FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Telluride, one of the most popular ski resorts in the American West, plans to close in the coming days amid a labor dispute between its owners and the ski patrol union.
The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association voted Tuesday to strike Saturday after contract talks dating back to June failed to reach an agreement on pay. With no more negotiations planned before the weekend, the Telluride ski resort said it would not open that day.
“We are concerned that any organization, especially one whose purpose is to help people, would do something that would have a devastating impact on our community,” owner Chuck Horning said in a statement Wednesday.
It’s unclear whether the shutdown will last longer. Resort officials are working on a plan to reopen even as the strike continues, the statement said.
Patrol officers want to be paid better than their counterparts at other resorts in the area.
The union wants starting wages to increase from $21 to $28 an hour and wages for patrol officers with more than 30 years of experience to increase from $30 to $36 an hour to $39 to $48.60 an hour.
While resort officials have tried to blame the union for the impending closure, Andy Dennis, interim safety director and spokesman for the rangers association, said it’s all Horning’s fault.
“He was a bully. That’s what bullies do, take their toys and run,” Dennis said. “All he had to do was give us a fair contract and it would be over.”
Ski patrollers sometimes advocate for higher wages, citing the high cost of living in ski towns and their responsibility for people’s safety. Patrol officers’ duties include caring for injured skiers and controlling avalanche releases with explosives when no one is within range.
Even without the strike, Telluride has yet to fully resume operations this season, with unseasonably warm weather meaning only 20 of the resort’s 149 trails are open.
Patrol officers in the Rocky Mountain Region have recently been voting on whether to unionize.
Last year, a nearly two-week strike closed many ski areas at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort and led to long lines at lifts. The strike ended after Colorado-based Vail Resorts accepted demands that included a $2-an-hour base wage increase and a raise for senior ski patrollers.
