CBMR patrol says Park City strike has impacted local operations

Local supervisor sent to Utah, management states no local impacts

By Kendra Walker

Coming off of the last couple of weeks of holiday storms and crowds, Crested Butte Mountain Resort appears relatively unimpacted by the ski patrol union strike in Park City. With the opening of both the High Lift last week and the North Face Lift this week, 79% of the mountain’s terrain is open with all 15 lifts spinning. However, CB patrol confirm that a local supervisor was sent to Park City over the holidays. On Tuesday, Park City Mountain and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association announced they have reached a tentative agreement. 

On December 27, Park City ski patrollers went on an unfair labor practice strike following ongoing contract negotiations for increased wages with Vail Resorts. The union is aiming to increase their base pay from $21/hour to $23/hour. Since the strike began, media outlets and hundreds of social media posts have documented the strike’s impacts in Park City, including long lift lines, limited open terrain and injured skiers left unattended. CBMR is also owned by Vail Resorts. 

Vail confirmed that during the strike it has called in strikebreaking patrollers from other Vail-owned mountains in place of Park City patrol as they picketed. 

The Crested Butte News asked CBMR representatives whether any CBMR staff members had been sent over to Park City, and they would neither confirm nor deny. “We don’t comment on specific employee locations or assignments, but I can assure you that safety is our top priority across all our mountain resorts, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort is operating normally,” said Sara Huey, director of community and government affairs.

Crested Butte Professional Ski Patrol (CBPSPA) president Adam Reymann confirmed with the News that one supervisor was sent to Park City. “One of our supervisors was sent there just before Christmas and is returning this week, and will apparently be replaced by another of our supervisors. This action by the company left us short one very experienced team member and leader during one of the busiest times of the year in Crested Butte and has led to a fair amount of uncertainty over how things will play out moving forward, especially with the lack of transparency from the company.”

He clarified, “No Union members have been approached about going to Park City, and no Union member on this patrol would cross a picket line, full stop,” he said. “Supervisors, who are prohibited from being Union members and do not have the protections provided by the Union and labor law with regard to their employment status, have been assigned by the company to replace striking ski patrollers in Park City. It is our understanding that refusing these duty assignments could have significant ramifications on those patrol supervisors’ careers and livelihoods.”

In a January 3 press release, Vail stated that seven Colorado-based personnel are temporarily assigned to Park City Mountain, with no impacts to Colorado terrain or safety. The release states, “Resort leaders are grateful to the dedicated employees who are making the holiday season a success. Additionally, these resorts are sharing immense gratitude to select members of their patrol and other teams who are supporting Park City Mountain, supplementing their seasoned patrol leaders. There have been no impacts to Colorado ski areas as a result of this limited assignment.”

Reymann shared the CBPSPA’s perspective, “Aside from the impact to morale this has had, our team is quite capable of adapting to evolving situations and has kept things on track here. That being said, we feel that it isn’t any of our jobs, whether it be a supervisor or a rookie patroller, to operate any ski area besides Crested Butte Mountain Resort. This should be the company’s only expectation and the focus of everyone working here. The relationship that the Union has with our direct supervisors is not typical for Unionized workers; we are all members of a high-performing team working in a challenging environment, which takes strong leadership to achieve. Our supervisors are critical members of our team, and Vail Resorts has opted to take them away from the team in order to attempt to operate Park City, to the detriment of our operations on this mountain. We believe that our interests, the company’s interests, and the interests and safety of the skiing public, are better served if those team members are doing their jobs here in Crested Butte.”

The CBPSPA along with patrol unions from Park City, Breckenridge and Keystone have also collectively sent a letter to Vail Resorts’ chief executive officer Kirsten Lynch.

“Through the company’s tactics of pressuring, coercing, and intimidating skilled patrol leaders to travel to Park City to join the ‘Patrol Support Team,’ you caused irreparable harm to both your patrol labor force and patrol management across all affected resorts,” the letter reads. “By removing local leadership from their resorts without notice, you failed to provide these patrols proper leadership at the height of the busiest time of the year…These patrol leaders are faced with a no-win situation. In many cases, it has been implied that their careers and livelihoods are at risk if they do not support the company’s demand.”

The letter requests more clear and transparent communication from Vail to employees, respectful treatment of employees and the restoration of trust and relationships. Lastly, the letter asks Vail Resorts to stop pressuring employees to travel to Park City to cross the picket line, and to actively work with the union to reach a fair contract.

Late Tuesday evening, Park City Mountain and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association announced they have reached a new tentative agreement through April 2027. “The Union’s bargaining committee is unanimously endorsing ratification by its unit with a vote scheduled to take place on January 8,” read the statement. “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. Until contract ratification, neither party will be accepting media requests.” 

CBMR lift maintenance team still negotiating 

Meanwhile, the CBMR lift maintenance crew, which unionized in 2023 to form the Crested Butte Lift Maintenance Professional Union, is still trying to finalize a contract with Vail. According to union president Thomas Pearman, they been in negotiations with Vail since January 2024 and he expressed frustration with the slow-going process. As previously reported by the Crested Butte News, the union and Vail have come to agreement on the majority of the contract, but the big hangup was wages.

Pearman shared with the News this week, “In a recent meeting, we established a new cadence for weekly discussions, marking a positive shift in our approach to ongoing negotiations. However, we received a long-awaited response regarding wages, which has proven to be disappointing after such an extended wait. Regrettably, Vail appears to be employing the same tactics in our negotiations as they have with Park City, offering us the exact same wages we currently receive rather than the meaningful increase we were hoping for. We remain committed to advocating for fair compensation and will continue to engage in dialogue to seek a more equitable resolution.”

CBMR communications manager Katie Lyons told the News that the Park City patrol strike is having no impact at CBMR. “The negotiations with ski patrol at Park City are separate from negotiations with the lift maintenance team at Crested Butte, since they are separate unionized groups,” she said. “At Crested Butte we are making progress in our negotiations with the union. Conversations have been professional, productive and respectful. As previously mentioned, this is a first-time contract with a new unionized group.”

The Crested Butte Professional Ski Patrol Association’s current contract expires November 2025. “We will inform the company of our intent to bargain 90 days before expiration,” confirmed Reymann. “We do not have tentative dates set for those meetings.”