By Rachael Wright

Special to the Denver Gazette  

Telluride Mountain Village Mayor Marti Prohaska resigned her position recently after the Mountain Village Town Council announced it would conduct an independent investigation into unofficial conversations she had with Telluride Ski Resort (Telski) owner Chuck Horning concerning the end of the ski patrol strike and a potential sale of the ski resort.  

In a news release, Mountain Village town council members raised questions about the meetings and possible written commitments made, saying no council members were involved in or aware of the discussions.

On Dec. 27, the 72-member Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association (TPSPA) voted to go on strike after months of unsuccessful negotiations with Telski. What followed was the longest ski patrol strike in US history, narrowly passing the 2024 Park City Ski Patrol Strike. 

Prohaska is also a member of the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association.

The 13 days, during which most of the ski resort was closed, had drastic consequences for the towns of Telluride and Mountain Village, with nearly 15,000 resort employees out of work and an 8 percent drop in bookings in Telluride alone.  

Prohaska and Telluride Mayor Pro-Tem Meehan Fee flew to Horning’s office in Newport Beach, Calif., on Dec. 27, the day the strike began. Both Prohaska and Fee said they were not working in any official capacity but as private citizens.

In addition to trying to negotiate a favorable contract for the ski patrollers, Prohaska and Fee also are said to have approached Horning with an offer to pay $127.5 million for a 51 percent ownership of the resort. The source of funding for the offer has not been disclosed. 

The contract was discussed over several days. As part of the deal, Horning would have remained chairman of the board. Prohaska and Fee said that the proposal would have ended years of contention between Horning and the surrounding communities. Both women said that it appeared Horning would sign the contract until it suddenly appeared online.  

Fee told The Colorado Sun, “Really it was a conversation about what options there would be to create a better future for all of us because our businesses were suffering. Long before the strike, our businesses have been declining because of a lack of tourism and a decline in visitation.” 

Since Horning’s purchase of Telski in 2005 for $45 million, the real-estate developer has fired a succession of ski resort managers.

In March 2025, at a Town Council meeting, Mountain Village Town Manager Paul Wisor spoke out against Horning, calling him out-of-touch and taking him to task for not addressing major infrastructure upgrades. Telluride and Mountain Village are connected by a public-transit style gondola that is aging out.

Colorado Flights Alliance CEO Matt Skinner said that a lack of marketing and investment by Horning has meant Telluride and Mountain Village, the nearby ski base area, have been “leaking destination skier visits” over the past three years. 

Colorado Flights Alliance works with regional partners including governments and community groups throughout the Western Slope to chart priorities, including tourism, business development, cultural and environmental sustainability, and resident needs.

Prohaska wrote in her resignation letter, “The Ski Patrol strike exposed the vulnerabilities of a destination dependent upon a company that lacks leadership. Until this moment, many in this community have either been too complacent or too afraid to discuss this fact … I will stand in the truth that our actions came from our deep love and commitment for the Telluride and Mountain Village communities.” 

In their news release, the Mountain Village town council thanked Prohaska for her years of service, stating, “In the course of these discussions (with Horning), certain written commitments appear to have been made. No other member of the Mountain Village Town Council participated in or was aware of these discussions as they occurred. Whatever one’s view of her actions, we have no doubt they were motivated by a sincere desire to advance the long-term health and future of our region.” 

On Jan. 20, the Telluride Town Council approved a motion for the town attorney to conduct “an unbiased and neutral third-party investigation” and asked Mayor Pro-Tem Meehan Fee to step down from the council while the investigation was being conducted.  

According to the Telluride Town Council, the key concern raised was that the meeting between Fee, Prohaska and Horning resulted in the “written offer dated Dec. 29, 2025, proposing the purchase of a majority interest on behalf of the entity known as the Telluride Ski Resort Fund.” 

The purpose of the third-party review, the Telluride Town Council said in a press release, was “to help determine what actions may have been taken in an individual capacity, clarify what actions, if any, occurred through official Town processes, and support transparency and public confidence in local government.” 

“It seemed like there was some impropriety there and Ms. Fee acted beyond the scope of her authority and that is a break of the public trust,” said Telluride Town Councilman Dan Enright. “How do we as a council work to rebuild and regain that trust?”  

Fee told the council, “I am happy to step back, and I also want to say I am grateful for the support of our community. I do look forward to the results of the impartial investigation.”  

On Jan. 22, the Mountain Village Town Council announced that it would hold a special meeting at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to elect the positions of mayor and mayor pro-tem and was taking applications from registered voters interested in serving on the Town Council to fill Prohaska’s vacancy.