Telluride ski resort in southwestern Colorado began reopening on Friday after striking ski patrol officers voted to accept their contract and return to work.
The resort closed Dec. 27 after the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association rejected the company’s salary offer. The resort remains closed except for beginner carpets and lifts serving two beginner trails, which are being manned this week by management and temporary ski patrollers.
Resort officials said in a statement that more lifts and slides will be open starting this weekend, aided by artificial snowmaking and a foot (30 centimeters) of recent snowfall.
“We believe the final offer represents a fair compromise,” resort representative Steve Swenson said in a statement.
Neither the resort nor the ski patrol union disclosed details of the agreement the union voted to adopt Thursday. Negotiations have been ongoing since June.
The union seeks to increase wages for new patrol officers from $21 to $28 an hour and from $30 to nearly $50 for the most experienced patrol officers.
“While we are ultimately deeply disappointed in the failure to address our broken wage structure, we are extremely proud of the efforts that led to this financial movement. We are even more proud of our supervisors’ buy-in and implementation across the sector,” the union said in a statement on social media on Thursday.
Ski patrols in other parts of the Rockies have been unionizing. Some advocate for higher wages, citing the high cost of living in ski towns and their responsibility for safety.
Patroller duties include caring for injured skiers and controlling avalanche releases with explosives when no one is within range.
A nearly two-week ski patrol strike a year ago closed many ski areas and led to long lift line At Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah. That strike is over When Colorado’s Vail Resort Requests including a $2-an-hour base pay increase and a pay raise for senior ski patrollers were agreed to.