Nearly all of Telluride’s unionized ski patrollers voted to strike last night after weeks working without a contract. In response, Telluride Ski Resort says it plans to close entirely as of Saturday. “Due to the Ski Patrol’s unfortunate choice to strike, we have made the difficult decision to dose the resort on Saturday, December 27th,” the resort said on its website. “Currently, we have no idea how long their strike will last so we will continue to work on a plan that allows us to safely open again as soon as possible.” In recent weeks, the ski resort has been advertising for temporary ski patrol positions in the event of a strike. It also tried recruiting healthcare workers from Montrose with an offer of free season passes.
The United Mountain Workers union says it opted to strike only after months of negotiations reached an impasse. The previous contract with Telluride expired on August 31st. “Tonight, after painful consideration, the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol has authorized a work stoppage to begin Dec 27 with a 99% yes vote,” the union said on Instagram. “Despite extensive effort and movement from TPSPA to avoid this outcome, the company continues to push a 2.5 week old Last, Best and Final Offer that does not address our concerns. The $65,000 gap between 3 year proposals reflects unwillingness from the company to fix a broken wage structure. We need a pathway to attract and retain, and the current proposal from Telski is simply a bandaid, not a long term solution.” Telluride Ski Resort says it offered an immediate 13 percent wage increase for the 2025/26 season and a guaranteed minimum Cost of Living Increase of 5 percent in the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons.
Seven chairlifts were operating at Telluride as of this morning. The Telluride-Mountain Village Gondola is operated by the Town of Mountain Village and not expected to close. Telluride says all lift ticket and lesson products will be automatically refunded during the closure. Season passholders will also receive prorated refunds based on the number of days impacted. “We are actively working with our partners at Vail Resorts to develop a solution for guests who purchased Epic Pass products for their Telluride visit,” Telski noted.
Lift Blog 
Closing during the holiday week is an absolutely wild move.
Does Telski really believe they can push off the negative consequences of this on the patrollers, probably the most sympathetic resort employees? The community/guest pressure to settle will only grow on Telski, not on the patrollers.
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Hear hear !!
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Telski already has developed a very poor management reputation. Tough location to bring in scabs. One doesn’t need a crystal ball to predict a rapid downward spiral as employees bail and guests find a new vacation destination.
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Telski is desperately committed to that final offer if they’re willing to flush the most lucrative week of the season rather than up the ante.
Given that, it could be a long strike.
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I applaud Telluride’s decision. Bravo! The town and ski patrol are doing you dirty. There are two sides to the story and the ski area’s side has not been fairly told.
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The guy is a serial sexual predator. He has committed domestic violence. He’s a fraud and a deadbeat. Say what you will, you could argue the ski patrol strike is karma. 🤷♂️
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/10/30/telluride-ski-resort-chuck-horning/
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Outside of the replacement of Plunge and the Revelation expansion, Horning has invested $0 into Telski while sucking profits back to CA. During his 21 year tenure the average lift age has increased from 12.2 to 30.1 years, and now there are three detachable older than 30 (4 more older than 25) years and two fixed grips 50 years or older.
Meanwhile horning just wants to fight everyone.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.
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Hopefully this isn’t another Park City Patrol Strike 2: Electric Boogaloo, Complete with Epic Lift Lines stretching out for a Mile or more
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