Butte, MontanaButte Ski Accident
Butte Ski Accident Lawyers: Discovery, Maverick Mountain and Great Divide Skiing, Snowboarding and Chairlift Injuries
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If you were hurt skiing or snowboarding at Discovery, Maverick Mountain, Great Divide or another ski area Butte families use, you may have a claim when the injury came from someone’s carelessness rather than from the inherent risks of the sport. Montana law says skiers accept those inherent risks, but it does not protect a ski area from its own negligence or a skier who crashes into you by skiing out of control. Most claims must be filed within three years.
Hurt on the mountain? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Which ski areas do Butte skiers use, and why does it matter?
Butte has no ski area inside Silver Bow County, so an injury almost always happens in another county, on national forest land, under a different operator.
- Discovery Ski Area is the nearest large ski area, off Montana Highway 1 near Georgetown Lake and Philipsburg in Granite County, roughly 45 miles from Butte. It runs about eight lifts and operates under a special use permit with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest; its operator is Discovery Ski Corp. (skidiscovery.com).
- Maverick Mountain, a smaller hill in Beaverhead County north of Polaris, off the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway, has been a local ski area since 1946.
- Great Divide, above Marysville northwest of Helena in Lewis and Clark County, is another day trip for Butte skiers.
- Big Sky Resort and Bridger Bowl, to the east, draw Butte skiers for longer trips.
The location affects the court. A lawsuit can generally be filed where the injury happened or where a defendant lives. An injury at Discovery falls within the Third Judicial District (Deer Lodge, Granite and Powell Counties); at Maverick Mountain, the Fifth Judicial District (Beaverhead, Jefferson and Madison Counties) (§ 3-5-101, MCA). When the skier who hit you lives in Butte, the case may also be filed in the Second Judicial District in Silver Bow County.
The drive matters too. Getting to Discovery means I-90 west and Montana Highway 1 through Anaconda in winter conditions, and a crash on the way is a car accident case, not a ski case.
What happens after a ski or snowboard accident near Butte?
- Get care from ski patrol and follow up. Small ski areas are a long way from a trauma center. Injured skiers from Discovery are often taken to the Community Hospital of Anaconda, a Community Trauma Hospital, or to St. James Healthcare in Butte, an ACS Level III / State Area Trauma Hospital; the most serious head and spine injuries may go on to Missoula or Billings (DPHHS, Nov. 2025).
- Get the other skier’s name. Montana requires a skier involved in a collision not to leave without giving identification or notifying the proper authorities (§ 23-2-736, MCA). Ask ski patrol to record it.
- Ask for the ski area’s incident report, and get the names of patrollers, lift operators and witnesses.
- Photograph the scene before the next grooming run: the hazard, missing signs, the lift ramp or the terrain feature.
- Keep your helmet, skis or board, lift ticket or pass, and any rental or lesson paperwork.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the ski area’s insurer or the other skier’s insurer before talking with a lawyer.
Federal court. Ski area operators on national forest land are usually private companies, so most claims are against them, not the government. A case against an out-of-state skier or an out-of-state resort company may be removed to the U.S. District Court, which has a division at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse in Butte (mtd.uscourts.gov). In the uncommon case involving a federal employee, a claim must be presented within 2 years (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).
Montana law that applies
Briefly. Our Montana ski accident lawyer page explains the ski statutes in more depth.
- Inherent risks are defined by statute and include changing weather and snow conditions, trees and rocks, terrain variations, collisions with other skiers, and clearly visible or plainly marked equipment (§ 23-2-702, MCA). Avalanches on open, groomed runs and equipment that is not clearly visible or plainly marked are outside the list.
- The operator owes reasonable care (§ 23-2-733, MCA), and the statutes cannot be read to immunize a ski area from its own negligence (Mead v. M.S.B., Inc. (Mont. 1994)). The limits are real: in 2025 the Court held a ski area had no duty to fence a beginner trail above a streambed (Mullee v. Winter Sports, Inc., 2025 MT 113).
- Lifts must be built, operated, maintained and repaired to current standards (§ 23-2-734, MCA).
- Every skier must control speed and course to avoid injuring others (§ 23-2-736, MCA).
- Releases: the general recreation release statute does not apply to skiing (§ 27-1-754, MCA), and whether a lift-ticket or season-pass release is enforceable is unsettled.
- Deadline: generally 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA).
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Butte case?
Because ski cases turn on a detailed statute, on the ski area’s own records and on quick action before conditions on the hill change. We are based in Great Falls and handle cases statewide. Our attorneys travel to Butte, Philipsburg, Dillon or wherever the case requires to meet with you, visit the ski area, take depositions and attend hearings and trial. There is no Boland Aarab office in Butte, and our jury trials have been in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We protect verdicts: the Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client in Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137 (case summary).
- We handle appeals, including two Ninth Circuit arguments by Samir Aarab, with an appellate record back to 1977.
- We try cases: more than a dozen jury trials and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- Trial-bar members: both attorneys belong to AAJ and MTLA; Caitlin Boland Aarab is an AAJ Governor and serves on the MTLA Board.
We also handle brain injury cases in Butte and spinal cord injury cases in Butte. See our Butte personal injury page.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue Discovery or another ski area near Butte for an injury? Yes, if the injury came from the operator’s failure to use reasonable care, such as a lift malfunction or an unmarked hazard it created, rather than from an inherent risk of skiing.
A snowboarder crashed into me at Discovery. Can I recover? Possibly. Every skier and snowboarder must control speed and course to avoid injuring others, and the other rider’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance may cover the claim.
Where would a case from Discovery or Maverick Mountain be filed? Generally where the injury happened, in the Third or Fifth Judicial District, or where a defendant lives, which may be Silver Bow County.
Does my season pass waiver mean I cannot sue? Not necessarily. Montana’s general recreation release statute does not apply to skiing, and the enforceability of ski releases is unsettled.
How long do I have after a ski injury? Generally 3 years. Conditions on the hill change overnight, so gather names and photographs right away.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
