Ski patrollers at Arapaho Basin voted on Sunday, Jan. 12, to form a union, joining the organized labor movement sweeping the ski industry. This move follows Park City’s contentious ski patrol strike, which lasted two and a half weeks and caused “confusion and disruption” at one of the busiest times of the year. Park City patrollers reached an agreement with Vail Resorts after the Mayor pleaded with the company to end the strike.

In November, Arapaho Basin ski patrollers announced they would file for union representation. On Saturday, their vote passed 30-22 in favor of unionizing under the United Mountain Workers (UMW) — formally, United Professional Ski Patrols of America — a chapter of Communication Workers of America (CWA)

“We respect the decision made by Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrollers to have the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union represent them,” Arapaho Basin said in a statement when GearJunkie reached out. “Our focus remains on supporting our patrol team — and all of our employees — by providing competitive wages, good benefits, a safe working environment, and opportunities for professional growth.”

This is the third Alterra Mountain Company ski resort where ski patrol has opted to form a union, following Solitude and Steamboat Mountains. But it’s part of a much broader unionization movement across the U.S. Within Vail Resorts, Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte, and Park City have formed ski patrol unions in recent years, as have many individually owned mountains.

In total, 14 patrol units, as well as Park City and Crested Butte lift maintenance units, have joined UMW. Ryan Dineen, a ski patroller at Breckenridge and organizer for UMW, told GearJunkie that UMW is now far and away the largest group of ski resort unions in the country.

“We’re so proud to have [Arapaho Basin] in the United Mountain Workers,” Dineen told GearJunkie. “We’re so proud of them and so happy to invite them into our broader family of unionized ski patrols.”

Arapaho Basin Ski Patrol Union: ‘Democratizing’ the Workplace

Once the Arapaho Basin Ski Patrol’s vote has been certified by the National Labor Relations Board, Alterra and its Arapaho Basin patrollers will meet at the bargaining table to develop a contract. Certification could take a few days, but Dineen said he’s hopeful that the process will begin soon.

In voting to unionize, he said Arapaho Basin patrollers will be able to advocate for better pay and benefits at work, and are “beginning the process of bringing democracy into their working life.”

But they’ll also be protected and able to contribute to conversations around climate change, public land use by for-profit corporations, housing issues, and more. 

“[Patrollers] can come together in consensus and agree or disagree and figure out paths forward and then use that collective voice and position to change the fundamental relationship [they] have with their workplace,” Dineen said. “That’s something that unions do that’s so easily overlooked but pretty unique and amazing.”

Dineen is entering his third season working with CMW. When Breckenridge patrollers voted to unionize in 2021, he was heavily involved in the effort. The Breckenridge patrol voted in favor of unionizing, though by an extremely tight margin (43-42). Dineen said that subsequent years have been fast-paced and exciting for CMW.

“It’s felt like a tidal wave at times,” he said. “Other times, it’s felt like we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Not a New Movement — A New Phase

While this wave of patrol units unionizing across the country is currently swelling, it is not a new phenomenon. Aspen’s ski patrol was the first to unionize in 1965. Crested Butte’s patrol followed suit in the late ’70s, and then Breckenridge in the mid-’80s.

However, at Breckenridge, patrollers reneged in 2004, decertifying as a union, and remaining un-unionized until Dineen and other patrollers in his unit chose to certify again.

As evidenced by that saga, and by Arapaho Basin’s 42% “no” votes, the unionization movement is not unanimously supported by all ski patrollers. Now, under CMW, even those who voted against it will be in a position to vote on workplace decisions and participate in negotiations with Alterra Mountain Company.

“I think just it’s such an exciting time for ski patrollers in general and ski patrollers in Summit County, especially,” Dineen said of Arapaho Basin’s decision to join UMW.