Between JH and Alta/Snowbird, where would you ski bum?

[Skip Dooley]

just go wherever it works out best, apply for jobs both places, go to the one where you get the best job.

Last year I ski bummed in Mammoth and by luck started skiing with people who I would now consider my best friends/ski buddies.

In short, just go where the wind blows you, if you let things come your way, you will be pleasently surprised.

Doit!

[Particle]

Jackson hole is a ski town.
Salt Lake is a small city with good skiing nearby.
I would move to Jackson and get the whole experience.
shorter season though and less employment opps.

This is exactly what I was going to say. I had the same choice 4 years ago but I'd already gotten my ski town ski bumming years in CO, so I went for Utah b/c it had better 'real job' opportunities. I would be sad if I'd moved to Utah and never had that true ski town life I had in CO. SLC is not a ski town...it's a small city with a small ski community. Not bad, just different. Go get the real ski life experience in Jackson.

[Idris]

Alta/Snowbird. - No contest.

Jackson is an Overhyped corprate mess centered around a small underwhelming ski area that claims to be realy Gnar but isn't. The nearest other resort is over an hour away.

Alta isn't large either but combined with Snowbird its bigger. There isn't the same Gnar hype so not the same anticlimax.
The snow is much better.
There are 5 other resorts within 'Day Tour' distance and a further 2 within an hours driving.

If you are interested in the Ski resort experience and not the Skiing then go be a drunk in Jackson - Just take your visa card to pay the bar tab.

[Stanley]

Idris, so true...everybody in the tetons drinks and pretends to ski....nothing to see here....the mountains really arn't even there, just figments of peoples imaginations planted by the barkeeps at the Rancher & Cabin. you must be really bitter about something, wow.
that said, if you want in on the bro blah life you'll find it at JH in obnoxious quantities.

[The Suit]

Idris, so true...everybody in the tetons drinks and pretends to ski....nothing to see here....the mountains really arn't even there, just figments of peoples imaginations planted by the barkeeps at the Rancher & Cabin. you must be really bitter about something, wow.
that said, if you want in on the bro blah life you'll find it at JH in obnoxious quantities.

He was offended by the warning sign in the tramline.

Or maybe it was me ...

[schindlerpiste]

just go wherever it works out best, apply for jobs both places, go to the one where you get the best job.

This sounds like great advise. Obviously, the skiing is great in both, LCC and JH. The snow is more dependable and deeper in the Wasatch, but it's still good in Jackson. Both places have great access to miles of steep,open terrain. JH is more of a ski towm, but do you really care? You are there to ski. You will meet great people no matter where you go. GO where the better job is. (By this, I mean the job you enjoy more, not necessarily the job that pays more, or requires more hours). If you get the same job at both places, go to Alta. After all, it does have "The greatest snow on earth".

[Wandrin*]

I haven't spent much time in JH, but I spent several years at Alta. No, it is not a luxurious place to be until you step out the door. Even when I had less years on me I could never figure out how people could party more than one or two nights a week and still ski, so the Alta night life was fine for me. You can ski the area all season and still find cool spots you had not skied before and then there is the bc. Where ever you pick you will have a blast.

[fez]

This sounds like great advise. Obviously, the skiing is great in both, LCC and JH. The snow is more dependable and deeper in the Wasatch, but it's still good in Jackson. Both places have great access to miles of steep,open terrain. JH is more of a ski towm, but do you really care? You are there to ski. You will meet great people no matter where you go. GO where the better job is. (By this, I mean the job you enjoy more, not necessarily the job that pays more, or requires more hours). If you get the same job at both places, go to Alta. After all, it does have "The greatest snow on earth".

the problem with the advice is not many ski town businesses will hire you until you find a place to live. In Jackson, jobs are a dime a dozen. Places to live are scarce. Fortunately cell phones make this a little easier to bluff. If you have an out of state phone number you might be able to make someone believe you have a place to live anyways.

[Miss Zula]

Apply for jobs go where you get the best deal (& read all the fine print thats where they kill you.)

My two cents on AltaBird:
I worked at Alta last season and everyone in my lodge had good ski time. On the epic pow days we were actually allowed to leave early/show up late. The bosses were ski bums once too. That said, you will be broke. Im going back this season and living down at the mouth of the canyon. Word from some of the emps was to work at two different lodges part-time, you get paid more hourly and not live in the canyon, you get transportation pay. You can buy your own pass, its not as expensive as JH (1300 for AltaBird) and there are a few deals out there and that way if you do decide to leave your job and just ski you don't lose it (if you get a pass through a lodge they own it and keep it if you leave/get fired). You can usually find a place to crash up the canyon and like it was said before if you work there and its dumping they will find a room for you so that you show up for work... Don't work for the Bird, they treat emps like shit and don't allow you on the tram. Oh and there is real booze, and cheap: JB was $10 & Jose was $17 last year. Its all state liquor store prices so no mark-up.

If you get a sweet job offer at JH (especially including a pass) do it! you really can't go wrong if you're in it for the skiing.

[Core Shot]

Almost twenty years old bump. Good memories of each.

The mountains look the same
The snow state and crowds and living costs are way different

[jj111]

I'd pick Alta/Snowbird without a thought. Better snow, I'd say better terrain, way cheaper, you live in a real place where real people live and not where the billionaires are squeezing out the millionaires.