Nobody wants a strike. Patrollers love their jobs, their community and take the safety and wellbeing of the skiing public extremely seriously. We are first responders, we love to help, we run to the danger, never away.While I am disappointed to see Vail Resorts once again use the tactics of stonewall and delay to push the patrol to this point, I am not surprised. The ego and arrogance that they can wear down and break the solidarity of this patrol is astounding. And once again, I find myself crawling from the spectator bleachers to voice my full support of the Park City Mountain patrol and ask the greater Park City community to do the same.I helped found the Canyons Professional Ski Patrol Association and have negotiated multiple contracts from both sides of the table. I understand a few things about this process, and know this situation could have been avoided had Vail Resorts agreed to mediation months ago when the union proposed it. Instead, we head into the holidays with an uncomfortable uncertainty that impacts the whole community. Even a short disruption in business will have long-reaching reverberations While I have faith and respect for most of the patrol leadership at Park City Mountain, they are a head without arms or legs. The best leader in the world cannot accomplish their mission without the team, without the body and effort. The expertise and institutional knowledge. The innate understanding of the complexities of running daily operations at this behemoth of a resort.  When I was patrol director, it took a full season or more for an experienced new hire to fully understand the operation and show the value of their experience. To bring in outside patrollers and have the arrogance that the resort can function even close to normal or maintain the levels of safety and competence is laughable at best. If it snows? Running routes and opening will be a herculean task, needlessly exposing these replacement workers to harm. The Park City ridgeline has proven time and again it’s an avalanche problem not to be trifled with.When I started patrolling at ParkWest in 1992, I was paid $4.85 and hour. We got no overtime pay, no benefits and had little oversight. The patrol ran the mountain and times were fun. I was also able to pay rent, live in Red Pine Condos and afford groceries without stress.  Fast forward to 2024: The cost of housing in Park City is 268% higher than the national average. The cost of living is 66% higher than average. The condo I once lived in rents for a factor of 10 from when I was there, but wage increases are closer to a factor of 4. Corporate greed created this problem, and now the workers are pushing back. Loving your job and having a great quality of life don’t pay the rent. In an era when ski corporations are raking in record profits, sitting on hundreds of millions in cash, and constantly looking to acquire more, it’s unreasonable to expect skilled mountain workers to settle for less than the cost of living.  A $23 an hour starting wage is still laughable to me. They deserve far more. Ski patrolling is the best, worst, hardest job I ever had. It gave me my best friends, a wonderful community and amazing memories. It cost me my soul, paid for in thankless work, the blood and tears of my coworkers and guests. Once my usefulness as an expert witness expired, I was tossed aside like another piece of broken bamboo. Vail Resorts is about profits over people, while patrollers are about people always.Jake HutchinsonGunnison, ColoradoThe post Hardline tactics appeared first on Park Record.