Is It Time to Do More to Punish Out Of Control Skiers & Snowboarders?
28th October 2026
The state of North Carolina in the USA thinks so and has introduced The Winter Sports Safety Act. NEW
The Winter Sports Safety Act makes hit-and-run collisions on the slopes and ski pass misuse misdemeanors in the state
It gives the ski patrol and other skiers new authority to detain someone involved in a hit-and-run and obtain their information.
This is a policy trend worth watching as states continue to consider how slope safety, accountability and resort operations intersect.
Hit-and-run accidents on the slopes are happening more often and misusing passes has grown in recent years.
“Creating a safe environment at all our ski resorts is good business and I’m 100% behind it,” said Kim Jochl the vice president of Sugar Mountain Ski Resort and President of the North Carolina Ski Areas Association.
“It helps all of us create a safer environment and responsibilities for the skiers and the ski operator as well,” she said.
It makes it a misdemeanor if you have a hit-and-run collision and leave the scene as well as if you misuse a ski pass.
“It really is going to make the environment for skiing and snowboarding safer.
See more on Spectrum News
North Carolina has six ski areas:
- Sugar Mountain Ski Resort
- Beech Mountain Resort
- Appalachian Ski Mountain
- Cataloochie Ski Area
- Hatley Point
- Ski Saffire Valley
“I think it’s going to encourage more beginners, more first-timers to come up and ski because it just creates responsibilities from the skiers’ and snowboarders’ perspective to be responsible to go out there and take a lesson,” Kim Jochl added.
“You don’t have the right to flail around and hit someone and hurt someone.”
The issue of people skiing or snowboarding out of control has been widely covered on PlanetSKI with some strong reaction from readers:
Collision on the slopes. Image c/o Clare Meaney.
In an earlier PlanetSKI post Dr Jean-Jacques Banihachémi from The Hôpital Sud de Grenoble in France claimed the number of injuries on the slopes was at “catastrophic” levels:
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