Your Ski Bum Experiences//Mental Health

ic3burg

ic3burg

Member
A friend of mine moved out west this winter after graduation, got a job at a lodge and gets to ski everyday. You would think this is the dream, but he says he's been just better than miserable. It's hard to imagine that getting to ski out there every day would leave you miserable. When you study for 4 years to get your degree and then work as a barista, I can understand feeling down about it. He also described it as an extension of freshman year of college, just tons of dorm-like drinking all the time.

Has anyone else become a ski bum for a year or a few and had similar experiences? Is there a psych research that shows working these entry level jobs might hurt you mentally? I understand it also probably depends on your personality, some may be thrilled to do exactly this, where others need to do more. I am curious what your experiences have been like working jobs like these (lodge barista, janitor, etc..)

**This thread was edited on Jan 9th 2018 at 11:26:20am

**This thread was edited on Jan 9th 2018 at 11:27:02am
 
4 years of ski bumming, and only because of this thread am I looking back at it all piecing together all the fragments of my recent life. Might be a long one, but I'll try my best to keep it short.

I graduated with a BS in Civil engineering from Penn State, and immediately found work for a small firm outside of Philly. Stayed there for a couple of years, worked on getting my masters, and was generally miserable still living in Pennsylvania, because I wasnt skiing as much as I wanted. I reached a point in my life where I decided to pack everything up and move to Colorado and ski for a year or so. I followed the typical footsteps and moved in with some old buddies from back east, in Denver, and worked as a bartender downtown. I grew up in the woods pretty far away from everyone, and really love the privacy, but I have also worked and lived in Philly and NYC so I was ok with being in a big city like Denver, for a little bit at least. I would work 3 or 4 days a week (always on weekends when the money is good and the resorts are crowded) and ski every other day. At first it was the TITS! Work provided me with enough money to live and have fun, AND I got to my first 100 day season (101 to be exact). It was basically a dream lifestyle for me, all-be-it in a less than ideal location. I got to ski, party, got laid a ton (thanks Denver tinder hoes), and I lived across the street from Chipotle! What more could you want?! Then the motor blew in my Forester, BAM $5k to fix it. Had to cash in my 401k to pay for the repairs and spent the rest on "recreationals" and travel chasing storms. At this point I got settled in again (financially), and sent it for another year of living in Denver, traveling north 4 or 5 days a week, and skied 106 days that season.

The second summer I spent in Denver I was just really getting sick of living in the city (and all of the ups and downs, hazzards, dive bars, and holes sprial down into) and even more sick of traveling 75 mins to ski 5 days a week. But the worst of it was the front range bros with their $40k tacoma w/ 1000,000 racks and attachments, the broncos fans, the creepy drug addicted Wookies asking you for weed on the streets, the bougie fukn Boulder crowd, and all of the tourists who come to Denver just to get stoned. So I decided to save up, cause I was moving to the Southwest of CO to the San Juans. To save I moved out of my nicer apartment and into a house with a group of 8 dirtbag climbers. Rent was $265 a month and my bedroom was in an unfinished room in the basement, and the pipes would literally leak on the futon I slept on. Over the next 6 months I saved every penny and started looking into where I was going to live. Obviously the largest factor in my decision was skiing, so I looked into places like Telluride (too expensive) Crested Butte (too cold!) Silverton (great idea on paper, but man have you ever actually spent more than a day there?) and finally Durango (perfect match!!!).

I moved to Durango in October hoping to find work before the ski season hit full swing, and landed a decent gig with a local resort. They were opening a new shop downtown and I was their lead ski tech. Started out nice, only working a few days a week, in the tuning shop all by myself, exchanging ski work for beer with the locals, skiing almost every morning. But I realized Durango was expensive and I wasnt making the money I used to be behind the bar. So I had to reduce my lifestyle off the mountain. i was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing (in my ski life), but I was still struggling in real life (off the mountain). Fairly unhappy with my work, desperately needing something more intellectual, like I had as an engineer (with health benefits, and stable income, and all the other goodies that come with a "real job"). BUT now in a new place with some of the worlds best skiing within a couple of hours from my front door, it was easy to forget about all that work and money mumbo-jumbo, especially with over 100 inches of snow in January and a helicopter seat in Silverton with my name on it.

Then I had an accident while skiing in bounds one day early March. Sent a small cliff to flat and tore my achilles tendon nearly 90%, where it attaches to my calf. Season ender, major fucking bummer, expensive, the list goes on and on. This was when I realized I needed to start looking for a change. I couldnt ski so what was the point of living this dirtbag, frivolous, skibum lifestyle?! I had recently found the love of my life so I decided I would be staying in Durango, and started to pull up my "big boy pants" again analyzing my priorities. 1) Income so I can continue to afford to live the mountain-town lifestyle year-round. 2) insurance and health benefits (I hadnt had health insurance for 3 years at this point). 3) finding work that I actually enjoyed, that stimulated me, and that would give me the time/money to ski as much as possible when I had free time.

Somehow, some way, I ended up making it all work! Found a job that I love as a structural designer, got a solid paycheck, got them bennies, and landed a smoking hot chick who likes to adventure as much as I do!

Skibumming is a life lesson that you learn as it unfolds in front of you like a fatty pillow line. The skiing was worth every loooong day I worked, every time I struggled, every dime I saved. With that being said I'm happier now that I'm a weekend warrior (I still ski about 50 days a season), and I can never go back to the true skibum lifestyle. BUT I wouldn't have traded my time as a skibum for all the snowflakes in the world.

EDIT: After re-reading what I just wrote, seconds after posting it I'm realizing just writing all of that down and having to actively think about exactly what I've been doing in life lately really helped mental health wise. Glad I'm in a better, happier, more fulfilling place now. And I hope by reading this it will inspire someone to take the step into skibumming for a couple of years to find out who the truly are.

**This post was edited on Jan 4th 2018 at 12:58:10pm
 
I read a good article a few months back about sucides in ski towns. I forget where, maybe a google search will show it. Was eye opening, for me anyway. I've been pretty fortunate with my lifestyle in ski towns about half my life. Never really knew or thought of the level of depression and suicide.
 
Like most people from the east coast, I dreamed of finishing school as quickly as possible and moving out west. I move to Crested Butte 5 years ago to make $8 tuning skis. After four of the best years of my life, I called it quits and moved back east to be closer to family and try and lock down a job with health insurance so that I could get my knee fixed up. After 5 months sitting at a desk all day staring at white walls I often find myself day dreaming about my ski bum days. Sure I was dirt poor and I worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I was surrounded by great people. I think the key to ski bumming is finding people who share the same passions as you. Find people that are just as stoked on skiing as you are. If anyone here on the fence is debating it, you should do it even if its only for a year. If you don't have the means to move out west, do it at a mountain in your area. You have your entire life to pay off student debt and save for a house, all my friends who jumped right into a career all regretted it.
 
Finding a good work-life balance is what it's all about. I work a job at the base of PCMR and I mostly work evenings, so I get to ski a ton, but I don't do much socializing outside of that. I try and have a night out with friends once a week, I hang out with people at the bouldering gym, and reading has always been a solid way for me to pull myself out of ruts. I can get sucked into a cool story for a few hours and just sort of block out whatever it is that I've got going on.

Honestly another thing that keeps me sane is calling my mom every once in a while. I know not everyone has a super supportive family, but my mom rules. She keeps me level-headed and she loves asking me about skiing, so it's fun to tell her about my day on the mountain then just chat for a bit.

If an unfulfilling job is what's really getting him down maybe he should consider volunteering somewhere once a week. Not too huge of a commitment, but he'll at least get that nice feeling you get when you help someone out. Places like the National Ability Center and the Refugee and Immigrant Center are always looking for volunteers.

Picking up a new hobby on the side could be good too, like climbing, or whatever he's into. I would definitely recommend getting down away from the mountain once in a while and hanging out in SLC. It's a fun place with lots of cool people who are down to be friends if you're down to talk to them. If you're homie is ever having a rough time and needs someone new to hang with I'm always down to make new friends.
 
I guess just because this might be relevant to someone reading this thread, and this number should be plastered all over any internet forum where depression is a topic of discussion.

NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE: 1-800-273-8255

Please please please if you're depressed and thinking about suicide call that number. If you're not comfortable calling someone but need someone to talk to my DMs are always open. I'm more than happy to listen to you gripe about your problems and if nothing else I can try and be a support for you. Despite all the trash talking I'm sure that's more or less true of just about anybody on NS. I'm sure it's fair to say we all just want other skiers to be happy and okay.
 
Honestly you don't have to be a ski bum to ski a lot. Move to a big city like Denver or SLC where you have close access to mountains and a wider supply of actual higher paying jobs that you can use your degree you studied for. Ski on your weekends and off days. It all depends on your job and work schedule. You won't get 100 days, but 50+ as the guy said earlier is easily attainable if you want it, and you can still have a good job with insurance and retirement benefits.

I can imagine that living a ski bum life sounds great at first and probably is for a while, but after a few years, you begin to realize you want more.

Although, to anyone reading this, do what makes you happy. That's really all it's about. If that means slumming it with 5 of your buddies in a small apartment, then great. If and when your mindset changes, go with the flow. Too many people sit working office jobs or long hours in manufacturing hating every minute of it, just so they can provide for a certain lifestyle. Being happy in your career and life outside of it is the most important thing. Life goes on. Just ride the wave.
 
Expect the first few years to be like college, but then you’ll move up or move out.

I moved up. Sorta.

But I live on the mountain for free and ski a lot.
 
The grass is always greener. My job is complicated and mentally taxing sometimes I think it would be nice to walk around and pick up plates all day, but when I had a simple job I didn't like it much either so who knows.
 
For every TJ Burk there are 3 Dexter Ruteckis

That's an Aspen Extreme reference for all you young whippersnappers. Watch it. Many life lessons to be had.
 
13876073:snowpocalypse said:
For every TJ Burk there are 3 Dexter Ruteckis

That's an Aspen Extreme reference for all you young whippersnappers. Watch it. Many life lessons to be had.
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WOWWWWWWW, takin' me back!
 
13875938:search4freshies said:
[...] After re-reading what I just wrote, seconds after posting it I'm realizing just writing all of that down and having to actively think about exactly what I've been doing in life lately really helped mental health wise. Glad I'm in a better, happier, more fulfilling place now. And I hope by reading this it will inspire someone to take the step into skibumming for a couple of years to find out who the truly are.
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Thanks for posting. Inspired me to sit down and write. But it's tmi and too long so I'll hold off on posting for now

13875998:ChangeCashMoney said:
Finding a good work-life balance is what it's all about. I work a job at the base of PCMR and I mostly work evenings, so I get to ski a ton, but I don't do much socializing outside of that. I try and have a night out with friends once a week, I hang out with people at the bouldering gym, and reading has always been a solid way for me to pull myself out of ruts. I can get sucked into a cool story for a few hours and just sort of block out whatever it is that I've got going on.

Honestly another thing that keeps me sane is calling my mom every once in a while. I know not everyone has a super supportive family, but my mom rules. She keeps me level-headed and she loves asking me about skiing, so it's fun to tell her about my day on the mountain then just chat for a bit.

If an unfulfilling job is what's really getting him down maybe he should consider volunteering somewhere once a week. Not too huge of a commitment, but he'll at least get that nice feeling you get when you help someone out. Places like the National Ability Center and the Refugee and Immigrant Center are always looking for volunteers.

Picking up a new hobby on the side could be good too, like climbing, or whatever he's into. I would definitely recommend getting down away from the mountain once in a while and hanging out in SLC. It's a fun place with lots of cool people who are down to be friends if you're down to talk to them. If you're homie is ever having a rough time and needs someone new to hang with I'm always down to make new friends.
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This is great advice-- creating a work/life balance, calling homies and fam to re-center yourself, involving yourself in the non-ski community, and having a hobby for off days. A+
 
All my life I wanted to be a pro skier. I ended up moving west in hopes of following my dreams, but it wasn’t what I hoped it would be like. Maybe I’m just homesick. Maybe I’ve just had a sour experience so far (Missed early season due to injury and got laid off as a result), but I’ve found the experience somewhat.....disappointing. For the first time in my life I thought to myself “I don’t want to be a hardcore skier anymore”. I don’t posses the skill to become a pro skier, and I need to stop pushing myself when I ride. I was almost angry at myself for moving out west. It was a stupid dream I had in mind.

My dreams didn’t work out the way I wanted them to. And I’m completely at peace with that.
 
Who's your friend?

I think I'm his boss

Also it is all what you make it. You can choose to party every night or you can choose to engage yourself in other hobbies and healthy habits. Sure the party / bum influence is around but when push comes to shove you dictate how you spend your time.

It's an interesting topic though because I've been up here in Alta for a couple years now, and these thoughts do cross my mind. The work isn't stimulating, almost anybody can do it. But the community up here is so tight knight and unique that i think anyone would be hard pressed to find a place anywhere in the world like Alta. I wouldn't trade my time up here for ANYTHING. The Skiing, the lifestyle, the community, the adventurous ambition that people up here have, and yes the party's too....

As much as this article exploits how we live.... I feel this may be a good place to share it...
https://www.powder.com/stories/features/gmd/

All being said, some people just go nuts up here. I've seen a few kids go full blown alcoholic, emotional melt downs etc. It definitely takes a certain type of person to live in a TINY ski town like Alta, all winter long. Seeing the same people day in and day out and living the same routine. its not for everyone.

Also this:
 
I work low paying jobs in the ski industry. I hate it, I love it, and I keep doing it. If you're looking at the ski industry/ski bumming to solve all your problems, you might be disappointed. For some people it's the ultimate answer, for others it's just another massive letdown. There are pros and cons to anything out there. The ski life can be fucking amazing, but it can be taxing. Living right on the poverty line at best, trying to stay afloat in the shack of an apartment you were able to afford or even find. Working but never able to get ahead.

It also depends on how much you're riding, what your living situation is, friends, how the job is etc. And it really depends on the person. Some people are more adaptable than others. You could give some people horrible standards of living and as long as they get some ski time they'd be stoked.

Ski life is cool, but it's not always greener on the other side. Honestly I think my work ties me to the ski industry more than riding at this point. It sounds fucked up but I think it's true to an extent. After some bad injuries I don't get as stoked going out every day anymore. The stoke comes in windows sometimes idk.

That said getting more into back country stuff the last few years has made me feel better. Just hiking and kind of out there for the love of it. I still like hitting parks but idk if it's getting older, or being fucked from injuries but I don't have the same love I did for it. When you're so paranoid to fall it kind of sucks the joy out of it sometimes.

I've had plenty of friends move to and around Alta though and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. If this post is about you thinking of sending it, it might be worth giving it a shot. If it doesn't pan out, and it's not your thing, you've only wasted a season. That's nothing. And even if the experience isn't the most epic life changing experience you hoped, it's still and experience, and you gave it a shot.
 
Was away from my laptop for a few days and I can't believe the genuine and thoughtful responses everyone gave. Thank you all for sharing your experiences, struggles, joys, and everything in between! It seems the major consensus is again, it is what you make of it. For some its works and others it doesn't, but you don't know unless you try.
 
13876356:theabortionator said:
After some bad injuries I don't get as stoked going out every day anymore. The stoke comes in windows sometimes idk.
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I'm definitely resonating with this right now. Had a major injury in Fall of 2016 and missed the entire season but I bought a pass this year. I'd usually ski any conditions but this year im not exactly stoked to see how my knee will hold up in this year's extremely shitty conditions. I'm kind of angry with myself that I haven't even skied a day yet. But everytime I really think about going, even on weekdays, I'm not that stoked or confident so I just work instead :(
 
13877925:TheDoughAbides said:
I'm definitely resonating with this right now. Had a major injury in Fall of 2016 and missed the entire season but I bought a pass this year. I'd usually ski any conditions but this year im not exactly stoked to see how my knee will hold up in this year's extremely shitty conditions. I'm kind of angry with myself that I haven't even skied a day yet. But everytime I really think about going, even on weekdays, I'm not that stoked or confident so I just work instead :(
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I hear you, but have you honestly ever had a day you've gone skiing and thought to yourself, "Man, I wish I was doing something else."? Lack of motivation/inspiration can be a killer if you let it, but (in my experience) once I drag my ass up there, I'm always happy to be on the slopes, all injuries aside. Besides its January goddammit, GO SKI!!!!
 
13876011:ChangeCashMoney said:
I guess just because this might be relevant to someone reading this thread, and this number should be plastered all over any internet forum where depression is a topic of discussion.

NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE: 1-800-273-8255

Please please please if you're depressed and thinking about suicide call that number. If you're not comfortable calling someone but need someone to talk to my DMs are always open. I'm more than happy to listen to you gripe about your problems and if nothing else I can try and be a support for you. Despite all the trash talking I'm sure that's more or less true of just about anybody on NS. I'm sure it's fair to say we all just want other skiers to be happy and okay.
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excellent post and i just want to add that anyone is welcome to private message me as well/get my number
 
13877927:search4freshies said:
I hear you, but have you honestly ever had a day you've gone skiing and thought to yourself, "Man, I wish I was doing something else."? Lack of motivation/inspiration can be a killer if you let it, but (in my experience) once I drag my ass up there, I'm always happy to be on the slopes, all injuries aside. Besides its January goddammit, GO SKI!!!!
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Alright alright I'm going tomorrow...thanks dude man
 
You have to have a good head on your shoulders to ski bum. There's nothing wrong with ski bumming for 1-2 years out of college. However, keep in mind that those 1-2 years can end up being 5-6 years really quickly. It becomes a lot harder to enter the actual real world job force when you have a big gap on your resume for 6 years after college. You can end up being 40 years old with 3 roommates, no money, no woman, and no real job or job prospects. For some, that's completely fine and I'm not judging.

I ski bummed for 2 years and realized I really loved the mountains, but I was going to give them up if I couldn't put my education to use. I lucked out and found a real job in the mountains and ski on the weekends, plus some random mid-week mornings when the job is slow and it dumps overnight.

The other options, as some have already stated, is move to a mid-sized city within a couple hour drive to some ski hills where there are actual real jobs. Places like SLC, Denver, or Seattle. You can still get 50 days a year, which is pretty damn good for a lot of people.

There are always pluses and minuses. You just have to figure out what you truly value, whether that's skiing, job security, or some sort of mix.
 
Gonna be a long one and no one will read it but it’s a good story. ask me if I care.

I dreamed of moving to Whistler since it’s the skiing mecca of canadiaa. Anyone who has tried knows what an absolute lottery it is to get housing without inside help... so I spent 6 months sending out emails for housing. Got 2 responses. Decided fuck it I’ll live out of my truck by the river and find a job and housing in person.... it’s a catch 22, you need an address to get a job and you need a job to get an address. Found that out from my friend Yosuke (who owns TMC Freeriderz... anyone in Whis that needs a ski shop for stuff this is the best place no contest)

Anyway I started realizing my dream wasn’t going to happen so I started toying with the idea of buying a motor home or trailer and tow it there. So that’s what I did (work hard in the summers kids, skiing will thank you). There’s a campground/Resort 5 mins from the village called Riverside RV Resort, I put in a long term reservation from November 1st to April 30th. But still I had no job and rent was still sky high. My friend Zac decided to move with me and we’d both bunk in the trailer. I got my own room with a queen size cuz it’s my trailer.

So we towed the thing up there with no jobs, bought seasons passes and had no money left if we had to tow it home lol. But fuck it was the mentality cause that’s life itself. spent about 2 weeks handing out resumes between skiing. I got a job offer clearing snow and I took it because of desperation but it started sinking in that I’d be shovelling on pow days. Zac got a job 3 minutes down the road from our “place”. Good ol saber rentals. They offered me a job at $14/hr because of my work background and they needed another warehouse worker. I took that in a heart beat.

So... first day of work they are all really professional getting us to sign safety contracts and all that. I was like wow this place is gonna be sweet. 4 days on 3 off, go home for lunch, felt like it was meant to be. About 30 minutes into the first day of actual work I realize these people have no idea how to run a company, let alone a construction equipment rental company, let alone train new employees at all this. It was a shitshow. This feeling of doom set in. The same feeling I got from home working a job that wasn’t going anywhere. Dark gloomy days sat in my future but skiing would make up for it? Nah fuck that, this was my dream and my dream has no dark days. So I quit. Had $150 left to my name but I truly felt that this wasn’t how this whole dream was going to go. There was a grocery store that I dropped my resume off at a month before that told me to keep coming in and showing interest and they’d hire people. I gambled on that.

A week later I went in there on my usual weekly stop in and got hired on the spot. Still in my ski gear.... fuck ya (thanks Kraig). Shout out to the Grocery Store in whistler. The real Grocery Store, the only Grocery Store. I got in the dairy department, Kraig (dairy manager) told me I can start the next day. First day of work (again) and I ask about hours. Kraig said that everyone here is here to shred so I get 4 night shifts and 1 day shift. I get to ski 6 days a fucking week. The gamble paid off, can’t even tell you how ecstatic I was. A lil pay cut but that’s what you get in ski towns, you’re not there to make money. Working at the store and being with all these people with the same mentality and all around chillness was just the greatest experience in the world. Made so many great friends there from all over the world. Everyday I had tons of people to ride with at what ever level you could ask. Truly it could not have worked out better. For real.

Winter trailer living is pretty cunty tho. Lots of frozen pipes, burst pipes, cramped space but at the end of the day it was all for skiing. And skiing is my life. So much so that I threw away relationships for it.

I knew my ex girlfriend for 18 years before we dated. Dated for two years and long distance in Whis. I loved her. I really did. but I loved my friends and skiing in Whis as well. I felt that if she was the one she would stick with me even when I wanted to move back to Whis after living there for the first winter season. She said that was fine with her, that she loved how I followed my dreams, but the 2nd year of me being gone got to her. So she dumped me the summer after. After I had sold my trailer and was ready to commit to her completely.... oh well. That’s life.

You meet a lot of transient people in places like Whis (ski resorts in general) and learn there’s plenty of time to go to school or get a good job but not always time or freedom to drop everything and go. So using my experiences I have realized that I always want the freedom of being able to drop everything and go somewhere new.

I’m going to Japan now with my friends from whistler. That wouldn’t be happening if I still lived in Whis or if I was still dating her, so dream on and be free. I hope to live in a van in Japan and travel the country eventually. Thanks for reading all of this lol (if you did). It was the best decision of my life so far. Only good things come from taking chances if you look at it in the right light.

TL:DR

Fucking live your life man, fuck school if you don’t feel like it, fuck school if you want to rush through it and move to a mountain. Just move to a mountain. Life is too special to waste chasing money and things. Chase pow and dreams. Buy a trailer and tow it to a place you can call home. Move to Japan. Move to Chile. Just do it man it’ll be much more fulfilling. Egoism is a part of all of us, just do what makes you happy and it can’t be selfish. Fuck a career, bums for life. Peace.
 
Hey, I'm by no means a ski bum but I do get to ski pretty much as much as I want to (as I'm in college and Sugarbush/MRG are about 40 minutes away with a super cheap season pass to both). My goal at the moment is to graduate and spend a season within a year or two of bumming out West as I've never spent a significant amount of time over there. I think it takes a special mindset to do so as it (initially at least) is a pretty lonely lifestyle with low pay, but I'm still looking forward to it. I worked after high school doing construction at slightly above minimum wage and spent a few months traveling alone around Europe. It was kind of a shit-show socially (made friends in some places, completely on my own in others), but it was an awesome experience overall and I'd love to replicate this in a very morphed way by living in a shitty apartment for a winter doing what I love, as I will probably never get another opportunity to ski for such an extended period of time after school (until I'm loaded and buy a house at Deer valley :P). I'm by no means antisocial, but I also don't hate spending time alone, such as on the slopes, especially when I know that I have at least a semi-promising financial future ahead. If your friend is having problems he likely isn't cut out for the bum lifestyle, which let's face it, can certainly be pretty shitty. Personally, I can't imagine working more than a season minimum wage to ski, simply because there's so much more out there to do job (and income)-wise.

I have access to a pretty wide-range of peer-reviewed essays and studies on the effects of minimum wage work as a result of my psyc course but unfortunately most studies are on a more narrow subject like how minimum wage effects certain groups of people, etc, and less on happiness itself, which leads me to believe, especially in the case of your friend, that his happiness, or lack thereof, has less to do with his pay and more to do with a lack of satisfaction with what he's doing. Maybe it's time to get a job related to his academic focus.
 
As a current ski resort employee also taking college classes, I've chosen to live outside of the main ski town, Ski towns just get kinda depressing after awhile. You see the same people all the time, high five the same lifties, do the same park laps, hit the same cliffs, go to the same parties. If you forget to take a step back and look around at life the whole thing can turn into a blur so quickly. Ski towns can really start to feel restricting. Its a pretty shitty feeling knowing deep down you have a ton of potential and drive to go somewhere and do something with your life but being unsure of how to exercise that drive and be productive with it. It doesn't help that for every person with the desire to go further there are ten more that are content with living in employee housing and blowing half their paycheck on booze and bud and the other half fixing their beat to shit Subaru (nothing against subies, I own one, it just fits the stereotype). I have a really hard time seeing people live that lifestyle well into their 30s and thinking that I don't want that to be me. I want to be able to afford to go ski around the world and live comfortably and ski towns just aren't conducive to that.

end rant

tl;dr its easy to fall in to a black hole in ski towns and there are people there with motivation that just don't know how to use it for something productive
 
Take my advice, don't ever look for the high end corporate jobs it will make your life a living hell. If anyone plans to ski bum stick to the simple, fun jobs like Lifts, Pass Sales, or Park Crew. You'll get more skiing, your job is fun and easy, you get the true ski bum experience. Then again, you don't have to take my advice just do what you want to do, and be happy doing it. If ya aren't happy ski bumming, than it's only up to you to pursue another passion.
 
13876059:Casey said:
The grass is always greener. My job is complicated and mentally taxing sometimes I think it would be nice to walk around and pick up plates all day, but when I had a simple job I didn't like it much either so who knows.
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This.

You're gonna live with regrets, whatever you chose to do. Know thyself and choose what kind of regrets you can cope with. For me, I can cope with the lack of skiing way better than I can cope with the lack of financial stability and professional success.
 
13878219:Segsxi said:
Take my advice, don't ever look for the high end corporate jobs it will make your life a living hell. If anyone plans to ski bum stick to the simple, fun jobs like Lifts, Pass Sales, or Park Crew. You'll get more skiing, your job is fun and easy, you get the true ski bum experience. Then again, you don't have to take my advice just do what you want to do, and be happy doing it. If ya aren't happy ski bumming, than it's only up to you to pursue another passion.
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Aren't you like 18 or 19? How many high end corporate jobs have you had? What a baller. Parents fit that category? Yeah I could guess some or many could be very taxing on work life balance, but that's kind of a generalization.
 
13878229:IsitWinterYet17 said:
Aren't you like 18 or 19? How many high end corporate jobs have you had? What a baller. Parents fit that category? Yeah I could guess some or many could be very taxing on work life balance, but that's kind of a generalization.
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19, one corporate job, true very much generalization based on my own bad experience as I said though it doesn’t matter what you do if you are happy doing it that’s RAD
 
A lot of people who suffer from depression use sports (sometimes extreme sports) to take their minds away from it.

Maybe after a while of skiing every single day, the actual enjoyment of skiing starts to wear off and he's realising it's not filling the gap in his life he thought it would.

Also it's pretty common knowledge that drinking alcohol all of the time is not a long-time cure for being miserable.

Just my 2 cents
 
This thread really describes the dichotomy of my life. There is no way in hell I could tell a person what the right or wrong answer is to go the ski bum life. Based on how long I've been around this site, I feel I owe a thoughtful response as well...

During 2007/2008 season I was approaching senior year of high school and I needed to make the vital decision of what route to go. I grew up at a small resort in WNY (instructed, worked in the park, HS ski racing, learned tuning from my buddies working in the shop). Skiing was at the absolute front of my life and the only thing I truly cared about. I skied as many day a year as the ice coast would allow.

My parents sat me down and told me I needed to look into college (because that's what kids should do). Guidance counselors told me to look into state schools or community colleges because that's how my grades were. The idea of my parents telling me to go to college (knowing they weren't going to foot the bill) really pissed me off. My idea was packing up my shit, driving into the great north east or out west and starting that ski bum life. Parents said that would only be an option if I looked into every aspect of getting into school. If I have no money, how am I going to get into a school around skiing while being out-of-state? Decision points.

I went to check out schools and looked into an Army ROTC scholarship (4-year full ride, first year totally free if I back out). I didn't totally like the idea of the Army because that is the COMPLETE opposite of what I wanted to do (as written above). I was however, drawn to the people; not only the military people, but the dudes I was around. I met Steezyjibber (fellow NSer) and a whole gang of snowboarders and they evened the scales for me. I was a full time student, but skied every chance I got (especially home mountain during breaks teaching lessons) and the jib setup at Snowpark Niagara (Rest in Peace). Did I ski as much as I wanted to? No, but I had better opportunities when I did ski.

Fast forward to graduating from college: I had fucking money, more than I had seen in my life up until that point... but I moved to Virginia... what kinda shit is that? If I wanted to ski though, I needed to pony the fuck up and travel. That's how I toured the midatlantic, once again, not ideal... but it's places I would never go any other time so, why not? Still had leave to home mountain and the upper east coast for a handful of days per year. At this time, I also realized I needed to nut up and pursue a challenging career field in the Army (because this shit makes me happy), so I did. Still thinking about skiing, but maybe a hiatus of only getting one week a year will be worth it, right? Yeah, lived in Florida for a year.

When orders finally came down for a new duty station.... I get Europe, more specifically, Germany. After living here for three years, have I gotten more than 50 days a year? Not even close... but I've skied almost every single place I had dreamed about for my entire childhood. Also travelled the world and been comfortable enough to do so.

A wise man once asked me "What's more worth it? Skiing or enjoying skiing?"...

I thought that was the dumbest question I had ever heard when I was 16 years old, because I thought they were the same thing. They are not, they are different, and if I skied to live instead of lived to ski, I think I would be in a significantly different place right now. I thought the ski bum life was the most glamorous thing out there and from all the accounts I have heard, I was wrong.

I used to think people were huge bullshitters for focusing on anything other than ripping lines and doing it as often as possible. The wisdom I've acquired, is that taking a step away from something you love isn't going to make you love it any less... realizing there is more out there, skiing will always be there when you come back, and what's truly important (fulfillment, starting a family, enough money to be comfortable) is the only way (for me).

I gave up a shit ton of snow time to get here, but I have a wife, a car, a place to live and I'm fulfilled as fuck. The chances of me skiing all the places I have (let alone traveling there) probably would have never happened if I didn't take this route.

Flip-side, look up "The Pursuit- Adam Sauerwein", the guy is a great human-being, happy as hell, mods buses and gets more time on the snow than anybody I know, but he puts in the work to get there. Sometimes I kick myself for not doing it like he did, but when I step back, I am happy with where I am at and that's all that really matters.

No one skis for free is the bottom line, but how you get there can be just as fulfilling as actually doing it. Take this all with a grain of salt, as you should with everything you read on the internet.
 
Didn't have time to read everyone else responses but I'l leave mine. I've done some dirtbag climbing while living out of my car, and I ski bummed and worked for a resort for a period of time once I graduated college. I think you nailed it. It felt like freshman year of college all over again. It felt like a big regression and was going backwards maturity wise. (No-offense to anyone who still ski-bums, I think I honestly just had bad roomates) It was hard being around people without interests, drive or inspiration for things beside skiing. I've always loved skiing, but I realized that I actually don't love it THAT much, and there's other things that are important to me in addition to skiing.

since working at the resort, I worked in sales in a mega-corporate environment for a while which was great for making a lot of money but awful for a livelihood and I hated that more than the ski bumming. I then quit did a lot of various jobs over the course of 3 years and then started substitute teaching last year. Its been awesome because it's one of the most schedule-flexible jobs you can have. Pays well and I can take any day off that I want without anyone to report to. If i'm looking at the weather forecast and it looks like a pow day the next day, I'll simply not accept any positions and go shred in the morning. I know lots of others have found ways to make a decent wage and not be locked into a 9-5 40 hr/week job. You just gotta find some way to make it work for you.

**This post was edited on Jan 10th 2018 at 1:19:09pm
 
13877949:SofaKingSick said:
excellent post and i just want to add that anyone is welcome to private message me as well/get my number
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13877951:TheDoughAbides said:
Alright alright I'm going tomorrow...thanks dude man
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I did it! I went skiing yesterday and it went much better than I expected! Conditions weren't great so I was pretty cautious in the trees and bumps and mostly just cruised blues but it was a good time, nonetheless.
 
13878768:TheDoughAbides said:
I did it! I went skiing yesterday and it went much better than I expected! Conditions weren't great so I was pretty cautious in the trees and bumps and mostly just cruised blues but it was a good time, nonetheless.
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Hell yeah dude! Glad you went out and had a good time. Now go reward yourself with some killer chicken wings or something.
 
I did it after high school before I went to college. So if any high schoolers are reading this dont miss out. I played lacrosse religiously growing up and started skiing my junior year of high school. I figured if I got into a school and deferred my parents would be okay with the idea of taking a year off to "scratch the itch" i had for skiing. They were behind it 100% which helped a lot. I worked my ass off all summer and fall and saved up about 6 grand to afford an apartment in Crested Butte from November to April. I worked two bussing/dishwashing jobs at different restaurants while there and was able to ski every day if I wanted to. Most of the time it was just an hour or two before going to work in a restaurant on the mountain though. The thing that resonates with me the most is how much I was able to grow up in such a short time. It was crazy. Wasn't hard to get myself up everyday cuz I got to ski but getting yelled at while working till 3 am behind bars on new years eve and during spring break softened some sharp edges in my life forsure. Mostly based behind ego and ignorance to being an adult. While there I met a lot of guys who struggled which surprised me at first. Guys who were doing the same thing but after college and living there full time. So along with an apartment and ski pass they were paying for a car, insurance, their phone, etc.. Cant really imagine doing it with all those expenses but if you're young and reading this, do it before you go to college. Just promise your parents you'll actually go back to school and you should be alright. To this day its the best decision I've ever made
 
13878824:ChangeCashMoney said:
Hell yeah dude! Glad you went out and had a good time. Now go reward yourself with some killer chicken wings or something.
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Clocked out of work early and caught last chair today too!! Gonna get up again tomorrow morning!
 
13876185:DIRTYBUBBLE said:
All my life I wanted to be a pro skier. I ended up moving west in hopes of following my dreams, but it wasn’t what I hoped it would be like. Maybe I’m just homesick. Maybe I’ve just had a sour experience so far (Missed early season due to injury and got laid off as a result), but I’ve found the experience somewhat.....disappointing. For the first time in my life I thought to myself “I don’t want to be a hardcore skier anymore”. I don’t posses the skill to become a pro skier, and I need to stop pushing myself when I ride. I was almost angry at myself for moving out west. It was a stupid dream I had in mind.

My dreams didn’t work out the way I wanted them to. And I’m completely at peace with that.
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It's a good thing that you realized that you hate it. Imagine if you hadn't tried it, and just gone to work at a desk job instead. You would be thinking everyday, "man! What if I had been a skier?" Now you could work that desk job in peace without the constant wondering that would slowly drive you crazy. You now know that you gave it your best shot, and that the ski bum life just wasn't for you. Most people working a boring job have something in their past that causes sit and think what if I had done that instead. You my friend are one of the lucky ones who would know that their job actually beats the alternative.
 
I am a ski bum with poor mental health. Although for me not having money has nothing to do with it. If getting to ski as much as you want isn't enough you probably aren't cut out for it.
 
13878828:duder227 said:
I did it after high school before I went to college. So if any high schoolers are reading this dont miss out. I played lacrosse religiously growing up and started skiing my junior year of high school. I figured if I got into a school and deferred my parents would be okay with the idea of taking a year off to "scratch the itch" i had for skiing. They were behind it 100% which helped a lot. I worked my ass off all summer and fall and saved up about 6 grand to afford an apartment in Crested Butte from November to April. I worked two bussing/dishwashing jobs at different restaurants while there and was able to ski every day if I wanted to. Most of the time it was just an hour or two before going to work in a restaurant on the mountain though. The thing that resonates with me the most is how much I was able to grow up in such a short time. It was crazy. Wasn't hard to get myself up everyday cuz I got to ski but getting yelled at while working till 3 am behind bars on new years eve and during spring break softened some sharp edges in my life forsure. Mostly based behind ego and ignorance to being an adult. While there I met a lot of guys who struggled which surprised me at first. Guys who were doing the same thing but after college and living there full time. So along with an apartment and ski pass they were paying for a car, insurance, their phone, etc.. Cant really imagine doing it with all those expenses but if you're young and reading this, do it before you go to college. Just promise your parents you'll actually go back to school and you should be alright. To this day its the best decision I've ever made
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I would never promise somebody I'd go back to school. If you end up loving it or find a different career path, going back to school because you told your parents you would, is pretty unreasonable.

If anything, post high school is a time to figure out life and do things for your own reasons.

Also it's definitely expensive to live in ski towns but 100% doable
 
13878828:duder227 said:
I did it after high school before I went to college. So if any high schoolers are reading this dont miss out. I played lacrosse religiously growing up and started skiing my junior year of high school. I figured if I got into a school and deferred my parents would be okay with the idea of taking a year off to "scratch the itch" i had for skiing. They were behind it 100% which helped a lot. I worked my ass off all summer and fall and saved up about 6 grand to afford an apartment in Crested Butte from November to April. I worked two bussing/dishwashing jobs at different restaurants while there and was able to ski every day if I wanted to. Most of the time it was just an hour or two before going to work in a restaurant on the mountain though. The thing that resonates with me the most is how much I was able to grow up in such a short time. It was crazy. Wasn't hard to get myself up everyday cuz I got to ski but getting yelled at while working till 3 am behind bars on new years eve and during spring break softened some sharp edges in my life forsure. Mostly based behind ego and ignorance to being an adult. While there I met a lot of guys who struggled which surprised me at first. Guys who were doing the same thing but after college and living there full time. So along with an apartment and ski pass they were paying for a car, insurance, their phone, etc.. Cant really imagine doing it with all those expenses but if you're young and reading this, do it before you go to college. Just promise your parents you'll actually go back to school and you should be alright. To this day its the best decision I've ever made
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A part of me wants to do this but another part of me wants to just go to college near a ski area and get it done with so I can be 22 and set to go do what I please with my life. I am by no means in a rush to get older but as much as I want to ski bum now I will likely be less motivated to do college after taking a break with my education. And no one would be behind me ski bumming straight out of high school so going against my parents and trying to make it on my own would be much harder for me. After three years I got them on board with college out west and now even have my mom wishing she could move to Fort Collins. As tempting as graduating high school and ski bumming at a resort is for me, I feel like it would kind of be a dick move to pull on my family and may even negatively affect my motivation to get through college.
 
13879044:Cream_Sauce said:
My dude. I did the same thing (except revelstoke) and I ended up staying in Japan.

If you get to east/central Hokkaido hit me up for some shreds
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Hell yeah dude! How long have you been there? I want to live at least 2 winters and a summer. How’s the visa length for Canadians there?
 
13879034:theabortionator said:
I would never promise somebody I'd go back to school. If you end up loving it or find a different career path, going back to school because you told your parents you would, is pretty unreasonable.

If anything, post high school is a time to figure out life and do things for your own reasons.

Also it's definitely expensive to live in ski towns but 100% doable
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To each their own. My parents' one condition was that I go to school after so thats why I promised them. After two and a half years of college i think its just as fun as that year off, but in a different ways. I'm lucky enough to go to school in colorado though so I'm skiing at least twice a week. That's got a lot to do with it
 
13880473:duder227 said:
To each their own. My parents' one condition was that I go to school after so thats why I promised them. After two and a half years of college i think its just as fun as that year off, but in a different ways. I'm lucky enough to go to school in colorado though so I'm skiing at least twice a week. That's got a lot to do with it
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I have nothing against college, just not a fan of going for other people. If they're paying for it all then there's more pull but whatever. I just have so many friends with a shit done of debt, not even working in whatever field they got their degrees in. The age of "you absolutely have yo go to college" is dead imo. Also if an opportunity comes up, you like where you're working and wanted to keep doing it, to shake your life up because you promised mom you'd go to school would be insane imo.

If you were down with going to school anyway it's all good, but I'm saying it just seems like a crazy thing to promise. Good that you're getting out and skiing a decent amount and enjoying school. If college was cheaper I'd probably have gone for the hell of it.
 
13879059:mmccarthy81 said:
A part of me wants to do this but another part of me wants to just go to college near a ski area and get it done with so I can be 22 and set to go do what I please with my life. I am by no means in a rush to get older but as much as I want to ski bum now I will likely be less motivated to do college after taking a break with my education. And no one would be behind me ski bumming straight out of high school so going against my parents and trying to make it on my own would be much harder for me. After three years I got them on board with college out west and now even have my mom wishing she could move to Fort Collins. As tempting as graduating high school and ski bumming at a resort is for me, I feel like it would kind of be a dick move to pull on my family and may even negatively affect my motivation to get through college.
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These were all things I thought about before forsure. In my final decision to do it though it really came down to three things: I had no idea what I wanted to major in so taking a year off may help me find something I could picture myself doing for a living. My parents were more excited about paying for my education if the classes I was signing up for were actually contributing to a major. And the second was that I had gotten into a college and committed to it - I just needed to apply to defer. Meaning write the college an essay on why I deserve to take up a spot in the following years entering class of students. So I had an actual obligation along with the promise to my parents that I had to go to school. The third was that I had only started skiing when I was 17 and had become an absolute fiend for everything about it. I wanted to do it every single day. This was the only way that was possible if my parents were going to pay for my education
 
13880479:theabortionator said:
I have nothing against college, just not a fan of going for other people. If they're paying for it all then there's more pull but whatever. I just have so many friends with a shit done of debt, not even working in whatever field they got their degrees in. The age of "you absolutely have yo go to college" is dead imo. Also if an opportunity comes up, you like where you're working and wanted to keep doing it, to shake your life up because you promised mom you'd go to school would be insane imo.

If you were down with going to school anyway it's all good, but I'm saying it just seems like a crazy thing to promise. Good that you're getting out and skiing a decent amount and enjoying school. If college was cheaper I'd probably have gone for the hell of it.
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Yeah I feel that. I'm blessed with parents who will pay for college so that forsure holds a lot of weight in all of it
 
13880493:duder227 said:
Yeah I feel that. I'm blessed with parents who will pay for college so that forsure holds a lot of weight in all of it
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True. That's totally understandable. If my parents paid for it I probably would have gone. If you're not coming out with debt there's no real downside. You learn shit, and I don't know anyone who's ever complained that college sucked(other than financial reasons).

Have fun and keep gettin the laps in when you can!
 
This is a good read on depression in ski towns -
http://adventureblog.nationalgeogra...-suicides-happening-at-such-an-alarming-rate/

Used to think it would be the life to be a ski bum. Skied 100+ days/year while competing in high school and took a few winters off from college. Now I just finished my PhD and am really happy I kept on the career track. Get a lot of fulfillment out of having purpose in my research that, as much as I love skiing, I could never get from it. My two cents anyways.
 
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