Jubilant ski patrollers in Park City, Utah, went back to work on the slopes Thursday after reaching a deal to end a strike that began Dec. 27 after months of negotiating with Colorado-based Vail Resorts.

“THE STRIKE IS OVER. WE ARE GOING BACK TO WORK,” the patrollers said in a social media post. “We are proud to announce that on 1/08/25 we ratified a fair contract with vote of 100%. We feel strongly that we have secured a contract with a wage structure and benefits package that incentivizes retention and career growth on Patrol.”

Park City Mountain Resort, east of Salt Lake City, is the largest ski area in the United States. It is owned and operated by Vail Resorts, which owns more than 40 other ski areas, including Vail and Keystone in Colorado. About 200 patrollers went on strike during the busy end-of-year holiday period to advocate for higher wages and better benefits. The strike closed three-quarters of Park City’s trails and caused long lift lines and fervent backlash against Vail associates online.

“Vail Resorts is killing skiing, ski towns and ski culture every place they go,” wrote one person on Instagram.

The strike, the first known strike of ski patrollers in decades, resonated with ski communities across the globe and in Colorado. Unionization is on the rise in mountain communities across the country as issues such as affordable housing and cost of living become more prevalent. Ski patrollers at resorts say they can’t afford to live where they work, and patrollers say they deserve higher wages because of the vital and dangerous nature of their work, such as handling anti-avalanche explosives and providing life-saving care to hurt or lost skiers.

Patrollers for Vail-operated Keystone Resort unionized last year and are in negotiations with Vail over many of the same issues the Park City union was bargaining for, and a meeting is set with Vail administrators Wednesday. Negotiations are also scheduled this year with workers at Crested Butte and Breckenridge. The three resorts joined the Park City union in sending a letter to Vail chief operating officer Deirdra Walsh, signaling the potential for future clashes.

Among the complaints in the letter was Vail sending non-union patrollers to act as scabs to work in Park City during the strike, up-ending professional and personal lives and operations at the Colorado resorts. Despite help from out of state, news reports said that Park City had “lost control of the mountain.”

Ski patrol at Purgatory Resort near Durango formed a union in 2022 and negotiated a deal later that year with parent company Mountain Capital Partners.

Vail Associates and Park City patrollers reached a tentative agreement earlier in the week and scheduled a vote Wednesday. By late Wednesday, Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association announced that the deal had been ratified by its members.

“Park City Mountain has reached an agreement with the Park City ski patrol union that is consistent with our company’s wage structure for all patrollers, non-unionized and unionized, while accounting for the unique terrain and avalanche complexity of Park City Mountain,” Bill Rock, president of Vail Resorts’ Mountain Division said in a statement.

The deal increases starting wages for ski patrollers by $2 per hour, to $23 an hour, and guarantees wage increases if patrollers at other Vail properties receive increases. Senior patrollers received an average increase of $7.75 an hour. The patrollers also received benefits such as parental leave and professional development resources.