well i'm not taking a gap year but to start off the year before uni i'm heading to japan for a week or 2, kick off my new life out of school in Niseko.
IT all depends on if you have the money to travel, get enough for a plane flight and some accomodation/tiny bit of spending money, if ur planning to settle into a palce, get a job their asap or conntact a potential employer before you go their.
Option 2 is if you're planning to jsut keep travelling around, get minor jobs while ur in a place for a week or so skiing, like a waiter, dish monkey or something, jsut enough to keep you going to your next destination.
Plan out your route beforehand as well, travelling always has it's spur of the moment trips but you need to figure most of it out unless you want to end up no money and calling home from the embassy needing cash
anyway, i agree with the above people, travel out of your own country/comfort zone, you could always try and find some mates who also like to ski/snowboard/travel so you can have people you know with you, this will create lifelong bonds as well with your friends.
Best bet is hit it off with america or europe, then travel to Aus, NZ or Argentina...don't know about Argentina but Aus and NZ don't have much work on snow unless you want to be a liftie, ski patrol or instructor..unless you get one of the hard fought jobs in a little cafe on the slope that usually locals get
anywya that's my 2 cents