Assumption of Risk, Release and Waiver of Liability

This is a legal document that affects your rights. Read all of it before you sign it. It asks you to accept the risks of skiing, snowboarding and mountain travel, and to give up the right to bring certain legal claims against Outrider if you are hurt, made ill, or lose property on a trip.

It is written plainly on purpose. A release nobody understands is not worth having, from either side. If any part of it is unclear, ask us at bookings@outrider.travel before you sign, or take it to your own lawyer. If you are not willing to accept these terms, do not book a trip, that is a perfectly reasonable decision and no one will argue with it.

It forms part of the Terms of Service and is read together with them.

In this document, “Outrider” means Outrider Travel, LLC, its owners, officers, employees, contractors, guides, trip staff, volunteers, agents, successors and assigns. “I” and “me” mean the traveler signing, and also that person’s heirs, next of kin, executors, administrators, assigns and personal representatives.

“The trip” means the whole Outrider departure and everything in and around it: lodging, transport, skiing and snowboarding on and off marked terrain, lift use, lessons and guiding, meals, events, and any free time or activity taking place during the trip dates, whether or not it is an organized part of the itinerary and whether or not Outrider staff are present.

Skiing and snowboarding are dangerous. People are seriously injured and killed doing them every season, including people who are experienced, careful and well equipped. Those dangers are inherent: they cannot be removed without removing the activity, and no amount of care by Outrider, a resort, a guide or an instructor eliminates them.

I understand that the risks of the trip include, but are not limited to:

• Snow and terrain. Changing and unpredictable snow conditions; ice, crust, slush, powder, wind slab and breakable surfaces; moguls; variable and steep terrain; cliffs, drop-offs, gullies, cornices and creek beds; rocks, stumps, trees, tree wells and deep-snow immersion, which can cause suffocation.
• Obstacles, natural and man-made. Lift towers, snow-making equipment and the snow it produces, hydrants, fences, signs, ropes, padding, buildings, snow-grooming and other machinery operating on the mountain, and terrain-park features.
• Collisions. With other skiers and snowboarders, with objects, and with the ground, including collisions caused by other people who are out of control, inattentive, unskilled or impaired, over whom Outrider has no control whatsoever.
• Avalanche. Avalanches, sloughs and snow slides, in-bounds and out-of-bounds, including burial, trauma and suffocation; avalanche control work; and delayed or unavailable rescue.
• Lifts. Loading, riding and unloading chairlifts, gondolas, surface lifts and trams; falls from lifts; mechanical failure; and being stopped, stranded or evacuated from a lift in cold conditions.
• Off-piste, backcountry and uncontrolled terrain. Terrain that is not patrolled, not marked, not controlled for avalanche hazard and not swept at the end of the day, where rescue can be slow, difficult or impossible.
• Weather, altitude and exposure. Extreme cold, wind, storms, whiteout and flat light, poor visibility, sun and snow glare; frostbite and hypothermia; and the effects of altitude, including headache, nausea, sleeplessness, dehydration, acute mountain sickness and, rarely, life-threatening pulmonary or cerebral oedema. The resorts Outrider visits sit well above the elevations most travelers live at.
• My own equipment and its behavior. Bindings that release when they should not, or fail to release when they should; equipment failure of any kind; and injury caused by my own or another person’s equipment.
• My own judgment and condition. Fatigue, over- confidence, skiing beyond my ability, misjudging conditions, and the effect of alcohol, medication, illness or altitude on my decisions.
• Delay or absence of help. Slow or unavailable rescue, first aid, ski patrol, evacuation or medical treatment; distance from a hospital; and the limits of care available in a mountain town.

The trip is more than the skiing, and the rest of it carries risk too. I understand and accept the risks of:

• travel on mountain roads and passes in winter, snow, ice, poor visibility, avalanche closures, road closures, accidents involving our vehicle or another, and the acts of other drivers;
• air travel, delay, cancellation, diversion, and lost or damaged baggage;
• illness, including food-borne illness and contagious disease transmitted in shared accommodation, vehicles and lifts;
• accidents in and around lodging, slips on ice and snow, stairs, hot tubs, saunas and pools, and fire;
• theft, loss of or damage to my property, including skis, snowboards, phones and luggage;
• being in a remote place where medical care, communications and transport are limited, and where evacuation can be slow and expensive;
• acts of other travelers on the trip, of local people, and of third parties, over whom Outrider has no control.

I have read the risks described above, I understand them, and I expressly and voluntarily assume all of them, both the ones listed and any others inherent in the trip, whether or not anyone has described them to me, and whether or not they are foreseeable.

I am taking part in this trip of my own free will, for my own enjoyment, and with full knowledge that it is dangerous. Nobody has told me the trip is safe. I accept that I may be seriously injured, permanently disabled, or killed, and that my property may be lost or destroyed. I accept full responsibility for that outcome and for my own decisions on the mountain and off it.

I understand that the state where a trip takes place may have a ski safety statute that allocates certain inherent risks of skiing to me by law, in addition to anything I agree to here.

I confirm that:

• I am in sufficient physical condition and health to take part in the trip and in the activities I intend to do on it, and I have consulted a doctor if there is any reason to think otherwise;
• I have honestly assessed my own skiing or riding ability and will choose terrain and conditions accordingly, and will not follow others onto terrain beyond me;
• I have told Outrider, in writing before departure, about any medical condition, injury, allergy, medication, pregnancy or limitation that could affect my safety or the safety of others, and I will update that if it changes;
• I understand Outrider staff, guides and instructors are not physicians, and that a briefing, a lesson or a guide does not make a dangerous activity safe;
• I understand altitude affects people unpredictably and that arriving from sea level increases that risk;
• I am responsible for deciding, at every moment of the trip, whether to take part in any activity, and I will stop if I judge it unsafe for me.

Outrider may refuse to let me take part in an activity, or may remove me from one, if in its judgment I am not fit for it or my participation endangers me or anyone else. That is a decision made for safety and does not entitle me to a refund.

Where equipment is rented as part of a trip, it is supplied and fitted by an independent rental shop under its own rental agreement, which I enter into directly with that shop and which contains its own terms about fitting, release settings and liability. Outrider does not manufacture, service, fit or inspect equipment.

I am responsible for checking that my equipment, rented or my own, is suitable and in working order, for wearing a helmet if I choose to and for understanding that a helmet does not prevent serious injury or death, and for carrying and knowing how to use avalanche equipment on any terrain where it is needed.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, I release, waive, discharge and covenant not to sue Outrider for any claim, demand, loss, injury, illness, disability, death, or damage to or loss of property arising out of or relating to my participation in the trip, including any such claim caused in whole or in part by the ordinary negligence of Outrider.

This release covers claims I might bring myself and claims brought by anyone claiming through me, including my family, heirs and personal representatives. It survives the trip.

What this release does not cover. It does not release Outrider from liability for gross negligence, recklessness, wilful or wanton misconduct, or intentional wrongdoing, and it does not release any liability that the applicable law does not permit to be released. It does not affect any claim I may have against a third party, a resort, a hotel, a rental shop, a transport operator, another skier, which remains mine to bring.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, I agree to indemnify, defend and hold Outrider harmless from any claim, liability, loss, damage, cost or expense, including reasonable legal fees, brought by me or by a third party arising out of my participation in the trip, my conduct on it, my breach of the Terms of Service or of this document, or any inaccurate or incomplete information I gave about my health, fitness or ability.

This includes the cost of any search, rescue, evacuation or emergency medical transport carried out for me, and any charge a supplier passes on to Outrider because of something I did.

It does not apply to the extent a claim arises from Outrider’s own gross negligence, recklessness or intentional misconduct.

If I am injured or become ill on the trip and cannot consent for myself, I authorize Outrider staff, ski patrol, guides and emergency responders to arrange and consent to medical care, first aid, ambulance transport, evacuation and hospital treatment on my behalf.

I am financially responsible for the full cost of any medical care, search, rescue, evacuation or repatriation provided to me , not Outrider. Mountain rescue and air evacuation are expensive, and the trip price does not cover them.

Outrider is not responsible for the quality, availability, timeliness or outcome of medical care provided by anyone else, and arranging care in an emergency does not make Outrider responsible for it. I authorize Outrider to share relevant health information with medical personnel and with my emergency contact, and I will keep an up-to-date emergency contact on file.

Outrider photographs and films its trips. I grant Outrider permission to record my image, likeness and voice during the trip, and a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that material to promote Outrider, on its website, in social media, in email and in printed material, without further approval or payment.

I understand I will not be identified by full name without my agreement, and that I can ask for a specific image or clip of me to be taken down by emailing bookings@outrider.travel. We will remove it from material we control, though we cannot recall something already shared onward by someone else.

I understand that any travel protection plan included in my trip price is provided by an independent insurer, that the insurer’s policy documents decide what is covered, and that Outrider is not the insurer and does not decide claims. See the Terms of Service.

I am responsible for carrying insurance adequate for what I am doing. I understand that an included plan may not cover off-piste, out-of-bounds, backcountry, heli- or cat-skiing, racing, emergency evacuation from a mountain, or treatment once I am home, and that my own health insurance may not cover me away from home. I accept that if I am uninsured or underinsured, the loss is mine.

I will not ski, ride or take part in any activity while impaired by alcohol, cannabis, medication or any other substance. I understand that impairment increases the risk of serious injury to me and to other people, that altitude intensifies the effect of alcohol, and that insurance commonly excludes claims involving intoxication.

I will follow the instructions of Outrider staff, guides, instructors, drivers and resort personnel, observe posted closures, rope lines and the skier responsibility code, and behave in a way that does not endanger or seriously disrupt other people. I understand that I may be removed from the trip without a refund if I do not, as set out in the Terms of Service.

Where a traveler is under 18, this document must be signed by a parent or legal guardian, who signs both on their own behalf and on behalf of the minor, and who accepts responsibility for the minor’s conduct and supervision on the trip.

The governing law and venue for any dispute about this document are the same as those in the Terms of Service, and both documents are to be read consistently.

If any part of this document is held invalid or unenforceable, that part is to be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the rest of it remains in full force and effect. In particular, if a release of ordinary negligence is unenforceable in the applicable jurisdiction, the assumption of risk, indemnity, medical authorization and every other provision continue to apply, and the release continues to apply to the fullest extent that jurisdiction does permit.

This document is intended to be as broad and inclusive as the law allows, and it binds my heirs, next of kin, executors, administrators, assigns and personal representatives. It survives the end of the trip.

By signing, I confirm that I have read this entire document, that I understand it is a release of liability and a contract, that I understand what I am giving up, that no one has made any promise or representation to me other than what is written in it, and that I sign it freely and voluntarily.

Questions before you sign: bookings@outrider.travel. Related documents: Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.