One season to ski bum. Where do you go?

[4ster]

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?

Or for $3150 get the Utah Silver Pass:
https://www.skiutah.com/passes/gold-and-silver-passes/silverpass-terms-of-use-benefits

 

[CalG]

You know Bozeman MT and Bridger Bowl wouldn't be that bad for a season. There is lots "up top" to keep the interest up. It's a college town with all that vibrancy.

Housing gets a bit tight, but it's not like a "ski town". Worth a look. I would do it in a heart beat. Or perhaps Whitefish.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

If you are a good skier and want to have some employment, consider Summit County, CO, and teaching for the ski school at Breck, Keystone, A-Basin, Loveland or Copper. Each of those resorts offers part-time instructor jobs that will get you a pass (note that Breck/Keystone passes also include A-Basin, Vail and Beaver Creek skiing for free). At Breck, we have wonderful training available to the staff, and you also can get in on similar training options at the other Vail resorts. Great opportunity to both enjoy and improve your skiing. Housing is tough, so you'd want to start looking immediately.

 

[ADKmel]

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.

we flew from Vancouver for 70$ Air canada.. we rented a car drove up, the train runs up to Revvy too, several campers in the parking lot too..

 

[Posaune]

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..)

...and Mt. Baker, though I doubt that he would consider it.

 

[Big_Al]

OP here. Some of you have asked if I have to work.

I have a little bit of money saved up but not enough for housing, pass, food, etc. So yes I'll have to do some work for extra money.

The benefits of working at least part-time at a ski resort are
1 - free ski pass
2 - make skiing friends
3 - possibly a locker
Downside is the jobs are usually minimum wage.

I can probably make more money doing restaurant work or bar tending. I know in some of the smaller ski-towns the bar tending jobs can be hard to come by because the long-time locals already have them. Someone has to die before they open up

I also have some professional skills that I may be able to use in a remote contract type-situation. Haven't done that yet though. Upside is better money and flexible schedule. Downside is not meeting anybody or making any ski buddies.

Still figuring it out.

 

[Sibhusky]

A non-paying job here that will get you a free pass and I think free lessons (that was a perk at one time, don't know if it still is), and instant buddies is Ambassador. Now, you wouldn't qualify for an immediate start as you'd be new, but there's apparently noticeable turnover around January as the reality of having to be out in any weather and leading tourons around everyday sets in. I've considered it many times, but ultimately the fact that you can't ditch your group if they are jerks is what stops me.

They haven't posted that job yet, but many already are: http://skiwhitefish.com/jobs/

And, oh yeah, just remembered that unemployment here is down around 3.9%, ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE LOWER PAYING JOBS, all you probably need to do it be able to leave fog on a mirror.

 

[Big_Al]

OP here w a recap. Winter of 17/18.

So I drove out to Salt Lake City, UT, after Thanksgiving, stayed in a hostel for about 2 weeks while I figured out my my housing and job situation. At the time, the big decision was Ogden/Snow Basin vs. SLC/Snowbird. I ended up staying in SLC and skiing and working at Alta. Good thing too, since Alta had some of the best snow in the West that winter, despite being off about 30% of average.

A big factor in the decision early on was... social life. Including Tinder! I had several Tinder dates right off the bat in SLC. I know, I know, this is a ski forum. I'll keep it simple and just say as a single-male, after having spent a very dry winter in Jackson Hole the previous winter and living in small town NH the rest of the year, it was nice to be in a big city again. There are also MeetUp groups for socializing and outdoor activities. I was pleasantly surprised by downtown SLC. There are bars, there are restaurants, there are people, there is nightlife, there are non-Mormon transplants and ex-Mormons. To be sure, UT is very Mormon. It is a real thing that you can feel in the society and the culture. SLC is diverse enough, though. However, the further you get away from downtown the more you will notice it (with the exception of maybe Park City).

Ended up renting a room from a guy in Cottonwood Heights, right in between LCC and BCC. Very convenient to the ski areas

Looked in to working at the hotel lodges up in LCC (Peruvian, etc.) - and if I was much younger and was all about the skiing, that's where I would go for sure - but as an older guy, I just felt too old for that scene. Interviewed at Snowbird. Great mountain but didn't like the corporate feel of it. Ended up working in food service at Alta. Worked with some good people, mostly younger in their 20's but a few older people too. Alta is a great place. Fantastic snow, challenging terrain, casual laid-back attitude.

Other:
- I did make it up to Snow Basin to ski one time. I 'm glad I got to see the place. It is a huge mountain, nice lift system, nice lodges, some challenging terrain - but not like Snowbird or Alta. The day I visited it was very windy and they actually had to shut down the far gondola and shuttle us back to the base area. Don't know if working there would have been as much fun. Didn't get a ski-bum vibe there at all. Ogden is an okay town. Would have been much quieter than SLC.
- The traffic jams up LCC are real. If it's a powder day on a weekend or holiday, be prepared for a hassle. One time it took me 5 hrs to get to work. Another, after trying for 2+ hours, I had to call my boss and let him know I simply wasn't going be able to make it up. Mind you this would normally be a 20 minute drive or 40 minute bus ride.
- I brought 2 pairs of skis with me: Rossi S-3's, 98mm underfoot, as my daily driver and Rossi Experience 84 as my firm snow ski. 98mm worked fine the majority of the time, although something around 105 would have been nicer on the deeper days.
- working on the mountain is nice because: a) free ski pass, worth about $1000; b) ski locker; c) get to meet other skiers
- UT truly does have the "Greatest Snow on Earth". It is super light.

Every skier should ski bum at least once in their life. It's easiest when you are young, before you have kids, but it is possible to do when you are older too!

-END-

 

[Posaune]

Every skier should ski bum at least once in their life. It's easiest when you are young, before you have kids, but it is possible to do when you are older too!

-END-

I'm retired and I find it a lot easier than when I was young with no money or when I had kids in the house. I've been bumming for a decade so far.

 

[Itinerant skier]

OP here w a recap. Winter of 17/18......

-END-

Nice recap! A few questions: Working in food service, what was the work /ski balance like? Were you working on most of the good pow days? Did you have split shifts that allowed for a few runs here and there?

 

[Doug Briggs]

To attempt to answer the question about where Copper employees live, I'm sure there are a lot in Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne, but at least when I lived up there, everyone I personally knew who worked at Copper lived in Leadville. The housing situation there was far more amenable to the ski bum socioeconomic stratum (at least at the time; this is 20 years ago), but the commute can be a bit of a bear.

I think of lot of your observations still hold true. There is a massive stream of commuters to and from Pb both to Copper and Vail/BC. Pb is a unique place: affordable, cheap, small, too small, unsophisticated, sophisticated, cold, beautiful, challenging to get to/away from in bad weather.

 

[raisingarizona]

If I could go anywhere right now for a season or three I think I’d head for Terrace BC and ski the shit out of the Shames side country. Last I heard there’s plenty of unskied big lines left for pioneering. Seriously, the touring off their mountain looks completely insane. If you’d like to be somewhere with lots of snow, very few people and plenty of back country to explore then Shames is the spot.

Check it out here
https://www.backcountryskiingcanada.com/Shames Mountain Backcountry

Another contender would be spending a season skiing Rogers Pass.


I’d save up enough money to get me through a winter by van lifing it for a while and then go full dirt bag style.

To heck with working or at least don’t get a day job and Id recommend not working for the resort/area. If you have to work get a night gig being a bellman or bussing tables at a decent restaurant.

 

[martyg]

Sun Valley & Silverton would be high on my list!

If Jackson seemed small, Silverton would feel like an outhouse. Not much going on there in winter except for Whiteout and ski Jorge weekend.

 

[martyg]

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..)

FYI Durango isn’t much of a ski town. Purg skis bigger than its stats indicate though. Silverton, and touring the San Juan’s, is much closer than Wolf Creek.

If you ski and bike, Durango is hard to beat. You will be surrounded by the best cycling talent in the US, which raises everyone’s game.

 

[skibob]

Why limit yourself to North America? If I were doing it, I'd head to the Pyrenees. ~30 resorts within a few hours of each other and endless back country. Charming alpine valley towns with thermal waters and good food. Crazy cheap (including passes). Get your own apartment for about what a couch in Vail runs! Better, cheaper food than anywhere in North America. If you need to make money, private instructors are allowed at most resorts. Tourist visa allows 6 months. Making money is technically a no-no, but a little side cash teaching shouldn't cause any trouble.

I speak Spanish and some French, which facilitates this. But you'll find ENglish widely spoken as well.

 

[cantunamunch]

^You working on Catalan yet?

 

[skibob]

^You working on Catalan yet?

The formula seems to be "substitute a French word every third word and delete the last consonant" or something like that. I'm actually more comfortable with it than my wife who is a native Spanish speaker, lol.

***And yes, I am only kidding about the formula.

 

[Big_Al]

Nice recap! A few questions: Working in food service, what was the work /ski balance like? Were you working on most of the good pow days? Did you have split shifts that allowed for a few runs here and there?

Good question. Depending on what your financial situation, you can choose to work the minimum required. Most ski resorts will have a minimum amount of hours/days you have to work to get a ski pass. Off the top of my head 18 hours/ 3 days a week seems about right. I think at both Alta and Jackson Hole I only worked 3-4 days a week.

2 points on this:

1) You may not want to ski 7 days a week. There are plenty of days between storms when the skiing is just not that good. The off-piste can get nasty, chopped up and frozen solid, and the groomers can be very firm. Plus it's nice to take some down time, sleep in, run errands, etc., every once in a while.

2) Depending on what kind of job you do on the mountain, you can usually get some ski time in on the days you work, either before or after your shift. Food service shifts usually start at 10-11 and go to 4-6, giving you time before your shift to get some laps in. I had some fantastic mornings skiing fresh powder. At Alta, I almost always got to get in 2-3 runs at the end of the day too (if I wanted them). Nice way to wind down.

*Compare to a more prestigious job role like ski instructor a ) where if you are a newbie, you'll be stuck with little kids; b) you have to show up for morning line up and if you have classes you may not get to free ski all day (but you could get cut and be able to ski too); and c) over the major vacation periods like Christmas and Spring Break, you will be expected to work 5/7 days straight. Food service also gets a shift meal, which is nice for starving ski bums!

 

[karlo]

Japan. Once you’re there, it’s cheap. And get the JR Pass to use the trains. Explore resorts and backcountry. Explore villages. Explore food. Visit temples and cities to explore culture.

First stop, Hakuba. Enough English that you can get acclimated. Then, Shiga, also Nagano Prefecture. Then Niigata Prefecture. Then make your way up the main island towards Hokkaido. Once in Hokkaido, choise to join the Aussies in Niseko or, me, and I’ve not been to Hokkaido, go to smaller resorts that Japanese frequent.

Oh, and literally bum. No reservations. Just your gear and a back pack.

Why? Over the course of your life, you can hit any number of resorts in North America. When else can you have the time to explore Japan so thoroughly?

 

[skibob]

Japan. Once you’re there, it’s cheap. And get the JR Pass to use the trains. Explore resorts and backcountry. Explore villages. Explore food. Visit temples and cities to explore culture.

First stop, Hakuba. Enough English that you can get acclimated. Then, Shiga, also Nagano Prefecture. Then Niigata Prefecture. Then make your way up the main island towards Hokkaido. Once in Hokkaido, choise to join the Aussies in Niseko or, me, and I’ve not been to Hokkaido, go to smaller resorts that Japanese frequent.

Oh, and literally bum. No reservations. Just your gear and a back pack.

Why? Over the course of your life, you can hit any number of resorts in North America. When else can you have the time to explore Japan so thoroughly?

There is something Westerners often don't get about Japan until they get there: Even very cheap, basic accommodations are going to be clean and safe and virtually everybody will be at the very least basically polite and accommodating.