Our Steamboat Springs snowboard accident practice covers the full spectrum of snowboarding injuries and legal claims:
Snowboard Collision Cases
Collisions involving snowboarders—whether with other snowboarders, skiers, or fixed objects—are among the most common and serious accidents we handle. These crashes often result in:
- Traumatic brain injuries and concussions
- Spinal cord injuries
- Wrist and forearm fractures (extremely common in snowboarding)
- Shoulder injuries (dislocations, separations, rotator cuff tears)
- Collarbone fractures
- Knee injuries (though less common than in skiing)
- Facial injuries and dental trauma
Snowboarder vs. Skier Collisions:
When snowboarders collide with skiers, unique dynamics come into play:
- Blind spot issues inherent to the sideways stance
- Different speed and movement patterns
- Visibility challenges when checking uphill
- Questions about who had the right of way
Despite these unique factors, Colorado law applies the same Skier Responsibility Code to snowboarders. The uphill rider—whether on a snowboard or skis—has the primary duty to avoid those below them. When you’re hit from behind or from uphill, there’s a strong presumption the other party violated this rule.
Snowboarder vs. Snowboarder Collisions:
Rider-on-rider collisions often occur in terrain parks, at trail merges, or in areas with mixed-ability riders. These cases require careful investigation to determine who violated safety rules and establish liability.
In all collision cases, we immediately begin investigating to:
- Identify the at-fault party through witness interviews and evidence review
- Locate homeowner’s insurance or other coverage
- Preserve helmet camera footage, ski patrol reports, and accident scene documentation
- Document your injuries comprehensively
- Handle all insurance company communications
- Build a strong case for maximum compensation
Terrain Park Injury Cases
Steamboat’s terrain parks—including Mavericks, Moonshine, and Lil’ Rodeo—attract snowboarders looking to progress their skills. While terrain parks offer excitement, they also present serious risks.
Terrain park accidents we handle include:
Jump Accidents: Overshooting landings, flat landings, knuckling (landing on the upslope), or unexpected speed resulting in injuries. These cases may involve improper jump design, inadequate maintenance, or changes in snow conditions that affect jump performance.
Terrain park cases are complex because Colorado’s Ski Safety Act provides broad protections to resorts. However, resorts can still be liable when they:
- Design features that don’t meet industry standards
- Fail to maintain features properly
- Don’t provide adequate warnings
- Violate their own terrain park policies
- Create hidden hazards in parks
We work with terrain park design experts who can analyze whether features met industry standards and identify potential resort liability.
Rail and Box Injuries: Slipping on features, catching edges, or falling from height onto hard surfaces can cause serious injuries. Cases may involve improperly maintained features, inadequate padding, or features that don’t meet industry standards.
Feature Design Issues: Poorly designed features that don’t meet American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards or ski industry best practices can create unreasonable risks.
Inadequate Warnings: Terrain parks must provide clear information about feature difficulty, risks, and requirements. Failure to warn adequately may create resort liability.
Maintenance Failures: Features must be regularly inspected and maintained. Ice buildup, damaged features, or exposed hazards can lead to injuries and potential liability.
Supervision Issues: Larger terrain parks should have staff present to enforce rules and respond to accidents. Inadequate supervision or enforcement may contribute to injuries.
Equipment Failure and Rental Gear Cases
Snowboard equipment must function properly to prevent accidents and injuries. When equipment fails or rental gear is improperly set up, serious injuries can result.
Equipment cases we handle include:
Binding Failures: Snowboard bindings must hold boots securely while allowing proper flexion. When bindings break, release unexpectedly, or fail to hold boots properly, riders lose control and crashes result.
Rental Equipment Issues:
- Improperly fitted boots that don’t match the rider’s size or skill level
- Rental boards with damaged edges, delamination, or structural problems
- Bindings not properly mounted or adjusted for the rider
- Equipment not properly maintained or inspected by rental shops
Defective Equipment: Manufacturing defects in snowboards, bindings, boots, or other equipment that cause accidents and injuries.
Leash Failures: Colorado law requires snowboards to have leashes or other retention devices. When these devices fail and boards become projectiles, injuries to others can result.
Improper Setup: Rental shop employees who don’t properly set stance width, binding angles, or other settings for the rider’s size, weight, and skill level.
Equipment cases often involve multiple potential defendants:
- Equipment manufacturers (product liability claims)
- Rental shops (negligence in fitting, maintenance, or equipment inspection)
- Ski resorts (if they operated the rental shop)
- Distributors or retailers in some cases
We conduct thorough investigations including:
- Preserving equipment exactly as it was at time of accident
- Expert analysis of equipment function and failure
- Review of rental shop records, procedures, and training
- Analysis of manufacturing and design issues
- Identification of all potentially liable parties and their insurance
Snowboard Instruction and Learning Accidents
Learning to snowboard is notoriously challenging, with beginners facing a steep learning curve and high fall rate. When inadequate instruction or supervision contributes to injuries, instructors and resorts may be liable.
Instruction cases we handle include:
Inadequate Supervision: Instructors who fail to properly watch students, particularly in beginner lessons where students are most vulnerable to injuries.
Inappropriate Terrain Selection: Taking students to terrain beyond their current ability level before they’ve mastered basic skills.
Poor Instruction: Failing to teach fundamental skills like stopping, turning, edge control, and safe falling techniques before progressing to more difficult terrain.
Improper Progression: Rushing students through learning stages without ensuring they’ve mastered prerequisite skills.
Group Size Issues: Lessons with instructor-to-student ratios too large for proper supervision and individualized instruction.
Child Safety Concerns: Special considerations involving young children in snowboard lessons, including age-appropriate instruction and heightened supervision requirements.
Failure to Assess Ability: Not properly evaluating students’ actual skill level and placing them in inappropriate lesson levels.
Snowboard instruction cases require careful analysis of:
- Instructor credentials, training, and experience
- Resort’s instructor training programs and supervision
- Industry standards for snowboard instruction
- Whether instructor followed proper progression and safety protocols
- Student’s actual skill level versus terrain selected
When instructors act negligently, both the instructor and the ski resort employing them may be liable for resulting injuries.
Chairlift Accident Cases
Snowboarders face unique challenges with chairlifts since they typically ride with only their front foot strapped in, leaving the back foot free. This creates particular vulnerability during loading and unloading.
Lift accidents involving snowboarders include:
Loading Accidents: Slipping while skating to the lift, losing balance when sitting, or being hit by the chair due to timing issues.
Unloading Accidents: Falls when exiting the lift with only one foot strapped in, catching edges, or inability to clear the unloading area quickly.
Balance Issues on Lift: Snowboarders sitting sideways on chairs face unique balance challenges, particularly on windy days or during sudden stops.
Lift Malfunctions: Mechanical failures, sudden stops, or chair detachments that cause falls or injuries.
Operator Errors: Lift operators who fail to slow or stop the lift when snowboarders need assistance loading or unloading.
Lift accident cases involve potential resort liability, which requires analysis under Colorado’s Ski Safety Act. Resorts can be held liable for negligent lift operations, maintenance failures, or operator errors even when they enjoy broad statutory protections for other types of accidents.
Trail Condition and Grooming Cases
While Colorado’s Ski Safety Act protects resorts from liability for most natural conditions, they can still be held accountable when they create dangers or fail to warn of known hazards.
Trail condition cases involving snowboarders include:
Man-Made Hazards: Grooming equipment left on trails, poorly placed signage, exposed snowmaking equipment, or debris that creates dangerous conditions.
Inadequate Warnings: Failure to warn of rocks, cliffs, tree wells, or other hazards that riders wouldn’t reasonably expect based on trail ratings and conditions.
Grooming Negligence: Grooming practices that create dangerous conditions like ice patches, unexpected terrain features, or unstable snow conditions.
Closed Area Issues: Inadequate marking or enforcement of closed areas, rope lines that break or are positioned improperly, or failure to secure dangerous terrain.
Hidden Hazards: Natural hazards that should be marked but aren’t, particularly in areas where riders wouldn’t expect such hazards.
These cases require proving the resort either created the hazard, knew about it and failed to warn, or violated industry standards for trail maintenance and marking.
