Telluride Attempts To Hire Replacement Patrollers To Break Strike

As the high-stakes standoff between Telluride Ski Resort and its unionized ski patrol enters its second week, resort management has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign to hire temporary "scab" workers in a desperate bid to reopen the mountain for the remainder of the holiday season.

The resort, which took the unprecedented step of shuttering its entire operation on December 27, 2025, following a 99% strike vote by the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association (TPSPA), is now operating a "recruitment team" led by industry professionals. Their goal: to bypass the striking union and staff enough medical and safety personnel to resume limited operations.

Resort officials formed a recruitment team to identify experienced medical and mountain-safety personnel who can be deployed quickly, including certified patrollers and medical professionals with backcountry rescue experience. Management framed the effort as a temporary measure to maintain guest services and limit economic fallout during a peak period for tourism, while also urging the union and negotiators to return to the table.

Union leaders and striking patrollers have pushed back, arguing that replacements cannot replicate the institutional knowledge and local expertise of the regular patrol staff, and that hiring temporary workers undermines bargaining leverage in a dispute over wages and working conditions. The patrol association has highlighted the complexity of patrolling Telluride’s terrain and the specialized training required for avalanche control, rescue, and emergency medical response, saying those skills are not easily or safely substituted on short notice

Job postings for these temporary roles appeared on the resort's portal shortly before the walkout, offering hourly wages between $24.50 and $37.50—a rate notably higher than the starting pay for many current union members.

"The goal is to hire qualified and experienced personnel to temporarily fill the gaps," said resort representative Nancy Clark. "We are actively developing and refining our safety plan to support a safe reopening as soon as possible."

In a press release shared on Monday, Telluride said: “The ski resort is actively working on a plan to safely reopen Lifts 1 and 4 as quickly as possible. A defined number of medical providers are needed in order to do that, so the resort has formed a recruitment team, led by industry professionals. The goal is to hire qualified and experienced personnel to temporarily fill the gaps, allowing the resort to open as soon as possible.”

Ski patrol employee and union member Bennett Hrabovsky said he doesn’t think it’s likely the resort will find who they’re looking for.

“From my understanding, it’s been rather difficult to do so, I would imagine for the same reasons why we’re trying to negotiate a fair wage for ourselves,”

A "PhD in Skiing" vs. Temporary Staff - the union, which represents 78 patrollers, has expressed deep skepticism that the resort can find adequate replacements. They argue that Telluride’s steep, "extreme" terrain—including the high-altitude Palmyra Peak—requires years of specialized knowledge that temporary hires simply do not possess.

"These are not just ski bums," said Katherine Devlin, vice president of the TPSPA. "They handle avalanche control work with explosives and complex medical incidents in alpine terrain. We are not easily replaceable. These people basically have PhDs in skiing."

The safety concerns are underscored by the recent death of 30-year-old patroller Cole Murphy, who was killed in an in-bounds avalanche during pre-opening operations earlier this month. The tragedy has galvanized the union’s argument that the resort's current wage structure fails to reflect the life-and-death risks of the profession.

The Financial Chasm

Despite the massive economic loss caused by the closure during the busiest week of the year, the two sides remain stuck over a relatively small sum.

• The Union’s Demand: A starting wage increase from $21 to $28 per hour, citing the skyrocketing cost of living in San Miguel County.
• The Resort’s Offer: A 13% immediate increase for this season, which would bring trainees to roughly $24 per hour.

The union claims the total gap between their three-year proposal and management's offer is just $65,000—a figure they point out is far less than the revenue lost in a single day of closure.

Resort owner Chuck Horning has drawn fire from local residents and business owners for what many call a "nuclear option" closure. In a public statement, Horning blamed the union for the "devastating effect" on the town’s winter economy.

Meanwhile, any plan to reopen with replacement workers faces a steep hurdle: the U.S. Forest Service. Because the resort operates on public land, any new safety plan involving temporary staff must be approved by federal regulators. Reports have surfaced that the Forest Service remains wary of whether "scab" patrollers can meet the rigorous safety standards required for the resort’s technical terrain.