The Park City Ski Patrol, as part of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA), went on strike on Friday morning, with 204 mountain safety personnel and ski patrollers not signing in for work and going on strike. The mountain remained open on Friday as Vail Resorts leveraged “experienced patrol leaders from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts” to maintain safety on the mountain, Park City Mountain Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh said in a statement.

The unfair labor practices strike comes after ski patrollers and Vail Resorts met with a mediator on Thursday night, the statement confirmed.

Park City Ski Patrol last negotiated a contract with Vail Resorts in 2022. That negotiation took 18 months, and an agreement was reached after the union passed a strike authorization vote, according to an Instagram post by the group. But the group did not ultimately strike in 2022.

That contract expired in April 2024. Since then, Vail Resorts and the Park City Ski Patrol have worked toward a new contract. Negotiations stalled on Thursday. According to Cole Valentino, a ski patroller and one of the negotiators for the bargaining unit, the patrollers went on strike for two reasons.

First, they claim Vail Resorts is negotiating in bad faith, and second, to improve compensation for the employees.

Valentino noted that the negotiations have been ongoing for nearly 10 months. After the union proposed a compensation package in September, it took Vail Resorts 55 days to respond. Finally, he said that Vail did not bring a counter-proposal on its wages article mediation on Thursday, which spurred the strike.

“We are deeply disappointed the patrol union has walked out of mediation and chosen drastic action that attempts to disrupt mountain operations in the middle of the holiday season, given we invested significantly in patrol with their wages increasing more than 50% over the past four seasons, and we have reached agreements on 24 of the 27 current contract terms,” Walsh said.  

Park City Ski Patrol: What They Want

Park City Ski Patrol calls for three changes, according to a post on its official Instagram page: securing a living wage (increasing base wages from $21 to $23 per hour, including an annual cost of living adjustment, wage parity, and incentivized certification), combatting wage compression with “fair” compensation for experienced and skilled senior patrollers, and improved benefits for healthcare, PTO, holiday pay, and parental leave.

Vail Resorts noted that, in addition to the over 50% increase in wages over the past four seasons, the current Park City Mountain patrol proposal increases wages another 4% for the majority of patrollers and provides $1,600 per patroller for equipment.

While the two sides have been in negotiation for months, the strike has been brewing. The patrollers voted to authorize the strike on Dec. 13 before striking today.

The Park City Ski Patrol Union noted that Vail Resorts was sending employees from other resorts to cross the picket line on a Dec. 21 Instagram post. The Union claimed that these employees “do not know this resort, have little or no medial nor life evacuation training,” and do not know Park City protocols.

Vail Resorts reassured skiers that operations would continue safely at the mountain.

“We want to reassure skiers and snowboarders, our employees, and this community that despite the union’s actions, Park City Mountain will remain open with safety as our top priority, and all planned terrain will be open thanks to experienced patrol leaders from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts,” Walsh said.

Walsh continued that Vail Resorts was surprised by the union’s actions and had planned for a full day of mediation.

“Unfortunately, that will not go forward as planned, as our negotiating team must now shift focus today to operational continuity. We remain committed to reaching an agreement,” she said.

The Ski Patrol Union said it is currently on an indefinite strike, but also said it would like to secure a fair contract as quickly as possible.

“We are open and available to meet with the company at any time and hope they also choose to do so,” Valentino said. “We want to go back to the profession that we love.”