Quote:
Originally Posted by Leshphilling77
true but at least you did it and that regret will never nag you
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leshphilling77
true but at least you did it and that regret will never nag you
From a one and done JH bum, good on ya!
I wondered what became of you.Quote:
Originally Posted by skinnyskier
But the nurse is really a dude?Quote:
Originally Posted by skinnyskier
Glad to see another DAWG on this forum!! Athens, Ga is one of the finest college towns in the country, and could, conceivably be #1 if it was in the mountains somewhere...Quote:
Originally Posted by Paj
This thread is makin my mouth drool and heartbeat rise just thinking about quitting this fuckin job. To the OP, I look forward to the day I can start the same thread as you, and I hope you have the quality of life you're after, fuckin enjoy it!! I know my body is green from head to toe!
In a perfect world, this would be the final post on TGR. :smile:Quote:
Originally Posted by The Suit
There is a place that you can have both a career and ski as much as you like .
Seattle. If you live in the Eastside suburbs you are only half an hour to Alpental . Plus you can go surfing , Mt biking. Pretty much anything outdoors.
I say do it. You gotta do what makes you happy.
Seattle is the shit. But Alpental all winter would get old real fast I would think. I need me some big mountains,Quote:
Originally Posted by Ski to Be
So I didn't read all of the posts in this thread, but I really dig it.
I quit my job in LA and moved out to Vail less than a week later. Sold everything I owned, broke up with my girlfriend, quit my job all in less than a week. Then came out here. That was 4 years ago now.
Things have gone well. I have gotten out more than a 100 days for 5 years now (got some while out in CA) and have gotten to do some really fun shit along the way. I know it's small potatoes for a lot of you guys, but it was a big thing for me.
Now I'm wondering about what happens if I leave back to the real world. For those of you out there who have made a life after leaving the mountain, what are you thoughts? Are you able to stay happy after the big switch back? Skiing will always be my passion, but I just don't know if I have the chops to make it my profession as well. Obviously not talking about going pro, but getting involved in the industry long term.
Anyways, if anyone has any advice for a guy on his last year in the mountains, please make em now. And also please be gentle...
Have you skied Alpental? It skis very big for a small mountain. I have skied all over the world and Alpental + backcountry + touring equals fantasticQuote:
Originally Posted by Two06
No, you lose the stoke. I've obsessed over alpine peaks and dicking around on snow for decades. An 8 year stint in DC after college convinced me to never, ever live away from mountains again. They're a never ending, always changing playground. Luckily I got a transfer so the sacrifice was minimal, but it took a long time to find a good job in my own version of mecca.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurr P
It's a tough thing to go through - odds are you're either balancing priorities to stay happy or trying to balance a budget to enable you to enjoy the fruits. If you're lucky enough to be in a position to get a degree fucking study and investigate careers that are tele-commute friendly. Often you'll have to develop a rapport, but that can be a solid way to make decent money and live wherever you can get your fix.
I was talking to my stepmom last night and I'm just really surprised at how she doesn't "get it." My job situation is a little shaky and I was talking about applying at Boeing 'cause they have lots of work right now and she's suggesting that I move to South Carolina because Boeing has lots of work there. She's known me over 20 years, what on Earth makes her think I'd be anywhere close to happy in SC?
Whatever happens, I'm sticking close to real mountains and places that have snow in the winter. I'd rather be poor and able to ski than make a bunch of money and live somewhere hot, humid, and likely to get hit by a hurricane.
Good on ya for following your heart. Our time on this planet is short and we are fortunate to live at a time and in a place where we are able to do what fulfills us rather than simply grub out an existence.
Lots in this thread nails it. Work is just selling your time cheap. I was a cubicle monkey in a New england shipyard for 5 years, got laid off last march. Drove across the country, had my mind blown in jackson for a week then stopped in Oregon. Spent the summer on a fire crew. Saw some incredible things and banked some cash. Got my job back at the shipyard for double my fire pay/hr last week and am seriously regretting coming back. The cash doesn't offset having some the most beautiful places left as your "office"
A lot of judgement and justification boning up a cool thread.
And just a guess but all the guys bitching about a lack of women in ski towns are the same guys the women are bitching about when they say it's tough to find a GOOD guy in a ski town. You guys should try showering, not ditching your girl on every powder day, choosing dinner for a cutie over a new piece of gear or lift ticket even just once a month, and opening the door for a lady sometime.
I spent two winters in a ski town and spent my summers mountain guiding. Last year I took an engineering job in a mid size city and I actually really enjoy what I do. I work 4 10's so I have 3 day weekends and it totally works for me. I am happy but adventure definitely looks a bit different than it used to. Mostly in the form of a weekend warrior... and I spend a lot more time in my car headed to the mountain but honestly I don't really mind it when you got a good crew to ride with. My best advice would be to find other people with the same passion... people that "get it." They're out there in every city. I'm so thankful for my 2 years in the mountains, I think it keeps me much more grounded and focused on what's really important. I have a fantastic quality of life right now and my love of skiing hasn't changed. You can definitely be happy after the switch! No matter what you do best of luck and enjoy!Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurr P
I like this thread. I think the key though is to find a real job near the mountains. I'm always a bit in awe of you ski bums who grind out the shit jobs (or two) to make it work - it seems exhausting. I never even considered it because I knew the stress would take too much of the fun out of the skiing part... for me. To each his own.
More like the people laughing when some dude from a mountain town goes to XYZ city and exclaims "OMFG there are so many hot women here"Quote:
Originally Posted by Conundrum
I've skied all over the world and Whistler/Blackcomb + seasons pass = owns the shit out of alpentalQuote:
Originally Posted by Ski to Be
round and round!!!!!!!!!! security=comfort= "Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and becomes a host, and then a master?
Ay, and it becomes a tamer, and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires.
Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron. It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed and jeer at the dignity of the flesh. It makes mock of your sound senses, and lays them in thistledown like fragile vessels. Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral."
the real world lies outside the comfort zone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe, but it's radness here, in my opinion. I think people forget how good we really have it here; it's the best of many worlds. I'm certainly a fan because I have a big boy job, make it work and get the goods in when the snow flies.Quote:
Originally Posted by tone capone
Speaking of which, you spelled it wrong. I judge you moran.Quote:
Originally Posted by Conundrum
It's the royal judgement bro. You know, the OG type.
sacrilegeQuote:
Originally Posted by Conundrum
Make one little joke that is an obvious exaggeration of mountain town ratios, in the spirit of lightheartedly discouraging more bro bras from relocating to mountain towns and further depressing the ratio, and the butthurt lasts for weeks...
My sights were not on you Mr. Capone.
You must not have an openminded girl that realizes there's more than one kind of faceshot that's cool.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
In a ski town in America? Have you ever considered a career in Politics or the Clergy?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lone Star
Different strokes for different folks, I think. I have a career in SLC that allows me to ski 50 or so days a year, ride my bike as much as I want, fish the provo, and go on a couple dozen awesome weekend trips per year. I used to be able to ski as much as I want and would get in 100+ days a year. I think I am happier now than I was then.
Just curious, what do people who ski bum do for work? Service positions are absolutely dreadful to me, and the people who generally work them in ski towns are transient and way to bro-brah for me. Most of the people I know that work these kinds of jobs and ski everyday seem way less happy with their work than people who have careers.
I think it's awesome that lots of people enjoy bumming it, but I like a bit more of a mix of intellectual challenge, financial security and time outside.
edit: I should point out that I definitely dislike certain aspects of my job and definitely don't like the 8+ hours in a row, but my boss is cool about midweek ski days and I generally like the people I work with and what I do
it's all what ya make of it. i never went to college as i had zero interest in going. i just wanted to ski and didn't need further edu to do that. i graduated hs half way through senior year and headed for the hills for 10 solid seasons of 120+ days a year from ski resorts in maine, utah, colorado, nh and road trips all over hell and back in the shoulder seasons. i chose to work nights at hotels as a bellman/valet and killed it making enough to walk away from many seasons with an extra 6-8 grand in my pocket for 5 months work which i'd put in 5-7% cd's and still got to ski every day. summers were spent working on cape cod in bike shops and part time valet at night banking more coin for shoulder season travel and long term saving.
after 10 years of that i moved back to the cape from utah as i got tired of moving every 6 months, scored a year round bike shop gig and took all that cash i had saved and started to buy rental properties in 01', good time to buy:). still managed to ski 50-75 mid week days a season living on the cape and after the market shot back up in 05' sold my rentals, good time to sell:). worked the cape for another coupla years till i moved to seacoast nh where i reside today. i grew up surfing on the cape and surfing is my 1st love. nh is an amazing place to be a surfer year round and in less than 2 hours i can be skinning up mt washington which holds snow from nov-july most years. in the 5 years living here i have managed to ski 80-120 days a season and surf close to 200 days a year. not bad for a 40 year old who never went to college, never had a car payment, a credit card payment........
my couple of remaining rentals i own on the cape pay all of my bills accept for food, which my 6% annuity pays for (which i don't draw from), so my 32-35 hour a week outdoor sports retail job is pretty much all gravy. retire at 45? hmmm, retire from what?!:D.
chose yer own adventure my friends. the math ain't hard, even for a barely high school graduate dirtbag like myself.
and yes i much prefer to live by the sea and be in striking distance to the mountains. if yer a surfer, you gotta be able to get on it at a moments notice or the wind can switch or swell drop in a second. once the mountains have snow, and you earn yer turns, finding good snow is easy daily.
rog
Good post and man, you hit it right.Quote:
Originally Posted by icelanticskier
I love Whistler, I also love Chamonix, & Jackson. Vancouver to Whistler is quite a commute if you work there. My point was that you can have your cake economically and eat it too & I have skied 9 seasons at Alpental of at least 50 plus days and never tire of it. There are still parts of the backcountry I haven't been to. I didn't even throw in Crystal because it's an hour and a halfQuote:
Originally Posted by Two06
Fuck ya. Live the dream!!
ROOOON!!!!!
Wow, you just went from internet douche to potentially cool dude IMO. Way to make it happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by icelanticskier
when you find a girl who wants you to get both, THAT'S when you found a keeper.Quote:
Originally Posted by Conundrum
+1.Quote:
Originally Posted by JRainey
Rog, that was by far the best post I've ever seen from you.
You could interpret that a couple of ways....Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurr P
See ya in Tram Line!