YOUR AD HERE »

Opinion | Ari Rabin-Havt: A lack of competition is hurting the ski industry, workers and consumers

Ari Rabin-Havt
Democratic columnist

In late January, workers living in the Breckenridge Terrace apartments took part in a sick-out protest due to poor living conditions in the workforce housing development. That same week at Keystone, the newly formed Ski Patrol Union, in the midst of their first contract negotiation, posted on social media that Vail was attempting to limit extra pay for those with advanced medical certifications.

Before these incidents occurred, I spoke with Josh Tzuker, who between 2022 and 2024 served as Chief of Staff in the Department of Justice’s anti-trust division. Josh is also a lifelong skier who loves snowsports and is now trying to pass that love to his children.

During our conversation, Josh emphasized that the problem with the ski industry’s consolidation is not simply on the consumer side, though we did spend ample time discussing those issues, but that it presents perhaps even a greater problem for workers. He explained, “the industry presents all the characteristics of what is called monopsony … when there is a labor problem, a lot of the time a monopsony is present.”



While in a monopoly you have one dominant firm controlling the sale of a product, in a monopsony you have one firm or a few powerful entities controlling the buying of a product.

“There is a monopsony in the buying of ski patrol talent,” Tzuker said. “If you are the rare person that has the skiing skill combined with the first responder capabilities and training, there’s only two companies you can sell your labor to, and that presents a huge problem.”



According to Tzuker as long as the ski industry is dominated by Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Co., it will focus its efforts on “ensuring that lawyers, doctors, stockbrokers and accountants from the coasts” are visiting resorts like Breckenridge. Workers will be left behind losing the ability “to negotiate for important benefits like better housing opportunities.”

Consumers, of course, are also bearing the cost from the consolidation of the ski industry.

Tzuker noted,  “I think what you’re seeing is everything from increased left lines, degrading on-mountain hospitality, degrading food choices, the dinginess of certain facilities, lack of lift operators, the closing of trails that often happen even when there’s ample snow and resources to open those trails, lack of grooming.” He continued, “Skiers have seen over the last few years example after example of shabby treatment at these duopolistic resorts. I know that there are innumerable Instagram accounts and Reddit discussion boards where people anecdotally put together more and more evidence that skiers, because they have this lack of choice, ultimately are cash cows (for Vail and Alterra) because they can’t go anywhere else. Complaints are met with either derision or neglect, and prices are escalating year after year after year.

He concluded “that, to me, is evidence of just lack of choice and lack of competition. That you can treat your loyal customers a certain way, but they just have to keep coming back.”

So what are the potential solutions to the problem?

According to Tzuker, the federal government could open “up more forest service acreage to ski resorts” outside of the current duopoly. He also suggested action to “break off some of the business units” to “get independent caters and independent ski lessons.” He explained, “To me, it’s surprising if somebody in Breckenridge wanted to take five kids skiing for the day, pack their own lunches and teach ski lessons, on land owned by the American people, we have in place a system where they can’t. You don’t have (other examples of) public land where only a singular company can work it.”

The unfortunate reality is none of these actions are likely to happen in the near future — just the opposite. Over the next few years there is likely to be further consolidation in the ski industry. That makes it all the more important that those of us who live in mountain communities support organizations like ski patrol unions and the workers living in uninhabitable conditions in the Terraces. 

Recently, ski patrol workers at Park City won a contract after striking. Hopefully, it won’t come to that, but workers in Summit County should know that, if they need to act, the community will stand behind them.

Ari Rabin-Havt lives in Breckenridge and served as deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign and was a Sanders aide from 2017 to 2021. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Jacobin, The American Prospect, The New Republic and other publications. You can find him on Twitter @arirabinhavt or email him at summitdailyari@gmail.com.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.