Park City, Utah – A strike by ski patrollers at the largest ski resort in the US has brought long lift lines, limited terrain, and frustration among skiers and snowboarders. The Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association, representing 204 ski patrollers and mountain safety personnel, went on strike on Dec. 27 demanding a $2 increase in their hourly base wage.
The strike is expected to have downstream impacts on the resort’s operations, with only around one fourth of Park City’s trails currently open due to a lack of patrollers. The union said that just 30-35 patrollers are on the mountain, many of them supervisors or temporary workers brought in from other Vail ski areas.
The strike has been met with support from the community, with an outpouring of online and in-person donations on GoFundMe totaling over $200,000. However, this does little to ease the frustration among skiers who are facing long wait times and limited terrain options.
“We deeply regret that this is having any level of impact on the guest experience,” said Bill Rock, president of Vail Resorts Mountain Division. “We are proud of the significant investments we have made into all of our employees, including patrol.”
Vail Resorts and the Park City patrol union are negotiating almost daily with a federal mediator, but the union says that Vail is still far from addressing most of their members’ concerns. The strike is expected to continue until an agreement is reached.
Park City Mountain, which attracts thousands of skiers and snowboarders during peak season, has seen its operations severely impacted by the strike. Skiers are sharing scenes of long lift lines on social media, with one vacationer calling it “abysmal”.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/travel/park-city-strike-ski-patrol.html