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Slopes Are Empty as a Labor Dispute Shuts Down a Colorado Ski Town
Now, vacationers looking to ski are wondering what to do and merchants are hoping it doesn’t last.
Members of the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association picketed on Saturday to demand higher pay. William Woody for The New York Times
By Jack Healy
Reporting from Telluride, Colo.
Dec. 27, 2025
The ski runs above the mountain town of Telluride, Colo., sat eerily empty on Saturday. Chair lifts hung as motionless as icicles. Tourists slumped beside outdoor fire pits, trying not to think about the money they had spent on ski vacations now upended by a labor dispute.
“This is the first time I’ve seen snow in six years,” Alexander Caro, 23, who flew in from Miami with his family, said as he looked hungrily at the base of the ski mountain, now blocked off by “closed” signs.
The Telluride Ski Patrol is fighting for higher wages. William Woody for The New York Times
A few feet away, a golden Labrador retriever played fetch in the snow beside the resort’s shuttered main lift. It was the closest anyone would get to having fun on the mountain this holiday weekend, after the resort decided to shut down its operations in response to a vote by the ski patrollers’ union to reject a contract offer and go on strike for higher pay.
The resort and its owner, Chuck Horning, a real-estate investor based in California, blamed the patrollers for the shutdown. In an open letter, Mr. Horning accused the patrol union of rejecting what he called “industry-leading, livable and sustainable” pay increases that would have raised the starting pay for patrollers to about $24 an hour. ... Graham Hoffman, the president of the 78-member Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association, said the union had already come down from its initial demand of an increase of $8 per hour.
{snip}
Skiers found Telluride closed on Saturday as a labor dispute pulled the ski patrol from the slopes. William Woody for The New York Times
{snip}
The Telluride Ski Patrol came off the slopes on Saturday as part of an ongoing labor dispute. William Woody for The New York Times
{snip}
The Telluride Ski Patrol set up a picket line on Saturday as they pushed for higher wages. William Woody for The New York Times
{snip}
Jack Healy is based in Colorado and covers the west and southwest.
Now, vacationers looking to ski are wondering what to do and merchants are hoping it doesn’t last.
Members of the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association picketed on Saturday to demand higher pay. William Woody for The New York Times
By Jack Healy
Reporting from Telluride, Colo.
Dec. 27, 2025
The ski runs above the mountain town of Telluride, Colo., sat eerily empty on Saturday. Chair lifts hung as motionless as icicles. Tourists slumped beside outdoor fire pits, trying not to think about the money they had spent on ski vacations now upended by a labor dispute.
“This is the first time I’ve seen snow in six years,” Alexander Caro, 23, who flew in from Miami with his family, said as he looked hungrily at the base of the ski mountain, now blocked off by “closed” signs.
The Telluride Ski Patrol is fighting for higher wages. William Woody for The New York Times
A few feet away, a golden Labrador retriever played fetch in the snow beside the resort’s shuttered main lift. It was the closest anyone would get to having fun on the mountain this holiday weekend, after the resort decided to shut down its operations in response to a vote by the ski patrollers’ union to reject a contract offer and go on strike for higher pay.
The resort and its owner, Chuck Horning, a real-estate investor based in California, blamed the patrollers for the shutdown. In an open letter, Mr. Horning accused the patrol union of rejecting what he called “industry-leading, livable and sustainable” pay increases that would have raised the starting pay for patrollers to about $24 an hour. ... Graham Hoffman, the president of the 78-member Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association, said the union had already come down from its initial demand of an increase of $8 per hour.
{snip}
Skiers found Telluride closed on Saturday as a labor dispute pulled the ski patrol from the slopes. William Woody for The New York Times
{snip}
The Telluride Ski Patrol came off the slopes on Saturday as part of an ongoing labor dispute. William Woody for The New York Times
{snip}
The Telluride Ski Patrol set up a picket line on Saturday as they pushed for higher wages. William Woody for The New York Times
{snip}
Jack Healy is based in Colorado and covers the west and southwest.
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