SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Jan. 8, 2025—Vail Resorts and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA) have reached a tentative contract agreement following a mediated negotiating session on Jan. 7, ending the ski patrollers’ 12-day strike. The union unit will vote to ratify the agreement today.

Park City Mountain owner Vail Resorts and the PCPSPA board released a joint statement that said, in part, “The Union’s bargaining committee is unanimously endorsing ratification by its unit with a vote scheduled to take place on January 8th. The tentative agreement addresses both parties’ interests and will end the current strike. Everyone looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team.”

The new contract, if ratified, will be valid through April 2027. Details of the contract have not been shared, and neither party is accepting media requests until the contract has been ratified. 

Park City patrollers said they were bargaining for a $2/hour increase to their $21/hour starting wage for new patrollers and for a decompression of the pay scale to better compensate highly trained and tenured employees. (Vail Resorts upped its starting wage enterprise-wide ahead of the 2022-23 season to $20/hour, and $21/hour for certain specialized positions, including patrol.)

Vail Resorts contended that the union had been asking for an average $7/hour wage increase per patroller, excluding benefits and other compensation demands.

The tentative contract agreement comes in the wake of months of tense negotiations that led Park City patrollers to strike on Dec. 27, throwing Park City Mountain operations into disarray over the holiday period.

The disruption was the subject of national and international media coverage as well as heated social media debate, with many consumers voicing complaints about lift lines and limited terrain at the resort.

A Jan. 6 letter from Park City Mountain COO Deirdra Walsh acknowledged the situation. “I know the experience at the mountain over the peak holiday period was frustrating for our skiers and riders,” she wrote. “On behalf of the resort, I want to apologize to everyone that we haven't been able to open the terrain we had hoped for by now, and that the line wait times were longer than usual during the peak holiday, because of the ski patrol union strike.”

A Jan. 7 statement from Bill Rock, president of the Vail Resorts mountain division, pushed back against some of the safety and operations concerns that have shaped the discourse around the work stoppage. 

“We remain committed to safely operating Park City Mountain for our guests and employees, and this week lift lines have been under 10 minutes on average,” said Rock. “Since the strike began, we have been able to open more than 50 additional trails and have nearly 2,300 acres of skiable terrain available for our guests thanks to our incredibly hard-working and dedicated team.” 

On Jan. 7, Park City Mayor Nann Worrel released a statement regarding the strike, in which she recognized the “significant livability challenges” resort communities face, and urged Vail Resorts to resolve the labor dispute. 

“After yet another weekend of confusion and disruption due to the unresolved labor dispute at Park City Mountain, the City Council and I urgently call on Vail Resorts to take immediate action to conclude negotiations and end the uncertainty,” said Worrel.

“As we stand by ready to assist in any way necessary to help bring this matter to a resolution, we humbly ask everyone for civility and respectful behavior toward each other during this challenging time,” she continued. 

This sentiment was echoed in Walsh’s Jan. 6 letter, which concluded with a call to “please be kind to the people who are working so hard to keep the mountain open. The harassment that our employees have been subjected to over the past two weeks is not in the spirit of our community’s values.”

With the strike now resolved, the resort will presumably turn its attention toward opening terrain, easing the congestion and frustration guests experienced over the holiday period, while the patrollers brought in from other Vail Resorts properties to serve as temporary replacements during the strike will presumably be released to their home resorts.