Photo: Bradley King//Unsplash
Members of the Keystone Ski Patrol Union have ratified their first contract agreement with Keystone Mountain and Vail Resorts, according to a press release from the union this weekend. The agreement will last through the 2026-2027 ski season and grants a pay increase of $2.50 per hour for entry level patrollers and as much as $8 per hour for senior ski patrollers. The contract also includes incentives for various EMT, nursing, and paramedic certifications, as well as special skills like language interpreters and chairlift evacuators.
“The Union is proud to announce that every member of the Keystone Ski Patrol will receive a pay increase from the implementation of this contract, with significant increases for those in advanced, specialist and team-lead positions,” the union’s news release stated.
A report from Colorado Public Radio (CPR) suggested the highly publicized strike by ski patrollers at another one of Vail Resort’s mountains, Park City, paved the way for smoother negotiations at Keystone. A union bargaining team member told the news outlet Vail was “ready to come to the table” after the Park City debacle.
“We actually came to an agreement pretty quickly after the strike ended,” the union bargaining team member said. “We put it to a vote with overwhelming support. We did have a couple no votes in there, but the sentiment of the group is that we made a lot of progress with this contract.”
Meanwhile, United Mountain Workers, the union’s parent organization, spoke to CPR about a growing discontent within the industry. They said the growth of the industry has shifted focus to capturing wealth — a common gripe among the public — and that, in turn, has created a greater demand for worker representation. From that perspective, the events of the past few months, which included the strike at Park City, a new contract for the brand new Keystone Mountain union, which was formed just last year, and an upcoming contract deadline for Breckenridge Ski Patrol on May 1, 2025, could signal a swinging of the pendulum.
“In my first season back at Keystone Resort and stepping into my new role as GM, a huge priority of mine has been focusing on operating as a unified team across the resort,” Shannon Buhler, GM and VP of Keystone Resort told Snowbrains. “Teamwork is the root and foundation of everything we do here and is key to providing the best experience possible for our employees, our community, and our skiers and riders. With that in mind, I’m glad that we have a new agreement in place with our ski patrol union. I have a tremendous amount of respect for our patrollers at Keystone and I appreciate the conversations we have had throughout this process that brought us to this point: a contract with base wages that are consistent with our other resorts and skills-based pay that reflects the terrain and avalanche complexity of Keystone Resort.”
