The recent Park City Ski Patrol strike demonstrated the importance of ski patrollers in daily mountain operations and visitor experience. The strike began on December 27, 2024, after prolonged negotiations with Vail Resorts regarding wage increases and benefits for the patrollers. The demonstration, which included picketing lines, job walk-offs, and social media campaigns, lasted until January 10, 2025. The strike came to an end after an agreement to increase base pay from $21 to $23 an hour, as well as advanced training and development opportunities for the patrollers.
While the Park City strike is certainly the most recent ski patrol strike, it is not the first time ski patrollers have decided to take action in pursuit of change. In 1971, ski patrollers at Aspen Mountain and Snowmass went on strike, bringing national attention to the central Colorado region and the working conditions of ski patrollers.
Aspen looked a lot different in the 1970s than it does today. It was a town divided between the wealthy, who smoked cigars in their penthouse apartments, and the emerging “ski bums,” who were searching for the freshest powder they could find. Drugs ran rampant, and partying was synonymous with the city. Various cliques of these new ski bums were formed, and they controlled the town until the 1980s when Aspen started to morph into the luxurious ski village it is today.
Aspen Ski Company has owned Aspen Mountain since its opening in 1946. Later that year, its first chairlift, Lift-1, opened, making it the longest chairlift at the time. The company later opened Snowmass in 1967, which is now the largest of the four Aspen ski resorts.
A quick eight years before Aspen Mountain’s opening day, the National Ski Patrol was founded in 1938 in Stowe, Vermont. Aspen’s ski patrol was first introduced in 1947, many of whom were World War II veterans who served in the 10th Mountain Division and specialized in alpine and winter warfare. These veterans brought advanced skiing and mountaineering skills, which helped to advance patrol techniques and improve safety standards. Additionally, these patrolmen helped pioneer avalanche control, a practice used worldwide today.
The Aspen Ski Patrol quickly expanded in the 1950s as Aspen opened Buttermilk, Highlands, and Snowmass ski areas. This expansion brought sophisticated first aid training, avalanche forecasting, trail marking, and public education, giving ski patrol a more modernized feel. By 1960, there were over 300 ski patrols and roughly 4,000 members nationwide. In 1972, Linda Hill was hired at Snowmass, making her the first female ski patroller on record.
In 1971, ski patrollers, along with the trail crew at Aspen Mountain and Snowmass, decided to form a union. Ski patrollers had an hourly wage of $2.97 (most summer labor jobs paid between $2.75 and $3.00 per hour), according to a recollection by Tony Vagneur, a former member of the Aspen Ski Patrol. However, poor wages were just one of the grievances that led to the unionization. Despite the physical demands and dangers of the job, patrollers did not receive benefits such as health insurance or retirement plans. Paid time off was seldom approved, and patrollers were forced to work long hours in extreme weather. These working conditions, along with the increasing labor activism of the 1970s, led to the Aspen patrollers voting to form a union to advocate for better working conditions to safely perform their duties.
After the patrollers voted to unionize, they became affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a nationwide labor union representing a variety of workers in a range of industries.ย The Teamsters Union provided the Aspen Ski Patrol with experienced negotiators and resources, which strengthened the patrollers’ position. With Teamsters’ guidance, the Aspen Ski Patrol decided to go on strike in demand of fair compensation, improved working conditions, and proper safety measures.
The strike began on December 22, 1971, with a picket line formed at the entrances to Aspen Ski Corporation’s mountains. Signs and banners were made, flying messages demanding fair wages and improved conditions. These lines were peaceful but symbolic, as the striking patrollers aimed to draw attention to the issues they faced. All but one of the Aspen Mountain patrollers joined the strike, alongside roughly one-half of the patrol at Snowmass.
Unfortunately for the union, they received little support from the town, as many tourists were there for the holidays and had spent vast amounts of money on lodging and lift tickets and could not sympathize with the strike. Additionally, Aspen Ski Company had replacement patrollers lined up to avoid a pause in operations. While the ski patrollers were told the process would lead to a resort shutdown followed by management giving in to their demands, these replacement patrollers kept the mountain from shutting down and thus gave all the power to management at Aspen.
The unsuccessful strike came to an end on January 24, 1972, with none of the demands being met.ย To make things worse for the strikers, none of them were rehired as the replacement workers stayed with Aspen. The swift replacement of labor along with the lack of support gave the Aspen Ski Company the upper hand, and the strike was forced to a screeching halt.
As the recent Park City Ski Patrol strike concludes, the importance of support from locals as well as those around the country could not be more obvious.ย The Park City strike gained significant public attention and support, which put pressure on Vail Resorts to give in to their demands. Additionally, the strike tactic of walking off forced Park City Mountain to operate with a skeleton crew, further giving traction to the strike and putting a strain on the resort.
While the Aspen strikers of 1971 may not have found the same success, their story is still an important piece of skiing history as patrollers continue to find ways to improve their livelihoods in the service of keeping skiers and snowboarders safe.
