Park City Mountain’s ski patrol on strike

During the pandemic, our main local ski resort, Park City Mountain, owned by Vail Resorts, couldn’t find workers to staff their lifts, restaurant and the rest, and, as a result, couldn’t open all of their lifts and facilities. The following season they increased their base rate hourly pay from $15 to $20 per hour. 

When that happened, many skilled workers (like Ski Patrol members) or middle management positions got nothing or no significant raise if they were already above the $20 threshold. Today, the unionized Ski Patrol workers, in an effort to keep up with the high cost of living in Park City and the rate of inflation from two years ago, are now asking for a base rate increase from $21 to $23 an hour." 

In November the union held demonstrations threatening a full strike if their demands weren't met and a few days ago they put their threats to execution by going on strike. On the second day of the strike, Park City Mountain’s Lift and Terrain Status page reported that 17% of the mountain was open to guests, with 60 out of 350 trails and 25 out of 41 lifts operational.

Meanwhile, neighboring Deer Valley Resort, owned by Alterra, reported 50% of its terrain open, with 61 out of 123 runs and 19 out of 24 lifts available. Park City Mountain has received a little over one foot of snow in the last 48 hours, as Utah experienced a low snow cover this season, with Park City’s snow-pack reaching a 30-year record low a week or so ago. 

So here we are, we’ve paid for our seasons passe in September and are being penalized by a mega-resort that doesn’t recognize that a Ski Patrol should get significantly more per hour than an entry-level “lifty” and that they owe us the service and amenities we paid in advance for. 

At time of writing, Vail Resorts has only offered a 3% increase or about $0.65! This said, they had to fly and lodge replacement Ski Patrol staff from their other resorts, which cost them a bundle in reality! 

Another great management failure from Vail Resorts that disrespect its key employees as well as its customers who should be given the value they paid for, and does all the wrong moves that might lead it to fail down the road...