PARK CITY, Utah — After nearly two weeks, a tentative agreement has been reached to end a strike that has caused major disruptions and anger at one of Utah's most popular ski resorts.
The Park City Mountain Resort and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association announced late Tuesday that an agreement has been reached that will last through April 2027. The ski patrol union is scheduled to take a final vote to ratify the agreement Wednesday night, with the final results expected around 10 p.m.
"The tentative agreement addresses both parties’ interests and will end the current strike," the groups said in a joint statement. "Everyone looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team."
Looking for a pay increase of $2 an hour, hundreds of ski patrollers went on strike on Dec. 27, right in the middle of Park City Mountain Resort's busy holiday season. Almost immediately, the resort's owner, Vail Resorts, faced harsh backlash as visitors shared videos of long lift lines on the mountain due to understaffing.
The anger that built over the 12 days of the strike led local owners to worry about how the stoppage would affect business in the short and long terms, while the city's mayor pleaded for an agreement.
Vail Resorts bore the brunt of the blame in the eyes of vacationers and locals who simply wanted to enjoy their time skiing at the popular resort, and the company saw its stock price tumble as the situation became nationwide news.
“It's hard to survive off of very little income, and they're striking for a good reason," said skier Natalie Aaron. "You know, people come out here for luxury reasons, and they're doing a service in that aspect.”
Aaron and her family ended up changing their ski trip plans and went to PCMR's nearby competitor.
“We just kind of wanted to be able to ski and not stand in line," she said. “We were supposed to ski five days at Park City. We ended up skiing one, because we ended up just buying tickets at Deer Valley instead.”
But other visitors didn't notice much of a difference.
“We come the same time every single year," said snowboarder Sydney Dorman. "The first-of-the-year crowd has gone. The Sundance crowd hasn't come in. The ski patrol strike has not really affected us lift-line-wise. So it's been a great trip.”
Throughout the strike, the union said it was forced to halt work to draw attention to the struggle they claimed its 200 members faced to live in Park City on just $21 an hour.
"We really did everything we possibly could to avoid striking. Vail really forced our hand. We don't want to be on strike; we want to be doing our job," said union member Alana McClements on Tuesday.
The particular elements of the tentative agreement were not made available by either the union or Vail Resorts.
