Park City skiers said their resort vacation became a mess after a ski patrol strike shut down much of the mountain

05.01.2025 - 02:47 / insider.com

Skiers at Utah's Park City Mountain Resort say their vacations were spent waiting in painfully long lines and navigating overcrowded trails after hundreds of ski patrollers and mountain safety personnel walked off the job.

The work stoppage over wages at one of the nation's largest ski resorts came as more than two feet of snow blanketed Park City in the last week — normally, a skier's dream. But for Jim Lebenthal, the snow was mostly experienced from the back of a line.

"It started out bad, and it got worse," said Lebenthal, a partner at a wealth management firm.

Lebenthal, also a CNBC contributor, said that 75% of the mountain was closed on his family's first day of skiing on December 27. By December 30, he said 80% of the mountain was closed.

"The lift lines were interminable," Lebenthal said. "It got to the point where it was one run an hour, and a run takes probably seven minutes, and the rest of that is sitting in lift lines."

TF Jenkins, a managing director at a Florida-based wealth management firm, said the closures resulted in limited options.

"There wasn't a ton of terrain open, and we were just doing the same thing over and over again," Jenkins said.

A bad day of skiing can feel especially frustrating given the cost of the sport — lift tickets alone at Park City Mountain Resort can cost more than $300, not including rentals and lodging. Many resort guests took to social media to complain about the conditions.

Vail Resorts Inc., which owns the resort, saw its stock drop about 6% in the last week.

The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA) said it has been in contract negotiations with Vail Resorts since April and is trying to secure wage increases to match inflation, among other things.

About 200 ski patrollers, represented by the union, went on strike on December 27 after negotiations with Vail Resorts broke down.

The resort remained open, "with safety as its top priority," the resort said in a statement.

A spokesperson from the resort told BI that December 30 was "especially challenging" due to early season conditions.

"Each day, we open the terrain we can safely open with the team members we have," Sara Huey, Vail Resorts' Director of Community and Government Affairs, told BI in a statement. "We have had impacts to terrain as a result of the patrol strike."

Vail Resorts said in a statement that it had reached agreements on 24 out of 27 contract terms. The remaining issues were contract length, wages, and benefits — often considered by members to be the most important parts of a contract.

Bill Rock, the President of Vail Resorts' Mountain Division, said the resort has made "significant investments" in its staff.

"Our wages and benefits are strong, as demonstrated by the