If you’re planning to hit the slopes in Utah this winter, be prepared for some delays.
The Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association has been on strike since December 27 against Vail Resorts, parent company of Park City Mountain, The New York Times has reported. The union represents just over 200 ski patrollers and mountain safety workers at the largest ski resort in the U.S. Among other issues, the strike has caused lengthy lift lines and limited terrain, much to visitors’ chagrin.
The ski patrollers are seeking a $2 raise in their hourly base salary, increasing wages from $21 to $23. The organization proposed wage increases last September but failed to reach an agreement with the resort company, leading to a work stoppage during the busy holiday ski season, according to the Times.
As of today, 2,277 out of 7,300 skiable acres on Park City’s slopes are open for business, according to a statement from Vail Resorts, with closures due to the lack of patrollers who perform tasks such as opening trails, responding to accidents, and preventing avalanches. Only 30 to 35 workers, many of whom have been brought in from other Vail slopes, are now on the mountain, compared to the more than 100 that usually operate in the area, the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association said.
Over the past four seasons, Vail Resorts—which has 42 ski resorts and areas under its umbrella across North America, Australia, and Europe—has increased patrollers’ wages by more than 50 percent, the hotel company said.
“We are proud of the significant investments we have made into all of our employees, including patrol, which have far outpaced inflation,” Vail Resorts Mountain Division president Bill Rock said in a statement last Friday. “We deeply regret that this is having any level of impact on the guest experience and are grateful to our thousands of employees who are working hard every day to enable the experience at Park City Mountain and open the terrain that we can safely open.”
As for the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association, the union says the local community has largely supportive of the campaign for a wage increase.
“We have had members of the community stopping by our picket line every day letting us know they support us, dropping off food, and donating to our strike fund,” Margaux Klingensmith, a six-year Park City patroller and business manager for the organization, told The New York Times.
Until the strike resolves, though, expect some slowdown on the Utah trails this ski season.