An adaptive skier who fell off a chairlift March 17, 2023, at Winter Park Resort has had medical expenses totaling more than $1 million since the incident, according to lawyers representing the man.

On Jan. 2, the law firm Bloch & Chapleau, Cates, Ongert filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against the resort demanding a trial by jury.

In an interview with Sky-Hi News, attorneys Trent Ongert and Joseph Bloch stated that their client Arturo Burgueno was an accomplished adaptive athlete at the time of his fall. Ongert added that Burgueno is a former participant at the National Sports Center for the Disabled, where he sit-skied with instructors at Winter Park Resort in 2021.

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As the home for the National Sports Center for the Disabled, many adaptive skiers and snowboarders ride the lifts at Winter Park each day.

“That’s why he was there at that particular mountain, because he’d taken good lessons with them,” Ongert said.

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After Burgueno completed his program with the sports center, he continued to visit Winter Park for a couple of years. Since he was familiar with the resort, he skied without instructors. At the time of his fall in 2023, he had been skiing with his son and daughter, Ongert said.

Burgueno was knocked unconscious from the fall, sustaining a traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones, according to his lawyers. He was flown to Denver Health, where he stayed for almost three weeks, they said. After his discharge, he continued his rehabilitation in San Antonio, Texas.

Details of the fall

According to Burgueno’s attorneys, he fell off the Explorer Express lift shortly after it passed the first tower. They cited two reasons for the fall — where he was loaded and the number of people on the chair — both of which they said were due to the lift operator.

The attorneys allege that the lift operator stopped the lift to load Burgueno at the bull wheel, about 20 feet back from the “load here” line, which is “not allowed,” Bloch said. When Burgueno was loaded at the bull wheel, his chair swung around in a low-clearance area, causing him to be dragged sideways, according to the attorneys.

“Sit-skiers that are very advanced, they like to go up by themselves,” Bloch said about the number of people on the chair. “Usually, if they’re not as advanced, they want assistance, but they’ll have just one other person in the four-person chair.”

The attorneys said the Explorer Express lift operator fully loaded the four-person chairlift with Burgueno, his son and two others.

“He wasn’t expecting that as he came up to the line. So that created a different situation for him than he was used to,” Ongert said.

Once in the air, no one riding the chair put the bar down, according to Bloch, who added that some sit-skiers don’t like to use the chairlift safety bar because of how their equipment is designed. Instead of using the bar, some adaptive skiers will put their arm around the back of the chair.

“But if there’s people there, you can’t put your arm around the chair to secure yourself and make sure you’re pushed back all the way,” Bloch said, adding that Burgueno also didn’t have an opportunity to load himself at the proper angle with the other people on the lift.

Winter Park ski patrol responded when Burgueno fell and an incident report was submitted to the Colorado Passenger Safety Tramway Board. According to the report, the accident was caused by “skier error,” something his lawyers refute.

A jury trial is not expected until 2026. The defendants include Winter Park Resort, its parent company Alterra Mountain Co., the lift operator and Intrawest/Winter Park Operations Corp., which operates the resort.

A spokesperson for Winter Park Resort previously declined to comment on the litigation.