Re: “The Big Picture: Rising out of recession,” SDN, Feb. 8

I truly enjoyed your guide to “who makes what” in the mountain communities. At last we can all see the disparity between local government jobs and the worker bees who contribute to all those tax dollars going to the salaries of others.

Now please understand: I do accept the idea of differences in pay due to a job holder's experience and talent, but it always gets me how the CEO of Vail Resorts, Robert A. Katz received a compensation package of $2,999,437 for the year 2010 (Forbes) and the lonely lift operator brings home $8.70/hour, according to your article. It bewilders me why companies choose to embrace “employee churn” instead of retaining people who want to make a career. I guess it is cheaper to train new workers instead of supplying them health insurance and periodical raises. The long line of new snow cravers who flock to resorts must be enough.

Every year I meet new, starry-eyed folks who want to be involved with the ski industry only to realize that their aspirations will be short-lived and squashed by low wages and high living costs. I was a lift operator at Snowmass in 1992 and was being paid the same ($8.70/hour) 18 years ago! No cost of living increase or adjustment for inflation in all that time? Pathetic. I guess as long as there are droves of kids willing to work for nothing this industry will keep getting away with it. As the saying goes: “You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

That Aspen Town Manager job is starting to look pretty good! Just don't know if I can make ends meet at $173,763/year though!