The humans who keep other humans safe at ski resorts are among the lowest-paid employees in the U.S. The 135,070 Americans who call themselves Ski Patrollers can expect to take home a mere $10.11/hrour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. To combat this poor hourly rate, ski patrols across the country have been forming unions.
The Park City Mountain ski patrol - newly merged with Canyons Ski Resort - became the latest to join a growing list of patrol unions in December.
"Ski patrolling is a specialized job that takes years of experience to really understand the mountain," Park City ski patroller Johnny Miner said to Powder. "I think a lot of people see this as a ski bum job - you do it for a couple of years and you move on. But there are quite a few of us that make a career out of this."
While it varies mountain to mountain, nearly all ski patrollers often have the medical training equivalent to that of an EMT. EMTs, however, earn a median salary of $31,700, more than $12,000 higher than patrollers, who can expect only $19,040.
"We don't get 401ks, we don't get insurance, we don't have life insurance. If you lose your life doing patrol work, your family is given 60 percent of your salary for a couple of years, then that's it," said Rey Deveuax, a 42-year-old vet of Taos Ski Valley, according to Powder.
Before this winter, the newly formed Telluride ski patrol union voted 50-1 to ratify their first union contract after they organized last spring, reported the Telluride Daily Planet. The contract includes wage security and increases, a grievance policy, improvements to job security, and benefit improvements.
Despite these gains, only a handful of ski patrols have gone this route, according to Ski-Patrol.net. The vast majority of ski patrollers throughout the U.S. remain unorganized.
