January 17, 2025

Although we call it the Ski Industry, we don’t typically think of it that way – as a business. We think of blue skies with powder underfoot shared with friends. We think of road trips to explore new mountains. We take risks in skiing that make us feel vibrant and allow us to forget the “real” world. But reality interfered recently to remind us that skiing is indeed, at its core, a business. During the busiest time in the ski season, the patrol and safety teams at Park City Resort walked out on strike and created absolute chaos at one of the largest resorts in North America.

As you might suspect, we usually side with the little guy. We typically root for the David, not for the Goliath. Let’s start with the undisputable Goliath in this story – Vail Resorts, who owns Park City. The numbers alone are staggering – Vail owns 42 ski areas in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Among the 42 are Park City, Whistler/Blackcomb, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Kirkwood.  It is a publicly owned company with a net worth close to $7 billion; and sold 2.3 million Epic Passes (its multi-resort pass) in 2024. By any measure the company has been successful. The company went public in 1997 at $22/share and its current stock price is $182/share. It is clearly the world-wide dominant player in the ski industry. Period, the end.

As for the David in this story…the 204 patrollers and safety personnel at Park City who went on strike on December 27th.  It should be noted that they had previously unionized, joining the United Mountain Workers Union which has over 1,000 members. Negotiations between the parties began in March 2024 over the typical issues – increased wages and better benefits, including parental leave, holiday pay and healthcare.

After months of failed negotiations,  the patrollers decided they had had enough and took the drastic step of striking in late December. Last time we checked, this happens to be quite a busy time in the industry. What skier doesn’t want to take a few turns around Christmas and New Year’s even though many times it is too early in the season for conditions to be great? Indeed, by Christmas week Utah was very low on snow. And the geniuses at Vail decided that gave them the perfect excuse for why very little terrain was open and the reason for hour-plus lift lines. They publicly apologized for only 20% of their terrain being open, but blamed snow conditions. They conveniently did not initially acknowledge they had no patrollers to cart away the mangled folks who had run into each other on the packed trails.

That approach by Vail was brilliant. For the first few hours. Then some brainiacs noticed that Deer Valley, which is immediately adjacent to Park City, had 70% of its terrain open. We all know that snowfall can vary greatly in the mountains. But given the close proximity of the two resorts, it was clear to the skiers at Park City that something was amiss, and that perhaps, just perhaps, Vail Resorts wasn’t being truthful. At this point (about 3-4 days into the strike) Vail decided perhaps the truth shall set them free and they changed tactics. They acknowledged that the patrol strike may indeed be hampering their ability to run normal operations and took to social media to bash the patrollers and the union.

And it was in this social media battle where David slayed Goliath. While the patrollers were seeking way more than a $2.00/hour raise, the fight over the raise is what the union focused the public on. Again and again the patrollers highlighted that all they wanted was a measly little raise in their hourly rates from $21 to $23 an hour for starting patrollers. The screams from skiers worldwide were loud. Vail Resorts was balking at minor hourly raises that would cost the public company that is worth billions only around $900,000 and, oh yes, keep people safe on the hill.

Vail clearly believes in the Trump school of marketing that any publicity, even bad publicity, is worthy, since the PR hit was very evident. Their stock price tumbled resulting in a loss of $400 million in enterprise value during the strike. NBC News featured this subtitle in a featured story – “The resort agreed to increase union members’ wages by $2 an hour, ending a work stoppage that had led to long lines and weary visitors.” The New York Times published three articles on the strike, highlighting the long lines and including personal stories from frustrated skiers. The Go Fund Me site set up by the union for the patrollers raised over $300,000.

The nearly two week strike ended on January 8th after a settlement was reached. Amazingly, shortly thereafter Park City announced the opening of vastly expanded terrain. But alas, this isn’t the end of the story. Several skiers who paid thousands of dollars for their family vacations in Park City over the holidays have filed a class action lawsuit against the area and Vail Resorts. All it takes is one quick look at the pictures of the long lift lines that Park City had during the strike to know that the eligible plaintiff class in this lawsuit could be quite large.

In many ways the Park City strike took on the traditional form of an American labor dispute with a union pitted against management. But the more nuanced undertones that have been bubbling up in the ski industry for years are present in this dispute. This is the behemoth conglomerate publicly held company verses the little guys; the Vails and Alterras (the Aspen controlled company which owns 17 ski resorts and dominates the British Columbia heli skiing world) verses the community owned ski areas like Mad River Glen in Vermont and Bridger Bowl in Montana. This is the 8 pack heated covered chairs dumping millions on the slopes at once verses the slow, unique double chairs (Wildcat Lift at Alta anyone?). This is private skiing for the rich verses how the hell do we make this wonderful sport available and affordable for all. This is leave my damn natural winding trails alone verses turning them into straight boring boulevards and carpet bombing them with fake snow.

Ok, perhaps we are getting carried away here, but you get the picture – where the hell is our sport headed and how do we preserve the uniqueness and beauty in it? Don’t most of us still want those quiet, magical moments among only snow covered trees and a few best friends before plunging downward into the unknown? Don’t we venture to the mountains in part to forget that large conglomerates are really controlling our lives?

Even the mega media have latched onto the issues. The Atlantic published an article entitled “How the Ski Business Got Too Big for Its Boots” and the Business Insider featured this article: “How Vail Resorts Became the Most Powerful- and Most Resented – Name in Skiing.” Both articles prominently featured the strike.

So…here’s one answer. Support the independent ski areas that still feel authentic and really allow you to “get away from it all.” In recent years we have trekked numerous times to British Columbia to ski places like Revelstoke, Red Mountain, Whitewater, Fernie, Sun Peaks and Kicking Horse. We have road tripped through Montana to ski Lost Trail Powder Mountain, Montana Snowbowl, Discovery Basin and Bridger Bowl. And even in Colorado, the home of the mega resorts, we have sampled Purgatory and Silverton. In February we will hit the road to check out Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana and Silver Mountain Resort in Idaho.

Yeah, it means you may have to take several planes to get there or drive for hours. But the rewards are many. You won’t be crammed onto an 8 pack with folks who won’t shut up. You will ski incredible steeps at Discovery Basin and you will ski unsurpassed glades at Whitewater. The road beckons; don’t forget it is there!

Be Well; Ski Well.

conSKIerge co-founder

Kevin Dennis is a life long ski bum with a 34 year legal career on the side. Now retired, he skis 80+ days a year. While he lives in Alta UT in the winters, he has traveled extensively through skiing and has skied almost every major resort in North America (and many you have never heard of). He continues to hit the road often throughout the western United States and Canada and trips over the last several years have included ventures in British Columbia, Montana and Colorado. Whether you want to know about the behemoths like Aspen or Squaw or are interested in the road less travelled (Lost Trail Powder Mountain in Montana or Whitewater in BC anyone?), Kevin has been there, has an opinion and you will most likely have to tell him to shut up after a half hour!