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With increasing cost of living and stagnating wages, Purgatory Ski Patrol is following suit with many other rescue teams across the West in an attempt to unionize. The hope, ski patrollers say, is to then begin negotiations with the resort./ Photo by Missy Votel
A unified front Purgatory Ski Patrol moves to unionize for better pay, benefits by Jonathan Romeo
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ki patrollers at Purgatory Resort appear set to join the growing ranks of rescue teams across the West in establishing a union to collectively push for better wages, compensation and benefits. After years of discussion, Purgatory Ski Patrol sent out ballots to about 50 of its members to vote on whether or not to unionize. Though the majority of ballots have been turned in, an official decision won’t be announced until sometime in April. However, Jason Moore, a ski patroller at Purgatory, said an informal poll of the team before ballots went out found that about 90% of members favor unionizing, an encouraging sign the move for a unified voice is on the right track. “Right out of the gate, we had pretty high support,” he said. “We thought it would be worth organizing and giving ourselves a better opportunity for a collective voice.” Unionizing discussions at Purgatory, as well as at ski resorts across the West, have taken place for years, though in most cases failed to gain momentum. But the past two years, specifically, have seen a tipping point for patrollers who say their work is under-
paid and underfunded. At Purgatory, for instance, the starting wage for a ski patroller is just $13 an hour (minimum wage in the state is $12.56), which has led to high turnover rates. And, several members interviewed for this story said the department – whose tasks include emergency rescue, medical calls and avalanche mitigation, to name a few – is chronically under budget. “The reason we do this job is because we love it,” Bob Rydiger, who has worked for Purgatory Ski Patrol for 40 years, said. “But we’ve noticed the prices going up for everything, and our wages haven’t been following that bottom line. We’d like to be better compensated.” A growing problem In February, Purgatory Ski Patrol notified Mountain Capital Partners, the entity that owns and operates the resort, that it was going to hold a formal vote on whether to unionize. This move, it appears, was the culmination of years of longstanding issues and frustration over funding. One of the obvious issues, Moore said, is that the starting wage is $13 an hour for a position that requires a number of medical certifications and emergency training requirements. Other ski mountains, like Vail and Aspen, have recently raised initial
wages to $20-$21 an hour. Purgatory ski patrollers don’t have a set starting wage in mind at the moment, but will come to a number in line with other resorts, Moore said, likely during negotiations. Ski patrollers also seek an increase in gear stipends. This year, for the first time, Purgatory gave members a stipend for gear (that price was not disclosed). But given that ski patrollers, usually out on the slopes 100 days a season, supply their own skis or snowboards, boots, helmets and other equipment, this money goes quickly and is not nearly enough, patrollers say. And, the department’s chronic underfunding on equipment like ropes, snowmobiles, drills and tools needs to be addressed, Rydiger said. Several ski patrollers also noted that Purgatory’s radio system – a pretty important tool for emergencies on the mountain – barely works. “Our radio system was pretty hit or miss this year,” Rydiger said. All of these issues have led to rampant ski patrol turnover. The team had to replace 14 new patrollers in 2020, and 10 new members in 2022. That amounts to almost 50% turnover in the past two years, with many leaving for jobs with Mercy Hospital or Durango Fire Protection District that offer better pay and benefits. New or less ex-
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perienced patrollers, of course, lead to more safety concerns and more time spent on training. “It takes a couple years to grow a patroller to where they are a solid, real-world experienced patroller,” Moore said. “I know for a fact we could keep a lot more people with better wages and benefits.”
Why now? Ironically, the influx of new patrollers, some from resorts that have unionized and seen success, is what helped build momentum at Purgatory. Add on the fact that the cost of living in Durango and La Plata County has skyrocketed over the past two years, and the situation reached a breaking point. Put simply: the long-held stereotype that patrollers are ski bums who do it for powder days on the mountain, not the pay, just wasn’t cutting it anymore. “Most of our team would do whatever they could to make ends meet and still do this job, because they love it,” Moore said. “But we lose so many people, because (our wages) can’t compete, and it’s just not financially viable for them.” Unionizing, ski patrollers said, will give the team a unified voice for negotiating. Rydiger said ski patrol isn’t a year-round career, but increased benefits and March 31, 2022 n 7
