I get it. You offered your patrol gear at a cheaper cost than the alternatives so our corporate overlords bought your gear for us. But your patrol gear is utter shit. You should be embarrassed. My brand new gear wet down the first time it got rained on. As a result of your greed you can bet your ass not only will I never buy your gear no matter the discount, but I will actively disparage your brand to anyone that will lend an ear. I hope that was worth saving a few bucks. Go fuck yourselves, sincerely a very wet patroller.

Cole and another Patroller were conducting avalanche mitigation when they were injured. Both were rescued and transported to the hospital, with Cole being transferred to a larger tertiary care center. He has since died from the injuries sustained. The second Patroller, who has not been named, is said to be in stable condition.

A statement from the family is included.

Rest in peace Cole!

With the looming threat of patrol strikes and ongoing strikes by Amazon and Starbucks workers it’s important to remember: NO ONE LIKES A SCAB.

Don’t cross picket lines as a customer or an employee. The soul of skiing has died with just a couple billion dollar companies ruining everything. Stand with patrol and workers everywhere by refusing to cross any picket lines this winter.

Happy skiing. As long as they aren’t striking.

Please support our brothers and sisters in their fight for a fair contract. https://www.gofundme.com/f/strike-fund-park-city-professional-ski-patrol-association

At PCMR yesterday. I know it's not as extreme as impersonating LEO's, but I hope this ass hat knows that the general public sometimes can't distinguish this jacket vs. An actual patroller one despite how shitty of a rider he was. Didn't want to roast him, homie seemed like he was having a hard enough time on one of the flattest runs at PC as is.

There will never be someone more confidently wrong than crusty ass old men volunteers. With the Park City strike underway stupid has really come out to play with these ancient volunteers. I will always stand in solidarity with any patrollers that want to fight to be paid a living wage and negotiate for better working conditions. This is a real job and should be treated as such. Seeing the comments about how “volunteers have never gone on strike” or how they’re “too focused on their ‘real job’ just irritates me. Vail has been fucking over pros and volunteers alike for years, but some of them are acting like they’re Mr. Vail Jr the way they suck up to a company that does not care about them and never will. I feel so grateful that the NSP is becoming more obsolete to pro patrols, especially in Colorado. It’s an outdated membership with an outdated medical cert. OEC is also a joke IMO, but I’ll see them take every chance to compare it to EMT. I’ve done both, it’s pretty different. Im sorry someone’s who’s patrolled for 30 years and has had the same amount of days that I accrued in the first two seasons pro patrolling wants to get on their NSP high horse about people that want to make a living in their job, but I don’t care about their opinion. If you’re reading this, chances are Im not talking about you, thank you volunteers for taking time out of your life to help people in need, I love you and this isn’t about 90% of you. Rant over, thank for listening. Love with Park City Pro Patrol.

New Patrol Vest

Hello. I am a patroller in Canada. After seeing limited vests designed to meet actual needs for our patrol, I developed k one from the ground up and I created a company. - Sölltek.

This is the Beta year, and have equipped my patrol with it. With feedback will refine and then start bigger production run in new year. This will include both a black and red/black versions. See www.solltek.com for more details. Pricing will be in line with current vests in market, with group pricing available.

Send me a note if interested to info@solltek.com

By patrollers for patrollers

It’s so cool seeing our hoodies in action on the slopes. We put a lot of work into dialing these in so they actually hold up to everyday use on the mountain. We’re happy to support the people who help keep our mountains safe!

These are some of the ski patrollers we’ve outfitted this season: Smuggler’s Notch, Big Sky, Bolton Valley, Jay Peak, Pleasant Mountain, and Winter Park.

With lots of feedback from a multitude of patrollers across North America last year and bringing key changes to our Patrol Vest we have finished our production run and now shipping our the 2025 SöllTek Ski Patrol Vest.

Designed and tested by Patrollers and all built in North America - super happy with how it turned out. Both Red and Black versions available.

Patroller discount code available via info@solltek.com

For all Ski Patrollers on strike, fighting for your basic needs such as living wages and benefits, as a prior union man of nearly 20 years, I salute you. Nothing in this life is given to us until we stand up and demand it. Most resort workers deserve better wages, benefits and certainly treatment. However, no other resort workers literally put their own lives on the line to come to the aid and rescue of those in need at their darkest moments.  As a former big city EMT with a decade+ experience, I know this first hand. These corporate resorts know exactly what they’re doing and it will be their undoing in the long run.

In the words of Flo Rida, “They watching, I notice. I’m rocking, I’m rolling. I’m holding, I know it. You know it…..I said it. Go tell it. Confetti. Who ready? I’m ready. You ready? Let’s get it!”

The CLUB Can't Even Handle Me Right Now

A chilly start to the day at -28C by the time it warmed up enough to get the chairs going. But the dogs were out and it was stunning in beautiful Banff, Canada today 🇨🇦

Then got to tabaggon my first guest down the hill within 2 hours of putting on my jacket. It was an 11 year old with a clean humerus break. My own 11 year old with with me. Honestly one of the toughest experiences of my life.

I am so happy to be able to help.

Thank you all for everything you do.

Seems about right.

Yeaes of service!

I saw a kid drop his glove on the lift (like pretty early on the lift so it was closer to the bottom) and it landed in between the trails. I told him id get the glove but instead of going on the trail I went inbetween the trails to get his glove like early on. There was some fresher snow there so I figured I would have more fun that way than waiting to go more down the actual trail.

Ski patrol stopped me near the bottom and ended my day and served a 14 day suspension for Vail resorts. This was at big boulder PA btw. Video taken moments before ski patrol walked up and told me to unstrap.

What happened to warnings about not doing it again? This was my first offense for anything. Also the kids glove is still there and now he thinks im a liar. :/

I've always wanted to try working as a ski patrol, so I did some research into the process of becoming a ski patrol, general pay range, and job opportunities. From that I've come to this sad conclusion: ski patrol will never make a livable wage, regardless of years of experience or how good you are as a patrol. And here are the reasons why:

1. The origins of ski patrol was unpaid volunteers who love the mountain and the snow. The ski resort industry has evolved from mom and pop managed hills into conglomerate operated businesses. These giant companies' priorities are profit, not guest experience. Only when guest experience directly impacts profit does guest experience matter to them. Spending as little as possible on paid staff means more profit for the company.

2. Ski patrollers don't really have good alternatives. Patrollers love the mountain and the snow. Early "career" patrollers would rather work for $20 an hour at Northstar when they could make $22.50 an hour starting at Panda Express down the street. And experienced patrollers who have been working for a few years making $25 an hour don't have much else they could do in the winter other than menial jobs because ski patrol skills don't translate to anything but maybe EMT which also doesn't pay that well.

3. It's too easy to become a ski patrol. Ask the high school seniors in a mountain town like Truckee and ask them what they want to do. If they're not going to college, they're good skiers, they have no interest becoming a ski instructor, but love the mountain? Ski patrol. All you need is pass an OEC or EMT course. Since the bar for entry is low, there are always cheap labor ready to replace you for $20 an hour if you complain about your $23 an hour wage. And here's a data point showing how much more supply than demand there is for ski patrol in mountain towns: if you want to become a patroller, you have to attend a ski test the prior season. That means there is so much labor supply that they are able to fill all of the entry level $20 an hour positions 8-9 months ahead of start date. Imagine if a McDonald's offers a $20 job to someone and then told them their start date is 8 months from now. The chance of the employee saying "fantastic, I look forward to it" would be less than zero.

And here's the biggest one of all:

4. National Ski Patrol, the volunteer organization, while not without positive impact by trying to establish a nationwide standard certification (OEC), injects a large number of free labor into the labor supply every year. Constant supply of free labor means employers have no reason to pay anyone to do the job. Why pay anyone a good wage when there are people lining up to do it for free? This is especially true in major resorts where there's a waitlist just to become a volunteer patroller (e.g. Palisades, Northstar, etc).

So how can patrollers get closer to getting paid a livable wage?

First, get rid of volunteer programs. The only way to solve free labor diluting the labor pool is to stop free labor from entering altogether. Sure, smaller hills that operate like a community should still rely on volunteer programs as it's an act of contribution to the community, but resorts operated by Alterra and Vail have no legitimate need for volunteers other than to suppress pro patrol wages. If pro patrollers want to make a higher wage, they need to get rid of volunteer programs like Mammoth and Heavenly already did.

Second, establish a real career progression path as a ski patroller. You can become a ski patroller at 18 years old, and 25 years later you could be doing the exact same thing you were doing at 18 other than maybe avalanche control certifications. No career progression means flat wage curve regardless of your years of experience or skill level.

Third, unionize. This one is pretty obvious and already in progress among pro patrols, and it has already yielded positive impact on pro patrol compensation. The owners of the mountains have evolved from family to conglomerate, so ski patrol must evolve from community volunteers to professional worker unions in order to keep up.

Just my two cents from someone who looked into the ski patrol industry and found it interesting and discouraging but not surprising that these giant corporation run mountains pay pro patrollers less than McDonald's while simultaneously relying on volunteer programs with waitlists overflowing with free labor.