At the end of December, 2020, Plaintiff Martin McGuinniss took his family snow tubing at Campgaw Mountain, operated by Defendant Ski Campgaw Management, LLC (Campgaw). After a few runs, McGuinniss went down the hill and struck a bunched-up rubber mat, “catapulting” him into the air. He landed on his left shoulder and fractured his collar bone. After suing Campgaw, the question in McGuinniss v. Ski Campgaw Mgmt., LLC, 2026 N.J. Super. LEXIS 46 (App. Div. Apr. 20, 2026) became whether snow tubing was an activity similar to skiing that protected Campgaw from Plaintiff’s personal injury suit under the Ski Act.
The tubing hill at Campgaw Mountain was divided into several lanes separated by berms of snow. Positioned at multiple points along each lane were rubber deceleration mats, equipment the ski industry accepted as an effective method of moderating speed on tubing hills. Further, Campgaw had employees positioned at the top and bottom of the hill who communicated by radio when each lane was clear for the next tube to go down.
Upon arriving at the mountain, McGuinniss signed a release where he acknowledged the inherent dangers of snow tubing. On his final run, McGuinniss was mid-hill, about 20 to 30 feet away from the first mat when he saw it had bunched up. Moving too fast to stop, he hit it, sending him into the air. After landing, he went home, returning to the mountain the next day to fill out a report. There had been 45 prior reports of accidents on the hill in the previous 2 years, but none of them were due to bunched-up mats. McGuinniss sued Campgaw for their negligence and breach of their duties under the Ski Act in causing his injury.
The New Jersey Ski Act (N.J.S.A. 5:13-1 to -11) limits the liability of the operator of a ski facility and protects it from the risks inherent in the law’s listed activities. Arising out of the uncertainty ski resorts faced after a 1970’s Supreme Court decision opened them to greater liability for injuries on their slopes and raised the costs of insurance, the Ski Act limited an operator’s liability to one of the narrowly defined duties in the Ski Act. Those duties required the operator to remove obvious, man-made hazards. It also protected an operator for clearly marked equipment necessary for the operation of the ski area, and only then would the operator be liable if they knew or should have known about such a condition and had time to correct it. The Ski Act’s language defined an “operator” as one who welcomed paying customers to “ski . . . or operate skimobiles, toboggans, sleds, or similar vehicles.”
After discovery, Campgaw moved for summary judgment, asking the trial court to dismiss Plaintiff’s complaint under the Ski Act. McGuinniss argued that the Ski Act did not apply to snow tubing and, under a basic theory of negligence, Campgaw failed to observe and inspect the placement of the deceleration mats which created an unreasonable risk. The trial court agreed with McGuinniss that the Ski Act did not govern snow tubing. The court focused on control, finding the free-sliding snow tubes were “fundamentally different” from skiing or sledding because snow tubes lacked steering mechanisms or any ability to control their speed. Campgaw appealed.
The Appellate Division reversed the trial court and specifically held that snow tubing fell under the Ski Act because a snow tube is a “similar vehicle” defined in the Ski Act. The Court read the “similar vehicle” phrase broadly to include those used in snow-based recreational activities because each of them involved moving over snow-covered terrain and were subject to the same variables and inherent risks of winter activities. The Court disagreed with the trial court’s focus on controllability because nothing in the Ski Act made any reference to whether any of the listed vehicles’ inclusion relied on the issue of control; indeed, many sleds and toboggans lack braking or steering mechanisms. As a result, despite Plaintiff’s arguments, snow tubing was not so “fundamentally different” from these other activities, warranting inclusion under the Ski Act.
Applying the Ski Act to facts of McGuinniss’ case, the Court focused on Campgaw’s duty to remove man-made hazards that was limited to those hazards they knew or should have known about and had a reasonable opportunity to fix. However, because McGuinniss himself said that he only saw the bunched-up mat when he was only 20 to 30 feet away, he could not establish Campgaw’s employees, who were located at the top and bottom of the hill knew about the condition – they had told him the lane was clear when he began his run. Also, despite prior accidents on the hill, McGuinniss could not show that any of them were caused by bunched-up mats, dooming his claim under the Ski Act.
