Safehold’s departure will leave the state’s ski areas with only one insurance provider.
A major insurance provider for ski areas announced last week it will leave the state, a move expected to further strain Oregon’s recreation industry.
Safehold Special Risk says operating in Oregon has become too expensive with the state representing outsize losses among the 37 U.S. ski states.
Payouts related to Oregon ski resorts accounted for around half the company’s payouts between $1 million and $10 million, business representatives have told Oregon lawmakers.
A company senior vice president informed the director of Mt. Hood Meadows of the decision in a May letter.
“After a great deal of deliberation and analysis, Safehold representing the Arch Insurance Company has made the decision to discontinue providing ski resort insurance in the state of Oregon,” wrote William Curtis, who oversees Safehold’s ski resort and recreation program. “Our historical results from Oregon since 2015 have had a profoundly negative impact on our program’s need to meet fundamental financial models required to underwrite general liability insurance for ski resorts.”
A spokesperson for Mt. Hood Meadows told The Oregonian the ski area will “in short order” have no general liability insurance and will thus be unable to operate.
Since a 2014 ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court, plaintiffs have had an easier time suing ski resorts for negligence. That decision weakened the power of liability waivers, which has increased legal risk for ski resorts and their insurers.
In the years since, lawsuits against ski resorts have increased, according to the group Protect Oregon Recreation. One notable case from 2022 saw a court award a mountain biker injured at Mt. Hood Skibowl an $11.4 million judgment. A representative of the Denver-based National Association of Ski Areas recently told lawmakers Oregon has arguably the worst legal climate of the ski states
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Ski resorts are required by their permits with the Forest Service to have insurance. At Mt. Ashland Ski Area, insurance costs have increased 129% over the past 12 years, according to Mt. Ashland general manager Andrew Gast, who testified to Oregon lawmakers this legislative session. And Safehold’s decision could mean that Oregon ski resorts must pay even more for insurance coverage.
This session the Oregon legislature heard Senate Bill 1196, which would have added teeth to liability waivers in Oregon — for ski areas as well as other recreation providers. The bill had support from Protect Oregon Recreation, a coalition of outdoor recreation providers including the state’s largest ski areas, as well as an assortment of gyms, athletic clubs, snowmobile outfitters, race organizers, river rafting companies, fishing guides, bike rental businesses, dressage societies, a birding club in Prineville and the Oregon Country Fair.
A similar bill died in the House of Representatives in February. SB 1996 made more progress — passing out of the Senate Finance Committee in mid-June — but never went up for a vote.
Safehold will leave Oregon in October, reported Insurance Business magazine. Its departure will leave Mt. Hood Meadows, Timberline Lodge and Cooper Spur Mountain Resort, as well as the Wallowa Lake Tramway, without general liability insurance.
After Safehold’s departure, the last remaining insurer to Oregon’s ski industry is MountainGuard. Tim Hendrickson, a MountainGuard senior vice president, told lawmakers this session there’s no guarantee the company will remain in Oregon.
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