To call Vail Resorts, Inc., anything but evil is sinful behavior here in Colorado. But the current ownership of Telluride Ski Resort is looking to top Vail in villainous behavior, with its recent scandal and failures causing a catastrophic economic hit to the Southwest ski town.
On Dec. 27, 2025, the Telluride ski patrol union went on strike, which lasted 13 days. Ski Patrol’s union contract expired on Aug. 31, 2025, and negotiations between the parties began soon afterward. Yet by the time the ski season started in late November, no agreement was made. Resort owner Chuck Horning refused to match the union’s offer and closed the mountain on the 27th.
Telluride is a single-industry town and one of the most expensive places to live in Colorado. Instead of paying the mountain’s essential workers a livable wage, Horning chose to shut it down and let that decision ricochet onto the small businesses that give Telluride its signature charm.
This is an immediate loss to both equipment rental companies, as well as to non-unionized ski instructors. During the strike, bookings dipped by nearly 50% in comparison to the same two-week period last year.
“We’ve taken a big hit…Personally, for me, my shifts have been cut…so I’m making about 30% of what I normally would have made,” said a restaurant worker to Sam Weintrab during the closure.
“It was worse than we expected,” said Ski Patroller Bailey Mallette to CBS. “This was the only leverage we had.”
On Jan. 9, the parties reached an agreement, and the ski area opened the next day. However, the town’s economy won’t bounce back as quickly.
Now to the lesser evil: Vail Resorts. Vail owns 42 mountain resorts across the world, including Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte here in Colorado.
Colorado and other ski-heavy states typically oppose Vail because of its “Epic Pass,” a move that altered the ski industry by consolidating mountain access while raising prices. Launched in 2008, the full pass gives access to over 90 mountains, including Telluride as a partner resort, with seven days included. However, Telluride is not currently on the local pass, a more affordable and common option among seasoned skiers.
Skiers hate Vail because once a resort is bought, long lift lines and overcrowding are inevitable. When a resort is added to Vail’s Epic Pass, it instantly becomes a busy travel destination, and consequently, food, hospitality and everything else gets more expensive.
However, let’s not pretend Telluride lives far out of this realm. Don’t let the lack of chain stores fool you; Telluride is a town that exists primarily for tourists, despite how small it actually is.
The off-season is proof of that. A majority of restaurants and stores close, leaving Clark’s Market and the Main Street bakery as the sole options for locals.
Now, this is not a defense or apology for Vail. In 2009, a one-day adult lift ticket was $97 at Vail. This year it’s $307. Vail is a large factor in why skiing is now a luxury.
Vail represents everything that makes skiing inaccessible and less enjoyable, but to some extent, Telluride has adopted those burdens without reaping any of the infrastructure benefits, such as improved snowmaking, more mechanics on staff or even enough patrollers to prevent a full-mountain closure in the event of a strike.
For example, when the Ski Patrol at Park City, a Vail mountain, held a strike in late 2024, exactly one year before Telluride (yes, a bit on the nose), the mountain did not close completely, but instead closed certain lifts due to fewer ski patrollers on staff, leaving others open for visitors to ski on limited terrain.
Even Vail-owned mountains will face conflict with their unions, but they won’t let one of their mountains shut down during the busiest ski week of the year. It’s selfish and bad business.
And just because Telluride Ski Resort has reopened, the damage done by Horning doesn’t end there.
Last year, Altezza, a restaurant in a popular resort hotel partially owned and managed by Horning, closed, and all employees were fired overnight.
“Many of these employees are in Telski housing, so they could lose their housing,” Mayor Pro Tem Scott Pearson told The Telluride Times. “It’s quite a dramatic situation.”
“I don’t lease anything. I somehow figure out how to own it,” Horning said about the situation.
Whether it’s putting people out of jobs or just refusing to pay them, Horning sees no value in the workers who keep the mountain running, and Telluride cannot face another scandal or closure in the future, especially considering the final deal did not hit Ski Patrol’s original demands.
Maybe being backed by the largest ski mountain corporation in the world would not be so bad. Or maybe it would just be better than what is going on now.
Vail keeps people skiing. Can Telluride say the same?