Have you moved to be closer to a ski mountain?

[raisingarizona]

Except if you’re a computer software engineer!

I’m on the wrong side of 50. Yet I’m still excited about going to work every morning, with the list of things I’ll accomplish in the office today. It’s FUN work. (Why the rest of the worlds parents don’t send their kids to do a CS degree is beyond me)

I “accidentally” move closer to skiing when, within weeks of closing on our weekend place I got a job offer nearby. 30 min commute to work and to skiing (just a little bump, but it’s skiing alright). And an hr shorter drive to most of my regular (“real”) skiing.

Turning a weekend escape into full time living exposed some drawback of my “main” home, lacking day to day convenience like grocery store and other supplies. Now we split our time between our city home and our dig in the sticks.

I think that’s awesome that you love your work so much! Most people aren’t so fortunate. I never liked the idea of any job until now. My dream work is designing and building trails and I’m finally doing that. It won’t make me rich but I wake up every day fires up to work. In fact, after a few days off I start to daydream about getting back on the project.

 

[Ski&ride]

As a research chemist, I understand where you are coming from. I have gotten a lot of satisfaction from successful projects and a creative career, and still do at 60. I'm currently on a flight to Buffalo for a plant trial! The difference is the high cost of chemical research, hard to do on your own. And corporate culture does drag on the soul.

Agree on the corporate culture being a drag on the soul.

I went to a job fair specially for start-ups. I found the atmosphere exciting. But my friend look at me like I got 4 eyes on my face! Over 50 in a start-up? We shall see...

Retirement is now an approaching light at the end of the tunnel, and looking forward to getting more ski days before the legs give out!

That’s actually my biggest struggle. Ski more before my legs give out, or work more before my brain (the creative part) gives out?

My dream work is designing and building trails and I’m finally doing that. It won’t make me rich but I wake up every day fires up to work.

Congratulations for being able to “live your dream”.

 

[KingGrump]

looking forward to getting more ski days before the legs give out!

That’s actually my biggest struggle. Ski more before my legs give out,

You guys are going about it all wrong.

 

[Dave Petersen]

My friend Tim (a Pugski.com member) just moved to Salida, CO to be closer to Monarch. I am quite envious. We'll see what happens when my wife and I become empty-nesters.

 

[BobMc]

At age 30 I decided Michigan was too far from decent skiing. Convinced my then engaged to soon to be wife that we needed to move to the West. We narrowed our focus to Bend Oregon, Boulder Colorado, or Salt Lake City. We ended up in SLC because of the ease of getting to the skiing and a cheaper cost of living. I ordered a Sunday Salt Lake Tribune from my local newstand in Michigan and perused the classifieds. At the time I was an automotive technician working in a dealership, this was a pretty marketable position and I easily ended up quickly acquiring a job before we moved. We flew out here for three days to interview at the dealership that wanted to hire me and find an apartment. I interviewed the first day and then spent the rest of that day and the other two climbing. Mere hours before our flight back we found an apartment and paid the deposit. We flew home, rented a u-haul and moved here.

24 years later the ease of getting to the skiing has changed quite a bit, heh. Now we're looking to move to someplace a bit quieter that still has good skiing. We'll probably end up in either Baker City Oregon or Joseph Oregon.

I highly recommend getting out of Atlanta.

 

[Philpug]

Reno...it's still what people think Denver and SLC is.

 

[Sibhusky]

I went to a job fair specially for start-ups. I found the atmosphere exciting. But my friend look at me like I got 4 eyes on my face! Over 50 in a start-up? We shall see...

Actually, if the start up is successful, in a few years it's not a start-up. My daughter joined a start-up. It's been four years and now she's got endless meetings and assigning people "performance boxes". It's still got the chaos factor, but with all the corporate bullshit added.

 

[Puck it]

We just purchased a 5 acre lot in Franconia NH with this view. We are building a new house just breaking ground this month. We will be 4 miles from the Tram base at Cannon.

 

[BS Slarver]

We pulled a major move to be closer to the mountains

First, for your wife, there has to be a variety of activities for her if she is not as passionate about the move and skiing as you are.
Lots of people live in ski towns who do not ski.

Reno, as Phil has suggested gives her a variety of things while you get to be a short drive from Rose and others.
If you can reinvent yourself as in a start up or start over as others have mentioned in the last page or so you may be able to convince your wife to move closer to a ski town.

We decided that as much time as we NEEEED
to be on snow, we weren’t willing to have more than a five minute commute.
We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of our move west. I can’t say the first few months weren’t a little rocky but well worth the effort - couldn’t be happier !

 

[Tricia]

We pulled a major move to be closer to the mountains

First, for your wife, there has to be a variety of activities for her if she is not as passionate about the move and skiing as you are.
Lots of people live in ski towns who do not ski.

Reno, as Phil has suggested gives her a variety of things while you get to be a short drive from Rose and others.
If you can reinvent yourself as in a start up or start over as others have mentioned in the last page or so you may be able to convince your wife to move closer to a ski town.

We decided that as much time as we NEEEED
to be on snow, we weren’t willing to have more than a five minute commute.
We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of our move west. I can’t say the first few months weren’t a little rocky but well worth the effort - couldn’t be happier !

I'd say you've got it going on.

 

[UGASkiDawg]

We were planning on living in Breck and commuting to Cherry Creek 2-3 days a week, that was the best I could negotiate on that transfer. Those days would have been prime time commute in Denver.

I live in Frisco and commute to Cherry Creek 2-3 days a week. I never hit traffic on I70. It's still a 72 miles drive though. Of course I never come to Cherry Creek on Friday. I deal with a 5-15 minute slowdown on the east end of the 6th avenue freeway section depending on what time I hit it but I70 is never the problem. Even in bad weather as I'm going opposite the traffic flow and I'm likely to rearrange my schedule on snow days anyway to take advantage...

 

[UGASkiDawg]

We pulled a major move to be closer to the mountains

First, for your wife, there has to be a variety of activities for her if she is not as passionate about the move and skiing as you are.
Lots of people live in ski towns who do not ski.

Reno, as Phil has suggested gives her a variety of things while you get to be a short drive from Rose and others.
If you can reinvent yourself as in a start up or start over as others have mentioned in the last page or so you may be able to convince your wife to move closer to a ski town.

We decided that as much time as we NEEEED
to be on snow, we weren’t willing to have more than a five minute commute.
We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of our move west. I can’t say the first few months weren’t a little rocky but well worth the effort - couldn’t be happier !

Ummm from what I could tell.....your wife is passionate about skiing and kicks arse at it as well! Tell her Scott and I said hi!

 

[BS Slarver]

Think about you guys every time we have some of Scott’s bacon

 

[4ster]

I was born a poor flatland weekend warrior.
I went about it a bit differently in that I moved to the mountains early on & never looked back. It began when I was 18 years old & took the winter quarter off school to rent a ski cabin in Tahoe with 7 other bums for 3 months (January, February & March) to ski. After that stint, school became secondary to finding a way to stay in the mountains.
The following winter I got a part time job teaching skiing between schooling. That part time job then became full time as I struggled finding off season work to subsidize the winters. Eventually it all worked out as we began a somewhat lucrative summer business & rode the wave up the ladder during the growth years in the ski biz. I did return to school in my 30’s mostly to stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving business world.
Spent 25 years in Tahoe & then moved to Utah prior to the 2002 Olympics to be a part of that. It was only going to be for a couple of years but Real Estate opportunities not available in California kept me there & working at Snowbasin for 14 years, then Powder Mountain for a couple.
Not sure I can recommend Tahoe anymore as it is on the brink of overuse that is pushing the limit of its infrastructure. Parts of Utah still have some room for growth but as the Vail & Alterra influences seep in, it is just not quite the same. If I were looking now I think it would be Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, British Columbia, the Alps or even Alaska.

Now I spend Spring & Summer in Tahoe...

...Fall & winter in Utah.

For me it is the best of both worlds.

 

[Marker]

You guys are going about it all wrong.

Classic Grump!

 

[KingGrump]

Classic Grump!

You guys are talking about "downhill" skiing right? Not XC.
Stop resisting. Let gravity suck.
You don't need legs. Don't fall for that urban myth.

 

[Marker]

You guys are talking about "downhill" skiing right? Not XC.
Stop resisting. Let gravity suck.
You don't need legs. Don't fall for that urban myth.

Actually we're talking about living closer to the mountains. I hope I can achieve your standards once I retire and can spend more time skiing.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Reno...it's still what people think Denver and SLC is.

You mean with a long drive uphill on a busy expressway?

I already miss my three-minute commute to the gondo parking lot at Breck, but I'm "willing" to put up with the 15 miles of divided highway to Park City.

 

[Philpug]

You mean with a long drive uphill on a busy expressway?

I already miss my three-minute commute to the gondo parking lot at Breck, but I'm "willing" to put up with the 15 miles of divided highway to Park City.

No, people think Denver and SLC is a city close to skiing with easy access, but they are not, Reno is. Now..Sacramento is more like what you KNOW Denver to be

 

[stan51]

I will put in a vote for Montana! My wife and I retired 4 years ago from my job and her business in eastern Pennsylvania and moved to Missoula. It helped that one of our daughters, her husband and now our two grandkids live here, too. Missoula isn't particularly near any big name resorts; Big Sky is 3.5 hours south and Whitefish/Big Mountain about 3 hours north of here. However, there are four family-run ski areas within 90 minutes, and I wound up joining the ski patrol at the closest, Montana Snowbowl. If Snowbowl was in the east, it would be getting all kinds of cachet as another Mad River Glen or Magic Mountain, since it has just a few old double chairlifts and tons of steep terrain (and great skiers too), but here it is just the locals' ski hill. From Missoula, we can drive to British Columbia or south to Utah, where our other daughter and her husband live and patrol at Alta. There is also great XC skiing when we chose that mode, plus tons of hiking and trail walking in the off-season. Yellowstone and Glacier are both within easy driving range, too.
The only down side is that lots of other people are discovering Missoula, but the city population is still about 70,000, which would make it a small city pretty much anyplace but Montana, where it is the second largest town in a state with only just over a million residents (and tons of square miles).

So, yes, we moved to be closer to good skiing, and are glad we did.