Telluride Ski Patrol Strike In Second Week
Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado closed indefinitely on 27 December after its ski patrollers walked out in a dispute over wages, safety and staff retention. The resort has announced it will reopen limited terrain on Monday, but it appears the strike is currently continuing.
Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado was closed indefinitely after the lift company decided to close its slopes after its unionised ski patrollers walked out in a dispute over wages, safety and staff retention. The resort has announced it will reopen with very limited terrain on Monday, 5 January, but it appears the strike is currently continuing.
The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association voted overwhelmingly to strike after what they say were months of stalled negotiations, saying the resort’s ownership had refused to meaningfully improve its pay offer.
Patrollers are seeking a restructured wage scale that lifts the median hourly rate from roughly $29 to about $34, arguing that the current system makes it impossible to live in Telluride’s high‑cost housing market and is driving experienced staff away. The resort’s owner has countered that the union rejected the company’s “best and final offer,” which included an immediate 13% raise.
"We exhausted every idea to avert this situation, and we compromised below our comfort level and bottom line to move the conversation forward in good faith," the ski patrol association said in a statement, which continues, "Instead of negotiating, the Telluride Ski and Golf Resort (TSG) brought us back to the table this past week with no ideas, solutions, nor improvements to move towards the middle."
Saturday January 3rd saw Telluride Ski Resort saying negotiations had resumed and that it plans to reopen on Monday, Jan. 5, announcing on social media that it would run one lift, with access to its beginner terrain. However local media reports that an agreement with The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association has not yet been reached.
The closure, which began on 27 December at the height of the holiday rush, is reported to have hit visitors and local businesses hard. Lodging bookings are reported to have fallen more than 50% year‑on‑year, and transport operators report steep drops in revenue as skiers divert to nearby resorts.
Telluride’s dispute echoes a broader wave of ski‑patrols seeking improved terms and conditions for their work across the US, with most reaching agreement without needing industrial action. Last winter, Park City’s patrollers reached a deal with the resort’s owners Vail Resorts after also withdrawing their labour on December 27, 2024. That strike lasted 12 days, ending around January 8, 2025, with a new contract including significant wage increases and benefits for patrollers after 10 months.
While the direct monetary cost to Vail Resorts isn't known, it resulted in major negative publicity, lost revenue during the busy holiday season, and a class-action lawsuit from skiers upset about paying for lift tickets and holidays when skiing was severely limited.
Patrollers nationwide say the job’s pressures are intensifying with long hours, avalanche control, medical emergencies, and increasingly volatile weather whilst the cost of living in ski resorts has risen far faster than the national average, partly due to holiday home purchasers pricing out locals.
