Park Record file photo
Park City Mountain Resort ski patrollers will be getting a year-end bonus after all, joining the rest of their colleagues after agreeing Friday to reenter an employment contract in a short-term fix that sets terms for the rest of this ski season.
The parties also agreed to continue negotiating for a longer-term solution, agreeing to bargain for a new, multi-year deal.
The president of the union, Joe Naunchick, claimed PCMR owner Vail Resorts deliberately used the bonuses to try to gain leverage in negotiations that have stretched on since August.
“It was a shame that the company used this bonus as a bargaining tool,” Naunchik said. “Every employee that interacted with guests deserved this bonus, whether they were unionized or not. … It was a bargaining tactic by Vail to see what they could extract from the union.”
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The stairway to heaven may actually be a bootpack.
Just a 15-minute hike in ski boots up through the snow from the Ninety-Nine 90 lift on The Canyons side of Park City Mountain Resort delivers skiers and snowboarders a view from the clouds, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Cobalt blue peaks blanketed in brilliant white snow and shaded with crystalized conifers huddle around the ridge line. Below, wide open aprons of nearly untouched powder unfurl, ushering riders into their own semi-private Shangri-la.
But those who accept the invitation into the unmaintained backcountry terrain may be making a deal with the devil. A stark black-and-white sign at the resort exit point cautions as much. It is not inappropriately marked with a skull and crossbones and the words “YOU CAN DIE.”
Backcountry ski entry from resorts reconsidered after deaths
JULIE JAG, The Salt Lake Tribune
March 14, 2021
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1of3Park City Mountain Resort ski patrollers hike the boot-pack path toward the ski area exit gate on the ridge above the Ninety-Nine 90 lift, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, in Park City, Utah. Access to the gate has been closed since two men died in January in avalanches in the adjacent unmaintained backcountry areas after leaving the resort through that point. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)Rick Egan/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3The exit gate on the ridge above the Ninety-Nine 90 lift at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah, seen here Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, has been closed since two men died in January in avalanches in the adjacent unmaintained backcountry areas after leaving the resort through that point. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)Rick Egan/APShow MoreShow Less
Dearest Park City,
Today I am writing you a love letter. I have had some things on my mind and feel the need to get them down on paper, so you know how I feel about you. This has been an incredibly challenging year, made slightly more challenging because last week I had a terrifying ski accident (in Montana don’t worry it didn’t happen on your terrain), and am scheduled for surgery (my second in less than two years) in two weeks. I know, so far this doesn’t read like a love letter, but I’m getting there.
It’s hard to know what to make of the news. You read the headlines, and the conclusion is that the sky is falling. Runaway growth, insufferable traffic, the obliteration of our small-town character, chain stores on Main Street and possibly the Olympics coming back to town. If you picked up a copy of The Park Record from 40 years ago, the headlines would be surprisingly similar. The construction of the Shadow Ridge condominiums was going to knock the planets out of alignment. The world escaped destruction only by moving the Miners Hospital from its original location to City Park.
Park Record columnist Tom Clyde.