Skiing in my 20s or work for 20 years then mabey ski its a hard desision

Do whatever will make you happy in the end. I'm going to college right now for something I love doing and annually I'll only end up working about 120 days a year and make a great living doing it. You've made it this far in school so you should try to finish your degree at some point.

Don't go to college until it's something that you're motivated to do, because otherwise it can be a waste of time where you don't apply yourself or you apply yourself to the wrong thing. I'm not saying that narrows you down to ski bum, but ski bum is an option, as are many other things.

Why don't you ski while you're in school?

I'm 22 and just graduated from college, now I'm moving up to summit county to live up there for 1-? years. Getting the degree first was nice because there is virtually no pressure on me, whenever I'm done skiing I just gotta go look for a job. I think that if it appeals to you, being poor and skiing all the time will give you a better life than putting in hours at a day job during the prime of your life.

Pardon my ignorance, but doesn't Canada have awesome free healthcare? Why would losing your parents benefits matter?



and I worked for a while in keystone in loved every minute of it, loved it so much, and hated the work so much that I realized to get smart, buckle down for 4 years of school, and be on the other side of the mountain ops, instead of being cold as hell, be in a comfy office, and ski whenever I want. retire early, ski then, etc.


Like my parents always ask(ed) me. "Where do you want to see yourself in 30 years? still doing manual labor, or early retirement skiing every day?"


think aboot it

THIS.

The problem is in 30 years we're gonna start losing it. We'll surely be able to shred but the glory years will be over.  Do you want to spend the 30 years of your life that you are in the absolute best shape preparing for the last 30-40 where you will slowly start to die???

And I;m not just talking about skiing ability you know, right now theres know hangovers really, bangin immune system, huge sex drive, ski all day kick it till dawn.  You can't have experiences like that in your 50s, your retarted wife is probly gonna wanna move to florida

dude, you suck at writing/spelling/grammar... that was a PAINFUL read.  with that in mind, just go work construction and ski.

tough choice due to the fact you have to make bank and get a good job to do that.  but once you start getting older you wont be able to ski like you can now.  its a choice of have money and ski groomers when your an old man or ski crazy stuff and be a complete bum and be completely screwed when you get hurt because you have no health insurance

Ok so, so far im liking everones adives. thanks for taking the time.  

as for the canadian health care.  ya our health care is great. but  to get free oakley or annon glasses with perscriptions (value of usually around 5-600) i need to get my parents benfits. and the dentis is only covered if its doesnt have to do with cosmetics. and so if i do this year ill have to live with my old sunnys and pay  for my one teath white ning

also as for the 4 year degree thing... I know what im about to say is kinda a jerk thing to do but, in my opinion if you left Uni or college without a job in the feild you studyed, You failed.  employers usually want the fresh out of college ready to go guy, rather than the guy with the 4 or 5 year gap.

another aspect i liked that was brought up was the, just go to school and retire early...  to be hones that really sound good on paper, but i have no way of gaurnteeing that will happen. and then even if i do get that, i wont get to enjoy my prime...   i mean i know having money when your older is key, but why is it that we disvalue or youth so much.

I think ad almost reather die at 40 and have skied for 40  years(150- 300 days a year)  than. live to 100 and have only skied like 1-200 days.   at the same time i cant help but notice that no one else is doing that and that no one else can level on that subject.

most people dont even get why i like skiing in the first place. personally i dont really get it either. but for what ever reason, i LOVE IT.    and ive worked at desk job, retal, telisales, grocery stores, fast food...ect and i have never enjoyed working, infact i hate work.  i just can never really get into a job i love. the same goes with school. their is not much i enjoy studying that also has a caree that makes money.  like film or phisphoy. 

i like being out side, peroid.  i dont care if its -40 with wind chill. 

Teaching skiing has been the only job i have ever enjoyed going to. being out side talking to rich people about leasurly things is the bees knees to me.   but it doesnt realy make money. and the benits (getting to ski every day , even when i work) i cant spent on food or shelter.

its a very hard choice..   the idea that i could retire, soon enought to still be able to fully enjoy skiing is almost a pipe dream in my mind... what job is it exactly  that gives you more than 100 days off a year and lets you retire with enought money to ski all the time. at a young age. 

as for going to school and skiing, ive thought about it.   but what does that mean.. you think i should move to like Vancouver and drive in to whistler everyweekend or ski grouse.   the real problem is im not all  that interested in, the kind of jobs that make a fortune(usually desk jobs) and school is prep for a desk slave.  and i do love skiing but, who can aford it.

i m so fucking turned around.  its like alot of people try and become docs and lawyers all the time. Alot of those people dont secussed. infact lawyers are some of the most unimployed people.  and on top of that. the ones who do become seccussfull, of them, some of thoses people dont even get to retire early because of devorice and other peoblems .. im thinking wtf .   im in my yough and im skipping the bullshit., or am i ?

no on know what happens when you die, should i really be so afraid.


every year i come to the mtns i risk my life , in every way possible.  is skiing worth the risk?

dont put off skiing until youre retired.  if you're successful you'll retire when you're 50, but most likely it won't be until you're 55 or 60... maybe even older.. by the time our generation is getting old, it might be the norm to retire when you're 70...  who knows...  either way, by the time you retire you'll be too old to rip like you can now.

its obvious that skiing is what you love the most in life.  stick with your ski instructing gig.  talk to your students who are rich and successful and try to get ideas for future employment.  its possible that there's a job out there that's perfect for you, and you don't even know about it.  maybe you'll end up meeting your future boss through a lesson.  who knows.

don't let your mind stay idle.  when you have some down time, even if its just once a week, read for an hour (NS doesn't count... im talking about a book).  find something that you're interested in and just read about it.  the important thing is that you do it EVERY week.  no excuses.  your writing and communication skills will improve, and you'll be learning something valuable in the process.  reading also will give you self satisfaction and confidence so when you eventually enter the job market you'll have more to offer than being a ski instructor.  good luck and enjoy whistler.

quit being a pansy and make up your own mind, dont ask life advise from a group of 14 year olds.

do you want to be one of those beaters who comes on saturdays and vacations and pisses off the locals  of a mountain or do you want to have the best day of your life over and over and over agian and be a local?

most of the retards with college degrees that i know now are ski bums because

a. just like highschool, they didnt know what they wanted to do in life.
b. cant get a job because 10000000 people have the same degree as you
c. dont want to have some stupid 9-5
d. got the wrong degree
e. waited too long after getting a degree before getting a job, employers dont like that, because you forget everything you learn if you aren't using it.

CANT THIS WAIT TILL IM OLD, CANT I LIVE WHILE IM YOUNG
-have fun trying to ski when you are retired and decrepid.

always plan for the future. yes skiing now in your prime is fun but you can do that while going to school as well. maybe not 150 days a year but enough to get by.

its not like skiing when your 45 years old is not going to be enjoyable.

i want to retire/work when i feel like it by the time im 35, ive been working since i finished college and go on a few ski trips a year plus every week at my local hill.

I realized my freshman year of college that going to school in the winter wasn't for me...

Shit, at least half of the people I graduated with are failing pretty hard then. The amount of people that had jobs ready for when they graduated was down by half for mechanical engineers at CU, dunno about the other majors but it can't have been much better. I think taking some time to ski while I can afford it and while my body is healthy isn't a bad trade-off for living poor a little longer. Having a career right now just doesn't sound that fun anyways.

I say ski now, you never know when you're going to impregnate someone and have to raise a kid.

Regardless of the path you choose, if you solely live to ski and that is your reward, you will have wasted your life when you get to the end of it.  Skiing in and of itself it not a end, it is a fun thing to do.  No fun thing to do should be your ultimate life pursuit.  Because when it is all said and done, you won't really have said or done anything that really mattered to someone else and it won't be that satisfying when you are dying.  Perhaps a bit more serious that anyone was looking for, but I refer reality over 'yeah, ski bum FTW!"

"Skiing in my 20s or work for 20 years then mabey ski its a hard desision"
"hard desitions." 
You're in college?

do both...move out to utah or something and go skiing while going to school

this is one of the most outrageous posts to come out of ns today.

IF YOU LIVE TO SKI THAT IS YOUR REWARD AND YOU WASTED YOUR LIFE?
sounds like someone forgot to take their morning dose of anti depressants.

skiing is much deeper than riding a lift up a mountain and going downhill......... you make relationships that you never would make in this "reality" you speak of.  You meet rich people, you meet people that can hook you up with things,  you meet poor people, you meet great friends, you are living life to its fullest extent and not just chasing paper. You are building relationships with mountains, weather, an understanding of your surroundings. Believe it or not some people make a good living doing this.

Being a "ski bum" does not mean that you dont own a house, have a girlfriend, and not take vacations (i take it this is the "reality" you are basing your statement on.)

Do you think McConkeys last thoughts or Doug Coombs last thoughts were man "I really wish my life didnt revolve around skiing."  And if tanner is on  his death bed or johnny moseley or any random ass ski bum is really going to question thier life choices?

and your closing statement doesnt make sense....I REFER REALITY? POTHEAD

I am one of these retards.  This gentleman speaks the truth. 

Its a hard choice, I'm there right now. I have the option to go to grad school, hopefully get a job that utilizes my degree... and become a lame-o 9-5 er with 4 weeks of vacation every year. Or I can keep doing what I do now, work a bullshit job and barely make enough money to subsist on three days of skiing each week, with 30-40 hours of work to pay rent and gas to the hill. And being broke all the time.

I love these TED videos, I've been watching them all the time and every one has been great.

Man, this questions has haunted me for the past 8 years of my life.

^Thats not a bad way to think!

ski for sure. Dental is overrated anyways.

To the first part - I think they do right now, honestly.

To the last sentence - I can't tell whether you were claiming to be a pothead or calling me one.  But in either case, for someone so self-righteous couldn't you see that I simply had a typing error and didn't hit the 'p' to make the word prefer?

get your degree. get a good job. buy a house in Vancouver or Squamish. Make lots of money. ski whistler every saturday & sunday. and night ski up seymour & grouse. your set.

This.

life is all about balance.  you gotta figure out what level of sacrifice you are willing to make on each end.  it doesn't have to be all your eggs in one basket.  theres a middle ground in there somewhere.  but remember....choosing too much of a "normal life with semi weekend warriorship when your wife will let you out of the house" will drive you crazy thinking about the fun you couldve had skiing every day.

i do ski patrol in the mornings to throw bombs and ski pow.  and then my engineering job the rest of the day to actually make money.

theres this guy at my ski hill that's like 90 or something and he still shreds like every single day. and he wears viking horns on his helmet :/

i should have said "get a degree OR go to technical school or something and get a trade or like become a firefighter or whatever ... there are tons of good jobs out there that allow you to ski all the time ... especially if you become a firefighter because you work 4 on 4 off ... so you can ski all 4 days you have off.

hard decision? Youve made up your mind already

I think some people in here are losing sight of the fact that no matter how good you are, no matter how much you love your sport, you have bills to pay, You have a retirement to think about. You may have to support a family at some point. You may get hurt, and not be able to ski for a while. No income.

However, with all these cons to it, there is also a pro: you are doing what you love. Every day. Personally facing a similar decision, I'm going to have to say that you should make the sacrifice now and finish college. Finish it, get your degree, then make your decision. You can always choose to drop your good paying job and go ski, but its a little harder to drop skiing and go get a good paying job.

Besides, you can always ski in your 20s. There are plenty of jobs that afford for a little less working time, and plenty of opportunities to ski. Its usually best to keep your options open, and just do what will work out best. Either way, things have a way of working themselves out. You'll be skiing, no matter your choice. As long as you want it enough.

quality first post

Since high school I worked hard the first year off, made some money, took some classes and skied all of 5 times. Since that year I said fuck that, if I'm going to work its going to be at a resort or in the industry somehow.

My 2nd year out I worked at Steamboat for a litte while and skied everyday, loving life. After that i moved back home, got a shitty job and went back to school. Then in November I went and skied at Mt Baker for their opening day weekend and spent three days riding the deepest pow of my life and looked at the shitty job I had back home and the bullshit classes I was taking, and said fuck that, and went home, quit my job and moved to Baker, got a job in food service and skied every day and loved it. Those three days changed my life.

After those first 3 days i ended up spending 3 years working and living with some of the coolest and most down to earth people ive ever met, riding one of the best mountains in the world, meeting pros and industry folk from both sides (skiing and snowboarding), and partying harder than i could have ever imagine and loving every minute of it. I regret NOTHING as far as that choice goes. I skied over 400 days in the three years I lived there (winter and summer) and it was the best experience of my life, mountain folk know how to party, live, and ride with a passion that most people only dream about or hear about from the movies and edits they watch from their desks at their 9-5 jobs that don't even come close to reimbursing them for the 4 years of overpriced education.

Granted you won't get rich from working and living the mountain lifestyle, but what you might lack in monetary reimbursement you will make up for in the emotional, environmental, and social connections, experiences, stories, and depending on where you decide to go, the epic pow you will ride on a daily basis.

That's my 2 cents. And my thumbs hurt from typing this out on my CrackBerry. Hope this helped with your decision, but probably made it harder if I did my job right.

Cheers and good luck with your decision my friend.

Wow dude

you dont have to be poor to enjoy skiing.

it seems like a lot of ski bums have a chip on their shoulder and dismiss skiers who have a life away from the mountain as well.

we are all skiers for the same reason

i would never dismiss and education because you never know what can happen in your life and i think it
is very important to have a backup plan of somesorts, having an education can be that escape route.

persoanally for me i plan on attending university doing my four years while skiing probably every second weekend or so and taking trips over winter and spring break.
After my four years are up, get a job at a mountain, ski as much as possible, pay of school, then....

SKI, TRAVEL, AND EXPERIENCE THIS WORLD.

"as for the canadian health care.  ya our health care is great. but  to get free oakley or annon glasses with perscriptions (value of usually around 5-600) i need to get my parents benfits. and the dentis is only covered if its doesnt have to do with cosmetics. and so if i do this year ill have to live with my old sunnys and pay  for my one teath white ning"

So what are you saying, you cant ski unless you have designer sunnys and whitened teeth?

This is one of the lamest threads on NS ever! First of all  i cant believe your in college, your grammar and spelling is so bad, it's a disgrace!

Second, make up your own mind dude! Sounds like your a lazy slob, who doesn't want to make any effort with jobs, or education. It's a fact of life that in order to ski, you need money, and to get money you have to work, period!

When you think about it, you've answered your own question, when you said that the only thing you've ever really enjoyed, was being a ski instructor. Well friggin do that then, since you seem to be fit for nothing else! Who said that you cant make a good living being a ski instructor?

Work hard, rise in rank at the ski school, make a career out of it!

I guess i ended up answering this bullshit anyway, haha!

Might as well give my 2 cents,

Im 20, I went to uni at 18, dropped out after completing my first year, having spent all my money travelling to go skate or ski and lived of not a lot of money anyway, especially since living in the UK.

I dont regret going to uni for that year at all, it was a great learning experience, I didn't even enter my head that I didnt have much money as long as I was living life and having experiences. I saw so many more people get in to way more debt than I did, thousands, and all they did was get pissed up every night doing the same old thing, same old places, same old people.

So I went and trained to be a ski instructor in Canada, got my level 2, race coach, whatever, and I'm heading back there this season. Was the happiest times of my life and went and worked in Italy for the last week of the season and enjoyed the teaching part a lot more than I thought I did and it didn't feel like a job at all. I just had fun and got paid.

The way I see it, yeah I'm gonna have to support a family, make more money etc as I get older but I'm 20 I have about 5 years of doing whatever the fuck I want skiing a lot and trying to travel to other parts of the world in the off season. The experiences Iv gained along the way have enriched my life far more than if I had stayed at uni and I have completely changed for the good as a person whilst still maintaining who I am.

At the end of your life do you really want to be like ahh I wish I could have done this or not done the same as everyone else, you have one life, fuck it do what you enjoy and make the most of it. The problem with most people is they just arnt motivated enough. Now I'm not stupid I know I need to get a form of higher education or start running my own business, but I can do this whilst doing all this other stuff. In the UK we have something called the open university and I can do units as an when from anywhere in the world and work towards a degree. Or I can do learning at night school or some shit any way that makes sense at the time. People just need to make their life more full on, shit your gonna be tired all the time and whatever but like the saying goes you can sleep when your dead. Like someone said above you stick around in the resort you'll probably make it, more so than if you go to college/uni and then try and get in because you don't have than do or die mentality to motivate you there's always an easy way out and to me that's exciting.

A lot of the people in this thread are very naive, your parents influence your opinion a lot, its obvious, I don't blame them for doing so they want you to be safe that's the safest option and try to feed you with shit like early retirement earn lots of money etc etc unless you have that same do-or-die motivation to get shit done then your not gonna be able to do that just as much as you haven't got it to make it living the lifestyle you want to suit you, so your probably just gonna flop and follow the crowd. If you can find away of doing it then that's great there's always a way if your motivated enough but you gotta be focused.

Or you can take the easy route go to college find out it limits you financially just as much as it makes you financially stable. The main thing that I found with education was I was always sitting around waiting for something else and not living life just always studying it. The best way to learn is to live life, but that's me and I don't judge anyone that does not share my view.

I'm not gonna pretend like its a easy life either you gotta really not care that you have no money and its a hell of a lot easier if your from the US or Canada, I have to hope I can get a sponsored visa but I'v been lucky and I got one maybe another but I know a shitload of people I trained with who wont be working this year or have not found a job yet. I'll probably emigrate to Canada within a year or two because it will make my life easier but to a lot of people that sounds crazy but why not make the life you want don't be stuck with oh shit I'm from here I gotta live here my whole life, family and friends will always be there and will probably respect you more and you can always visit. I'm lucky my parents support me with some essentials like flights, deposits and shit but I don't take the piss, they have more than enough money to support me and not work for the rest of my life but here I am sitting here on welfare/benefits trying to make my own way, shit sucks I can afford to eat and that's pretty much it, but I have enough money to eat healthy and cook properly have some money to go to the gym with and spend time trying to learn shit in my own time (where I am there are literally no fucking jobs I'm not just lazy before I get called out), but I couldn't be happier.

To be honest the thread creator should already know and is just being a pussy, I only wrote this for kids who are younger and maybe contemplating it. Believe in yourself, get er done, dont let anybody stop you.

 

So you base your future on what 13 year olds say? Do what you want, spend time looking at the pros and cons. Im not going to make decisions for you....maybe you should take english again...that was so hard to read.

this

As for me getting hurt skiing.  Ive never found that to be a problem. i do extream things all the time off the hill, like driving on the highway in a car.  or going into iner-city convience stores late at night. If some fucker shoots me when im buying milk or if my car gets hit by a truck, then wtf.  

The more i think about it the more i think im just fooling my self if i dont go back to ski.  Skiing is a drug. Peroid.  i am addicted, and unless some one knows of a rehab clinic for me to stop thats it. Ive taken that first hit and thier is no turning back.  I know it could and mabey will kill me one day. But who cares about that were all going to die one day.     

Time and space are diffrent when i ski. Suddendly the space of the massive mtn become small enought to traverse and desend and freely roam in an unhear of time. the same goes for the time. An 8 hr day of skiing, if its the right day, right people and right conditions, it can feel like forever.  It can give you the feelings of being one with the earth.  

To sell my self, to the dollar seems kinda weird.   The kinds of partys and fun times i have in the mtn is uncomparible to any thing else i can do any where else..  Its almost feels like if i come to the bottem and they take me to jail for 20 years, it was all worth it.

As for skiing costing money. thats kind of a funny way to look at it...  I look at it like this. when i work a get a free ski pass and get to ski free all the time.  You show up in your suv(you paid their ) then you go and get a lift ticket (you pair their ) then you buy food at the hill(more their) and at the end of it, you dont get to be their for the couple really deep days that year.

You get to show up on the tracked out weeeks ends of bussy winter and spring breaks.

Our society takes life risks all the time. Driving in the car, eatting street meat. every thing you do could kill you.  or rewein your life.  me making the choice to ski is a more long term risk.  unlike jumping the cliff where you will know if you made if as soon as you touch the ground. I will not know if i made it till i am coming close to physical death.  Ya it seems crazy. but so is highway driving, rock climbing and big mtn skiing.

so im pretty sure, im going to say fuck it. i risk every thing keep running closer and closer to the edge.  Cutting things closer in every way. drinking too much skiing way too much and sleeping with as many women as possible. When i do one day go over the eage and die , ill deal with it them.

Cause you never know whats under the snow when you jump a cliff.  That desition could be the end.

at the same time. the draw to big houses with 10 kids. and 4 sweet weeks off a year is pretty big. 

also to the guy who said i already made up my mind. do u mean i choses to ski or i chose to school

also to the guy who asked about my college. ya every fall i go back to college. in 4 years ive almost compleated a 2 year degree.  The problem is its a general degree and after i have to chose what i want to go into.

well im done for now. im like every ones comments, even if i dont agree with them all.  keep em coming . ya some of you are 12 and 13, but whos to say thats not a better thing.