North Carolina SB 648: Winter Sports Safety and Accidents.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025

SESSION LAW 2026-49
SENATE BILL 648

*S648-v-6*
AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING WINTER SPORTS SAFETY AND
ACCIDENTS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a) Chapter 99C of the General Statutes reads as rewritten:
"Chapter 99C.
"Actions Relating to Winter Sports Safety and Accidents.
"§ 99C-1. Definitions.
When used in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) Competitor. – A skier actually engaged in competition or in practice therefor
for competition with the permission of the ski area operator on any slope or
trail or portion thereof of a slope or trail designated by the ski area operator
for the purpose of competition.
(1a) Freestyle terrain. – Constructed and natural features in ski areas intended for
winter sports including, but not limited to, sports, including terrain parks and
terrain park features such as jumps, rails, fun boxes, half-pipes, quarter-pipes,
and freestyle-bump terrain.
(1b) Inherent risks of skiing. – Risks or conditions that are part of the sport of
skiing, including the following:
a. Changing weather conditions.
b. Snow conditions as they exist or may change, such as ice, hard pack,
powder, packed powder, wind pack, corn, crust, slush, cut-up snow,
and machine-made snow.
c. Surface or subsurface conditions, such as bare spots, forest growth,
rocks, stumps, streambeds, cliffs, extreme terrain, trees, or other
natural objects, and collisions with any of the preceding terms.
d. Impact with lift towers, signs, posts, fences or enclosures, hydrants,
water pipes, or other man-made structures and their components, both
padded and unpadded.
e. Variations in steepness or terrain, whether natural or as a result of
slope design, snowmaking, or grooming operations, including roads,
freestyle terrain, jumps, and catwalks or other terrain modifications.
f. Collisions with other skiers.
g. Failing to properly load or unload a tramway.
h. Becoming an unseated passenger on a tramway.
i. A skier failing to ski within their own abilities.
(2) Passenger. – Any person who is being transported or is awaiting
transportation, or being conveyed on a passenger tramway or is moving from
the disembarkation point of a passenger tramway or is in the act of embarking
upon or disembarking from a passenger tramway.

Page 2 Session Law 2026-49 Senate Bill 648
(3) Passenger tramway. – Any device used to transport passengers uphill on skis
or other winter sports devices, or in cars on tracks, or suspended in the air, by
the use of steel cables, chains, belts or ropes. Such This definition shall include
such includes devices such as a chair lift, chairlift, J Bar, or platter pull, rope
tow, conveyor lift, and wire tow.
(3a) Season pass. – A license provided by a ski area operator for the purpose of
allowing individuals to access terrain or property owned or operated as a ski
area for a complete ski season.
(4) Ski area. – All winter sports slopes, alpine and Nordic ski trails, freestyle
terrain terrain, and passenger tramways, that are administered or operated as
a ski area enterprise within this State.
(5) Ski area operator. – A person, corporation, or organization that is responsible
for the safe operation and maintenance of the ski area.
(5a) Ski pass. – A license provided by a ski area operator for the purpose of
allowing individuals to access terrain or property owned or operated as a ski
area on a daily or multiday basis.
(6) Skier. – Any person who is wearing skis skis, a snowboard, or other winter
sports devices or any person who for the purpose of skiing or other winter
sports is on a designated and clearly marked winter sports slope, alpine or
Nordic ski trail or freestyle terrain that is located at a ski area, or any person
who is a passenger or spectator at a ski area.
(7) Winter sports. – Any use of skis, snowboards, snowshoes, or any other device
for skiing, sliding, jumping, or traveling on snow or ice.
"§ 99C-2. Duties of ski area operators and skiers.
(a) A ski area operator shall be is responsible for the maintenance and safe operation of
any passenger tramway in his the ski area operator's ski area and insure ensuring that such the
ski area is in conformity with the rules and regulations prescribed and adopted by the North
Carolina Department of Labor pursuant to G.S. 95-120(1) as such appear in the North Carolina
Administrative Procedures Act. G.S. 95-120(1). The North Carolina Department of Labor shall
conduct certifications and inspections of passenger tramways.
A ski area operator's responsibility regarding passenger tramways shall include, but is not
limited to, insuring includes:
(1) Ensuring operating personnel are adequately trained and are adequate in
number; meeting number.
(2) Meeting all standards set forth for terminals, stations, line structures, and line
equipment; meeting equipment.
(3) Meeting all rules and regulations regarding the safe operation and
maintenance of all passenger lifts and tram