No Longer Ski

[schism]

I'm shaping my life around skiing, as I am working towards a career in ski guiding and avalanche control. So skiing is more to me than just a hobby, it's a way of life and it's how I generate (little) income for half of the year. I realized how much skiing meant to me this winter when the hill I worked at didn't open until January 11th. For over a month I was unemployed and not skiing, and to even think about skiing I would have cross the ferry over to the mainland which would cost $140, something thats hard to do when unemployed. One of the toughests months of my life right there. It being mid winter and no chance to go skiing.

While I digress about no longer skiing, the biggest thing I've learned is that you need to have balance in life with skiing. As much as it is the top priority in my life, you got to be able to balance it with your career and hobbies especially when your hobby is also your career.

 

[Shredability]

When I was going to school it was always hard for me to find time with all the work... now that I'm working full time I've shredded almost every weekend...

 

[Oxburger]

I'd just like to chip in and say that skiing is only as expensive as you make it. And there are always loopholes.

Yes it'd be super cool to ski the best terrain and shit all the time but at the end of the day skiing is skiing for me. Going out to the small ass hill in our city with my $250 season pass on a few nights a week with some friends honestly gets me just stoked and in the same mindset as skiing big terrain in the mountains. If you're really tight for cash then work at the hill on Saturdays or a few nights a week and get a free season pass. Hell your whole family can ski for free now...

Also doing the volunteer ski patrol thing every other week in the mountains is a great way to ski for free and stack up free passes for friends. It also gives insane pro deals too so draining the wallet on gear is no longer a problem.

My best friend and I have skiing cheap down to a science. Sure it takes a little creative thinking and some extra work but at the end of the day when you can live a 'normal' non-skibum life and never worry about paying much, if anything to go skiing a bunch it's pretty damn nice.

 

[250r]

sure it might not be the highest paying career path, but I love to cook. and the thing about cooking is that everyone everywhere in the world needs to eat. Pick just about any ski resort, hut or heli op and there would be a good chance i could find a job there. And I can work nights. I can ski every single day of the winter if I want to, and then come the summer, I can still go skiing or biking every single day.

 

[ronin480]

To be honest I'm turned off by how ridiculously expensive skiing is. When I was in school, passes were so cheap under 18 or with a college season pass. Starting out salaries are shit nowadays so relative to what I can be making $100 daily lift ticket would be a huge chunk of my income.

Also I grew up on the east coast, have never skied out west, and am still on the east coast. So my days of paying for a lift ticket or season pass to spend most of my time in 0 degree weather with high winds, packed lifts on the weekends, and concrete ice snow are limited.

I gotta move out west. Then maybe my perspective will change!

All I'm saying now is that I don't let skiing define who I am anymore as much as I used to. It's not as big of part of who I am. I absolutely love skiing, but it's not like my friends and people I meet know me as the "crazy ski kid" like they used to and I used to make pretty clear. I don't think I own a single article of clothing with a ski brand on it and I don't bring up skiing in conversations nearly as much as I used to. So, no, I still love the sport, but I'm not infatuated with the sport AND culture like I used to be. But that's normal as you get older.

Dude I'm 36 in a week and arguably probably one of the oldest members on this site haha and I'm just as into skiing as a lot of the guys and girls on here. Age AGAIN has nothing to do with it. I'll likely be like the 90 year old they had in a vid on here skiing. It's just something I enjoy and it keeps me active IN The winter and also builds my appreciation for being outdoors. I'm just puzzled by how you stereotype this as a kid thing and now your all grown up. There are shit tons of adults that enjoy skiing, some more than others. Everyone has their own healthy balance. Shit I think being older is actually better because I can actually buy what I want, instead of asking for it or counting pennies from pay check to pay check.