This Wildly Popular Colorado Ski Resort Shut Down Over A Labor Dispute. Here's What To Know

Southwest Colorado's Telluride is a year-round mountain destination, and during the winter, the immensely popular Telluride Ski Resort is a huge attraction. OnTheSnow named it the best ski resort in North America for 2023-2024, and it's one of the reasons that Colorado is known for having some of the best skiing in the U.S. But this ski resort is currently embroiled in an ongoing strike by the mountain's ski patrollers over pay. The strike shut down the resort entirely for more than a week over the holidays, and even now, only a small portion is open.

The conflict is between the Telluride Ski and Golf Company and the 78-member Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Union. After months of negotiating, the two parties couldn't reach an agreement for the next three-year contract. The ski patrollers voted to strike, starting December 27. In response, Chuck Horning, owner of the Telluride Ski and Golf Company, shut down the resort entirely the same day. It has since opened one lift, the Children's Learning Center, and the Meadows magic carpets, as updated on the ski resort's website. However, this is less than 2% of the over 2,000 acres of skiable terrain at Telluride, according to Powder.com.

If you are still planning to ski Telluride during the strike, lift tickets are $30 and only available in person at the time of this writing. Normally, Telluride daily passes start at $245 for adults. If you have an Epic Pass or a season pass for the resort, you can still access the open areas of the mountain. If you already bought passes and are no longer interested, you can request a refund.

The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol and the United Mountains Workers have posted on Instagram about the three-year deal that they were trying to make. Essentially, they couldn't agree on the wages for patrollers of all levels. While the union dropped previous requests for a health care stipend, the company still isn't on board. Along with wages starting at just $21 an hour, another major underlying issue is that it's too expensive to find housing for the ski patrollers. In 2024, Realtor.com named Telluride as the most luxurious ski town, with 38.5% of real estate listings valued at over $5 million.

The work that the ski patrollers do is integral to running the mountain. "Duties range from basic safety, like setting up bamboo and ropes, to responding to medical incidents to avalanche control work in the alpine terrain," Katherine Devlin, an experienced patroller and vice president of the union, explains to CPR News. "We are not easily replaceable. These people basically have PhDs in skiing. They've devoted their lives to this career."

All things considered, there are people still out on the slopes. Greg Cairns checked out the situation, posting about what he saw on the slopes in a video on YouTube. From Lift One, he says, "It seems like a lot of families with kids, a lot of teenagers ... making the most of a tough situation." He also confirmed that there are ski patrollers on the mountain, though not many.

Colorado has seen record lows when it comes to snowfall this ski season, and many resorts, including Telluride, have had to open later than usual. When you add the ongoing strike, Telluride as a town is hurting. Along with visiting the slopes, Greg Cairns also spoke with some downtown Telluride business owners, one of whom said customer traffic was pretty good through the holidays, but it has since slowed way down. The Denver Post has also reported that visitor numbers are lower than normal. Mayor Teddy Errico spoke about the ongoing dispute in his state of the town address on January 6, saying, "This situation has real impacts, both immediate and long-lasting, and for many in our community, those impacts are personal, economic, stressful, and extremely dire."

The Telluride Ski and Golf Company directly affects local businesses and residents, and Chuck Horning is already fairly unpopular with some in town. "I don't think I can trust Mr. Horning's word," Dan Enright, a Telluride council member, told The Denver Post back in April. The ongoing strike could also have a detrimental impact on Horning's own bottom line. A similar strike by ski patrollers happened last year in the pretty mountain town of Park City, Utah, and a class-action lawsuit was even filed over the lack of access to the ski slopes for pass holders. Time will tell what happens in Telluride.