A high-altitude labor movement is burgeoning as ski resorts have consolidated and crowds have swelled, stressing working conditions for patrollers.
now includes Purgatory’s ski and bike patrols, said skyrocketing costs have accelerated turnover as members find cobbling together second jobs and summer gigs — as nearly all do — no longer adds up to a sustainable lifestyle. That leaves mountains more dangerous for patrollers and skiers alike, he said.
Purgatory patroller Zach McMahan, 28, responded to an overdose last year, helping to save the skier by administering the antidote Narcan. “On a mountain, it’s just hard to get them down and manage an airway and manage a person breathing and not breathing,” he said. “Those are the days you’re like, ‘It’s really fun to be part of a team that is highly skilled and highly competent.’”
Now patrollers make an average of about $20.50 — a dollar over the $19.48 that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator says is afor a childless adult in Colorado’s La Plata County. Durango, a quaint former mining town where ski season gives way to mountain biking and rafting, is the county seat.
“There’s never a chance for us to say we don’t have the people to get this done. We can’t say, ‘Sorry, we can’t do CPR on your loved one,’” Kautzman said. That, he added, “lends itself to a position where we can be taken advantage of.”The Kautzmans are the kind of residents Durango Mayor Barbara Noseworthy wants to keep. Notable about the city of 19,000 is what she calls “the missing middle” — workforce housing for people who do not qualify for low-income properties but are not wealthy.
Durango Mayor Barbara Noseworthy is promoting the building of more housing for working-class residents. Now, Donharl, who guides river raft trips in the summer, is the union president. “I’m still paycheck-to-paycheck, but the weight doesn’t feel as crushing,” she said.their own skis and boots — and included new uniforms and training opportunities.I definitely didn’t join this job because I want to be rich. But I also want to be able to live in my town.
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