed trail sign, it may just be that no one is to blame.
From this CNN story
Bolding mine.
I’m not a skier, but if the skiers ignored signs warning of the danger, then they’d be at fault, right?
On the local news here in SLC this has been getting a lot of coverage. The resort is not to blame, since they went past the boundaries of the resort onto public land not maintained by anyone. In fact to get to the slope where the avalanche occurred they had to open a gate with a large warning sign on it that said (paraphrasing) “You are now leaving the property of The Canyons resort and take any risks on yourself.” Then in BIG letters the sign said, “YOU MAY DIE!” with a graphic of a skull. They definitely can’t make the claim that they weren’t warned.
Here is a link to a report on KSL-TV discussing the very issue of how much responsibility should be placed on the resort. (Real player required to view the video, but text transcript is available).
There was a picture of the warning signs at the border of the ski area. They said things like, “If you go past here, YOU MAY DIE,” “Avalance Risk,” “Area not patrolled,” etc. The signs seemed to be very clear in their message.
The people who do these high-risk sports are aware of the risks. Even if the signs weren’t there, I would think the skiiers would take full responsibility.
Isn’t there an electronic beacon that you can wear that will broadcast a signal if you’re buried in an avalanche? What’s that called? Were any of these people using these devices?
I don’t believe any of the victims were wearing beacons. Wouldn’t have helped them too much anyway, except to recover the bodies - They were out of the patrolled area, and are burried deep. Beyond 20 minutes, the chance of surviving burrial in an avalanche goes below 50%, and drops fast. And that’s if you survived the avalanche at all, and hadn’t been broken in many nasty ways as you were tumbled down the hill…
No way they’d have been found in less than twenty minutes, beacon or no beacon. Probably not even in a couple hours.
I saw that sign on the news. The big skull draws your attention quite effectively. Ray Charles couldn’t overlook that sign. They were fairly warned.
My sympathy goes out to the skiers families, but…think of it as evolution in action.
I don’t mean to sound blunt or unfeeling, but of course they have no one to blame but themselves. Don’t get me wrong - I am a “retired” rock climber: People who take part in “extreme” (christ do I hate that word) sports do so in the face of the danger. They embrace it. Let me be clear: You try to embrace danger while avoiding death. A dangerous game, to be sure, but that’s the whole point.
Nobody has ever tried to sue Nepal or the former Tibet for a loved one that died on Mt Everest.
Oh, wait - I haven’t read the news article yet - these skiers, they weren’t six-year-olds, were they? Because maybe then someone might have a case for negligence.
It will be a sad day for common sense if anyone other than the skiers themselves are held liable for the accident.
This sort of thing happens every year in the mountains in BC (something like 25 or so avalanche related deaths last year). Good enough reason to be both educated and equipped for avalanche safety.
Anyone operating in an avalanche prone area, such as the incident discussed, should have been equipped with a beacon, probe and shovel, and should have done an avalanche risk assessment (dig a test pit to determine snow stability), prior to crossing the at risk zone ONE AT A TIME. Obviously, the deceased were not aware of the risks, or of basic avalanche safety procedures.
Shouldn’t the resort be held liable? Perhaps they did not inform the skiers of the dangers …at the very least, they should have ! If the skiers were juveniles, would the resort be held liable? inor isn’t capable of making a reasoned judgement.
If I were the rental shop (that rented skis, snowboards, etc.) i would be worried…would their insurance cover them? 
The accident happened out of bounds, off the ski area property. The skiers had to go through gates letting them know it was out of bounds, not managed for avalanche safety, and unpatrolled. There is a limit ski areas and rental shops can do to prevent people from entering into unsafe territory.
It’s human nature to try and find blame in a situation like this, but the reality is that Mother Nature is going to do whatever she pleases, and people are inevitably going to get in her way.
Would you hold a manufacturer of climbing shoes liable if someone bought their shoes and then fell while climbing without ever taking safety courses, didn’t use a rope, on a public cliff that is prone to rockfall? Or perhaps the manufacturer of the 4x4 that allowed them to get access to the cliffs? At some point, liability ends. Granted, lawyers and politicians have made careers arguing about where it ends but the facts don’t appear to support the idea that the ski area is liable here.
IANAL, I’m a skier.
The skiers in question went into an avalanche-prone area, with recent snow conditions that increased avalanche risk, and crossed a particularly avalanche-prone slope in a group. This was supremely stupid. If they’re held blameless, then personal responsibility truly is dead.
However, something brought up in the video at Fat Bald Guy’s link troubles me. The TV news people claim the resort advertises “access to the back country” as one of its amenities and marks the access point, which is near the top of a lift, on its trail maps, although they are or should be aware that much of the terrain near the edges of the resort is avalanche-prone. If this is true - and I know that local TV news programs are not without bias - then I’d agree that the resort needs to, ahem, rethink this policy. No sense encouraging stupidity. The universe produces enough stupidity on its own.
On the other hand… I live in a country where the idea that you should only ski at an authorized ski resort would be seen as at best paranoid and at worst a serious violation of personal liberties. (Norwegians take skiing very, very seriously.) It is possible to play in the “back country” and do it safely! This requires several things, however, chief among them awareness of the risks and a healthy dose of horse sense. At least one of these elements appears to have been missing among the Utah skiers.
Umm, did you read the article?
The resort has not way of stopping idiots from killing themselves and in this case, these people ignored several well places and hard to avoid signs. They either knew the risks or didn’t care. Either way, they alone are to blame. If any children were killed, then their parents or guardian (or whoever was with them at the time) are to blame for their deaths (since kids wouldn’t be expected to understand this sort of thing.
Any word on who gets to pay for the search operation yet?
If you don’t view DANGER! ENTERING HAZARDOUS AREA! and a skull and crossbones as a warning, what, pray tell, WOULD be a warning for you?
They DID!
If they’re minors or mentally feeble they shouldn’t be out skiing unsupervised anyway.
If they’re not liable there’s no insurance issue.
Let’s get real, here - I have rented equipment to ice skate, roller skate, ski (both alpine and nordic), and sled. I’ve ridden horses. Hot air ballooned. I fly airplanes that I also rent. Every time I partake in these activities I have to sign a piece of paper that says, more or less, “I understand there are inherent risks here and will not hold the people renting me this stuff liable for my own incompetance, stupidity, or just sheer bad luck”. Every time. It would be SILLY to say I wasn’t informed or did not know the risks.
I am not a timid soul, but if I was staying at a resort and came upon a fence with big sign illustrated by a skull and crossbones and saying “AVALANCHE DANGER” I would not pass that gate.
I’m really sorry these guys are dead. It is a tragedy. But it’s THEIR fault and no one else’s if they ignored warnings and engaged in an extremely hazardous activity.
Want to hear something else that makes me sound cold-hearted? If any of the rescue guys gets hurt recovery the bodies, the dead skiers are responsibile for that, too.
I agree with everything Broomstick says, including the responsibility for the rescue efforts.
Just wanna add, the endless warnings you see everywhere in this civilization can lead to a jaded reaction.
But rather than make fun of the warnings, or totally ignore them, the wise person at least gives them attention (and then takes any risks using his/her own judgment which is best for us all if said judgment is informed and good).
If you partake in extremely dangerous activities and you are injured or killed, YOU are the only one liable.
Those words should be written in some kind of contract you have to sign when you are born.