Thoughts on Ski Bumming - Page 3

I graduated High school in 1999 and started at the community college that fall.  Much to my parents dismay, I never registered for winter classes.  I decided for myself I would do summer school instead, thus getting my 3 quarters of school in a year making them happy, and getting my ski bumming in to make me happy.  I did this until I got my AA in 2002, and still not knowing what I wanted to do for a living, I went full time ski bum at this point.  Kellogg, Idaho in 02/03, Breckenridge, CO in 03/04, and back to Kellogg for one more year in 04/05.  It was the time I spent ski bumming in Colorado that led me down my current career path.  I'm now a pilot for a major airline, and I never would have considered it if I had not gone down the ski bum path first.  But meeting a few pilots and a flight attendant in Breckenridge and Winter Park made all the difference.   I dedicated 3 years to school in 2005, after creating 6 years worth of amazing skiing memories.  As of 2008, I'm now back to ski bumming, but this time with a career to help support it.

I say do the ski bum life while you're young and healthy.  You never know what you might learn about yourself while you're there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trekchick 


I've met and spent time with Bklyn.  She is an incredible inspiration

Skifishbum, my meditation motivation yesterday was along those lines

.. wealth does not come from your bank account, wealth comes from the depth of your heart. What you really want is happiness. You might believe that a fat bank account will get you there, but that's false. Happy people are happy rich or poor, unhappy people are unhappy rich or poor. Money simply masks your real being by giving you activities to occupy your mind. Don't fool yourself, recession or not, your true wealth comes from your heart and is always only there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dloveski 

DO IT. 

 

<snip> 

 

The moral-- find the path that works for you, and it sounds like you are doing that. 

 

It all comes back to this, eh?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Euripides33 

I'm not sure if anyone will read this since the tread has been dead for a while. Oh well, thanks so much to everyone who offered me their advice. It was a tough decision to make for sure, but it looks like I'm headed off to college next year. The parents, doing what parents do, decided that the ski bum thing was not in my best interests. I figured that the the option would probably be there after 4 years of undergrad, and its probably better to keep mom and dad happy (read: financial support is nice). 

Maybe, since they're going to be happy, they're going to be happy to help you out with a ski trip or three during breaks.  Probably wouldn't hurt to check out that angle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Euripides33 

Now, here is the next question. Anyone know anything about Winter at Westminster?

I don't know if this is any help, but one of my best backcountry skiing partners teaches in the psych dept. there so I figure it can't be too bad.  Here's a picture of him in the Tetons:

mate id just go and do it

when i did it, i was 23 (that was only last year), and only did it because of circumstances. i got laid off from my job, so moved to canada and ski bummed, and now im staying. i met plenty of 18-20 year olds doing exactly the same thing and everyone was having a great time. if you have a chance to do it, you should do it, because you dont know when your next opportunity is going to be

Well i could not read all of that.  Here is my advice coming from a 20 year high school teacher (seen a lot of people in your place) Dad of two boys ages 19 and 21.

The advise to take community college courses in the summer is very good-this will help with your parents and help you to stay flexible-like you could take a semester off sometime.

Economically i would argue taking a year off makes sense.  The economy is still wallowing in a recovery which may take a few years to sort out.  So finding jobs in the next few years might be tougher.  Better to enter the work force on the upswing-historically higher lifelong earnings.

Make sure you have medical coverage.

 Contact every school you applied to, including the ones which did not accept you regarding your decision and ask for a fee waiver on reapplying next year.

 If you can not afford a dependable car with good snow tires then live where public transportation is available to housing areas and the hills.  Really, a car is a huge financial drag and living without one is much better for a bum.  Sell your ca and buy good skis and boots that fit your feet.  Buy a cheap solid mountain bike if you do not have one and spike tires from bike nashbar and a big lock.

 IMHO try to do as much of the following as possible to prepare for skiing:  trail running, yoga, pushups, use an exercise ball for your core and balance.

Take some graduation $$ and get some good skis (board) and boots that fit your feet.  Check TGR or here for best deals.

Be careful, Be safe.  There are people who love you and even though you are a verile 18 year old, that can change in an instant. 

Oh: Last I knew if you get busted for drugs-say pot, then you forfeit government support of your education-REALLY BIG DEAL

Be careful especially in a car.

^Best advice yet.  And he has a point on injuries.  I ruptured a spleen skiing in '04, the year before I started flying.  Almost died from it.  Which isn't to say don't go be a ski bum, but be responsible.  Contrary to what McConkey and CR Johnson said before hand, it isn't worth dying for.  When you're laying there staring death in the face, you'd trade that one big jump back in a heartbeat to have more days on the snow, and in my case at the time, to see my girlfriend again.

This is a really late reply, but for people reading this thread who are in the same position I moved out of home a week after highschool finished and went from Australia to Montana for a ski season.  I had an amazing time.  After my year off I went to school for mechanical engineering and which I just graduated from a month ago with first class honours.  I went back to the US and did a ski season three more times during the Australian summer, no problems.  Ski towns are great for young people who are poor because everyone is young and poor.  Everyone eats crappy cheap food and drinks crappy cheap beer together.  Suggestions: get a fake ID before you go there, lots of ski towns are really small and if you don't have a fake when you get there pretty soon everyone in town knows you're only 18 and you can't get into any of the bars even if you manage to score a fake at some point.  Also, in the towns I've lived in there's more of a bar scene than a house party scene so without a fake ID you can miss out on a lot.  Also you want a night job, if someone offers you a job cooking breakfast 5 days a week and says you'll be off by noon or 1 every day you might think it sounds great cause you'd go skiing every afternoon but in reality it'll suck.  Depending on which ski town you're in all the powder is gone by lunchtime.  If you're in Crested Butte (amazing place) all the snow is probably gone before lunch.  If you're somewhere like Aspen and willing to hike a tiny bit you'll find powder all day and a job like that won't be too bad.