The lack of natural snow in Park City’s mountains meant more than potentially missing a white Christmas.
It’s also is why the ski resort has limited work for roughly 30 employees, according to Kate Lips, president of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association’s executive board.
On Christmas Eve, for instance, the resort’s website showed only 24 of its 41 lifts were open, along with only 51 of its 350 trails and 14% of its terrain.
“Lift and terrain openings for this year are within the typical range for the weather that we have seen date,” said Sara Huey, the director of community and government affairs for Vail Resorts, which owns Park City Mountain.
It’s one example of what’s been a relatively dry snow season for northern Utah, according to Monica Traphagan, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Salt Lake City office.
Near the Park City resort, for instance, readings from an observation point at Parley Summit showed snowpack was roughly 50-70% of what it would be in a normal year.
“As far as snow amounts, it’s definitely less than we want to see,” Traphagan said.
According to Lips, who described the staffing cutbacks as furloughs, the situation isn’t all too uncommon.
“Working in a weather-dependent industry, this is unfortunately a reality during many years,” she said Tuesday, later adding that the union does not view the situation as an unfair labor practice.
Huey said Thursday it was inaccurate to categorize the situation as a furlough, which she said is “typically connected to economic hardship.”
“Our staffing model is consistent from year after year,” Huey said. “That’s well known to our both returning and new-hire seasonal employees.”
Lips said the staffing adjustments began at the end of ski-season training, which ran from the end of October to the beginning of December.
“With more snow in the forecast, we are hopeful that all of our employees will be called back to work soon,” she said.
Looking ahead, Traphagan said a series of storm systems this weekend and early next week are expected to bring “a good amount of snow, primarily for the mountains and especially for northern Utah.”
“That should help to at least put a good dent in those numbers and get us much closer to average for this time of year in terms of snowpack,” she said.
The ski patroller union says it has separately faced several frustrations this season while negotiating with the resort. They began talks in March, about a month before their latest contract expired, and have yet to reach a new agreement.
Patrollers are seeking higher starting pay — from $21 an hour to $23 — as well as more compensation for experienced patrollers and safety workers, plus a potential year-round benefits package.
Earlier this month, the union also voted to approve strike authorization, meaning patrollers can go on strike at any time.
“The strike authorization vote doesn’t necessarily mean we are going on strike,” Margaux Klingensmith, the union’s business manager, previously told The Salt Lake Tribune. “But if the company forces us down that path, our unit is willing to stand together to secure a fair contract.”
The resort and union recently agreed to mediation after the union filed unfair labor practice complaints against Vail Resorts.
