Managers from Vail Mountain have been sent to Park City to keep operations running there as ski patrollers from the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association began striking Friday morning, calling for better wages and working conditions. Both Park City ski area and Vail Mountain are owned by Vail Resorts.
Vail Mountain’s ski patrol director and senior manager of health and safety are among those who have been sent, according to a person familiar with the situation who agreed to speak off the record.
Vail and Beaver Creek spokesperson John Plack said while he can’t comment on specific employee locations or assignments, he can confirm that a patrol support team has been deployed “to help support operational continuity.”
That team “consists of experienced patrollers from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts,” Plack said.
While Plack described the strike as a “drastic action,” the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association, in a statement issued Friday, said it did everything in its power to avoid the work stoppage.
“Our goal has been and continues to be to secure a fair contract,” the union said in a statement published Friday.
The union is asking for ski patrol members to start at $23 an hour rather than $21, saying the $21 starting wage is not enough to make a living in Park City.
Workers have pointed to the seven-figure salaries of Vail’s top brass to showcase the gap between those on the ground and those in the executive suites, with CEO Kirsten Lynch receiving a total compensation package of $6,288,586 for fiscal year 2024, Executive Chairperson Rob Katz earning a compensation package of $2,202,070 and Executive Vice President Angela Korch earning a compensation package of $2,183,196.
Workers in Park City have described the practice of sending in out-of-town managers as dangerous, saying those employees “do not know the resort, and do not know our protocols.”
A worker in Vail expressed concern over losing the ski patrol director during the busiest time of the season, something the Park City Ski Patrollers Union also agreed is concerning.
“This move from the company will make the guest we care about here in Park City unsafe, and make all guests unsafe at the resorts where these employees are being pulled from,” the union said in a post published Dec. 24.
Plack said Vail Resorts remains committed to safety.
“As always, safety is our top priority,” he said.
The union has asked skiers and snowboarders in all states where Vail Resorts operates to halt spending at company-owned properties for the duration of this strike.