Skiers planning to hit one of America’s most iconic resorts this weekend may expect their plans to go haywire. The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association voted to go on strike Saturday to seek higher wages.
Workers have been negotiating with Telluride’s ownership since June, but the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement.
The Patrol Association said in a statement that management was “unwilling to fix the broken pay structure”.
Meanwhile, owner Chuck Horning told ABC News the shutdown could have a “devastating impact” on the upscale community located in the southwest corner of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
Telluride is scheduled to close on Saturday.
What are the two sides arguing about?
As with many labor disputes, the differences boil down to a matter of money. The ski patrol union wants starting wages to increase from $21 to $28 an hour and wages for rangers with more than 30 years of experience to increase from $30 to $36 an hour to $39 to $48.60 an hour.
Union representatives said they are demanding wages that are competitive with other resorts in the region and accused Horning of not changing his position.
“He was a bully. That’s what bullies do, take their toys and run,” a spokesman for the association said. “All he had to do was give us a fair contract and it would be over.”
Like other luxury ski towns in the West, Telluride has a high cost of living. That number is 75% higher than the rest of the country, according to the Institute for Economic Research.
Reports have emerged in recent years that ski patrollers and other seasonal workers are often forced to live hours away from their jobs because they cannot afford the cost of living in these areas. East Coast summer destinations like the Hamptons and Nantucket are experiencing a similar crisis.
Despite this reality, Horning placed the blame on ski patrol for the dramatic Christmas season strike. “We are deeply disappointed that Ski Patrol has chosen to take this action at such a critical time for our guests, employees and the wider community,” he said.
Customers have expressed their disappointment. “Telluride
You can’t close with 2 days notice,” someone posted on X. “Thousands of dollars have been invested. Totally unacceptable! “
Ski patrollers are responsible for a range of duties, including helping injured skiers and containing avalanches with explosives.
Stuart Winchester, author of the popular Ski Substack, describes the effort as follows:
“If I were asked to draft a job description looking for candidates for Big Mountain Patrol, I might come up with something like this: Looking for a Ski Patroller for Big Mountain. The ideal candidate would have the agility of a mountain goat, a meteorologist’s grasp of weather and snow, the trauma response skills of an emergency room doctor, the demeanor of a monk, and the proficiency of an ’80s action hero with hand-held explosives. And would also have to be an expert skier.”
Is there any precedent?
Last winter, members of the ski patrol union in Park City, Utah, went on strike for 13 days. Their work stoppage ended when resort management agreed to raise their wages by $2 an hour.
While the resort remains open, customers who have paid thousands of dollars are frustrated with long wait times and inconvenience.
Like the Telluride walkout expected this weekend, the announcement wasn’t made until many people had already arrived at the resort. “We thought it would be a fun Christmas gift to go on this once-in-a-lifetime ski trip,” one customer who paid $20,000 for his family told NBC News. “What’s really frustrating is the lack of transparency.”
Workers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, have taken the latest organizing step, nearly doubling the number of unionized ski patrol units over the past four years.
This article was originally published by Men’s Journal on December 26, 2025, and first appeared in the Travel section. Click here to add Men’s Diary as your go-to source.
