This story was updated at 3:15 p.m., Jan. 1, 2025.
Members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA) and company officials met for contract negotiations Dec. 30 and 31.
According to a press release from the union published Wednesday, both Vail and ski patrollers exchanged offers, but “both sides remain far from a resolution.”
Union business manager Quinn Graves previously told KPCW there was “tentative agreement” on 24 of 27 items on the new contract. The two sides are aligned on education and training packages but haven’t agreed on wages or benefits.
“Given the major impacts our work stoppage has had on resort operations, we are surprised the company's counter proposal is still far from what we feel is acceptable,” union vice president and nine-year patroller Nik Smith said in the release.
Patrollers walked out on the job Dec. 27 and are picketing outside the resort’s two base areas.
The union represents about 200 Park City patrollers and mountain safety staff. According to the union, the walkout left the safety division with about 20 staff.
Vail officials have faced questions about a lack of terrain being open, inadequate safety response, and long lift lines during the recent holiday period.
In an internal email obtained by KPCW from multiple sources, Park City Mountain Vice President and COO Deirdra Walsh said Dec. 31 “there are impacts because of the union’s decision to strike.”
“We’ve seen that on the Canyons Village side this week, where we operated fewer lifts than planned,” Walsh wrote. She said thin snow coverage also contributed to “delays in operations and longer-than-usual lift lines.”
Vail has temporarily replaced the strikers. The union says 30 to 35 employees have come from other resorts around the country.
According to a letter the Park City union sent to Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch Dec. 31, that’s “created uncertainty and disruption” at resorts sending managers to Park City.
Co-signed by patrol unions at Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte, the letter says "many loyal patrons of Vail Resorts are beginning to question whether the company prioritizes its workforce and safety standards over short-term financial interests.”
Colorado residents and patrollers have also picketed in solidarity with Park City’s strikers.
Summit Daily reported a “concerned member of the ski community” organized a picket outside Vail’s Epic Mountain Gear store in Frisco, Colorado, the day the strike began.
Patrollers from Eldora and Loveland, neither of which Vail Resorts owns, announced they planned to picket outside the company’s Broomfield, Colorado, headquarters Monday through Thursday.
The union has raised over $100,000 for its strike relief fund from over 2,000 individual donations since patrollers walked out Friday. The union’s GoFundMe site lists a $250,000 fundraising goal.
PCPSPA has been negotiating with Vail since April, when its last contract expired. In December, the union filed four unfair labor practice charges against Vail with the National Labor Relations Board, partly over delays in negotiations.
Walsh with Park City Mountain has denied that the company violated federal labor laws.
“While we’ve seen progress in some areas of the contract and are happy the company and mediator were willing to meet the past two days, the company’s current wage and benefit proposals do not adequately address the needs of our members,” Seth Droomgoole, the union’s lead negotiator, said in the press release.
The two parties are scheduled to meet again with a mediator Thursday.
