One season to ski bum. Where do you go?

[TonyC]

The knee jerk reaction is right. Quality of skiing, length of season and non-resort level housing costs are all compelling reasons to choose Salt Lake.

 

[mikel]

After this past weekend I can now say I have 1st hand knowledge of someone paying $450 a month for couch in West Vail. Crazy.

 

[dbostedo]

After this past weekend I can now say I have 1st hand knowledge of someone paying $450 a month for couch in West Vail. Crazy.

Well how crazy that actually is depends... are we talking a sofa bed? And how many other folks in the place?

In my head, it's very different crashing on a friend's sofa in their 1 bedroom condo, versus crashing on the sofa in a 4 bedroom town-house occupied by 8 other people.

 

[Old boot]

The knee jerk reaction is right. Quality of skiing, length of season and non-resort level housing costs are all compelling reasons to choose Salt Lake.

I'm with Tony on this one, lots of different resorts in the area. Easy to get in/out of. In town "cheaper" lodging , food and I could sleep on Vince's couch.
Holly Crap I think im gunna take the winter off and ski!!!

 

[Old boot]

Rethinking this, I will eat his food and keep my costs even lower!

 

[Frankly]

SLC for blondes and bouffants!

 

[DoryBreaux]

Do you need to stay in one place? If not, do what all the cool kids are doing; buy a van and set it up as a ski mobile. No need to worry about where to go, just go where the snows good.

After that I'd say Montana followed by SLC.

 

[fatbob]

$450 for a couch in West Vail sounds pretty good - on a bus route, close to grocery stores. Suspect housing situation will be a lot tighter than that come December.

 

[trailtrimmer]

if you don't need to work, rent at Revelstoke we were told could get an apartment for 500/mo! (Canadian!!) great skiing, no crowds, lots of restaurants and cool vibe to the town.

That cheap? I wish it was easier to get to, Revvy is in the middle of noplace and nowhere. Valemont will be even worse when it's open but will make for a nice July trip.

FWIW, if you have an engineering or tech job, getting into Canada on a work visa may not be as tough as you think. It's on the radar for myself and the other half.

 

[rickg]

If you are ski bumming, that means no attachments, so ski bum where thiere is snow. You may even follow storms. Don't limit yourself to just one area.

Good luck and have fun!

Rick G

 

[Lofcaudio]

1. Snowbasin/Ogden
2. Telluride (solid bum culture and plenty of expert terrain)
3. Aspen (so much great terrain)
4. Taos (so much expert terrain)
5. Mt. Bachelor/Bend
6. SLC (so much snow)
7. Crested Butte (see Telluride)

 

[river-z]

If it were me I'd go someplace that gets good powder days but which is pretty difficult to get to.
Why? because if you're bumming you're right there already to score fresh tracks with one one else around.

For me "frequent powder days" + "harder to get to" + "halfway decent town" would probably narrow my choices to:
-Steamboat
-SLT and Kirkwood
-Durango: Wolf Creek (with opportunities at Silverton a bonus)
-Jackson/Targhee (on my list but you already went there so..)

 

[DoryBreaux]

Skip south lake Tahoe. Kirkwood would be ideal, actually. If you are bumming and planning on working at the resort, live at the resort.

 

[CalG]

Red Mountain

 

[Blue Streak]

As long as you don't have to admit to anyone where you are, I suggest living incognito behind the Epic Curtain.
There are ski bums here of all ages!

 

[at_nyc]

The knee jerk reaction is right. Quality of skiing, length of season and non-resort level housing costs are all compelling reasons to choose Salt Lake.

But season pass pricing aren't cheap in the Salt Lake region. There maybe many mountains nearby, but if one were to ski more than one or two, the season pass price adds up.

Plus, does one want to live in a suburb or in a ski town?

 

[Muleski]

My thinking is that much of this depends on where you are planning/able to stay. If you have a good solution to that, or have options, great. If you have plenty of budget, even better.

Some of the suggestions are really tough to make work, based on that factor. Can also depend on what you'd live with for a commute.

I'm still confused as to whether the OP is thinking about working at all, or whether it's
basically a ski sabbatical, which could be great.

If @Big_Al can help is with that, and maybe some idea or thinking about housing, maybe we can be more helpful.

Finding housing in some of the suggested spots will be "problematic" at any cost. Some others, less so.

Fun to think about.

 

[BC.]

Our Ski Bum Dream:

Would bring along 1-2 of my ski buddies to share expenses. We would take spring semester sabbaticals (late Jan.-June).

As financially secure ski bums, we would live out of a camper and travel/stay along the Powder Highway in BC.

As the winter winds down, we would come back and hit all the "spring" spots in UT, WY, CO on our way back home in the spring.

Man, that sounds good...I gotta start looking into taking a sabbatical!

 

[TonyC]

As financially secure ski bums, we would live out of a camper and travel/stay along the Powder Highway in BC.

See DanoT for the hard realities of that option: https://forum.pugski.com/threads/rv-friendly-ski-resorts.5458/#post-127565

 

[Sibhusky]

@Matt Smith did something like that, but I think mostly used hotels. But basically drove up following the Rockies for a season.

He has a blog somewhere....

Found it! https://skibatical2016.wordpress.com