Where to live - Job Market vs. Skiing

Powdered_Donuts

Powdered_Donuts

Active member
So heres the deal, I work for UPS and i can transfer to so many different places. My girl has graduated with her MBA in marketing and has started her job search. So the question is, what areas are currently doing well enough in this economy to have a sufficient job market but still offer a nice long ski season? I dont ski very much park anymore in my old age so the quality of the park isnt as much of a big deal to me. We are looking for ideas on where to focus our search, any suggestions ns?
 
In the states, SLC or Reno are your best bets.

Portland, Seattle/Bellingham, Denver, SoCal (shooting distance to Mammoth) would be my second tier options.
 
First off thanks for the suggestions. Seattle and mammoth have both crossed my mind already we will have to look into those areas. If i was just looking for an area with good skiing to live in it wouldnt be so much of an issue, its just finding somewhere with a good job market so she can find something stable and worthwhile, not just any old part time job.
 
Reno may not be your best pick. It is a warehousing Mecca and I am sure UPS is fine there. They have thouhg been hit hard with the recession

SLC, Denver, San Fran, Portland and Seattle could be better options. Here is a couple sources on that:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/05/12/cb.best.cities.new.grads/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/11/24/cb.best.cities.find.jobs/index.html

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/top-hiring-cities-job-hunt-2011-employment-0883/

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/07/0715_top_cities/index.htm

 
Seattle is awesome. I don't know a whole lot about the job market (as I'm only a high school graduate headed off to college) but I think that the economy is pretty stable here. I've lived in Seattle my whole life, and there are a whole bunch of outdoorsy things to do, you'll never get bored. Additionally, the city itself is probably better (pollution, things to do, people, location) than most other cities in the country.
 
but reno's a shithole the only thing to do is follow kids around and find out where they live... maui, san fran, and santa fe are real places to live
 
Big Cities - Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Denver

Smaller Cities - Reno and SLC

Reno and SLC have the best skiing access (SLC wins there).

But the city life and job opportunities will be lacking relative to the larger metro areas.

Just depends what you want. All work for the right person. Best bet is to visit and see which one is for you.
 
You can do a lot with a marketing degree, and Seattle is a great place to do it. I grew up in Seattle and am studying business admin. and marketing at the U next fall. Depending on what she's interested in, Seattle has a whole host of marketing options she could get into. The ski season is pretty awesome; I honestly think if you can ski the snow in Washington well on most days, you can ski anywhere in the world. Check regionals for more specific details on resorts/community/etc.
 
Honestly, you could go for Sacramento or San Francisco. I know that UPS has a large facility in Sacramento and your woman would have no trouble finding a job there. I'm pretty much positive that UPS has no facility in Mammoth, so you're probably shit outta luck on living there, or almost anywhere in the Eastern Sierra. You MAY have an opportunity in Bishop, but again, the job market is pretty bleak over there. I'd go Sacramento or SLC if I were in your position. Sacramento is pretty close to the Bay and very close to the Sierras while having an excellent job market.
 
I will always choose Denver when it comes to having a real job market by skiing. I live in Denver, work in Boulder and go skiing when I get the chance. There just seems to be a steady job market here pretty continuously even in media.
If your in marketing or online media or anything like that, it's growing very rapidly here. Not necessarily with ski companies so much, but media companies, and even corporate offices are looking for people with online media skills to up there presence.
Photo jobs here are always available, you just have to be a hard worker to keep it as there are many more wanting to jump in. Something I used to do is shoot weddings in the summer and work jobs in the winter and that seemed to work well. I just don't know many people that come from out of state that really struggle to find a job in the Denver metro area then end up leaving shortly there after.
I70 sucks, everyone knows it, but if your willing to drive there is much better areas to ski anyways. CB, Telluride, Monarch has some cool shit, Silverton can make for a cool weekend etc.
 
edit ^^ must've missed the part about your lady having the marketing job with an MBA but she would do fine in Denver. I used to work at a marketing firm in LA as an intern, came back to Denver 2 years ago and had 3 job offers before I got here. I would imagine she could find something here.
 
if you live in Denver you will succumb to summit county. Sure you can drive 7 hours to Telluride, spend hundreds on lift tickets and have a crap shoot at getting good snow. but you won't. You will pray for 8 inches and an open road just to ski the same short steep pitches.
 
It depends just how far you are willing to drive for skiing.

I live in Southern California. The economy is big, so there is plenty of opportunity. I ski about 40 days a year, 30-35 at Mammoth, 5-10 at Baldy. Baldy is a great little mountain. If the runs to the lot are open, you will be amazed you are skiing terrain like this in socal. I love having the Baldy option when I don't go to Mammoth. Some years, Baldy does not get enough snow to be worth it, but the last 4 have been good.

The drive to Mammoth is long. My girlfriend and I make the drive at least 2, often 3 weekends a month. If you leave at 4 am, iit is 5 hours 20 minutes from Orange County, driving conservatively. It does wear on me, but it is worth it to ski. In a season like last year(or the last 4 actually) when Baldy gets snow, it is possible to ski every weekend. I skied at least one day per weekend this year from late December until early May. People just don't get how great of a season you can have living in Socal, you can ski just as much as someone in Denver(with an office job) can if you are willing to drive. I know other people in socal who get 30-50 days a year, most of them at Mammoth. Mammoth does have a long season, from the beginning of November to the end of May, and often July 4th.

The other issue with what I do, other than the drive, is the price of a ski share. If you want to go to Mammoth 2-3 weekends a month, you will need a ski lease. Expect to pay 250-350 a month for that. The passes at Mammoth are chearp if you get an MVP pass, but those are no longer available. Now it might be 800, which is still not bad if you are going to ski 30 days at Mammoth. The driving/ski lease situation makes it quite a commitment to do what many of us do at Mammoth, but it is worth it. I get to surf southwest swells every weekend in the summer, live in a great area, and ski one of the best mountains in the country during the winter.

I somethimes wonder if I would prefer a place like Seattle, where you are close to skiing. San Francisco too, as the bay is only 4 hours(without traffic) from Tahoe. The extra 1.5 hours each way does wear on me, there are sometimes I think I would prefer the bay area. Overall I prefer the sunny weather and summer surf of Orange County, but I could see the pluses in Norcal.

As I said before, you CAN ski alot(and get great skiing) in socal, you just have to be willing to drive, and prepare. Norcal is similar, although not as bad. You will still need a Tahoe ski lease.

As for places like Denver, keep in mind that you are sill a long way from skiing. You can do day trips, but it probably would help to have a ski share in, say, Summit County. I don't know if those are common in Colorado. The only nice thing about the distance we drive, is that we get two days every Mammoth weekend. If the mountains were two hours away.....That is still 8 hours of driving for a two day ski weekend.

Other places I would suggest, Portland, Seattle, Denver Salt Lake.....I don't know how far Taos is from Santa Fe. I would not live anywhere back east. I grew up there, and will never go back. The skiing is much better out west, and the quality of life is too, IMO.
 
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Sacramento might be a good spot. its close to tahoe and the economy is pretty steady, areas like roseville and folsom/el dorado hills are growing fast. south lake tahoe would be ideal but not many jobs up here, just anything in the tourist industries. But theres nothing better than the beach in the summer and fresh pow in the winter. And they say theres no better place than California.
 
honestly, either Denver or Boulder. Both are growing at a healthy pace, and Boulder is continually voted as a top city in the US
 
Like many have mentioned, Seattle!

So much to do, you dont have to be in the city just near by to enjoy its beauty and many oppertunities here.

Then you have access to The summit of Snoqualmie, Stevens and Crystal. Even Baker.
 
Boulder, CO and surrounding area (broomfield-interlocken-westminster-arvada) is growing with tech jobs pretty damn fast

Or Burlington, VT Maybe, I dont know what kind of industry your trying to get into though
 
dude just find a decent ski resort and have yur girl apply for a position at the mt. that way she gets a pass and gets benefits and go from there
 
no where is good right now...infact it is fucking awful.

All the places, with the exception of reno and sactown, that have good skiing close by are great places to live, and as such have rediculous competition for jobs.

Literally nowhere is even remotely good right now, id look for places that you have the most contacts.
 
quoting again, because this is really true

if you are considering anything in the front range/boulder/denver area you are going to be sitting on i-70 for countless hours to do exactly what's quoted above ^^

that being said, it is still an awesome place to live and the skiing is pretty damn good, but if you want something super close to the mountains, to do a ton of rad skiing, i would look elsewhere
 
What the majority of people in this thread dont realize is that making a living is more important than good skiing.

IMO dont waste the early part of your carreer, just so you can ski. You can still get 20 days in at real mtns even if you live in the midwest. And quite frankly, if you do have an actual carreer, 20 days is gonna be a pretty damn good season.

Places with good skiing are pretty, clean, with a great quality of life. As such they are desirable to live in, and are super hard to get a job in because everyone wants to live/work there.

Go where your connections are.
 
Instead of spending the early part of your life sucking corporate dick, move into that mountain town, get into income restricted housing, and start planting your roots. Get in good skiing while you're young. You'll get stuck pushing a pencil to the grave if you choose city slickin'. Then what? ski vacations to Deer Valley when you're 50? (ha even that seems good, damn skiing).
 
no, you will have a nice house, the opportunity to raise a family with kids, provide them with the opportunites that i was afforded by living in a nice area, and bea ble to retire at 55-60 to be a patrolman and ski powder.

If you skibum/put your carreer on hold for 10 years, you are so so so far behind the power curve. But hey, thats just me. Skiing isnt my life...in fact when i really think about it, its not even in the top 5 most important things for me; its just something that i really really enjoy doing.
 
I dont think anyone has mentioned bozeman (close to moonlight, bridger, and big sky) yet... Or bellingham (it's in washington, close to baker)... Or Hood River/Welches (Close to Hood)...
 
haha ok, sure dude, go ask every member of TGR's forums how well that worked out.

No one is saying to put your career on hold,you work toward the top from teh inside. But if you don't want your life to be nice until you're old and in debt because skiing isn't in your top 5 that's fine too. Oh and that nice house in the ski town, the one next to it, almost identical, costs half as much, but you can't be some retired dentist and buy it.
 
The OP wasn't asking where to live for a good job market and no skiing. He wants to know where to live with skiing. I respect your choice because not everyone loves skiing to the same extent, but it seems like your more just looking for an argument.

To OP though. I just graduated from college with a degree in business from OSU and am starting my career outside Reno next week. Closest mountain is 30 mins away and I have a job. I really don’t think the market is that great there, but it just requires some effort just like it does anywhere else in the country. I hope you find the perfect combination for yourself.
 
To the OP:

Your not going to find a good response on NS. Since this is a major life decision you should probably put in a lot of research which is going to be a lot more valuable than NS.

I would find which major cities are the closest to the mountains, I think SLC is like THE major city thats closest to the mountains.

Depending on what type of job your girl is looking for, overall job market isn't really going to have a big effect on whether SHE will find a job or not, you realize those are big picture numbers and this is one instance. She should start sending out her resume, contacting companies, etc. but honestly whether you move to SLC or Denver or Reno, that's not going to be the deciding factor in whether she gets a job or not, its going to be her credentials and what she does to get the job and she should start looking and try to line up a job BEFORE you move.
 
hey Quailfucker, there's plenty of constructive discussion and advise here. You even contributed some yourself. We have proven NS is a fine place to get a quality response on this subject.
 
There is a happy medium here.

You can ski bum for several years, and you won't necessarily be THAT far behind the power curve. Yes, ski bumming for 10 years will put you back, but you can certainly recover, particularly with shorter stints. Ski bumming for 3 years won't kill you. I ski bummed for 5 years, and then went to grad school. Would I be further if I had gone directly? Yes, but I don't regret those years. I just look at myself as being a few years behind. I will eventually get to where I need to be. I don't want to have kids, so that puts me on a much slower time schedule, which helps. For people who want to have families, they might want to think about leaving earlier. In my case, I don't think It would have been a good idea to go directly to a cube, as I simply was not ready at age 23. Some people go to early, and don't succeed, putting them way back. I'm glad I did things the way I did.

The OP seems to be asking a different question though. And truth be told, you can still have a career, and ski 40 days, if you live in the right place and plan things.

I would not advise ski bumming for 10 years, but doing it for a few years is great. You will waste years that might not have been all that productive anyway. If you are 24, sitting in a cube, wishing you were ski bumming(or still in college), then it might be better to go to the mountains until you are ready. I'm glad I did.
 
Lots of great info in here, i really appreciate it! Thanks everyone who took the time to reply, i +++'d all over your K and all that.We just really want to make a well informed decision since we can only really afford to make it once. Everyone seems really stoked on Seattle these days
 
definatley vancouver you have a great city and whistler 2 hours away or any of the north shore mountains cypress, grouse and mt baker is close too or any of the interior mountains like sunpeaks or silverstar are all with in a 5 hour drive
 
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