Can anyone really be a ski bum anymore?

[SUPERIOR]

Sure, you can still be a ski bum!

However, you need gigs and hookups these days.

I'd say I ski bummed the shit out of the last two winters.

To do so, I worked multiple jobs and met an OG mountain guide in Jackson who let me rent his cabin over winter for next to nothing.

The two years before that, I got housing and round trip flights to Japan in exchange for work.

Before THAT, I was an office schlub in Boise, ID ... but still managed to ski a bunch at the local resorts.

YMMV.

[raisingarizona13]

i’d like to be a skiing gentleman

Yeah, that whole James Bond bullshit would be pretty cool too.

[skifishbum]

more marketable life skills ya haz
less bummin ya outta be doin
the skiing or fishin a good 100 days a year
aint nothin but commitment
and sacrifice

[whipski]

actually the epic pass sells college students passes at a great price as do most resorts, went to Western in the 70's and used to take the fianancial aid check right up to CB and get my pass. Took classes tues n thursdays = ski 5 days /week

[GeezerSteve]

but I'm 99% sure the op means "ski bum" as in having nothing except for everything........ careless youth

So, only young people can be ski bums?

[Ale_capone]

If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do.

Seriously, tramping after college is a good thing -- and so is pausing a career and tramping from time to time. I've been through the cycle three times so far. I tramped after college, then worked a career for awhile, then dropped out for a couple years, followed by more education for a second career. After 8 years of the second career, I dropped out again and went flat broke. Then I realized I needed to get retirement money together and restarted my second career, worked it hard, banked some bread and tapered to part time (where I am now). We're on target to start tramping again in a few years, this time for good. Life is too short sit your ass in one place.

The above doesn't work so well if you have kids.

well done!

in my late 30's, i paused my career for almost 8 years. ive been working for 3 years now, out of which i took about 8 months off.

real bum? hell no! i live in a gated community. . half hour to stevens pass lifts. most of the touring i do is 10 minutes to an hour from home.

we do have real live ski bums, and opportunities in town.

gold bar ski shop has a position available, with a nice upstairs apartment. maintsin rental gear, drive the bus to go ride everyday, drive back, wax skis. repeat.

my friend richard held this position last winter. true ski bum.

[gretch6364]

Depends how you define the "bum" part of it. I think the higher cost of living in ski towns has pushed a lot of people out, but as a professional, it has become easier. It would of been really hard to of been a lawyer, accountant, architect, etc. and live in a ski town 30 years ago. However, with technology such as email and video conferencing, you can now telecommute and do those jobs.

The dream of everyone being able to telecommute never became reality, but if you make yourself valuable and take the right jobs, you can still do it. As for flexibility to catch powder days....it is called being a consultant.

Now, this not a recipe for being a ski "bum" but the wife and I are moving ourselves, two kids and two pups to Basalt in a month, keeping professional telecommuting/consulting jobs and not taking any pay cut from living in Denver. The new house is 18 miles from Highlands/Ajax and was way cheaper per sq ft then houses in our neighborhood in Denver.

The world has definitely changed, but there are still ways to make it all work...it is just different then it used to be.

Can you still get work on a fishing boat in Alaska and then ski all winter (obviously not crabbing as that is winter season)? Seems like a great place to be a bum...or rough neck around Golden, BC and ski Kicking horse in the winter?

[GeezerSteve]

A business professional who owns property in or around a ski town and telecommutes is NOT a bum under any definition. Sheeeeezus

A bum, by definition, does not work. See, e.g., https://grammarist.com/interesting-w...r-gutter-punk/ The term ski bum is more expansive, includes one who may pick up a job to make just enough money to eke out an existence to permit him or her to ski most days.

I deliberately used the term tramp (i.e., transient with no established home) in responding to this message.

[ACH]

Business professionals who telecommute are NOT bums under any definition. Sheeeeezus

This.


Someone remind me, who was the old guy with the broken down camper that used to bum around A-Basin. Seems to me he was the feature of a powder mag story about 10 years ago.

[Canada1]

There are people doing it. I know a guy coaching soccer and teaching ski lessons and living from his car. It is still possible. It still is uncomfortable and living from your car seat is not what appeals to many, but it is still possible.

[ACH]

Someone remind me, who was the old guy with the broken down camper that used to bum around A-Basin. Seems to me he was the feature of a powder mag story about 10 years ago.

Found it...

Charlie Toups

[TahoeJ]

A business professional who owns property in or around a ski town and telecommutes is NOT a bum under any definition.

This is me. And yeah, I'd never dare call myself a ski bum. On the other hand, while I make good money, I value my time and flexibility for outdoor pursuits and have made "sacrifices" to maintain that, such as turning down gigs where'd I'd be very well off but working way more than I want and less able to skip work on a powder day. There should probably be some kind of term for that, but bum ain't it by any means.

How about a Ski Professional, which is very different than being a Professional Skier. ;-)

[XXX-er]

according to seasick Steve the blues man

" There are three different names. One’s a hobo, one’s a tramp and one’s a bum. You was a hobo, and people used to be very particular if they fell in that category, if you rode the freight trains looking for work. You was a tramp, you rode the freight trains and tried not to work. If you was a bum you didn’t ride trains, you didn’t even go nowhere and you didn’t work. Those are the three names before you got the word ‘homeless’.”

Buddy at the Craft brew Bar gave up his real job (some kind of PT ) to live locally in a small trailer in someone's back yard, he can tow behind his Ford Ranger, spent the summer fighting wild fires and will park it in the Shames P-lot all winter so there ya are ... a real ski bum

[GeezerSteve]

Professional class subsets include:
-- telecommuting professional class
-- semi-retired professional leisure class
-- business professional consultant

And, yeah, none of them are bums. Not even close.

Some of those professionals sell their shit, permanently hit the road and become rubber tramps. They become well-to do-tramps, but they're not bums. If you've got any meaningful assets other than that which you can carry in a beat to shit pickup, you're not a bum.

[dewam]

Best way IMO if you're single is do fire all summer and ski all winter.

Do fire all summer, collect unemployment all winter. Become a member of the Human Resources Ski Team.

[Meadow Skipper]

Do fire all summer, collect unemployment all winter. Become a member of the Human Resources Ski Team.

That was me until I climbed the ladder and went into (professional) program management. I have missed those days...except that after 14 years of that I got a nice retirement. I’m not a bum by any stretch now. I don’t know if someone can still do it, but with a degree under my belt (important detail for the end game) for when I got tired of beating the crap out of myself fire ended up being an overall good deal for me.

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

I have plenty of friends that do it. Best way IMO if you're single is do fire all summer and ski all winter.

I'm married and have a desk job but I've still skied 60+ days a year every season since high school.

Oh yeah, it can certainly be done if you work in the industry. Even with kids.
Race coached 3 years, been patrolling for 38.
Wife home schooled ours and 4 others in the LCC, winters only, for no money really. Public school downtown fall and spring. Priceless experience.
Lived in employee housing, used cloth diapers, bought clothes at the thrift store, never went out to eat, the bar, movies, concerts, etc.
Bought a rental property early.
Only worked for someone else 12 off seasons.
Traveled and played most others, 12 of them when the kids were 4-16. Best years of my life. No regrets.
So, yeah, it can be done by being frugal (not cheap), and with obvious sacrifice!
Highly recommend this lifestyle for folks that want to raise their own kids in an incredible environment.
Really psyched at the results of our "experiment".

These guys get it. Of course it's possible, but you have to be creative and manage your priorities and expectations. 100+ day seasons and no responsibility are the domain of daydreaming frat boys and gap-year kids who are still wet behind the ears. The dedicated few who live that life until the bitter end don't always garner the accolades or respect in real life that they seem to on here since the reality is never as pretty as the dream. Ski towns are like every other town in at least one regard; you can't always have everything you want in life, but if you're aiming to get close you're going to have to make some sacrifices and work for it.

[smartyiak]

Two years ago, I met a guy at Bachelor who spent his summers working fields and fixing tractors on a mega ranch in Oregon; Fall was spent harvesting. He spent winter in his camper hitting up mountains around the PNW. I'd say that's pretty close...and a pretty cool niche.

[Buster Highmen]

It sure seems harder now. Everyone is so career oriented and chasing the almighty dollar.

[GeezerSteve]

It sure seems harder now. Everyone is so career oriented and chasing the almighty dollar.

Very true, but there's also a trend of boomer professionals retiring and living lower to the ground, trend which is part demographic and part reactionary against chasing the buck.

Where do you classify a guy like Silas, who skis 100+ days/year, often sleeps in his old shitty car, regularly couch surfs, lift-served skis on tech binding touring gear (cuz he's too fucking cheap to buy alpine gear) and teaches so he can get a free lift ticket and half-price food, but maintains a very nice house in Laurelwood?

[ACH]

Where do you classify a guy like Silas, who skis 100+ days/year, often sleeps in his old shitty car, regularly couch surfs, lift-served skis on tech binding touring gear (cuz he's too fucking cheap to buy alpine gear) and teaches so he can get a free lift ticket and half-price food, but maintains a very nice house in Laurelwood?

Someone who has a highly focused set of priorities?

[Ale_capone]

Professional class subsets include:
-- telecommuting professional class
-- semi-retired professional leisure class
-- business professional consultant

And, yeah, none of them are bums. Not even close.

Some of those professionals sell their shit, permanently hit the road and become rubber tramps. They become well-to do-tramps, but they're not bums. If you've got any meaningful assets other than that which you can carry in a beat to shit pickup, you're not a bum.

I consider my self a well supported bum. if my girl where to kick me out, I would fit the carry all my shit in a truck category.

since you mention silas, it made me think of a couple of his disciples. Zack, and jeff rich(suppliead me with a few weeks of work during my pause.). both self employed construction dudes who milk the seatle teat all summer, and ski all winter. a great compromise of high end pay with low end living.

[Ale_capone]

oh, and I would classify a guy like silas much like Zack and myself.. maybe steve? highly fortunate to have a strong woman in our life.

[GeezerSteve]

Someone who has a highly focused set of priorities?

oh, and I would classify a guy like silas much like Zack and myself.. maybe steve? highly fortunate to have a strong woman in our life.

true and true

[ACH]

oh, and I would classify a guy like silas much like Zack and myself.. maybe steve? highly fortunate to have a strong woman in our life.

Just guessing, but there are likely more than a few people here who that could apply to, including some of us that guided our lives in this direction over a long period of time prior to knowing our spouses/partners.