should I become a ski bum…seeking wisdom

[byates1]

[aqua toque]

....I’ve gotten the hint from my supervisor to start my job search.

Penske?

[Mudfoot]

You did not mention anything about being in debt. Do you have student loans or credit card debt right now? If not, I suggest paying that off and then commit to make it happen on the slopes. True freedom is freedom from debt. If you do not have any ongoing financial obligations then you can live surprisingly cheap if you are willing to forego a conventional lifestyle for awhile to ski. With a reliable 4WD truck you can sleep in if needed and good snow tires you can fake the rest as you go along. Worst case scenario is you bail and drive back home, but the upside can be amazing.

[snowaddict91]

I studied finance and currently work in government finance. I’ve been online wfh since June…staring at my screen all day and not talking to another human until my roommates get home from work. My job hasn’t kept me very busy either so lots of days I stare out the window or spend hours reading WSJ, NYT, FT or some other newspaper. it feels like I haven’t really used my mind much since I graduated, like it’s a muscle that has withered away. for some people, like my older coworkers, this and the government pension is the dream, but it feels like I am mentally withering away as time flies by. i want do use my mind and energy for something and it doesnt seem like i am doing that

Dude, find a new WFH finance job and fucking send it. Get involved with the community wherever you move and try not to be a typical WFH douche nozzle and you'll make friends in a ski town just fine.

[raisingarizona13]

Seriously though.

-Keep everything as simple as possible, ski bumming is about skiing not owning shit or material possessions.
-DO NOT work for the mountain or live in employee housing unless it's an evening gig and keeps your ski days open. Bumping chairs on a powder day is about as big a ski bum fail as I can think of.
-Van living, that would be my move right now if I were in your position. Work your ass off when it's not ski season and save your pennies so you can fuck off for 4 to 6 months completely stress free and ski your ass off. this is where the IKON pass and the Indy Pass really make sense to me.
-Don't get too involved with a lady friend. As mentioned, keep your pimp hand strong. Resist the urge to shack up with that sweet gal. There's lot's of sweet gals out there, no need to get domestic in your 20's.
-I'm going to be brutally honest here, that life in Ohio sounds shitty to me. Start planning now to make your move. Buy a van. GTFO of the midwest and office work. Your youth is the most valuable thing that you will ever have and it goes very quickly. You shouldn't spend your 20's doing things you hate, live your damn life. You'll have plenty of time later to be responsible, have kids etc.

[k2skier112]

.Attachment 398385

This, a million times over

[Benneke10]

Dude, find a new WFH finance job and fucking send it. Get involved with the community wherever you move and try not to be a typical WFH douche nozzle and you'll make friends in a ski town just fine.

This. Dirty little secret is that a lot of people who work on the mountain only get an hour to ski during their workday, and they're often too worn out from their commute to ski on their days off. WFH is way better - ski hard on your days off, and ski at night/dawn patrol on your work days, and you don't have to live in employee housing or suffer a heinous commute to work at the mountain every day.

If you really want to take skiing seriously, the best move is to work hard in the summer, save up (and maybe collect unemployment) and don't work at all in winter. Summer seasonal jobs are easy to get and usually kinda fun - commercial fishing, wildland firefighting, construction, trail worker, park ranger, landscaper

[raisingarizona13]

There are a few folks here who seem to think "bumming" has to be a hand to mouth type of existence freezing your ass off in a van. While some still are able to make that kind of living happen, it ain't that much fun when local PD forces you to move you van for the 5th time this season and you're trying to warm up your liners in a bathroom on a hand dryer. It's easier to get a job that provides a season pass, housing, or both at a resort. Skip lift ops, instructor or any other type of job where you're not skiing for fun. Ski every single day, meet people, party, ski more and maybe even get laid occasionally.

And as byates1 said above me, don't spend more than you earn. If you have a credit card don't fucking use it except for emergencies (needing a pair of pow skis is not an emergency).

You can get a sweet van that has heat.

[ASmileyFace]

You can get a sweet van that has heat.

Of course you can. Buying a van and living out of it is a sweet way to ski bum, I've done it myself.

But coming from a corporate job in the midwest and jumping right into the bare bones ski bum existence can be quite the shock. It sounds to me like the OP is looking for community too. Bumming around in your van isn't the best way to become part of a ski community, getting a job busing tables or cooking for a lodge in the evening at the base of a mountain is. There are different ways to do this whole ski bum thing.

[raisingarizona13]

Of course you can. Buying a van and living out of it is a sweet way to ski bum, I've done it myself.

But coming from a corporate job in the midwest and jumping right into the bare bones ski bum existence can be quite the shock. It sounds to me like the OP is looking for community too. Bumming around in your van isn't the best way to become part of a ski community, getting a job busing tables or cooking for a lodge in the evening at the base of a mountain is. There are different ways to do this whole ski bum thing.

Of course, EOB's strategy is a solid one as is yours. For myself I'd go for the van thing for a year or two, sess out where you might like to hold up for a while before you actually do. A shock to me sounds awesome but we are all different. I admit, the roaming van life thing has always been a dream of mine but it's not all that it's cracked up to be but if it was planned to be a short term sort of thing it wouldn't be that hard and the experiences would be awesome imho. I think the bests plan for my 22 year old self would be two years van living or whatever feels right, a couple seasons more set up in the ski town of choice and then try EOB's strategy or something of the like. Dirtbagging is awesome as long as you don't let it go too far. Life will most likely not be too pretty if you're 40 something and still living like a dirtbag.

[SumJongGuy]

I finished college in 86 and bailed on law school to chase the dream of being a rock star. 5 years later I still wasn't signed and ended up working a horrible 10 year retail management gig while still gigging some half in on the music career dream. 7 years of working every Black Friday and Christmas eve, New Years Day, etc I finally worked out a way go to business school, going back and getting my MBA. After that it still took me another couple years to get enough relevant experience to work in sales and marketing operations earning legit cash and benefits to own an house and start a family.

Most of the escapades and life as a working musician is reflected upon fondly. But there are definitely some regrets and jealousy towards folks who stopped chasing childhood dreams and went all in on corporate life, aka sold their souls to have that beach house, mountain house, and 2+ kids college fully funded..

I also know most of them are jealous when they hear my back story of basically a 10 year + gap party life between college and full adulting.. Because it was HELLAFUN!

YMMV..

[Bunion 2020]

(needing a pair of pow skis is not an emergency).

Blasphemy!

And further, sleeping in a fucking van sounds like shit to me.

[Hopeless Sinner]

#1 is taking care of your parents.


#2 is to find a remedy for your job performance (hat's off for being honest w yourself)


#3 so you can find a wfh job that will allow you to live AND ski so #1 is taken care of.


Employers are hungry now, take advantage and set yourself up for decades to come.

I survived as a ski and beach bum 8 years, have the male white privilege, no college debt, and parents doing well, so really no worries. It was fun but things seem way more serious these days. I was actually pursuing my first career in Forestry April-November so I had an "excuse" to keep skiing or wintering in Baja.

[easyrdr]

Best way to be a ski bum, work summers, ski winters. I lived in my truck for 10 years (winters). Worked landscaping in summer 70 to 80 hours /week. I spent about $500 bucks to insulate the truck proper. Got to ski all the west, BC, Alaska. Met a ton of folks, chased pow, did drugs, nailed chicks, it was good.

You live below your means you can do anything. There are a million paths to take, and you get to decide which one. If I could do it over I wouldn't change a thing. Yeah the unknown is scary at first, and shit could go wrong or sideways at any time, but fuck dude that's living and when the moment goes wrong is when you will find yourself most surprised.

Everyone here was you once. We all made choices and we all enjoy making fun of each other's decisions. I graduated with a degree in Finance. I got my first desk job at 28 (only lasted 4 years). Now I am 44 and 2 or 3 years away from being totally done with the work thing (assuming everything falls into place). I haven't skied in 3 years but know if I stay the course the remainder of my life will be on the hill so I got that going for me, which is nice.

DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!

[Telemahn]

I grew up skiing Squaw, I raced in College. After graduation I learned to ski for real living with 13 'glow bros mid mountain at Alta. I spent two years there, four to a room, the constant smell of wet boots and scrubbing toilets/ scaping grease off the flat top. IT WAS FUCKING AWSOME!! I got to ski some of the lightest snow ever recorded 18" of 2%! One day when the road was closed I skied the Supreme lift for almost four hours with only few patrollers who were still doing control in closed off areas and whichever 2 lifties were getting their turns in at that moment. On bluebird days I got to ski 70mph on my 223cm DH boards on perfect corduroy before the gapers showed up. I was so freaking fit I was jogging boot packs. Most important I learned to tele, and got good at it. Now I have two kids and a demanding job. I make great money, but there are a lot of days where I am ready to say fuck it and go back to bumming. My time is over, it is YOUR time now.

Meadow skipper does not speak for me (this time, he usually does, but not this time)

[SkiBall]

Dreams without action are just hallucinations.

I may or may not have stolen this correctly.

[ASmileyFace]

I grew up skiing Squaw, I raced in College. After graduation I learned to ski for real living with 13 'glow bros mid mountain at Alta. I spent two years there, four to a room, the constant smell of wet boots and scrubbing toilets/ scaping grease off the flat top. IT WAS FUCKING AWSOME!! I got to ski some of the lightest snow ever recorded 18" of 2%!, one day when the road was closed I skied the Supreme lift for almost four hours with only few patrollers who were still doing control in closed off areas and whichever 2 lifties were getting their turns in at that moment. I got to ski 70mph on my 223cm DH boards before the gapers showed up was so freaking fit I was jogging boot packs. Now I have two kids and a demanding job. I make great money, but there are a lot of days where I am ready to say fuck it and go back to bumming. My time is over, it is YOUR time now.

As someone who has scrubbed those same toilets and served that famous chili... cheers bud.

As evidenced by this thread there are many different ways to be a ski bum, but however you do it, there is no better time than right now.

[romeo tango]

pick a town with a local mountain,
not a ski town
there will be multiple, entry-level
service jobs to choose from
and rent wont destroy your budget

and hurry,
there arent many towns like this left....

.

[SumJongGuy]

#1 is taking care of your parents.

There's a truth bomb most folks on their 20s do not have on their radar at all. By the time I was 40 my dad's PTSD related illnesses landed him in the VA with my mom handing all of the financial affairs. By the time I was 50 dad was gone and mom had advancing dementia so guess what? I ended up being the fiduciary handling all her affairs while she lived in assisted living hardly knowing who we were for another 10 years before COVID finally took her out last year.

Adulting often includes things we never saw coming but were glad to have been preparing for anyway..

[Angle Parking]

As evidenced by this thread there are many different ways to be a ski bum, but however you do it, there is no better time than right now.

This ^^^

Isn't there a video series out there about 'the new face of the ski bum' or something like that?

[snowaddict91]

As evidenced by this thread there are many different ways to be a ski bum, but however you do it, there is no better time than right now.

Well said.

Also the advice about parents is important. My brother lives close to my mom and does a lot, even though she is in good health. Not sure I could have stayed so far from home without some sort of support system for her.

[skifishbum]

This. Dirty little secret is that a lot of people who work on the mountain only get an hour to ski during their workday, and they're often too worn out from their commute to ski on their days off. WFH is way better - ski hard on your days off, and ski at night/dawn patrol on your work days, and you don't have to live in employee housing or suffer a heinous commute to work at the mountain every day.

If you really want to take skiing seriously, the best move is to work hard in the summer, save up (and maybe collect unemployment) and don't work at all in winter. Summer seasonal jobs are easy to get and usually kinda fun - commercial fishing, wildland firefighting, construction, trail worker, park ranger, landscaper

Ya know it ain't no secret
Ski resorts have a lot of ripping skiers/employees
Who got that way skiing a fuckin lot for free
I need to ski with you and tgrapp
And see how much you to self described beaters rip

[XXX-er]

Dreams without action are just hallucinations..

sounds very Dudeist^^ I will probably steal this one ^^


Strategy's are like assholes, everybodies got one

me I worked from 12-49 and retired,

as ski bro said one day " we're ski gentlemen cuz we live too well to be ski bums "

[east or bust]

It’s important to keep in mind that any decision you make will be a compromise.

RA damn near talked me into the ski bum life over the course of a few apre sessions when I was down there, and he may have succeeded too if it didn’t so happen that a work transfer moved me near where I wanted to be.

I think the biggest thing you’ve got going for you as a recent grad is you aren’t too far into the career world yet. I was 4 years in and already had a plan in my mind of where I wanted to be career/family/location wise and if I fucked around at that point it would be adding years to the potential achievement of that goal.

At your age 1 or 2 years of ski bumming in the winter ain’t going to set you back in the slightest. Still gotta be smart on how you pursue it. Van would by far be the cheapest option and if you can get membership at a gym with showers you’d be set up good.

[dunderhead]

You’ve come to the right place with your query. I think I speak for all of us when I say don’t do it - go back to school and get a degree in computers or something useful, or maybe electrician trade school. Thank us later.

This is the only half good advice in this whole thread. Go to trade school. the only reliable halfway good paying jobs available, unless your are managing a hedge fund for your father's investment firm. Shit is prohibitively expensive anywhere desirable; you'll just be working 3 jobs unless you have a plan or a trustfund.