As used in this chapter:

(A) "Skier" means any person who is using the facilities of a ski area, including, but not limited to, the ski slopes and ski trails, for the purpose of skiing, which includes, without limitation, sliding or jumping on snow or ice on skis, a snowboard, sled, tube, snowbike, toboggan, or any other device.

(B) "Passenger" means any person who is being transported or conveyed by a passenger tramway.

(C) "Ski slopes" or "ski trails" means those sites that are reserved or maintained and are open for use, as designated by a ski area operator.

(D) "Ski area" means all the ski slopes, ski trails, and passenger tramways that are administered or operated as a single enterprise within this state.

(E) "Ski area operator" means a person or organization that is responsible for the operation of a ski area, including an agency of this state or of a political subdivision thereof.

(F) "Passenger tramway" means a device used to transport passengers uphill, whether on skis or other devices or without skis or other devices, or in cars on tracks or suspended in the air, by the use of steel cables, chains, or belts or by ropes, and that is usually supported by trestles or towers with one or more spans. "Passenger tramway" includes all of the following:

(1) Aerial passenger tramway, a device used to transport passengers in several open or enclosed cars attached to and suspended from a moving wire rope or attached to a moving wire rope and supported on a standing wire rope, or similar devices;

(2) Skimobile, a device in which a passenger car running on steel or wooden tracks is attached to and pulled by a steel cable, or similar devices;

(3) Chair lift, a device on which passengers are carried on chairs suspended in the air and attached to a moving cable, chain, or link belt supported by trestles or towers with one or more spans, or similar devices. Chair lifts need not include foot-rests or passenger restraint devices.

(4) J bar, T bar, or platter pull, devices that pull skiers riding on skis or other devices by means of an attachment to a main overhead cable supported by trestles or towers with one or more spans, or similar devices;

(5) Rope tow, a device with one span and no intermediate towers that pulls skiers riding on skis or other devices as they grasp a rope manually, or similar devices;

(6) Wire rope tow, a device with one span and no intermediate towers by which skiers are pulled on skis or other devices while manually grasping a bar attached to a wire hauling cable;

(7) Conveyor, a flexible moving element, including a belt, that transports passengers on one path and returns underneath the uphill portion.

The operation of a passenger tramway shall not constitute the operation of a common carrier.

(G) "Competitor" means a skier actually engaged in competition, a special event, or training or practicing for competition or a special event in any portion of the area made available by the ski area operator.

(H) "Freestyler" means a skier utilizing freestyle terrain marked with signage approved by the national ski areas association.

(I) "Freestyle terrain" means, but is not limited to, terrain parks and terrain park features, such as jumps, rails, fun boxes, other constructed or natural features, half-pipes, quarter-pipes, and freestyle-bump terrain.

(J) "Tubing park" means a ski slope designated and maintained for the exclusive use of skiers utilizing tubes to slide to the bottom of the course and serviced by a dedicated passenger tramway.

Effective Date: 11-20-1996; 09-26-2005 .