Vail, Park City ski union reach tentative deal to end strike

BROOMFIELD — Negotiators with Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association union say they have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract, potentially ending a strike that has caused an avalanche of frustration from skiers during one of the Utah resort’s busiest times of the season. 

A vote on the new contract, terms of which have not been released, is expected Wednesday.

“Park City Mountain and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA) are pleased to announce that they have reached a new tentative agreement through April 2027. The Union’s bargaining committee is unanimously endorsing ratification by its unit with a vote scheduled to take place on Jan. 8,” a joint news release said. “The tentative agreement addresses both parties’ interests and will end the current strike. Everyone looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team. Until contract ratification, neither party will be accepting media requests.” 

The union ski patrollers have been on strike since late last month in hopes of winning a base wage raise from $21 to $23 per hour.

The work stoppage by union members resulted in hours-long waits for ski lifts at the Utah resort, according to social media users. Park City Mountain’s online lift and terrain status tracker showed that as of Wednesday morning, 26 of 41 lifts were operating and 107 out of 350 trails were open. 

“I know the experience at the mountain over the peak holiday period was frustrating for our skiers and riders,” Park City Mountain chief operating officer Deirdra Walsh wrote Monday in a letter to resort guests and the public. “On behalf of the resort, I want to apologize to everyone that we haven’t been able to open the terrain we had hoped for by now, and that the line wait times were longer than usual during the peak holiday, because of the ski patrol union strike. This was not the holiday skiing and riding experience anyone wanted, and we know that.”  

The work stoppage left some Park City visitors angry and frustrated with both the striking patrollers and Vail Resorts. A chant of “Pay your employees!” broke out over the weekend among a throng of skiers waiting for a lift, according to a ski publication Powder Magazine.

“Since day 1, we have been ready to get back to work as soon as Vail Resorts offers a fair contract,” the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association said on social media. But while the strike continues, Vail Resorts “continues to impose their anti-worker strategy by flying in scabs rather than coming to the table with a reasonable offer.”

Some of the replacement workers sent to Utah to cross the picket line at Park City Mountain were workers at Vail’s Colorado resorts, according to multiple media reports. 

The Park City debacle has had ramifications on Wall Street. While Vail’s stock price was up slightly on the day as of Wednesday morning, it was still down more than 4.5% since the start of 2025. Vail’s stock price has shaved off nearly 29% of its value over the past five years. 

The Park City strikes are occurring just months after Vail Resorts told investors and regulators that it will be laying off 14% of its corporate workforce and about 1% of its operations staff as part of a two-year “transformation plan” aimed at reversing downward revenue and earnings trends. 

In addition to layoffs, Vail, which has grown from 10 resorts to 42 and doubled its workforce over the last decade, said in fall 2024 that its transformation plan includes “leveraging … best practices and introducing new tools to scale the way operations are supported across the company,” consolidating and outsourcing internal business services and call centers, and using technology to improve workforce efficiency.

Vail hopes to achieve $100 million in annualized savings by the end of fiscal 2026.

The Utah patrollers are attempting to flex their labor-organization muscle while a unionization wave is gaining steam at Colorado’s ski resorts. 

Ski patrollers at Eldora Mountain in Boulder County voted last year to form a union, joining their unionized peers at Colorado ski areas including Loveland, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Telluride. Patrollers at Arapahoe Basin are expected to hold a unionization vote this week, according to the Denver Post. 

This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2024 BizWest Media LLC.

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