Some are supportive of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association, while others are frustrated. The union representing some 200 patrollers and safety workers is on strike amid contract renegotiations with Vail Resorts.
But many mountaingoers, especially visitors from outside Utah, told KPCW they hardly noticed anything was different Friday.
“We didn't hear about it until we just came inside at the bus stop,” Jamie Bunting of South Carolina told KPCW. He and his brother Daniel skied all day before they saw picketers.
The Buntings also said they didn’t hear skiers talking about the strike on lifts Friday. Scott Smith from Atlanta had the same experience.
Bennett Abrams from Baltimore had heard about the strike, and expressed support for the union, saying "pay them what they're worth."
“Not that much is open. I don't know if that's up to snow conditions or ski patrol, but eventually it's not going to work without ski patrol,” he said Dec. 27.
The morning of the strike the resort posted on X, “We are anticipating delays on lifts this morning to complete avalanche mitigation.” Park City Mountain reported 3 inches overnight and another 9 inches during the day, as avalanche danger across the Wasatch Mountains increased.
Jay, who owns a second home in the Park City area and declined to share his last name, told KPCW striking patrollers are “extremely selfish.” He claimed he experienced long lines at the Red Pine Gondola and met visitors adversely affected by the strike.
“I rode up with a couple from New Zealand. They paid 300 bucks a day for their pass, and they were like, ‘We're just gonna go back to our room and just hang out, or go down to the city and go shopping,’” Jay said.
He called it “poor planning” on the union’s part. The strike comes two days after Christmas, and the Park City government identifies the 11 days directly following the holiday as some of its busiest all year.
But Christy Bordy, who lives in Heber, thinks the union isn’t “asking for that much.”
“I've had ski patrol help me before, or helped my husband before,” the Wasatch Back resident of 25 years said, “and they're always just so great. I think they're a necessary part of the mountain.”
The resort and union reached a tentative agreement on 24 of 27 contract terms earlier this month, but continue to negotiate over wages.
The union wants patrollers’ base wages raised from $21 to $23 per hour across all Vail resorts to adjust for nationwide inflation.
According to Park City Mountain, patrol wages have increased more than 50% over the past four seasons, outpacing inflation.
Park City Mountain has stayed open, COO Dierdre Walsh said, thanks to other patrollers on staff and patrollers drawn from other Vail Resorts. She called the strike “drastic action.”
The union says it’s forced to strike over delays in negotiations. It has filed unfair labor practice complaints against Vail with the National Labor Relations Board over delays.
The parties’ previous contract expired in April.
Vail has posted full-time, part-time and temporary patrol and mountain safety jobs online, dated Dec. 27, the same day the strike began.
It’s unclear how long the strike will last. The union has been raising money online to pay striking patrollers while they’re out of work.
KPCW's Parker Malatesta contributed reporting.
