This story was published in Volume 1, Issue 2
The hardest part of a ski patroller’s day can also be the best. Patrollers like Evan Calves see people at their worst, which is challenging and rewarding.
Ski patrollers complete essential tasks to make skiing possible. To maintain the resort, they conduct trail checks, assess new terrain, and act as first responders in medical emergencies. Patrollers are the backbone of Colorado’s beloved pastime, but their roles often go unnoticed, pushing some to unionize and bargain for benefits.
As vice president of the Eldora Professional Ski Patrol Union, Calves said he starts his day an hour and 15 minutes before opening. He suits up and heads to the morning meeting with his team to discuss daily goals and logistics. From there, they go up the hill, and complete trail checks.
“We set up signs, rope blinds, make sure closures are in place that need to be there and then make sure the rest of the run is safe for the public to be on, ” Calves said.
After, the patrol takes position for the public to arrive, attending to their duty stations. Throughout the day, Calves and his colleagues undertake projects like maintaining open terrain, opening and assessing new terrain or performing avalanche control. On top of this, the team responds to any injuries and accidents on the mountain.
Completing a long day of work, the patrol sweeps the entire resort.
“We go down every trail, make sure everyone’s off of it, make sure everything’s put away for the night,” Calves said.
A ski patroller’s itinerary can vary depending on the day of the week. Weekends tend to be less project-focused because there are more guests, resulting in more injuries to attend to and more calls to run. Calves and his team call it “sitting status” when they’re up top and ready to run calls.
Routine can also vary by season. The early season is more project-heavy compared to the busy season.
“While there might not be as many people skiing on the mountain and we don’t have as much terrain open, we are pretty busy trying to get ready to open more,” Calves said.
To become a ski patroller, the fundamental steps are medical training like earning the outdoor emergency care qualifications, having a background or interest in snow science and experience in skiing.
“When someone is having one of their worst days on the ski hill — which is a situation that no one wants to be in, and we don’t want them to be in that situation — but we need to show up for them,” Calves said.
The Eldora Professional Ski Patrol Union is fairly new. It was initiated with the goal of obtaining more workplace protections and better benefits like healthcare and wages. The idea sprouted in the spring of 2023 and continued through the summer. By winter, patrollers made a petition that required signatures from 30% of them to hold an election.
“We had a lot more than 30%,” Nick Lansing, the union’s president, said.
An election was held in March 2024, where ski patrollers voted 30-3 to unionize. They started negotiating their contract that September. This is where the bargaining unit came in, which is a group of patrol volunteers that meets with representatives from Eldora and its owner POWDR to negotiate, acting as the patrollers’ unified voice.
The union quickly reached a tentative agreement, but full negotiation took 13 months. Throughout, the bargaining unit and company representatives read and discussed each article of the contract. There were 30 articles, consisting of various topics like healthcare.
The union ratified its first contract in October 2025, ending the long negotiating process.
“Being part of a union is something that can help us, as things continue to change in the industry, it can help protect us and make us more adaptable,” Calves said.
