The American Ski Bum's Fading Dream

[Tricia]

Saw this interesting article written from the perspective of the ski bum life at big mountain locations like Telluride and Crested Butte that have the potential to change in a big way as the big business resort brands gobble them up.

How will the ski bum scrape out a living in the changing landscape of the resort business model and how it impacts cost of living in these mountain town locations with big mountain ski bum life?

The Fading Dream of the American Ski Bum
By Durrie Bouscaren

As the article says, the one thing that the die hard ski bum has going for him/her is the inherent ability to adapt to change.

 

[moreoutdoorYuri]

the problems for those who envision a 'mountain life', simple and unstructured, are quite obvious in Mammoth/MM Lakes. Housing is critical for those who might get a job for the Mountain - for those who work 'in-town', it's almost impossible. The Mtn Corp is endeavoring to 'build' housing, which could easily succcomb to dorm style. ghetto living, if not carefully guarded against. Don't work for the mountain? Well then, good luck finding something other than your vehicle, as 'housing'.
High on the causal list is the AIR BNB type services.
I feel for those who want the simple 'ski bum' life for a while - in a mountain town. For many it's no longer possible...
...maybe still possible in Canada ?

 

[dbostedo]

I'd think maybe there are lots of places you could still bum... the Schweitzers and Castles and Mt Hoods and Bridgers and those types of semi-resorts. Sure it's a shrinking number, but they may still have affordable enough towns nearby?

 

[Tricia]

This is not a new dilemma, however its a different dynamic because of the bigger resort brands buying the small (yet big mountain) ski resorts.

It is(was) likely easier to scrape out a living when there is still a small ski town vibe.

 

[Eleeski]

High on the causal list is the AIR BNB type services.

At Squaw, so many houses are dark (uninhabited) that AirBnB doesn't affect the available housing supply. Getting people in those empty houses might work to help the housing supply. For our rental house there, the competition from other short term rentals tipped the balance in favor of renting long term to the lifties.

Of course, we don't need to hire cleaners and other help as much to service a short term rental. So maybe we are making things worse by creating fewer jobs with supplying affordable housing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. When I was a liftie many decades ago, nobody could afford housing then either. I lived in my convertible two seat sports car...

Eric

 

[DanoT]

Most of the small ski towns in western Canada offer little in the way of summer employment for ski bums so leaving for the bigger city, or northern construction, or logging camps, or going tree planting is common.

Canada has a generous National Employment Insurance system that works well if you find seasonal summer employment and then if you find part time winter work they let you keep your wages up to 25% of your insurance benefits before they start reducing benefits (and benefits can be up to 60-65% of your summer job wages). You don't really need to ask me how I know all this, but if there was a ski bum Hall of Fame I would be in on the first ballot.

For under 30 y.o. from a British Commonwealth country, Canada offers a 2 year visa that allows them to work or play as much or as little as they want, so most work at a ski resort for the winter, staying in staff shared housing, and then travel in the summer and pick a different resort for the following winter.

We also see some European and South American ski bums but they are on a different shorter length visa. No Americans, except for the occasional ski instructor. I guess there are plenty of US resorts to ski bum at without the visa paperwork hassles and perhaps since the US doesn't make it easy for foreigners to work in the US (even before Trump) maybe Canada reciprocates.

 

[Chef23]

My son has a friend who is working as a liftie at Park City this winter. It seems Utah is a reasonable place to do it because there is housing within 30-40 minutes in Salt Lake. He lives with 3 or 4 other people in a house they rent in Holliday. For pure ski towns I think it is very hard because of the cost of housing.

 

[Old boot]

Its growing I think, just different than what it was. People have a little stash built up and use the hill to supplement the stash so its not depleted too fast. I think a lot of people here will retire sorta and ski using teaching, boot fitting ,working lifts to get free access to the hill.

 

[SSSdave]

Ski bums have long been priced out.

Reality is although there are and have always been fair numbers of skiers, especially infrequent vacationers, that prefer fancy expensive lodging, there are and have always been many many experienced frequent skiers and younger adult visitors that given a choice are satisfied with cheapest minimalist level accommodations as they are there to have fun SKIing all day and not experience over a restful night what the rich expect.

But ski real estate lodging and financial investment interests in ski resort towns over years have bought out all such frugal places with a greedy vengeance. Likewise have outlawed sleeping overnight in self sufficient RVs and vehicles at resort parking lots with lame excuses about sanitation and trash while not providing even a cheap port-a-potty or dumpster. Heck I remember an era with two of us staying in Aspen in a $40 a night motel and Mammoth Lakes when Motel 6 was $35 a night. There is no reason local politicians in such communities cannot authorize a balance of building including inexpensive apartments in such towns at levels to meet needs of ski resort workers, police, teachers, service etc lower income workers. But just as in expensive urban areas of this era, banking, financial, real estate corps, and their politicians have all the power with an attitude of squeezing out all a market can bear.

 

[DanoT]

I remember when the Motel 6 in Jackson was $60/night....it was last year.
There are several other bargains in Jackson in winter. That same room Motel 6 is $200/night in summer as Jackson is the Gateway to Yellowstone Park.

As far as today's ski bums go, it is no longer a long term lifestyle (and never really was for most). The way to ski bum today is with a multi ski area pass and go on a multi week road trip preferably in a camperized van or truck camper. (I leave in 3 weeks time in my winter capable truck camper, taking a multi state, Ikon pass, circuitous route to the Big Sky Gathering).

 

[Jim Kenney]

Sounds like the same old ski bum dynamic to me - how to ski/board as much as possible, while making enough money to survive until the next big powder day reaffirms that it’s all worth it. I can’t help thinking that when a ski area is in a state of decline or stagnation that’s better in the short term as a place for ski bumming, but when a ski area is thriving it’s better in the long term for the sport.


I hope to visit Crested Butte for a few days next month for the first time ever. I’ll report back on the state of their ski bums

PS: @DanoT ,
You are the Dalai Lama of ski bums, see you in MT.

 

[Talisman]

Its growing I think, just different than what it was. People have a little stash built up and use the hill to supplement the stash so its not depleted too fast. I think a lot of people here will retire sorta and ski using teaching, boot fitting ,working lifts to get free access to the hill.

Old Boot has captured the essence of my plan.

 

[MattSmith]

I'll look forward to exploring this topic with you.

Today is day #1 of self-motivated unemployment, but more appropriately, day #1 of being a ski bum. Somewhat unfortunate that I'm not out on snow today, but I have "stuff" to wrap up here this week before heading out. I'll explore a combination of resort and back country skiing this season as I put together a longer-term plan. That plan likely includes some combination of the following:

• Van life
• Ski town life, with potential for on-snow employment (ideally something to cover medical benefits)
• Seasonal contract work in 6-8 month increments (solid professional network from 20+ years in IT system implementation/operation and software development)
• Bum for a year or two, see what peaks my interest along the way

Given the somewhat open nature of our forums, I don't want to disclose to much personal information, but for some context: Age-wise - late 40s. I have enough liquid cash to live and ski within meager to reasonable means for this season and possibly next season before requiring additional income streams. I've worked with and for a "Blue" Healthcare Payor over the previous 12.5 years. Attracted by what I perceived to be a wave of change in the Healthcare market, I'm burnout and frustrated by the lack of innovation and pace of change in the industry as a whole. I'm taking a step back to evaluate if/when/where and how aggressively I'll get back into the job market. I recognize the opportunities for innovation in Healthcare and beyond. Perhaps the right connection will occur somewhere along the way.

...but that's hardly talk for a ski bum life-style, and that's the focus for now. See some of you on snow soon. Taos 1st week in Feb. Big Sky last week in Feb. ...or somewhere in between.

 

[Bolder]

^^MattSmith, I went from full-time employment to a gig economy job after taking a buyout, and it's totally feasible. I make about 2/3 what I did (even do contract work for former employer...), but my stress level is about 1/3 as high. It helps that we live in France where health care is not an issue. I think you will want to make sure you keep yourself in the IT game -- I'm the same age as you (50) and I see that it's much easier for young people to get a full-time job. So, don't take yourself fully out of the job market b/c it will only be harder to get back in.

 

[Core2]

If you want to be a ski bum don't move to Vail, Park City, CB, Mammoth, Tahoe etc. and expect to be able to live the dream. There are still mountain towns you can bum in and ski daily for nothing and they aren't the ones being written about in the articles that beat this topic to death. Take a look at some of the NM mountain towns for example, they are a lot like CO was years ago. Cost of living is next to nothing in these places and they all need employees and they all have plenty of affordable housing.

 

[DanoT]

The Canadian ski bum lifestyle is alive and growing at Sun Peaks albeit on a limited numbers basis. I know of several young couples who came here as single 20 somethings and now in their thirties, have worked their way up to stable management positions or year round hourly jobs with the Corp and some run their own business.

The ones that are really "Living the Dream" are the above couples' kids who get to take a platter lift to the school house (guess what they do at recess in the winter) and they attend school for a longer than normal day 4 days a week and get to ski on Friday when the school is closed.

 

[Old boot]

I need a buy out to get the ball rolling just that little bit earlier. Than my wife can support me while I ski!!! WOOOHOOOO

 

[Carl]

I wonder how many contemplated being a ski bum for a year or more but never did it. I'm in that category. Out of college the money was way too good as an engineer so I jumped into the work force. I was always maxed out with work my entire career. Raising a family and all that responsibility also had an influence. But I have no regrets.

 

[MattSmith]

I wonder how many contemplated being a ski bum for a year or more but never did it. I'm in that category. Out of college the money was way too good as an engineer so I jumped into the work force. I was always maxed out with work my entire career. Raising a family and all that responsibility also had an influence. But I have no regrets.

Interesting that you bring that up. Being very candid, no, I never contemplated being a ski bum until I hit my late 30s / early 40s. I charged out of college 100% programmed to join the workforce and start making money. Sure, we're the Gen-X slacker generation, but we're also the Miami Vice, Gorden Gekko, Cocktails and Dreams, MTV generation. A lot of us were sold on Splash over Substance. I get the "maxed-out" theme. 60-80 hour work weeks somehow became the standard for a lot of people. God Bless you who started families and are attempting to raise the generation of Millennials and Gen-Zers. I sound like an old fart saying "these kids", but damn, "these kids" have a lot of challenges and opportunities that previous generations didn't need to deal with. But isn't that always the case?

My only rationalization for reproduction was that they'd make really fun ski buddies, but that's not a guarantee by any means either. You should have no regrets @Carl. Maybe someday you'll be skiing with the grand kids.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

I just wanted to have fun with folks instead of being obtrusive while continuing my 10-year career as a newspaper writer/editor/photographer nearly 50 years ago, so I sort-of started ski bumming as an instructor, living in a two-bedroom trailer with three French guys. Eventually, I got a night job so I could continue skiing days. I’ve had a lot of 120-day seasons. I’m still at it!!