- Park City Mountain is offering credits to pass holders who faced disruptions during the ski patrol strike.
- A class-action lawsuit was filed against Vail Resorts for the resort experience during the strike.
- The disruption was due to a 13-day strike by Park City patrollers over a contract dispute with Vail.
Park City Mountain apologized in a letter Thursday to pass holders for the disruption a 13-day ski patrol strike caused on the slopes and offered credits to those who skied or snowboarded during that time.
“We deeply value the trust and loyalty of our guests, and while Park City Mountain was open during the patrol strike, it was not the experience we wanted to provide,” Deirdra Walsh, Park City Mountain chief operating officer, said in a statement.
“We have heard our guests’ feedback and are providing credits to those who skied and snowboarded at Park City Mountain during that time. We are committed to rebuilding the trust and loyalty of our guests by delivering an exceptional experience at Park City Mountain this season and in the future.”
The resort is providing all pass holders a 50% credit per day skied or snowboarded between Dec. 27, 2024, and Jan. 8, 2025, to apply toward the purchase of a 2025-26 pass of equal or greater value to their 2024-25 pass. Season pass per-day credits are calculated based on eight days, and Epic day pass per-day credits are calculated based on the number of days purchased, according to the resort.
The minimum credit amount pass holders will receive is 25% of the total purchase price of their 2024-25 pass. All credits will be customized based on the price of their 2024-25 pass, product type and number of days skied between those dates, the letter says. Pass holders’ current season pass, or unused days on their Epic day pass, will remain active for the remainder of the season.
“Our hope is that these customized credits demonstrate our commitment to you as a valued pass holder. I am confident that our team’s collective passion for Park City Mountain, our guests and our community is strong, and that we will provide the experience you expect, this season and into the future,” Walsh wrote in the letter.
Pass holders will receive a personalized email with a specific credit and promotion code, the letter said. The resort has set up a Frequently Asked Questions link.
Why did the Park City ski patrol strike?
About 200 members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association walked off the job Dec. 27 after a prolonged contract dispute over wages and benefits with Vail Resorts, the owner of Park City Mountain. The union blamed Vail for the walkout, saying the company had bargained in bad faith and repeatedly violated the National Labor Relations Act. Vail countered that it had increased pay more than 50% over the past four seasons and reached agreements on 24 of the 27 contract terms.
The strike left the resort short-handed, causing crowded slopes, hours-long lift lines, unsafe conditions and limited open terrain. Vail brought in ski patrollers from its other resorts to keep the mountain open.
After going to mediation, Vail and the ski patrol union finalized an agreement on Jan. 8 in which starting patrollers received a $2-per-hour raise to $23 an hour and $4-per-hour raise on average for veteran patrollers. The union also negotiated enhanced parental leave policies and educational opportunities, a restructured wage scale designed to encourage long-term career growth and ensure the retention of highly skilled patrollers' wage parity with non-unionized Vail Resorts patrollers. The patrollers ended the unprecedented strike and went back to work the next day.
Skiers sue Vail over ‘colossal nightmare’
Credits on lift passes, though, likely won’t satisfy an Illinois man who filed a class-action lawsuit against Vail Resorts last week.
Christopher Bisaillon, of Wheaton, Illinois, alleges that families who had “saved up all year long in order to spend the holiday break on a family ski trip” came to the resort, only to find waiting times of up to three hours at ski lifts because less than one-fifth of the resort was open during the strike, per KSL.com. According to the lawsuit, Bisaillon paid $15,000 for his family ski vacation.
He called the experience a “colossal nightmare,” adding many skiers, especially those from out of state, were not informed about the strike, which he said ruined “what was expected to be a dream vacation for thousands of families at the expense of tens of thousands of dollars per family.” Many skiers and snowboarders paid as much as $289 for lift tickets, according to the suit.
KSL-TV reported that one of Bisaillon’s attorneys has received hundreds of calls from disgruntled skiers wanting to join the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Vail Resorts of violating the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act, Fraudulent Concealment and Unjust Enrichment, outlining specific failures that plaintiffs argue are at odds with fair business practices.
Vail has declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.