SAM Magazine—Raleigh, N.C., July 9, 2026—The North Carolina General Assembly passed Senate Bill 648 this week and Gov. Josh Stein signed it into law, codifying an update to the state’s Winter Sports Safety Act that includes a variety of “needed changes” to the legislation, according to the North Carolina Ski Areas Association. 

For example, it is now a crime for a participant involved in an on-hill collision with another participant, i.e. hit-and-run, to leave the scene before providing their contact information to an authorized person or the other participant involved in the incident unless they do so to seek medical treatment for anyone injured in the incident or it’s deemed unsafe to remain in place. Violation is now a Class 1 misdemeanor, the penalty for which depends on the defendant’s prior record.  

The charge now applies to guests who misuse lift tickets and season passes to access ski areas by using fraudulent products, borrowing someone else’s pass, lending their own pass to someone else, skiing without a pass or ticket, or accessing closed terrain. Ski areas can “bring a civil action against a person who misuses a ski pass or season pass or who accesses or uses a ski area without authorization from the ski area operator and shall be entitled to recover an amount equal to the regular cost of a full season pass to the ski area,” reads SB 648. 

The Winter Sports Safety Act first became law 45 years ago and was last updated in 2009, so some of the new language addresses changes in technology since the previous version was passed, such as adding “ticket kiosks” and “online” to the list of places where ski areas are required to post signs giving reasonable notice of unusual trail conditions, and recognizing electronic ski passes as access products. 

“These improvements modernize the law related to skiing and snowboarding, keep pace with changes in technology, and ensure that our industry remains viable,” said North Carolina Ski Areas Association president Kimberley Jochl, who also serves as vice president for Sugar Mountain.

Ski areas receive significant protections as well. For example, the new law says that ski area operators who comply with their required duties and responsibilities—such as posting proper signage and communicating conditions at least twice a day—will not “be liable to any person who voluntarily participates in skiing for any damage or injury to property or persons that arises out of a person's participation in the activity that takes place in a ski area.” 

Other additions include language that reflects the updated and expanded tenets of Your Responsibility Code and definitions of what constitutes a “bona fide volunteer.” 

The new law goes into effect Oct. 1, 2026.