§ 8.01-227.12.Warnings and other winter sports area operator requirements.

Subsections A and B require every ticket, season pass, and written contract for services, instruction, or equipment rental, along with required signage, to carry a statutory warning telling a participant that Virginia law shields operators from liability for injuries caused by the inherent risks of the sport or by the participant’s own negligence, and pointing to where the full law and the participant responsibility code can be reviewed. The warning must appear in clearly readable print on paper and in one-inch black lettering on signs; an operator may add further warnings of its own but cannot use them in place of the required language. The statute is explicit that this warning is not a preinjury contractual release and does not change Virginia common law on such releases. Signs carrying the warning must go up at ticketing offices, front desks, ticket sales locations, and tramway loading areas.

Subsections C through G cover more targeted signage: trail-difficulty markers (a green circle for easiest, a blue square for more difficult, a black diamond for most difficult, two black diamonds for expert or extreme terrain, an orange oval for freestyle terrain, or a bordered skier symbol for closed), with directional arrows added where needed; a specific warning at any tramway loading area that does not serve an “Easiest” trail; freestyle-terrain entrance signs combining an orange oval, a stop-sign emblem, and text on required skill and recommended helmet use; and notice whenever grooming or snowmaking equipment is running on a trail that is open to the public. An operator may relocate a sign from the specific spot the statute names as long as the new location is substantially the same and stays plainly visible.

Subsections H through L round out the operator’s duties: sharing daily trail-condition information, meeting a nighttime lighting standard for any winter sport offered after dark, giving freestylers and registered competitors a reasonable chance to inspect terrain on request, staffing a ski patrol and first-aid service, and making the participant responsibility code and a copy of the article itself available online and at each ticket sales office.