Postgrad living for a weekend warrior

ezav

ezav

Member
I'm finishing up undergrad in the spring and trying to find a job out west. Looking for a place with a good balance of skiing, social life, and plenty of opportunities for mechanical engineers. Thing is I'll most likely be working a pretty rigid 9-5 job, which will only leave me with weekends to ski unless there's places to lap after work. I also almost exclusively ski park on the east coast, but I'd definitely want to mix in some glades/big mountain if I'm out west. Mainly looking at denver and seattle atm, so here are some questions i have for the homies who live out west/who have been in a similar situation:

-Is being a weekend warrior in denver really as bad as people say with traffic/lift lines? Are any other places similar?

-Are there good parks/runs I can lap at night in either location?

-What are some other locations i should consider with the things I'm looking for in mind?

-Any other tips/things to consider when making the move from east to west?
 
Weekends are terrible. I don't even bother to ski Saturday Sunday anymore. Especially somewhere busy like that. Good luck friend and rack up sick days so you can use them in the week
 
14386566:mystery3 said:
Take a serious look at Reno
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Reno goes under the radar. Sure probably not going to line up the right job for everyone but close to really good skiing, not a shit ton of people and you can skate year round.
 
Denver ski traffic is relative. If ~1,000,000 cars per month driving on one of the front range's only access to the mountains on a 2 lane highway that sees routine snowfall and closures isn't that bad, Denver's your place!
 
14386566:mystery3 said:
Take a serious look at Reno
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Visited my buddy who lives in reno a couple weeks ago. Close access to tahoe is definitely a plus but the city itself has weird vibes and I'm not sure i could see myself living there. The weekend skiing situation at tahoe is also pretty rough but that might just be something i have to accept
 
14386585:ezav said:
Visited my buddy who lives in reno a couple weeks ago. Close access to tahoe is definitely a plus but the city itself has weird vibes and I'm not sure i could see myself living there. The weekend skiing situation at tahoe is also pretty rough but that might just be something i have to accept
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Spring '21 EE grad who moved to Reno back in May for work. Diamond Peak is a 40 minute drive from my house and never have had traffic. They have great tree skiing and a great park, look up Village Terrain Park on insta. Mt. Rose is even closer to Reno and has good terrain. Bonus, the place is never crowded, the longest line I waited in MLK weekend was 5 mins. Also my company is constantly hiring engineers. I would seriously reconsider Reno.

**This post was edited on Jan 26th 2022 at 1:12:50pm
 
Yea denver weekend traffic to the resorts is brutal mid dec - end of March and only getting worse. Rule used to be 6am past golden on i70 but that’s like 540am now. Sunday driving back is awful. That being said April / may has almost no traffic and still good skiing. Also if you like park eldora has a great park and is less of a hassle. I ski a lot here but realistically you want other more accessible interests (biking, climbing, etc)
 
Multiple people mentioned reno having too weird of vibes. What are people trying to do that they would write a place off for that? Also denver doesn't have weird vibes?

Idk live wherever but 70 gets damn crowded on the weekends heading up from denver. Its been bad for years and not getting any better.
 
Yeah I mean I gotta say Reno is your best bet here man.

Weekends are boof over the holidays...but generally taper off in shittyness as the bay slowly forgets skiing exists as spring comes on.

You can ski till may/June in some of the best big mountain terrain in NA. Boreal has night skiing and an absolutely killer park. Northstar park is always world class. Quite a few job options in your field. All of my mech eng friends got jobs straight out of college.

Also Reno can be a bit weird....but it also depends heavily on where you are living in the city. You can easily find a part of the city that hits your vibe. Reno isn't just the downtown and casinos.
 
14386608:theabortionator said:
Multiple people mentioned reno having too weird of vibes. What are people trying to do that they would write a place off for that? Also denver doesn't have weird vibes?

Idk live wherever but 70 gets damn crowded on the weekends heading up from denver. Its been bad for years and not getting any better.
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Yeah. This. Denver has a haunted statue of a Satanic horse guarding the airport. How is that not weird vibes? Reno is located in a state that has legalized most of the fun vices, has good Mexican food, is close to incredible skiing, hasn't been blown up by every Warren Miller film since the 80's, has a lower cost of living, and is closer to all the fun recreation. I would choose Reno over Denver 10 times out of 10.
 
14386608:theabortionator said:
Multiple people mentioned reno having too weird of vibes. What are people trying to do that they would write a place off for that? Also denver doesn't have weird vibes?

Idk live wherever but 70 gets damn crowded on the weekends heading up from denver. Its been bad for years and not getting any better.
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I'm only basing this off of a ~4 day visit and what my buddy who's lived there for 2 years told me about Reno. But it doesn't seem like the best place for someone fresh out of school that's looking for a good social scene. I've heard otherwise about denver, but I've never actually been so if anyone has more insight on that it would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you don't mind longer drives may i suggest Vegas? I have family out there and they are able to travel to go to a bunch of bigger places and smaller locations but its usually a 4 to 6 hr drive
 
Not gonna lie, you're describing SLC. Not only is there weekend day shredding for you but you can ski park at night at Woodward PC or Brighton.
 
14386622:ezav said:
I'm only basing this off of a ~4 day visit and what my buddy who's lived there for 2 years told me about Reno. But it doesn't seem like the best place for someone fresh out of school that's looking for a good social scene. I've heard otherwise about denver, but I've never actually been so if anyone has more insight on that it would be greatly appreciated.
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Take a visit sometime. Hang out in reno, hang around tahoe. See what you think. You might like it. You might not. Idk it's a place it's got good things and bad things like anywhere else but close to tahoe and skiing and not really blown out as an outdoor recreation hub that it kind of is.
 
It just always had a very weird, crazy vibe. Weird angry cowboys and junkies and just weird vibe. Idk how to explain it, it was always very stark and obvious when I came down the mountain from Tahoe. There’s plenty of cool places around the greater Tahoe area to live in besides Reno.

but yeah Denver ski traffic is pretty shit and there are def some weird parts in denver too. I think the fact that denver is bigger and almost like a collection of towns that grew together means the vibe changes depending on where you are in town. Just compare baker to cherry creek and they’re ~1 mile or so apart. Reno is relatively small in comparison

14386608:theabortionator said:
Multiple people mentioned reno having too weird of vibes. What are people trying to do that they would write a place off for that? Also denver doesn't have weird vibes?

Idk live wherever but 70 gets damn crowded on the weekends heading up from denver. Its been bad for years and not getting any better.
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How far out West are you looking to go? In WA you could live in Bellevue/Kirkland and have access to Snoqualmie Pass in ~35 mins and just a few hours away from Baker and Crystal. A starting Mech.E. salary should be able to support you living in those areas if you budget properly.

Portland is another option and start early, leave early and hit up night skiing at the Ski Bowl/Timberline weekdays and head to Meadows on weekends.

**This post was edited on Jan 26th 2022 at 4:17:18pm
 
14386726:davidso1 said:
How far out West are you looking to go? In WA you could live in Bellevue/Kirkland and have access to Snoqualmie Pass in ~35 mins and just a few hours away from Baker and Crystal. A starting Mech.E. salary should be able to support you living in those areas if you budget properly.

Portland is another option and start early, leave early and hit up night skiing at the Ski Bowl/Timberline weekdays and head to Meadows on weekends.

**This post was edited on Jan 26th 2022 at 4:17:18pm
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Im pretty much open to any location that has good access to skiing on weeknights/weekends and a decent social setting. I've considered oregon and washington but most of my job options are based in the denver area atm
 
Denver is by far my least favorite city I've been to in the United States. The people are annoying, the buildings are ugly, and the whole city just feels like it was randomly thrown together. Not to mention you're like not actually even that close to skiing?

SLC, Reno, and Portland are all farrr better options IMO
 
14386755:GrandThings said:
Denver is by far my least favorite city I've been to in the United States. The people are annoying, the buildings are ugly, and the whole city just feels like it was randomly thrown together. Not to mention you're like not actually even that close to skiing?

SLC, Reno, and Portland are all farrr better options IMO
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Is portland really that much better than denver? Like i said previously i dont have much personal experience to base this on so dont burn me at the stake. But portland has a reputation of having some pretty annoying people as well. Can't speak to slc, but the options there for mechEs are far more limited than the bay area/denver/seattle/portland
 
Denver is pretty bad in my opinion. So much traffic and yeah it’s like individual towns that morphed together when Colorado became a boom state.

Maybe check out New Mexico the conditions go beyond Taos in NM. Santa Fe has a cool mountain that’s has more then enough terrain for the amount of flow on a normal weekend. Unfortunately the people who run it are low key not for park skiing and have yet to put in a single rail/box this season. But there is a smaller mountain sipapu nearby that usually puts up a park the longest if you are looking for that
 
14386759:ezav said:
Is portland really that much better than denver? Like i said previously i dont have much personal experience to base this on so dont burn me at the stake. But portland has a reputation of having some pretty annoying people as well. Can't speak to slc, but the options there for mechEs are far more limited than the bay area/denver/seattle/portland
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I mean this is totally just my personal opinion. I'm sure there are great things about Denver too and obviously there are going to be good and bad people in both places. To me tho, it seemed like Denver just had a higher concentration of douchebaggy finance bro whereas in Portland it seemed like people were a bit more chill and actually interested in the outdoors/nature.

The other thing I forgot to mention. In Denver it seemed like there were no fucking trees anywhere and everything is brown. Coming from the East Coast I was super surprised about this. I'd always pictured Colorado as this like wonderful outdoors kingdom...but its actually super ugly. If you're into climbing or MTB this is probably what you're looking for, but I absolutely hate the vibe of Colorado.

If I had to move off the East Coast, PNW is for suuuure where I'd go
 
14387048:GrandThings said:
I mean this is totally just my personal opinion. I'm sure there are great things about Denver too and obviously there are going to be good and bad people in both places. To me tho, it seemed like Denver just had a higher concentration of douchebaggy finance bro whereas in Portland it seemed like people were a bit more chill and actually interested in the outdoors/nature.

The other thing I forgot to mention. In Denver it seemed like there were no fucking trees anywhere and everything is brown. Coming from the East Coast I was super surprised about this. I'd always pictured Colorado as this like wonderful outdoors kingdom...but its actually super ugly. If you're into climbing or MTB this is probably what you're looking for, but I absolutely hate the vibe of Colorado.

If I had to move off the East Coast, PNW is for suuuure where I'd go
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CO's fuckin desolate and gets such little amounts of moisture. When people gush like 'omg I just love beautiful colorahdoughhhhh' they're talking about the 1.4% of landmass that has water features or gets rain. Dry ass state with people in denial that it's not a borderline desert
 
My old roommate works at Boeing, they have flex scheduling, basically only require 80hrs a week so if you work 10 hr days you can take a day each week to ski
 
14386633:BigPurpleSkiSuit said:
Not gonna lie, you're describing SLC. Not only is there weekend day shredding for you but you can ski park at night at Woodward PC or Brighton.
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Would echo this.

I was in Denver last weekend had to get up at 530 and still took 3 hours each way. No thanks
 
14387048:GrandThings said:
I mean this is totally just my personal opinion. I'm sure there are great things about Denver too and obviously there are going to be good and bad people in both places. To me tho, it seemed like Denver just had a higher concentration of douchebaggy finance bro whereas in Portland it seemed like people were a bit more chill and actually interested in the outdoors/nature.

The other thing I forgot to mention. In Denver it seemed like there were no fucking trees anywhere and everything is brown. Coming from the East Coast I was super surprised about this. I'd always pictured Colorado as this like wonderful outdoors kingdom...but its actually super ugly. If you're into climbing or MTB this is probably what you're looking for, but I absolutely hate the vibe of Colorado.

If I had to move off the East Coast, PNW is for suuuure where I'd go
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This is the first I'm hearing of this but I'm glad you brought it up. One of the big reasons I want to move away from the DC area is bc it's a giant concrete jungle. While I'm still looking for a city/hub where I can meet a lot of likeminded people my age i figured a city like denver would have more greenery and overall be less depressing than a city like dc. Is what you're saying just in the super concentrated parts of denver or does that mostly hold true for the whole area? The jobs i'm interviewing for are in Greenwood village and Longmont, but I still assumed i'd most likely be living in denver.
 
14387090:ezav said:
This is the first I'm hearing of this but I'm glad you brought it up. One of the big reasons I want to move away from the DC area is bc it's a giant concrete jungle. While I'm still looking for a city/hub where I can meet a lot of likeminded people my age i figured a city like denver would have more greenery and overall be less depressing than a city like dc. Is what you're saying just in the super concentrated parts of denver or does that mostly hold true for the whole area? The jobs i'm interviewing for are in Greenwood village and Longmont, but I still assumed i'd most likely be living in denver.
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I live in Boston, and have also spent some time in DC and I guess what I sorta felt different to me in Denver was that there's no consistency in the layout of the city. It'd be like a skyscraper, next to a 1-story building, next to the projects, next to a nice apartment complex. It felt super disjointed and just like generally weird vibes. Only went there as a tourist a few times and travelled to visit my sister in Boulder so not super knowledgeable about each neighborhood or the surrounding towns.

Like [tag=263991]@Biffbarf[/tag] (who I believe may actually live/lived in CO?) said - the "greenery" piece is probably the biggest misconception about Colorado and Denver. To me (again, coming from the EC) it very much so felt more like a "desert" city than I was expecting and certainly much more than a Portland or Seattle.

Honestly tho - if you're interested in moving there, you should totally do it. These are just my personal opinions after spending probably like 10-days combined total time in Denver. I'm SURE you would have no problem finding good homies, cool places to hangout or fun outdoorsy stuff to do. Plenty of people on here live in CO/Denver and I'm sure they love it!
 
14387090:ezav said:
This is the first I'm hearing of this but I'm glad you brought it up. One of the big reasons I want to move away from the DC area is bc it's a giant concrete jungle. While I'm still looking for a city/hub where I can meet a lot of likeminded people my age i figured a city like denver would have more greenery and overall be less depressing than a city like dc. Is what you're saying just in the super concentrated parts of denver or does that mostly hold true for the whole area? The jobs i'm interviewing for are in Greenwood village and Longmont, but I still assumed i'd most likely be living in denver.
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Literally most every tree you will see east of the foothills was planted by man. Denver is 50 shades of brown a lot of the year
 
14387100:GrandThings said:
I live in Boston, and have also spent some time in DC and I guess what I sorta felt different to me in Denver was that there's no consistency in the layout of the city. It'd be like a skyscraper, next to a 1-story building, next to the projects, next to a nice apartment complex. It felt super disjointed and just like generally weird vibes. Only went there as a tourist a few times and travelled to visit my sister in Boulder so not super knowledgeable about each neighborhood or the surrounding towns.

Like [tag=263991]@Biffbarf[/tag] (who I believe may actually live/lived in CO?) said - the "greenery" piece is probably the biggest misconception about Colorado and Denver. To me (again, coming from the EC) it very much so felt more like a "desert" city than I was expecting and certainly much more than a Portland or Seattle.

Honestly tho - if you're interested in moving there, you should totally do it. These are just my personal opinions after spending probably like 10-days combined total time in Denver. I'm SURE you would have no problem finding good homies, cool places to hangout or fun outdoorsy stuff to do. Plenty of people on here live in CO/Denver and I'm sure they love it!
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14387101:Biffbarf said:
View attachment 1029119

Literally most every tree you will see east of the foothills was planted by man. Denver is 50 shades of brown a lot of the year
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Hate to see it but definitely appreciate the info. Definitely gonna look into PNW/bay area, but i figure if i land one of these two jobs and I dont like denver i'd probably relocate after a year or 2.
 
The biggest takeaway for me post-college is that you’re just going to have to sacrifice in certain areas regardless.

The key thing to ask yourself is what role you want skiing to play in your life. If you want it to play a key role, then you probably want to look at places like SLC, Reno, and maybe Seattle. In this case you’re sacrificing in each of these, SLC lacking the culture of a major city, social scene won’t be as good as other cities, but you’re close to unbelievable skiing and awesome access to the outdoors. Reno, you lose a lot of the benefits of a big city. Seattle, solid culture, 3 major sports franchises, international airport, by far the prettiest thanks to the shitty grey weather and consistent sprinkle for 6 months.

Beyond that, skiing is around for half of the year. What do you want out of where you live for the other six. Want baseball games, bars, a major international airport to travel? Then maybe Denver isn’t too bad. Want mountain biking, climbing, and backpacking then SLC might be better.

I moved to San Diego post-school and have missed a lot of ski days as a result. It’s 400 miles one way for good skiing in the Sierras. However, the social scene is great, I can ride my road bike from my front door 340 days a year, mountain bike after work, the food and culture is awesome, I can be in Mexico in 30 minutes, airport is 10 minutes away for quick weekend trips, and LA/OC are easy day trips. I sacrificed a ton of skiing, but I gained a lot that fulfilled my life in other ways that cities like SLC and Seattle wouldn’t.

Thats my roundabout way of saying that Denver isn’t totally awful, but your patience will be tested on the weekends. However, it offers what Reno, SLC, Portland don’t in other areas.
 
14386759:ezav said:
Is portland really that much better than denver? Like i said previously i dont have much personal experience to base this on so dont burn me at the stake. But portland has a reputation of having some pretty annoying people as well. Can't speak to slc, but the options there for mechEs are far more limited than the bay area/denver/seattle/portland
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I just got out of Portland. I lived there for 3 years. Great skiing at Mt. Hood, some of the best in the entire country IMO. Has the best night skiing in the US, ropetow park at skibowl, amazing terrain at meadows, and an awesome spring/summer at timberline.

However, if you don't have a lot of money. And I mean quite a bit. You will probably live in a shit hole. The political leaders in Oregon have gone off the deep end. Portland has possibly the strictest covid laws/mandates in the entire nation, and yet one of the highest vaccination rates. The ACAB rhetoric has led to major issues with crime. Murder rates are the highest they have ever been.

I am not trying to scare you. These issues may not be that big of a deal to you/as present in your day to day life. However the people there may get to you. A huge number of people (especially your age , im assuming 22-24 if you are just finishing your undergrad) support the craziness that is happening there and can be extremely judgemental of anyone who thinks differently.'

If you could get a job closer to Hood River/White Salmon that would be ideal. I am finishing up my mechanical engineering degree in Duluth, Minnesota right now and I can definitely see myself moving back to Oregon in the future. But probably not Portland.
 
Get a good job and log 2 years. Then you can entertain options like consulting or being self employed and get a little bit more work life flexibility. Plenty of engineers use their skills and experience to not be in a rigid job. Just tick that box and life experience.

All the Western cities are close enough to good skiing. They don't build ski resorts in the middle of nowhere.

I'd consider Sacramento/The Bay if you want to get that salary up to where it needs to be ASAP.

Again you have the rest of your life to make changes that let you ski more often get your real life big boy work experience in the books before you start to prioritize that. Engineers are retiring left and right young people are fucking douchebags that go to school for bullshit like literature and aspire to be baristas you'll be able to pull in real money and work less and ski more when you are in your later 20s. GL.
 
If you end up being a weekend skier, Denver is gonna kick your ass. Not kick ass. Traffic is a nightmare a lot over the weekends. This season, it’s been hell. Drove to copper only to turn around because the parking was full. I got no issues with the driving. I commute on the weekdays to go ski from Fort Collins and my photography endeavors require lots of driving but traffic is a pain in the ass. The big dealio is dodging Saturday’s and possibly getting g some fridays to go up and sundays. Sundays are manageable because the traffic to the hill isn’t bad, but on the way back, plan to get accustomed to Hoosier pass. Will be your best bet on high travel weekends. Only lifts on I-70 resorts that I recall not having lines on decent terrain are Alpine at copper, high noon(not a pow day) & riva bahn(park area) at vail, e chair and kensho at Breck, some stuff at beaver creek(farthest on I-70 for a day trip)and some stuff at abasin, but pow days are a fucking nightmare on the weekends. Going to more trip like resorts on the weekends are generally much better but far and expensive after playing with lodging costs. Probably every other place is going to be better.
 
14387604:mystery3 said:
Thoughts on working for Tesla?
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The buddy that lives in reno works for a tesla subsidiary. Works sun-wed and skis thurs-sat but he lucked out big time with his schedule. That's definitely a best care scenario for an engineering job and im assuming I probably wont have a schedule as forgiving for at least a few years
 
14387655:ezav said:
im assuming I probably wont have a schedule as forgiving for at least a few years
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Yeah but when you get it, you'll lose it if you wanna move. So choose where based on the idea that it's gonna happen.
 
I would look at Boise. Night ski at bogus, weekend warrior at Tamarack Brundage or Sun Valley. It’s not the gnarliest terrain or the best snow but it is still high quality skiing.

Boise is close enough to Salt Lake, Jackson Hole, Targhee, and Bachelor for long weekend trips.

topic:ezav said:
I'm finishing up undergrad in the spring and trying to find a job out west. Looking for a place with a good balance of skiing, social life, and plenty of opportunities for mechanical engineers. Thing is I'll most likely be working a pretty rigid 9-5 job, which will only leave me with weekends to ski unless there's places to lap after work. I also almost exclusively ski park on the east coast, but I'd definitely want to mix in some glades/big mountain if I'm out west. Mainly looking at denver and seattle atm, so here are some questions i have for the homies who live out west/who have been in a similar situation:

-Is being a weekend warrior in denver really as bad as people say with traffic/lift lines? Are any other places similar?

-Are there good parks/runs I can lap at night in either location?

-What are some other locations i should consider with the things I'm looking for in mind?

-Any other tips/things to consider when making the move from east to west?
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14386622:ezav said:
I'm only basing this off of a ~4 day visit and what my buddy who's lived there for 2 years told me about Reno. But it doesn't seem like the best place for someone fresh out of school that's looking for a good social scene. I've heard otherwise about denver, but I've never actually been so if anyone has more insight on that it would be greatly appreciated.
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Personally, I would say that Denver/Boulder area has an incredible social scene thanks to the Uni kids. I am not sure about Reno as I have never been. Also, I may be biased cuz I am a CO native haha.

Also I find it worth the traffic, but also, I just enjoy watching the chaos lol
 
OP, I left my house in North Reno at 8am, passed Mt. Rose at 8:30, got to Diamond Peak at 8:45 on the lift at 8:58. Zero traffic on Mt. Rose highway. Reno is big enough for great food and entertainment but not big enough for massive traffic issues.

**This post was edited on Jan 30th 2022 at 12:02:44pm
 
14388593:Michigan_Sucks said:
OP, I left my house in North Reno at 8am, passed Mt. Rose at 8:30, got to Diamond Peak at 8:45 on the lift at 8:58. Zero traffic on Mt. Rose highway. Reno is big enough for great food and entertainment but not big enough for massive traffic issues.

**This post was edited on Jan 30th 2022 at 12:02:44pm
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Also this was the lift line at noon

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