Ski Patrol is a skilled profession requiring advanced certifications and precise knowledge of mountain specifics, yet workers in the industry are routinely undervalued and their professional work environment and safety disregarded. Across the ski industry, skilled workers are choosing union representation as the best strategic step towards having their needs met and building a career.

As ski patrollers, we feel an urgent need for change in order to envision a sustainable future in patrol work. 

We, the professionals of Eldora Ski Patrol, work hard in providing top-quality emergency response, patient care, and mountain management to one of Colorado’s busiest ski areas. Our daily responsibilities include a myriad of tasks on which the mountain depends, including hazard assessment, risk mitigation, and snow safety work. We are proud to work for Eldora Mountain Resort, and to help provide the Front Range and beyond with a safe, fun, and inclusive local ski area. We love what we do, which is why we so frequently go the extra mile for the benefit of the greater community. Our primary goal in organizing is to give our patrollers the support they need to continue returning year after year as stewards of our mountain. 

We are forming a union with the United Professional Ski Patrols of America (UPSPA), Local 7781 of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The CWA is one of America’s largest and most diverse unions, representing workers not just in the information industries but also the news media, airlines, broadcast and cable television, public service, higher education and health care, manufacturing, and more. We look forward to joining its ranks among the UPSPA, which serves as a voice and wealth of resources for the collective wellbeing of its affiliate patrollers nationwide. 

Eldora is a business, and we wish for it to succeed; we firmly believe that by having a collective voice we will be able to ensure this to the maximum of our abilities. Prosperity in our field is rooted in open communication and honest dialogue, and we see UPSPA membership as the means to this end. 

As the ‘24/’25 season draws near, we are entering a new era of Eldora Ski Patrol. We move forward with renewed enthusiasm and optimism, rooted in solidarity.