After months of negotiations on a pay raise failed to come to an agreement, Park City ski patrol went on strike next month. The snow mountain, which is owned by Vail Resorts, is now experiencing problems as a result of the walkout, which was already suffering from a lack of rain.
The starting hourly base pay for Park City ski patrol is$ 21 and the membership is looking for a raise to$ 23 an hour—for context, a one-day lift ticket costs$ 328 and a hamburger$ 25 at the resort. As the attack broke out on December 27 and involved more than 200 patrollers, forming a picket line next week.
The attack caused significant disruption during the season’s busiest hour of the year at ski resorts because only 50 of the 350 trails at the hill were available during the holiday week. After almost three feet of snow in the past year, the location has since doubled the number of tracks that are still available.

The share price of publicly traded Vail Resorts fell 6.6 % on Thursday.
” We are proud of the major opportunities we have made into all of our employees, including police, which have far outpaced prices”, Bill Rock, chairman of Vail Resorts ‘ mountain department, said in a speech. The company claims that police pay has increased by more than 50 % over the past four years and that 3, 000 applicants for 300 open guard positions for the 2024-25 time can serve as a gauge of job desirability.
The Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association stated in a speech to Powder magazine that they “refuse to have the business reject every single one of our ideas while continuing to use our work to generate income over the vacation season.”
Vail Reports operates 42 mountain peaks, including Vail, Breckenridge, Park City, Whistler Blackcomb and Stowe. In 2008, it launched the Epic Pass, which allowed users to get all Vail hotels. The move, which cost$ 982 for the 2024-25 time, helped maintain Vail’s profit by accelerating profits before the snow time start and making it less reliant on climate conditions. As skiers snagged up the passes, which frequently cost less than a local pass had cost at many of the mountains Vail purchased, revenue initially decreased, but it tripled over the next ten years.
Yet, revenue has flatlined recently, and the stock is off 52 % from its late 2021 highs, reached weeks after Rob Katz stepped down as CEO after 15 years. Over the past three years, the business has encountered a number of problems. A worker shortage during the 2021-22 season caused delays to mountain operations as well as food and retail operations. Washington-based Stevens Pass experienced some of the biggest challenges. Vail’s struggles gave birth to the “epicliftlines” Instagram account, which quickly attracted 50, 000 followers.

Before the 2021-22 season, Vail announced an increase of its minimum wage to$ 15 per hour at many locations and then plans to bump to$ 20 for the 2022-23 season. ” We are looking at making our resort talent our strategic priority, and being a leader in comp, hiring, investing in their development and career opportunities”, Kirsten Lynch, Vail Resorts CEO, said during the company’s March 2022 earnings call.
Warm weather caused Vail to cut its revenue and earnings targets last season. Snowfall at the company’s western resorts was 28 % lower than the prior year, according to Lynch.
We regret deeply that this is having any kind of impact on the guest experience, and we are grateful to our thousands of employees who work hard every day to make Park City Mountain accessible to visitors and make the terrain safe to use,” Rock said.
The patrol union and Park City Mountain’s management team have media plans for Monday and Tuesday.