You know you can just buy yourself insurance, right? Think I paid like $180/month with Blue Cross for a $5k deductible when I lived in Jackson. Took about 10 minutes to get signed up.Quote:
Originally Posted by huckbucket
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You know you can just buy yourself insurance, right? Think I paid like $180/month with Blue Cross for a $5k deductible when I lived in Jackson. Took about 10 minutes to get signed up.Quote:
Originally Posted by huckbucket
Agreed. Jackson is mecca for hot mountain town yoga chicks. If you're not bad looking and aren't a total dirt or douche bag you should be able to cash in. Plus if you have tons of tourist tail.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lone Star
and on and on and on....Quote:
The ratio conditions may be much better then say 20 years ago but honestly if you actually think what you're saying is true you really need to travel a bit.
Jesus H motherfucker, can't even joke around in this place anymore before everybodys nutsack gets all twisted up. Fuck off all of you and your fucking circle jerk about how much cooler you are. Sorry I tried to be funny, I didn't know I was taken so seriously around here.
Meat Spicy hit me up if you're ever up this way and want to shred the pow or harvest the poon, as has been said, there are some classy ladies up here. Last time I checked the "Real World" was a stupid fucking show on MTV about the biggest douchebags on earth.
It may not be the snowiest place and its pretty crowded for mountain towns, but summit/breckenridge and eagle county/vail are a good place to compromise. I know lots of people, myself included whose jobs are all too real in a ski town. It's not like it was before the recession, but there are still lots of full time jobs with benefits here. The girl to guy ratio is pretty good here too, it's way better than it was 15 years ago.
Not to mention, if you want a cubicle/real job why not Denver (or even slc)? As long as you have a car, there's no problem accessing outdoors from the big D. It's confusing to me why so much talk about cubicle jobs seems to equate to the east coast...
Good luck and follow your dreams!!
Wonder what percentage of people living this lifestyle actually pony up. Hard to imagine Alf in the vid at the top of this page paying the monthly for health insurance.Quote:
Originally Posted by benfjord
Or a 5k deductible waiting tables, or in Alf's case, repairing climbing soles.
Some resorts offer insurance for reasonable rates. Snowbird has it if you're considered a full-time year round employee, which is an anyone who averages over 25 hours a week. Covers medical, dental and optical
In the words of Telemike, fuck off Greg.
Well done. I worked in a cube in DC for just shy of 4 years after I graduated college. Actually made a thread similar to this a couple years ago and most encouraged me to take off. I stuck around long enough to get vested in my 401k and then put in my 2 weeks notice, packed my truck, and started driving west. Took a menial job at one of the Utah resorts when I first got here just to network/meet people, and I now am settled with a "real job" and live in Park City year-round. Not the gnarliest mtns in the world on the backside and I still took a massive pay cut all told, but it's still Utah, there's world class mtn biking out my back door, the people in town are active and enjoyable to be around, etc. I'm not a true ski bum by any stretch but I've found a pretty nice balance between skiing and work.
Damm you are lucky. After 20+ years of living at seven different ski areas I'm still stuck in city/make some money land trying to pay off my ski adventures credit card debt...
You are seeing it right, have fun back in Jackson and don't spend any money on stuff you don't really need.
Use headphones, turn it up loud and don't turn around once you start your drive out west!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QitV6EFaYd4
You should totally drop everything and move to the land of the "bearclaw woods", where you can slay biatchez like snooki and hang out with AZ greg...
I hear a lot of excuses in this thread!
Oh and talking about the epic slayage of pow, that never gets old
http://www.tgrmedia.com/i.ashx?i=htt....jpg&w=640&h=0
bliss brothers for life!!!!
insurance is for pussies!
bliss is not a list!
other than a season pass, the best things in life are free. if something is not free, fuck it!
great retirement, job security, generous 401k and dental plans are all compensation for being responsible to the faceless dollar!!!
it is all about the bliss!!!!
That's an entirely different conversation - but it's totally on the person and their situation. Until 2014 at least - then I think Obamacare will actually make it easier and cheaper for the run of the mill skibum to get insurance.Quote:
Originally Posted by huckbucket
Agreed. I have lived in Aspen ski bumming it for 3 years. I have never NOT had health insurance. It limits where I can work because health insurance (and a 401k) are important. There are enough large hotels and/or stores that offer these benefits for employees. But yes, you do have to be willing to work the for the man a bit more. In the end, I believe it pays off. I can ski every day. I earn enough money to make at least one big gear purchase a year, take a trip or two, have a car (albeit old), and live in town in a nice apartment. Do I make sacrafices? Yes. I'd like a nicer car. I'd like some nicer clothes. I'd like to go out to dinner/shows a bit more. But in the end, skiing/mtn biking everyday and having rad gear to go with that is more important to me than a sweet car, new heels to go with a new dress, or dinner out.Quote:
Originally Posted by benfjord
However, will I live like this forever? No. I do not want to be a career server. In fact, I greatly dislike serving. But I work at a hotel where most of the guests are pretty cool and the money's good.
So my next move it to try working my way up in an outdoor retailer setting. Sell skis in the winter and bikes in the summer. The money isn't usually great in shops, so I can also serve a shift or two on the side until I work my way up and make more money.
I can see myself working a more traditional 9 to 5 if it's for a company I really like and support, basically if their products are used to shred the brown pow or the white, fluffy pow. Now, finding that job will be difficult I imagine, but I plan to get as much experience while still being in a ski town. Coupling that with my business degree, it will hopefully happen someday.
Yep. Ski almost everyday for 6 months, then don't ski for 6 months. 50/50. The 6 months off could be a bit shorter though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildman
Everyone is different, but I no longer feel like my life is draining away whilst I do some work for some company, day after day after soul destroying life sucking day of repetitive desk life with people who shared zero in common with my inner self. There is nothing wrong with working, but that stuff is not fit for the human spirit. So much potential, such a waste. I will never get tired of the feeling of freedom I have now.
Work hard, save your cash, leave it all behind before you are too old, live simple on a small income and ski. Particularly backcountry or mission-driven skiing where you need everyday just to get it deeply into your fibers.
Re-post:
http://vimeo.com/46845165
I ski bummed for a few years and it was great BUT I did get sick of working for $10 an hour and struggling to pay rent/food/bills. I felt like I was stuck, being a servant to tourists..
I also want to travel around the world more and being a ski bum makes that very hard.
I am now starting a degree so that I can have a well payed career AND live in the mountains.
Studying in Vancouver is great (close to Whis and Baker) and I can still get tons of biking and boarding in.
I think the best combination for me is to have a great career you enjoy, close to the mountains, with enough money to be able to have your own place in the mountains, decent truck, sled, health insurance and money to travel around the world.
I lived in the mountains for 5 years, and skied Squaw everyday. I loved it, but I left for cubicle hood and 40 ski days a year. I'm happy I left, and I get to surf a ton in the summer as well as ski in the winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blurred
It works for some people, so good for the OP. Others want something different, which is why I went the route that I did. Some of the most unhappy people I have ever met were longtime Tahoe locals. Some of the coolest people I met were also older Tahoe locals. It really is a personal choice, and what works for some does not work for others. Some people are able to find jobs that they find interesting and rewarding despite wearing a corpo casual uniform. I am genuinely happier now than I was living in Tahoe, although I loved it at the time. I could tell that if I stayed I might become one of those bitter old locals who was jealous of the guys from San Fran who skied every weekend and had careers.
It is a question of finding the most fulfilling life. If that is skiing everyday, than make sure you do that. You only get one chance to live. Like I said, for me I like the life I have. I would bet that most of the TGR corporate types who are happy live in cities where you can drive to great mountains every weekend, and thus can ski 40 day seasons at places like Mammoth or Tahoe, or who live in Denver/Seattle/Salt Lake type spots. I know that if I lived in Indiana and couldn't surf or ski on the weekends I would go crazy.
Lewis Samuels wrote an article on surfing simplicity recently. At one point he says something like 'average joes using surf forecasts to plan their week so they can leave the office early on Friday afternoon when the models call for swell. Then they get to battle other average joes for shoulder high with + sets' He got it exactly right, as that is what lots of us do.
I think the key is also to find challenge/fulfillment/enjoyment in your work. If you don't get any of that, your life will be hell.
I'm fucking psychic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
I work seasonally. Stockpile cash all summer and then freedom for 6 months. I usually travel in the Fall and ski bum at Whistler all winter. I'm lucky because I've built my house painting business to the point where I don't work demanding hours so my summers are pretty fun too.
I often struggle with the balance between my athletic, financial, and spiritual goals. I've decided that for the next 10 years (I'm 25) I'm content to be successful enough to fund my skiing and travelling. I only have so many years of physical prime, and I intend to make the most of them.
For me a big thing is not really just the frequency that I ski, but the fact that I sleep and wake in a ski and mountain snow environment every single day from seeing the very first flake hit the ground, to the last patch of slush melt. If I lived 60 minutes drive away and had a normal job and skied 40 days of weekends a season, I'd be disconnected from the mountains, just a visitor. They could be the best 40 days of the season, and I could earn a normal income or more, but I would still be disconnected. I don't like the thought of that.
If yer can't be happy in a ski town skiing often, especially if you have a bigger objective than to just slide on snow, then it is a reflection of yourself, not the ski town. There is a time for everything in life, and if it doesn't work for you now, maybe it will work when you change a little in the future.
And bonus, if you are a few minutes away from great skiing, you are a few minutes away from great Mt. biking. Lots of hotties on the trails, too.
p.s. i just said all that stuff cause my back east GF was sittin' in. gotta go - dentist appt first thing then off to my asset planner!!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper
Yes it is.
wow. this thread really blew up. i didnt think anyone was even going to read it
im gonna go back and try to get a more legit job this time. i dont mind if i have to work a lot of hours out there, i just need to be "in it" again. part of the reason i left the first time around was cause i was tired of fondling strangers feet for a living. the other reason i left was for a girl (stupid). but whenever i go back and visit, all my buddies fuckin kill me on the bootpack and i cant ski half as well as i could when i lived there.
i still havent broken the news to my current employer but ive made my decision already. just gotta lock down a place, a job, and get my mug back at the 'winder
i live in england so the nearest mountains to me are scotland 6hrs away (snow very sketchy), the alps 12hrs drive or 1.5hrs on a bird, i've got a house, a good life, im a self emplyed chippy and earn good money, this coming ski season i'm sking in france 15 days, then sneak another week in italy and weekend in poland, that will be some 25ish days skiing, it will leave me gagging for more but then summer comes and i'll be going diving in eygipt and a road trip through europe plus other weekends away,
the ski everyday life seems so good and i watch videos of folk shredding it free as birds,
and i'd be lying if id say i dont think about it everyday, jacking the lot in and moving to a ski village, but im unsure if mylife would be better, yes ski more but thats all id have is skiing
You forgot about the Jackson "corer than thou" attitude. :wink: It's the mecca the woman are endless, it never rains and fucks up their snowpack, it's always a bluebird pow day, etc. That said I can't wait to road trip down there this winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by tone capone
OP, good for you. Do what you want and live your life either way you don't have to justify yourself here. There are plenty of people who are happy to work a less stimulating job and ski a bunch and for some that doesn't work and they need to be doing something they love. For us we just packed up the family and moved to a town closer to skiing and the wife has a good job and I got a job doing something that pays the bills and gives me great days off with room to grow in the company. It was weird to explain to our non-skiing friends that we pretty much were moving for access to skiing and a smaller town to raise our daughter because we lived in a pretty sweet place with great friends but it's been a blast and I can't wait until the snow flies.
Congrats and best of luck.
I was going to ask how you did that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
A big time JONG here, but I would like to relay what has worked for me in terms of obtaining a good work life (ski) balance.
If you can get a job in the mining industry, it can set you up for some good days on the hill because most mining takes place in the mountains (right?).
Two places I have worked and work now which give me good chunks of time off.
!) Henderson Mine/Mill Colorado (Climax Molybdenum/FreePort McMoran). The Mill is off of Ute Pass and the Mine is right below Jones Pass. The Climax mine on Fremont Pass has been reopened as well. I worked at the Henderson for a few years, got 4 day weekends twice a month (plus regular ones)-and plenty of time for post work back country laps during the Spring. Now that Climax has reopened on Fremont Pass, possibilities are even better.
2) I am currently working at the Golden Sunlight Mine west of Bozeman (Barrick Gold). This place pays great for Montana (20.00 an hour to start-even the admin assistants). The schedule is a dream for me (assay lab)-12 hour shifts with 7 days off in a row each month plus 2 3 day weekends. Great Bennies too.
That week off every month makes for some good days of skiing. And we only work 14 out of 28 days. The way the schedule works if I take 4 days of vacation during the right time of the schedule, get two weeks off. Hell there are some old timer with 5 weeks of vacation a year who get 10 weeks of the year off with full pay. After you get used to it, 12 hour shifts aren't too bad.
I feel very lucky-no I don't ski 100 days a year, but 40+ is pretty fair (most during the week) and not to be locked up in Cube in a Big City(been there done that and it sucked)-and am getting ahead financially. Plus looking out at the Tobacco Roots all day ain't too shabby either.
Summers are pretty fine too-
If this was too long sorry-just trying to give some useful info.
what, you don't believe in my psychic powers? :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Tuttle
I don't know if it was a forum glitch or if he posted then deleted and reposted. All I know is I saw an AZ post, responded, then mine came first.
I think your life would be better if you learnt basic spelling, punctuation and grammar. Baby steps...!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rossymcg
^ This makes a lot of sense to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hohes
It's a pain in the neck for me to even get to the snow; either a 4.5hr drive to the North Island volcanoes, or a 3.5hr flight/drive to the South Island club fields. What I do get is a view of my (very uncrowded) home break from my house, surfing without having to drive, knowing exactly what the tides, swell and winds are doing, ie being connected.
After a long hiatus from skiing, which happily ended in 2010, the mountains are exerting their pull again, and plans/dreams are being concocted to allow us to spend winters in a mountain town. Tricky business in NZ, though.
I'm 36 and weigh the same as when I was 22.Quote:
Originally Posted by Two06
You're doing it right, getting your schedule set up. But prime can be misinterpreted and misleading. I think you have another 20-25 years of physical prime, not just ten if you keep it up. I know guys who moved to the city and let it go, though. I personally wish I still had your schedule because I'm the best skier on the mountain. ;)
Don't forget that skis today are way easier to rip on than they were 15 years ago. We may very well be ripping big lines in our 60's if the tech also continues to excel at helping us. I finish lines these days hauling ass through deep Japow forests and think "wow, this is way too easy." whereas 15 years ago I'd have been exhausted after a couple of laps in that snow. (and let's not forget the potential medical revolution we may see in the next 20 years in regards to physical ailments.)
Now fear on the other hand may or may not be the thing that forces you to tone it down a bit. Most older guys I know just get tired of injuries and decide their risk tolerance is a bit lower.
Jimmy Chin: "When you're twenty you think you're immortal... wait that's not right. I mean, you have no concept of mortality." from here:
You can stay fit for a really long time, I'm finding. I know some ex-world cup racers from the Japan team here that are in their 50's and 60's and rip hard. It's inspiring. I just hope I can keep it that long.
What kinda work were you doin in the "real world", Meatspicy?
good luck, I got lucky in that after years of being a Road Warrior, I now work remote, so I have the Job and the location.
Seems this is the way to go if you need to make $$ but want to live in the Mountains.
And I chose to live near the mountains not in the Mountains because its much cheaper.
But I understand your need to get back to the place you love. I chased the Job around the country for many years, and quite honestly, it was a waste of life.
Sitting here now I wonder why did I do that to myself?
Everything can be fun.
I started a company when I was 23. Lived and breathed that job until I was 33. It was tons of fun and I have lots of great memories.
For the past 17 years I've been a bum - almost 11 of them living in Jackson. I've skied a lot, fished a lot, hobbied a lot, helped raise my kids, did some investing, helped out some startups, helped out some non-profits. It's been tons of fun.
Now I'm 50 and I just started a software company with my brother-in-law. I travel to San Francisco every other week 'cuz that's where the company is based. Lots of nights I sit in my office typing away at a computer until past midnight, trying to produce something useful while catching up on 20 years of advances in software development. It is seriously a shitload of fun. I love it.
Anybody who thinks there's only one true path to happiness is wearing blinders. My only problem is that I've accumulated such a long list of stuff I love to do. From cubicles to skiing - it can all be great.
Welcome back, meatspicy. Don't be afraid to change again in the future. See ya' in the tram line.
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg838...pg&res=landing
This is mostly what I look at for 9 months of the year.
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg94/...pg&res=landing
This is mostly what I look at for the other 3.
:biggrin:
Sounds like the meatspicy is doing the right thing for meatspicy. But for the rest of you, don't believe for a second that you can't achieve happiness without giving something else up. Keep in mind though, that dreams don't come true overnight unless you're really really lucky. Hell, I got really really lucky, but both of the photos above are the result of over 10 years of busting my ass!
After 4 years of college, a 2 year "post bacc," 4 years of professional school, 7 years of training and 4 years of private practice in the big city, I finally landed my dream job in north Tahoe last year. I put my time in, I only took a small pay cut, and it rocks living up here. There is no way I could get in an on call, 2.5 hour mountain bike ride no more than a half hour descent to the car back in the big city. One of the nurses at work pointed out that he has 125k vertical feet on Strava this season as do at least two docs so the people keep it real.
And no, it ain't dentistry.
"punctuation spelling and grammar thats for people that give a fuck, i was far to busy at school trying to get my hands down girls pants for bothering with that, now if you didn't understand what i wrote dont worry your sweaty sock self about it and spend some more time with a dictionary,Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotsman50