Park City, Utah — In case you needed a reminder that opening steep terrain isn’t easy, Park City Mountain Resort’s ski patrol has demonstrated how tricky it can be.
On Tuesday, Park City Mountain Resort announced that the 9990 Express is open. The terrain, which features exclusively expert trails and glades, is currently recommended for experts only due to thin cover and the high probability of core shots.
With a lack of significant snowfall so far this December, opening this terrain wasn’t easy. Shortly after the ski resort’s social media post, the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association shared the work patrollers did to get the terrain ready to go. Six weeks of boot packing, avalanche mitigation, and setting up ropes were done to make this terrain skiable to the public. This is similar to the work that Keystone ski patrollers, who are also unionized and in contract negotiations with Vail Resorts, do to open their high-elevation terrain. The ski patrollers at Park City Mountain Resort deserve a lot of credit for getting this open so early.
This brings us to the latest on the labor dispute between PCMR and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association. The two sides have come to a tentative agreement on an education and training package but are struggling to find common ground on wages and benefits. However, the latest is that the two sides agreed to mediation in order to find a way to strike a deal. The PCPSPA has created a strike fund in case they do decide to go that route, which you can check out here.
Image/Video Credits: Park City Mountain Resort, Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association
