After 13 days on strike, the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association has accepted a new contract offer from Telluride Ski & Golf to end the work stoppage that has created economic trouble in the town and pitted residents against one another.

Graham Hoffman, president of the ski patrollers’ union, confirmed that the 70-member organization had accepted the offer, which was made earlier this week. He was not immediately available to comment further.

The same day the bargaining stalemate ended, Telluride also received its first significant snowfall in many weeks.

The resort issued a statement Thursday afternoon, saying the mountain will soon begin the process of reopening more of the mountain by this weekend. “Lift 4 will open on Saturday with the additional runs of Butterfly, Lower Misty Maiden and Boomerang. The next objective will be to open the “Super Loop” with more lifts and terrain to follow,” the statement read.

The news comes nearly two weeks after the union went on strike, demanding better wages. Resort ownership chose to cease all operations at that time, leaving the town’s small business and workforce without their main economic engine.

The resolution comes on the heels of local calls for an agreement. On Wednesday, about 100 residents and business owners gathered in the streets to ask the two sides to end the impasse before it was too late to salvage the season.

The ski patrol strike began on Dec. 27 after the union and the resort’s ownership spent many months negotiating a new contract. The patrollers were advocating for higher wages as well as a pay structure that incentivized retention on the patrol. Both were essential to ensure the longevity of its membership and the safety of the mountain, patrollers previously said.

After initiating a strike, Telluride Ski Resort decided to close. The decision came during the height of holiday tourism, leaving the many travelers that chose to spend New Year’s Eve in the Western Slope town without the main attraction they came to enjoy.

Though town officials tried to push other activities, such as snowmobiling, ice skating and snowshoeing, lodging booking plummeted in the wake of the resort’s closure. The damage was swift and severe – business in January was down around 40% at local restaurants, several proprietors previously told The Denver Post.

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.