Need some serious advice (long story warning)

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kiwi_as

Member
Hey guys, looking some help from NS. I live in NZ, and i've been dreaming of traveling to Canada for a northern hemisphere season for the last 3 years. I'm not lucky enough to have super rich parents to send me over, and last season I wasn't old enough to get a work visa. So I have been planning to head over for 08/09, I've spent a long time planning, did instructor training last season so I could have a good Mtn job, have been saving up this year to send myself over and everything has been going well.

But then 2 weeks ago I had a bad crash here in NZ and dislocated and fractured my hip. Apparently I'm looking at 3 months on crutches, followed by a lot of recovery and rehab. The way that I crashed, this sort of injury just doesn't seem justified, too severe for what happened. So not only do I miss out on pretty much the whole nz season, but if I believe what the doctors have told me, all of my dreams and hard work to get over there this season have been in vain. I know it may seem impatient, but I just can't wait a full year to go skiing again, or wait until the 09/10 northern season, it'll kill me. I've already started getting depressed about this, I'm more obssessed with skiing than most people and to have something i'm so passionate about put on hold for such a long time is pretty much a worst case scenario. I know things could be a whole lot worse, but this is just how i'm feeling.

Right now I want to look into the possibility of having a trip over planned and ready so that if I feel like I'm ready to start getting back into skiing by the time the season rolls around, I can still get over there. This is where you come in. If anyone can give me any advice on resorts that could give me an offer of a mountain job on hold, know people that I could contact that could be helpful, places where there is still accommodation available around december/january that isn't rediculously expensive, anything that you think could be helpful to get at least some sort of an opportunity available. Its hard to put into writing the sort of advice im looking for, but anything you can give me would be a huge help.

++++Karma for anyone who has anything to say to help out, and I'd be forever grateful to anyone that could hook me up with contacts to get in touch with. Please Help!!!!!

So thats my story...
 
Dam that's unlucky dude. Good luck on the recovery, I'd say take it easy and remember doctors aren't always acurate on the recovery times.
 
Eat more nutrients than you usually would, and a lot of calcium. Do your physical therapy like a champ too, that might help. that sucks that you got injured..
 
haha alta dosent have a park but it gets some of the most and definantly the best snow in the U.S. If ur looking for park there is park city which is like 40 min. away, its got one of the best parks in the country. Alta's like a natural terrain park tho and has so many backcountry jump spots within like a 20 minute hike.
 
maybe check out telluride, I have a buddy that got a mnt job there last year pretty easily... they have employee housing, but I'm not sure how good it is, so also look into the option of an apartment if you can find roomates.

they have a sick park, and even sicker cliff lines and steeps.... not to metion telluride get way less crowds then most places.
 
Yeah like above Altas a pretty chill place to work ^^^, and if you're in to park then PC isn't very far away. Anyways just keep telling yourself it could be a lot worse , because in all honesty it could have been way worse, and you might have missed out on half or all the season because of it. You'll still get to go, so dont get too bummed out on yourself.
 
im sure its hard for you to handle the fact that you might not be able to ski this season in NZ. To me life always throws crazy shit at you and it will continue to, each injury or emotion is happening for a reason which will build you emotionally stronger as a person. Look at it as an obstacle and how you can work around it, during the time of your injury maybe a lot of good will come from it just don't give up on living.

your injury gives you more time to experience life at wherever your living now, so just do as much as you can to enjoy it even tho it may be hard. Skiing wasn't meant to happen for you just yet, look at it with reasoning.
 
if i read right he said he wants to go to Canada...which is ok but the US is killer too...Alta would be a good choice for the US because you have good all around skiing, chill peeps, and Snowbird has a killer park that you can ski to from alta if you want to...

For Canada i suggest Kicking Horse up by Golden...it's a gnarly mountain with a ton of snow, a meh park, and some super heady cliffs and bowls...good atmosphere and what not...only problem is Golden is kinda a scummy town but you might like the atmospher (no offense to anyone who lives there)

And also dood, it's around 4 months until the ski season begins at KH and Alta and 5 months until anywhere on the East Coast so i'd say you have enough time to recover for atleast being able to ski and teach atleast marginally well (which you dont need much of to teach little tikes and gapers)

I think you have a pretty good chance of working this out dawg...

anything else just holler at a brother
 
yeah i broke my arm one season and had to sit out the whole thing. one of the worst times of my life. idk where about in canada you are looking at. for example more West hitting up like BC Whistler or more East where i live and hitting up Tromblant. Both are amazing i have only skiied at tromblant and it is great skiing. but if ur looking for a true skiing adventure deff go with BC and whistler blackcomb. the winter olympics are being held there. nuf ced

hope my advice helped you atleast pick which part of canada you are considering
 
Alyeska Ski Resort, in Girdwood AK, 30 miles out of anchorage, has a plethora of jobs. i doubt you want to come live in AK but if you do theres a bunch of jobs for you here. and some world class skiing
 
even though alta doesnt have a park, its a really sick resort and i know that some employees live up there, and a lot house together down in sandy...
 
Cheers guys this is awesome. Alta definately sounds like a sweet place, ill start looking into it. I'm keen to go to a resort that gets some good pow, but has at least some sort of a park to muck around in, i'm used to some pretty average parks at Mt Ruapehu down here so anything will be a step up pretty much, so Alta definately sounds good.
 
In no way am I knocking Alta because it is one of the best resorts in the world. But they do not have a park because it is a skier's only resort. When I went to snowbird/alta this year. Snowbird's park was very disappointing. They had no sizable jumps or rails and a very poor halfpipe. Skiing was good but their park was very poor. If you are looking for a good park go to Park City, Utah. Or another good mountain is Mammoth in California.
 
Reno/Lake Tahoe has TOOOONS of jobs and multiple multiple resorts. Plus, there always seems to be a freakin enclave of Kiwi's every winter shredding northstar and the like that I've run into.

I'd look into that as well if I were you.
 
My only problem is how hard/expensive it could be to get accommodation if I show up a little bit late, around mid to late Dec? Also getting travel insurance could be a big problem because of my injury
 
Check out Lake Tahoe tons of snow and tons of mountains with jobs. the big ones like Heavenly always needs trained instructors.
 
Shouldnt be too hard... Season doesnt even really get rolling until christmas time..

you could at least bellhop at one of the thousands of hotels around there.. and as far as living arrangements, i'm sure you could find something for rent in kings beach, or in Truckee. especially if you can get in touch with some other kiwis that might be going down there around that time too.

If all else fails, i'm sure you could find a cheap place in the Reno area for a few months. Its only 30-45 mins away from sick skiing, and there are TOOOONS of places to get a job there because Reno is just like Las Vegas's trashy sister... haha.

I'm sure if you looked into it, you wouldnt have too much trouble with it, MATE. It might just work out really well for ya.
 
Alright, well if you can slip in over tha mexican border with skis, an make it to NY you can stay here

i'll get ya a nice chick to knock up so you can have dual citizenship
 
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