Park City Ski Patrol Strike Leads to Long Lines, Limited Terrain — What to Know If You Have a Trip Planned

Long lines and limited terrain have plagued popular Utah ski resort Park City as a ski patroller strike continues to stretch into its seventh day.

The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association officially went on strike on Dec. 27, demanding higher wages and better benefits ahead of the busy holiday period following what they said was months of stalled negotiations. As a result, visitors to the Vail Resorts-owned mountain have since been greeted with heavy crowds, long lift lines, and limited openings.

Deirdra Walsh, the COO of Park City Mountain, told Travel + Leisure on Friday the resort was “committed to reaching an agreement with the patrol union,” but admitted in an Instagram post earlier this week the mountain has “not been able to open as much terrain as we would like to — and I know that resulted in delays in operations and longer-than-usual lift lines,” blaming it on a combination of the strike and not enough snowfall.

The comments for that specific post have been turned off, but skiers have commented on previous posts on Park City’s Instagram expressing their disappointment in the situation.

However, not every Park City ski patroller is currently on strike and Vail Resorts said many of the most experienced patrol leaders are still working.

But the limited terrain and union disagreement has resulted in long lift lines with one guest warning travelers to “Stay away from Park City,” posting a photo ahead of New Year’s on X of a huge crowd in front of a lift and adding the “Mountain is a disaster!  Lift lines over 40 minutes and limited terrain.  Don’t waste your money here!”

Currently, Park City has opened 24 of its 41 total lifts and just 80 of its 350 runs — or just over 20 percent of the mountain. That number includes the 30 runs the mountain opened this week.

Walsh added to T+L: “We are incredibly grateful for our team of highly experienced patrollers from Park City and our other mountain resorts, plus our thousands of other team members, who are working hard each day to deliver the experience and open the terrain we can safely open.”

The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association is demanding a $2 per hour increase in their base wage from $21 per hour to $23 per hour. However, a spokesperson for Vail Resorts told T+L that average seasonal patroller at Park City Mountain makes $25 per hour on average, and the average entry level wage is $22.40 per hour.

Ski patrollers are responsible for safety on the mountain, monitoring both slow zones and high traffic areas as well as leading avalanche mitigation, responding to medical and safety incidents, and monitoring conditions on the mountain, among other duties.