- 90 volunteers let go
- Over 10,000 service hours to make up annually.
For decades volunteer ski patrollers have helped keep guests safe at Park City and Canyons but that era has come to an end reports the Park Record.
Related: Top 10 Reasons To Be A Ski Patroller.
Recently, resort officials including the head of ski patrol at Park City Mountain Resort announced they would be eliminating the National Ski Patrol Volunteer Program for this upcoming season. In the past, volunteer ski patrollers have been pivotal pieces of the overall mountain’s safety strategy at Park City– especially during holidays and busy weekends.
In the coming weeks, Park City officials are expecting former volunteers to apply for full time jobs. While that may work for some, it will most certainly not work for all. Most ski patrollers did their duty solely for the pleasure of being out on the mountain and helping others… not to mention a discounted ski pass.
“As our resort has grown significantly over the past few years, and in order to deliver our vision for the guest experience, we have decided to staff and further develop our patrol program using only employees and eliminating the NSP volunteer patrol program.” – Park City Mountain message to NPS volunteers
At the end of the day, PCMR has decided to end the program citing an better guest experience as their end goal. But before they offer a better, safer product for their visitors, they’ll have to replace the thousands of volunteer service hours given by the former volunteer program.
Find the entire Park Record article here: Park City Mountain Resort axes volunteer patrol program