FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Telluride, one of the most famous ski resorts in the western U.S., plans to close in the coming days because of a labor dispute between its owner and the ski patrol union.
The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association on Tuesday voted to strike Saturday after contract negotiations since June failed to produce an agreement on pay. With no further meetings scheduled through the weekend, Telluride Ski Resort has announced it will not open that day.
“We fear that any organization, especially one that exists to help people, would do something that would have such a devastating impact on our community,” owner Chuck Horning said in a statement Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the closure would last longer. Resort officials, according to the statement, were working on a plan to reopen even though the strike would continue.
Patrol officers are seeking higher pay in line with their counterparts in other centers in the region.
The union wants starting pay to increase from $21 to $28 an hour and wages for patrol officers with more than 30 years of experience to increase from $30-$36 an hour to $39-$48.60 an hour.
While department officials tried to pin the blame for the impending closure on the union, Andy Dennis, interim safety director and spokesman for the patrolmen’s association, said the blame lay with Horning.
“He’s a bully. This is what bullies do, take the toys and run,” Dennis said. “All they have to do is give us a fair deal and this will all be over.
Skiers sometimes argue for higher wages on the grounds that the cost of living is high in ski towns and they are responsible for people’s safety. The duties of the patrols include the care of injured skiers and the controlled release of avalanches with explosives when no one is in range.
Even without the strike, Telluride has yet to fully get going this season unusually warm weather meaning that only 20 of the resort’s 149 trails have been opened.
Patrols in the Rocky Mountain area recently voted to unionize.
Last year, a nearly two-week strike shut down many runs and caused long elevator lines in the mountain resort of Park City, Utah. That strike is over when Colorado-based Vail Resorts acceded to demands including a $2-an-hour increase in base pay and raises for senior ski patrollers.
