(Reuters) -Holiday skiers at Utah's Park City (NYSE:TRAK), the biggest U.S. ski resort, reported on social media that they were encountering long lift lines and some closed trails on Tuesday as a strike by ski patrol workers entered its fifth day.
Nearly 200 ski patrol and safety workers are on strike over demands for higher pay at Park City Mountain Resort, which is owned by Vail Resorts Inc (NYSE:MTN), demanding an entry-level base wage of $23 an hour, up from the current $21, according to an emailed statement from the ski patrol union.
This week is the busiest ski week of the year.
Park City remained open on Tuesday, and many of the ski patrol were still working, Vail Resorts said in an emailed statement. The company said it does not disclose staffing figures. Vail Resorts said it's common for some trails and lifts to be closed at this time of year. That's especially true this year, given the resort has received less snow than in the recent past.
The union, the Park City Professional Ski Patrol, said in its email that there are typically 120 people on patrol, but that on Tuesday there were between 30 and 35.
The union, in a post on social media, said Vail Resorts had "flown in scabs" from other resorts to work at Park City.
Sara Huey, a spokesperson for Vail Resorts, said in an email that the company had met 24 of the union's 27 demands since the ski patrol's contract expired in April. She provided no specifics on the demands the company had not met.
Huey said Vail had increased ski patrol wages by more than 50% during the past four ski seasons, pushing the average hourly wage to over $25.
The 7,300-acre ski resort did not sell same-day lift tickets on Monday, but resumed the same-day tickets on Tuesday, Huey said.
Vail Resorts operates more than three dozen ski resorts, including Vail and Breckenridge in Colorado, Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada, and Stowe in Vermont.