Park City Mountain ski patrol reached a tentative agreement to end their strike at the Vail Resorts-owned Utah ski destination and are scheduled to vote on the deal Wednesday. The nearly two-week work stoppage had created massive disruptions at one of the largest ski resorts in North America.
“The tentative agreement addresses both parties’ interests and will end the current strike,” Park City Mountain and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association said in a joint statement. “Everyone looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team.”
The union’s bargaining committee unanimously endorsed ratification by its members. Terms have not been released.
The union has said it wanted to boost starting pay for ski patrol to $23/hour, up from $21/hour. Park City argued that patrollers’ demands averaged more than $7/hour, meaning the strike was about more than just a wage increase. Experienced patrollers earn 35% more than entry-level patrol, and overall wages are up more than 50% over the past four years, according to Park City Mountain.
The labor agreement that governed more than 200 ski patrol and mountain safety staff expired in April, and the employees went on strike on Dec. 27 after one mediation session. The worker shortage due to the strike, along with light early season snowfall, meant that only 50 of 350 trails were open between Christmas and New Year’s—the busiest week of the ski season. The mountain has since received nearly three feet of snow that allowed trail openings to double, but skiers remained frustrated by long lines and lack of open terrain due to the worker shortage, creating a PR nightmare for the company. Injured skiers laying in the in the middle of trails for long periods of time at the high-end resort has been a bad look.
“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,” Bill Rock, Vail Resorts’ mountain division president, said in a statement released last Friday.
Vail Resorts operates 42 ski mountains, including Vail, Breckenridge, Park City, Whistler Blackcomb and Stowe. The publicly traded company has faced numerous issues over the last three years. A worker shortage during the 2021-22 season led to disruptions with mountain operations and with food and retail businesses. Last season was marred by warm weather that forced Vail to cut revenue and earnings targets. Snowfall at the company’s western resorts was 28% lower than the prior year, according to Vail CEO Kirsten Lynch.
Vail’s stock peaked at $373 in November 2021. It closed Tuesday at $177.
