Big decisions...

Ok, for starters, I don't really know how easy/hard it is to get a marketing job or another job within the ski industry, especially this short notice for the upcoming winter. At this point, getting a job at the hill as a lifty, rentals, etc will be hard, since the hills had their job fairs weeks ago and are deep into the interviewing process and close to finished, if not finished already, hiring. That being said, people get fired from hill all the time, so applying as a lifty or something like that isn't out of the question, just don't hold your breath.

As for options 2 and 3 - well, if you have the money to just buy some skis and take the winter off to ski, I say go for it. If you are thinking about this now, you gotta ask yourself: When you graduate school, will you take some time off to ski, or just right into a "career" in the field you went to school for? If you aren't fully into going head first into working in whatever line of work you are currently going to school for, really make sure you want to be there. If you finish your degree, take a year or two off of school, then try to get into the working world, your knowledge might be outdated and you'll have to go back to school anyways. Just to help you think about leaving school or not.

Lastly - You are from Newfoundland, but have you ever been out west before (or skied out west?) I'm not saying Whistler is bad, but it is the most expensive ski town in the country, very busy with many line ups, and even though there is a LOT of in bounds terrain, the high speed lifts and big line ups make sure that it all gets tracked just as fast (if not faster) than everywhere else. Granted, there are many, many options for backcountry (both near and far) to get your freshies, but that can be said for almost any hill in western Canada. Combine that with the Olympics coming to town... you may want to rethink Whistler.

Now, all that being said, if you are really stoked on park, like a big scene (both on and off the hill), want to ski all kinds of terrain, and don't mind the wet west coast weather and grey days. maybe Whistler is for you.

Hills/towns that I would recommend looking into are Red Mountain/Rossland, Whitewater/Nelson, Revelstoke, Kicking Horse/Golden, Smithers, Shames/Terrace. There are other hills, but I am against RCR, don't think living in a National Park in Alberta sounds like a good idea, and Powder King promises good skiing, but living in Mackenzie for the winter just wouldn't be a good idea.

So there you go, that's my two cents, although I may have just spent a nickel's worth. Either way.

That was a lot of great advise.  I didn't mean this winter I meant like 2010 season, next fall.  It is a far ways away but I want to get a work term under my belt first.  And I guess I didn't think about expenses of Whistler in the whole equation. There are a lot of other small mountains that are just as good or better for what I am looking for.

Thanks again for the post, anyone else have input?

my threads for later because im too tired to read that much.

3 years of your life is a lot to waste. Chances are if you leave youre not going to want to go back. Stick it out and keep skiing where you are. Then you can get a great job and support yourself in going to whatever mountain you want in whatever gear you want without a whole lot of money issues.

and ski during your week off, on the holidays with all the crowds... for years. sweet.

Yah a solid fall back would be nice.  Really shitty that there are no hills around here, closet one has 10 trails and I think the t bar lift only goes half way up and you have to hike the rest.  Plus it's a 2 hour drive out and other 2 hours back.

if i were you id take option 2. since you can come back you wont be wasteign the last 3 years and it seems to me like its the best of both worlds. just my 2 cents.

If you already know, that it will be in 2010 you will go as a ski bum, you would have wasted 4 years. I say finish school, and do whatever you want afterwards. As said before. chances are that you wont finish school if you leave now, because skiing is so much more fun!

You're already over halfway through your schooling. I'm not sure if this would work but maybe take enough credits during the summer so you'd only have to make it through four years instead of five. Not sure if that works with your college/degree etc though

Option 1 is a great option. But i suggest you keep it for a near future, say next summer. That way you have a better chance of success since we're already in November.

You should start trying to get interviews next summer. And there's summer skiing in whistler, so why not try it out, while searching for a good job.

Check this out:

http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/todo/summer/glacier/index.htm

They have a great park by the way ;)

live your life to the fullest until 2012, if the world blows up, you win. if it doesn't, you can go to school then.

You mentioned that you have to find out if you're able to take a year off and return to school for only a year to finish your degree. If you haven't found this out already, it's the most important thing when making a decision like this. As many people have already stated, it is hard to give up the ski-bum lifestyle and head straight back to school after a year, especially when there aren't good mountains near you. I'm not in college, but I do know that during the winter it's even hard for me to spend two days riding and have to go back to high school every Monday. If you find out you can't return to finish the degree, you may as well stick it out because at the point when you're thinking about moving out west you will have finished four years of school, it seems like a waste of money and time if you don't finish. I feel like most of what I posted may sound like babbling but hopefully it makes some sense. Good luck deciding and hopefully you get to live the lifestyle at some point, if not next year!!

yeah but even if you had a good hill by your college it wouldnt be much fun skiing just the weekends (assuming school takes up all your week time) thats my opinion anyway i would rather ski all week

I don't profess to know anything about the marketing side of the ski industry, If you're applying from a college program your chances are probably higher, especailly since I assume you'd be applying for an internship or something. But as far as the 2nd option goes, how much do you love skiing and photography. If you're a good photographer, or whatever your other hobbies are then you'll make it. You may not be super rich, but you'll probably be a lot happier, if that's really what you enjoy in life. And, if that is what you truly enjoy in life, then why on earth would you ever go to business school somewhere you can't ski. Tons of people every year become surf, ski, skate, snowboard bums and love every minute of it. If you love photography (or whatever else), are good at it, and love skiing then why not drop your school and either transfer or try to make it, even if you can't fall back on school, because if that's the case, than business school probably isn't the right place for you anyway. There's no shame in trying something new, but make sure you really want it, or it'll be very hard, and you'll most likely have lots of regrets, but if you do love it, you'll regret not doing it.

I am in a similar situation. I would comment and discuss right now, but ironically I have a paper to write. So I'll save this as my thread, and read/comment later. 

yeah i agree, theres a big difference in being part of the ski community and just going skiing




plus heres my 2 cents..youre young now, you can learn new tricks while your body is in good physical condition,  you can always go to school when youre older, but youre body can only handle the fun for so long

bump

Dude, there's a tonne of advice on here, and much of it is terrible.

First of all, you forgot an option:  TRANSFER TO ANOTHER SCHOOL.

This would be impossible if trying to transfer to the U.S., but you could look into getting it done to a place like U of Calgary or UBC or whatever.  If you can't transfer, trust me on this one, FINISH YOUR DAMN DEGREE.

I'm 30 yrs old now, but I moved out West after finishing my degree.  The way I see it, you can come out here and do it poor and half-assed when you're 21 and got no street cred or you can come out here when you're done, make some real money, live a great life an be able to afford to ski anywhere at 22.  This is a no brainer.  The ski life looks glamorous, but it ain't.  Living paycheck to paycheck and bumming couches, and not being able to afford a damn beer sucks ass.

I work full-time (40hrs a week), I go to school full time (evening Masters program) and I still find ways to make it out 25+ days a year to places that you've only dreamed of (but will soon hopefully experience).  I had plenty of friends take the alternate fork in the road in their late teens/early 20's and they are exactly the same place in life 10 yrs later as they are now....broke, stupid and got no chance of doing something half-useful with their lives. 

Skiing is the best feeling in the world, but you can only do it for 8 hrs every other day at the best of times for 6 months a year.  Think about the other stuff and how you can extract and maximize value out of your whole life.  You're blessed with the ability to ski, but also with a brain.  Don't use just one.

And for the record, I still throw down.  Yes, I may be the oldest f*cker in the park, but I put most 20 yr-olds to shame in there.  Outside of the park, if you're athletic, you don't lose it until you become a couch monkey...simple as that. 

What I'm saying is take the path that maximizes your potential and fun for 40 years, not just for 1 year. Short-sightedness is dumb. 

That's my piece. And I'm spent.

P.S.

I have a great friend that works for WestJet.  The pay at WJ is shit.  $35K a year full-time.  He says he does it for the perks of cheap/free flights on WJ.  He's an idiot for doing it, and here's why: He can go anywhere and work for $50K a year.  Do you know how many flights $15K can fly a year?  Domestic:  30 flights.  International (where WJ doesn't even fly): 15 flights.  So, by working at WJ he gives makes less and can't travel anywhere except where WJ flies.

Think big picture.

Now apply what you've learned above to the ski industry.  You can make minimum wage (or just above) doing monkey work so you get a free ski pass to one or more hills OR you can go make more money elsewhere and ski wherever the FUCK you want, and not have to answer to any idiot ski hill boss. Never forget, either way, nobody's paying you to ski.

Finish college first.  You will look back on quitting in a few years and realize how stupid it was to leave.  Many people end up never going back, people with stories exactly like yours.

As a legit ski bum, I'm going to go ahead and say that your advice is, at times, terrible, even offensive to me and many other ski bums.

Sure, education is important, and blah blah blah, but fuck man... first - you're 30 and spending your days on the hill riding a terrain park? all 25/year of them? come on...

We're talking about "the dream" here. skiing every day, 6+ months a year. I would hardly call me, or my fellow ski bum friends stupid, dumb, not using our brains, and only living our lives half assed. I mean, I could go on a huge rant about the education system and how the whole thing is complete bullshit, but I'm not going to 'cause it wouldn't be on topic so I'll stay with my original train of thought.

The misconception that ski bums are poor is the most annoying thing an outsider, and some young and unorganized ski bums themselves, can assume of your average ski bum. I mean, shit dude, I make enough money in my 4 months of work/year to pay my bills (rent, car insurance, etc) and have enough left over for my party supplies, buy all the ski gear I want/need, a pass at my hill, competition budget, travel budget, and enough to do stuff outside of skiing like concerts, random road trips to non-skiing locations, toys (electronics and what not). Fuck man, I have multiple friends my age (25) who work the summer, ski/board all winter and own their own house with no sweat off their backs.

You're under the conception that you NEED post secondary school to be successful in life, but the fact is, you don't. Sure, there are some "career" paths that do require a degree for something or other, but come on. You're priding yourself on how smart you are, and how dumb us "ski bums" are, and yet you look at life in such a linear, no options kind of way: If you don't go to post secondary and make lots and lots of money, you are dumb and unsuccessful. It's complete bullshit man.

I have one man life plan, which is to have as much fun as possible. For the past, oh... my whole life actually, skiing has given me more joy than anything else could ever even come close to. Will I continue to live the life I am living forever? probably not, but no matter where I end up, and what my mentality is when I get there, I will always look upon my ski bum years (this is my 8th year not working in the winter, just skiing and having fun) as the best, most free years of my life. Hell, I might even end up going to post secondary one day...



So have fun working full time, year round while going to school in the evenings and skiing the odd weekend while looking down upon your friend working for West Jet and thinking all of us ski bums are low life idiots that have no money and are going nowhere in life. More powder and fun times for me and all my friends.

Verno and Drail make good points, but I'd say just live life however you want to live it..if that means being a "ski bum", then go for it.   If that means becoming a doctor and skiing 25 weekend days a year on amazing trips, then go for it.  Personally I'd like to think I do it somewhat in the middle.  Did the whole college thing, moved out west after I graduated because my life revolves around skiing.  Now I live in a ski town, work 4 days a week (make decent money for myself), ski 3 days a week from beginning of nov to the end of june w/vaca's in btwn (about 80-100 days a season).  I'm not making 75k and I'm not skiing 150 days a year but I'm happy.   

Well I kinda did what you want to do, I had completed my first year of university and hated my course. It was either change course and start again or do something similar or fuck it and do what I want.

I went with the fuck it option and did my ski instructor training skied nearly 80 days last season starting from mid January.

This season I'm going back out to Canada and will also be teaching in Austria and Italy.

It is really fun and I wouldn't change my decision but at the same time I'm trying to find a work around getting both lots of ski time and gaining a post secondary education in something I'm more interested in. Before I left my uni let me take a year out and I decided not to go back this year. I also have collected the points from my 1st year and can transfer them to another course if I wish to so I wont have to retake the year etc but this depends on what course and what uni I go to. So I had some sort of fall back plan.

Now for the shit bit, I have been back in England for the past 7/8 months and I havnt been working, living on benefits, life is boring etc where I am the recession has hit hard and it is hard to find a decent job or any job at all. I also get a financial help from my parents such as plane tickets out to where I need to go and money to help me set myself up which I am very grateful for as I wouldn't be able to work this season otherwise.

I dont know what Im really getting at but basically I have decided after the following summer I will do an Open University Course and transfer my credits on to that. Basically I can learn online in my own time etc and get a degree just he same as I could if I have stayed, now this will take 4 years instead of the 2 I had to finish but a lot of the things I hated about uni was working all the time, and a lot of time just doing nothing, so I would rather work doing what I love to do and have to give up my free time to get an education in the mean time, its a lot of work but the past few months has taught me that if I can have both then its in my best interest and I get to enjoy my youth whilst not pissing it away.

So hopefully when the time comes when I'm getting to old, have more responsibilities and want to earn more money I will be able to whilst still traveling and enjoying life as much as possible in the mean time. Things are always possible as long as your willing to put the effort it.

By the sounds of it you will only have 1 year left though by the time you get to go, and youve put 3 in already, then you might as well just go on and finnish it, but look at your other options try transfering to UBC or U of Calgary or some hill near a ski hill, or try doing online classes or summer classers so you can get more time off, just try and have find the best mix of both, make a compromise, your going to have to sacrifice some bits but if your willing to do that then you can gain both of what you want because frankly if your having to ask then you don't have strong enough feelings each way to completely go for it and I think you know that as well. At the time I did but reality always changes things, I don't see myself as naive at the time and I dont regret anything as the way I see it now I'm going to end up with both which is a lot more than I bargained for and definitely grateful for that.

Long post I know, maybe it helps maybe it does not but thats my perspective of doing a similar thing, just have a think and just make sure you figure out every option you have got available to you before making a decision.

Peaaaaace

That's how I want to do it. I'd at least like to live in Calgary but a ski town would be the best. Although I have no idea where it would be the most affordable to live. How affordable is Fernie? Kelowna? What's a good town?

Drail, I respectfully disagree with your take on life  not cuz it's wrong, but only because it's not mine.  Skiing takes up 8 hrs a day max.  I need something else to do with the other 16 hrs a day.  I'm not ashamed to enrich my mind...its the best asset I got.  I'm saying the original dude should focus on bettering his skiing, but not JUST focus on that.  That's idiotic.  LIfe's too short.  Get'er'dun on all fronts.  If he gets street cred, EVERYTHING in his life (his enjoyment of skiing and work) will triple.  It really will. 

And for the record, the only people I know that work 4 months of the year and then ski/board all winter and own their own house with no sweat off their backs have Daddy Warbucks sponsoring their asses.  That's a dream world.  Sorry, but it is.  I know plenty of these ski bums....but they're not true ski bums....and frankly, I don't envy people that have been handed everything in their lives.  I'm not saying that this is your situation at all, but for a lot of ski bums, well, it is.

I'm gonna help you out more then anyone here because I have been in your shoes exactly...

I'm 24, also from Newfoundland and just finished a business degree at MUN. Go west young man.... trust me.

I think if you do a work term in the industry, you will end up working a lot more than you ski. My friend Jordan Bennett did an internship at the Banff Arts Center when he graduated from Grenfell Visual arts, which I imagine would be comparable to a work term, and he only rode on the weekends I think. He still progressed his riding though.

If you still have your heart set on finishing school at some point, it's harder and harder after being out of school, to return to school.

and lemme back that up.

Hilariously, my name is aaron too and i chose option 3 and am backpacking my way to whistler with a couple friends. We're leaving between december and march depending on how long it takes to get enough gear. After done in whistler we're looking at making out way to Alaska then possibly Finland.

Verno, Legoman, Drail, everyone else all great posts.  I hope this helps out other people as well as me and I have made a decision. 

Like it was said earlier I have two years left in this degree and when I am done I will be 23.  I'm not lazy and I'm in decent shape and can change that around pretty fast to be ready for the slopes.  I'll do my degree and during that time apply for jobs with ski companies and even resorts.  It would probably be the highlight of my life to land a job with a company like Line or Moment or resorts like Whistlers or some other small hidden gems in Canada's great west.  Worse comes to worse I do my degree, apply but can't get a job near a ski area and settle for some minimum wage job and be a ski bum until something solid comes my way.

Again thanks for the posts.  Winter is on it's way and NS is blowing up again with the anticipation (although a lot of you have already punched 10+ days) and it just had me thinking a lot about where I want to go when I made this thread.

Cheers,
Aaron