Who works in the ski industry........and how did you get into it?

MLB

MLB

Active member
Ok....i just wanted to know who got a job in the industry, and how you got into it. I am going to college for a course in Mechanics, i am good at it, but skiing is my first love. I would love to make ANY carrer in the ski industry ( Filming, working in a shop, editing, designing hardgoods/softgoods). Any advice would be great.

(if a thread like this has already come up, well sorry, i don't care)
 
Apply for shadow jobs, or ask companies involved in skiing if they have that opportunity available. That would be the easiest way, but that doesn't mean it's an open door. A lot of work might be needed, and you may just have to work your way up from the bottom (local ski store).
 
Yeah that does not bother me. It is alot of risk though. I live in Northern Ontario Canada, not to many shops here. Would i have to move out west?
 
moving west would probably help from Northern Ontario.

Try Mammy, SLC, Denver, any skis town, Vancouver....at least something closer to skiing.
 
That does make it more difficult. Maybe you could apply for various jobs as a representative for the ski company? Like say you're a rep. for Salomon, you put on demos for their skis at your mountains and just basically try to get the word out on their skis because it is an area where there is open market.
 
I would get your education first, don't throw it all away to work in a ski shop. Remember, you can always go skiing if you've got a degree.
 
Yea since the odds of landing a sick job in the ski industry are kinda low it's a better bet to just get a sick normal job and have plenty of dough to ski all the time. I personally plan on retiring when I am 18 so I can ski full time.
 
A friend of mine started working at a ski shop while in college and took a job as a regional sales rep for a major ski manufacturer after graduation. One time when asked how he got the job, his response was "I kissed alot of ass". He did know his shit though. He eventaully left the job and is in law school now.
 
From what i've seen, being a rep is significantly more complicated than that. The demos days would probably be the most enjoyable aspect of the job, if only because you are outside. Otherwise, it's a question of going store to store, trying to push your goods on the wholesale buyers, dealing with accounts, making sure your product is moving well. Not to mention the whole business aspect of the job, such as being able to work through accounts, making your numbers meet. Alot of reps don't work directly for the companies they are selling...ie...they aren't on the payroll. they exist as independent business entities that happen to sell certain products. You are mostly working by yourself, for yourself. It's a really tough job.
 
That's the most accurate description so far of being a rep. Except the part about demo days. They are not, by any means, enjoyable. Imagine standing in snow for 8 hours, watching everyone else ski. Not to mention fielding the most ridiculous questions you've ever heard.
 
Or just be the friend of the guy who paints pictures and posts them on NS.

That one works too, haha.

Also, meet random people at Mammoth in the summer.
 
well enjoyable in the sense that you are outside and interacting with people, as opposed to sitting in your basement office by yourself. besides, most creatively inclined reps find the means to take a few runs on those days.
 
So true. I would hesitate to take "any" job in the ski industry over what you are doing now (or will be doing) with your degree. If the right opportunity arises, that's a different story.. But working in a shop? come on man!
 
the ski industry is tough...get a business degree and know your shit, and it makes it a little easier. also, as much as you might hate it, take a job as an instructor, get your psia cert and put in a few years...it lets you meet people and get your foot in the door.
 
Don't hassle anybody to give you a job that you aren't prepared to do and they don't really want to give you anyway. Find something that you love doing and do it better than anyone else, and opportunities will come to you.

There's a lot more in the "ski industry" than just selling skis, cutting movies and designing shitty t-shirts, too. If you're studying mechanics and you're into it, hell, you can always work for a company designing and installing lifts, or something along those lines. Sure it's not "glamorous," but nothing really is anway- just looks that way from outside. Getting a normal job in a ski town is just as good and quite possibly much better than working in the industry. if you work in the industry, what you love becomes your job, which can be a very good, but also a very bad thing.
 
i racer with a guy who became a dopplemeyer engineer/tech... he skis for free everywhere so long as hes within 2 hours of an airport so he can be called up to go fix dead lifts anywhere.
 
so yeah this is snowboarder magazine, but powder magazine (skiing) is in the same building (along with a couple others)... there's a ton of interns as well as full time employees here and everyone is super laid back and fun. Just go on the magazine's website, find the contact info and email. it's an awesome job with tons of perks.

[url=SNOWBOARDER mag
 
yup, sounds like either lift construction/maintenence or working at a resort in say vehicle maintenence working on cats, sleds and trucks might be the way to go for you then.
 
Why in the world would you want a job in the ski industry if you love to ski? YOu have to work when it's time to go skiing.

 
a friend of mine who worked at the shop im in now made friends with all the reps and worked his way in he is now in house rep for dna
 
you could also go to a school where you with a ski resort managment program. I go to Lyndon State college which is nothern vermont and that is my major.
 
yeah i was looking at that. They have a program like that at Georgian college, in Barrie Onatrio. (Blue Mountain) But i don't know about getting jobs after school.

 
good luck making money in the industry working as an instuctor (currently working as one) or in a shop.

althought its completely worth it, you learn so much, and in my case, my skiing has improved 50 times over.

working higher up in the industry, as people have been saying, such as a rep requires tons of sales experience and knowledge. but, if you start out like me, just working as a instructor, i may eventually have an opportunity to become a level 3 or 4 to train other instructors and also possibly become a ski school director.

experience and knowledge.
 
1) Mentally steel yourself to eventually come around to the fact that you will never ever make good money.

2) Have friends in the industry, because connections are everything and above all else.

3) "Find something that you love doing and do it better than anyone else, and opportunities will come to you."

 
i work as a terrain park ranger...raking jumps and shit, best job ever, but low pay, i could care less...i love my job....im going to CMC: leadville to study ski area operations...unlike ski area managment, it deals with more physical things like the cat and jumps and lift mechanics, whereas managment deals with accounting, numbers, figures....sitting behind a desk instead of being on the hill....ski area operations is good shit....

and to all of you that says im wasting my time going to college to learn to rake jumps and drive a cat.....do YOU know how hard it is for a 130lb. girl to get a job as a digger with only 2 years of experience? 'that girl couldn't lift a dime, let alone a shovel full' is one response i have gotten.
 
yeah dude if you want to ski a lot get a job that lets you ski as much as possible. right now i work from 5pm-3am 4 nights a week during the weekend, which leaves me three days during the week (crucial in CO) to go to the mountains. nothing sucks more than working right next to a mountain on a day when there's two feet of fresh.
 
I'd have to say working on the mountain when there is two feet of fresh is the worst. You see everyone else enjoy it and all you can do is bumb chairs for them.
 
yeah, but i have been looking at becoming a helicopter guide. Then i get to ski as my job.
 
^yeah great luck with that. because jobs like that are a dime a dozen.....

sorry i didn't mean to be such a dick, but you have only a slightly worse chance of winning powerball and buying your own chopper and private pilot than you do being a heli guide somewhere. that's everyone's (me included) dream job right there.
 
Ye, i always feel bad for the lift operators on those powder days when im ripping powder and they are down sitting their at the bottom of the lift getting covered in the best snow in the world. Being a terrain park manager always sounded really cool to me. Companies like planet snow that design terrain parks sound sweet. Being able to design terrain parks and like the people who do it for the xgames probably get a good amount of money.
 
umm not everyone's physical abilities/age allow them to just get good... especially to get to that level, where you get payed to ski. so think before u talk, aight?
 
My cousin works in a ski shop here in Winnipeg. He's a manager. He got his business degree or whatever in university and he wants to open a shop in Edmonton.
 
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