Moving to bc for a year?

Definitely do it man! Taking a gap year for learning a new place/culture is always a cool thing. A buddy of mine is going to do a program next year at Fernie in BC. He's taking a gap year before college and trying to either be a patroller or instructor over there and is stoked for it.

whistler is pretty exspensive. check out Alberta. less tax and stuff I think. and still close to the mountains. Lake Louise, sunshine, norque and Nakisha are under a 2 hour drive away.

BC is awesome! Whistlers great but I've heard that Vail is kinda ruining it this year, but that being said I'm not a local so I can't speak too much for that. Definitely check out the interior, Mt Baldy, Apex, Silverstar and Bigwhite, Revy are all within ~2 hours from Kelowna where I live and if you head out east you start to get even more options. If you're doing purely a ski trip check out the powder highway -https://www.powderhighway.com/. if you wanted to widen the loop you could add on those ones I mentioned above on your way from Red to Revy. That being said if you were wanting to do stuff with your degree and find full time work, Vancouver is definitely going to be your biggest job market and you could always hit Whis on days off and get a night pass at Grouse for work days if you were living in Van. Good luck! you're going to have a ton of fun here

Thank you for your responses!
I am looking through all the things you suggested and I am kinda getting a better understanding than I had before.

A gap year usually implies that you need a job to support yourself. This means that you can't travel the whole time. I would have suggested that traveling the entire US would be the way to go, but it is probably not feasible. Whistler is a great place to go, but its not really a place you want to live for a year. It is more of a resort than a town. There is no typical "downtown" Everything is within 10 minute walk of the lifts. Small grocery store, bunch of bars, restaurants, shops etc. Further east is one of the best ski towns Nelson BC. Its an awesome town 30 minute drive to the resort, but the resort isn't as good. Nothing is quite like whistler actually. The mountain is stupid big.

I am just going to suggest going to Japan. You are already buying a plane ticket so you might want to consider it too. Its just what my friend decided to do for his gap year.

white water is a classic

-WZ-BC is awesome! Whistlers great but I've heard that Vail is kinda ruining it this year, but that being said I'm not a local so I can't speak too much for that. Definitely check out the interior, Mt Baldy, Apex, Silverstar and Bigwhite, Revy are all within ~2 hours from Kelowna where I live and if you head out east you start to get even more options. If you're doing purely a ski trip check out the powder highway -https://www.powderhighway.com/. if you wanted to widen the loop you could add on those ones I mentioned above on your way from Red to Revy. That being said if you were wanting to do stuff with your degree and find full time work, Vancouver is definitely going to be your biggest job market and you could always hit Whis on days off and get a night pass at Grouse for work days if you were living in Van. Good luck! you're going to have a ton of fun here

I too am from Kelowna and can confirm that there's a pile of good skiing within 1-4 hours away from here.

I'd take a look at Red mountain in Rossland, BC. Great terrain, good park with it's own t-bar, $10/lap cat skiing less clogged with tourists than Whistler. The nearby town of Trail, BC (where they shot the original JP Auclair Street segment) has a giant smelter as it's main industry, so there may be work on the metallurgical line around there. Also lots of other fantastic skiing within a two hour drive. As someone said, Alberta is a good option, as there is less tax and a higher minimum wage. I spenta season at Castle mountain in southern Alberta and loved it. "The big three" also are a good option, boasting exceptional parks and good big mountain skiing. There is a plethora of accessible backcountry skiing around there too. Further north, take a look at Jasper Alberta and Smithers, BC. I guess the takeaway from this is, you can't go wrong moving to the Canadian Rockies for a gap year... Or longer. Do it!

Ive done seasons in both whistler and niseko.

Whistler is one of the best mountains you will ever ski, but because of that its busy, really fucking busy. unless you know what you're doing you will only get one fresh lap on a pow day and thats only if you line up an hour before the lifts open. Its a cool little party resort which is cool if you're into that thing. rent is expensive and decent jobs are hard to come by.

niseko is still a very small resort full of aussies. its a small hill compared to the states/europe but it snows. a lot. it gets to the point where i wouldn't get out of bed for less than 20 centimetres. they have a few little bars that are always a good time and experiencing the japanese culture is amazing. its so different and is definitely worth a trip. however outside of the main few resorts it would be extremely difficult to find work as an english speaker.

Ive done several years of back to back north and southern hemisphere and its sweet. However i would suggest staying at home, living with your parents, trying to save as much as you can in the off-season and then go over and do the season without having to work. Working at a ski resort is all fun and games until you get 3-4 of the deepest days of your life and you have to work each and every day.


Whistler is one of the best mountains in the world, but it is just way too busy and way too expensive. If you were going to work and you're more into skiing than partying i would definitely go somewhere in interior BC. They're not huge commercial resorts, there is sick terrain, less lines, and your money goes a lot further, its also more of an authentic experience

How much do you have for budget? BC is also known as Bring Cash and bring lots of it. Costs of living in major cities (even towns) is incredible. I live in Nelson and boy things got expensive real fast. Inflation in the West Kootenays is bad due to the influx of tourism. Publicity of BC is way overhyped around the world; people come with an expectation of waist deep powder everyday and either get super dissapointed by condition/weather or ending up lost/hurt/scared to death.

On the positive side, my move out west is a blessing. I have direct access to mountains beyond my imagination and find true dedicated ski bums that I get to share my rides with. Even though cost of living is rough, being outside all day, everyday is worth every penny. My vision of skiing went from shredding inbound areas to discovering the deep back country and moving safely through it.
A good plan is to land a career first and the first sign of financial stability, then road trip out. But if you cant get it out of your mind; find a school of your choice, get the visas worked out and try to secure a gig as soon as you make it in town. Work is hard to come by if you need extra cash. Make a plan and make sure you have a way back home.

Personally i would reccomed revy, sunshine, kicking horse, fernie, (RcR)

After reading all your answers i came to some sort of conclusion that I am kinda leaning towars going to somewhere around vancouver for living and working, because I heard that that would be my best shot for a job. I checked out grouse mountain which looks pretty cool for me as a mostly park rider. Thank you all for your answers you are helping me a lot! If there are still people with experiences like this I'd be thankful if you share them with me.

If you want the best terrain/price with less tourists red is the way to go

lukashotcherHey there!

I live in Austria and now I am about to graduate from school.
I am interested in doing some sort of gap year so I can ski in a different part of ther world. As I was looking through places that came to mind, I stumbled across whistler and man I am hooked. I am posting this here because I wondered if people have any experiences in doing that kind of stuff that they want to share. Also I have to say that I am doing a school with special focus on metallurgy which I hope might be helpful to finding a job abroad for my year. It's still more than one and a half year until I am done with everything so I am not fixed on anything. Maybe there are also some places other people would recommend going to?

I would avoid whistler unless you're solely fixated on park skiing, It's expensive as fuck and the lift lines are killer. The mountains in the interior of BC are better and have that great local ski town vibe.

Look into
-kicking horse
-panorama
-REVELSTOKE
- fernie

They are all pretty close to each other too so it'd be hard to get bored

Finishing my ski bum year in Revy and you will have a shit load of fun if you come here. Everywhere else mentioned in this thread is probably unreal too. I'd suggest working your ass off in the summer and saving up some cash to coast through the winter forsure.

Has anyone done a season in Revy and could lend me a hand figuring out how I can do one there myself? Just looking on info about jobs, accommodation ect

Bread.Has anyone done a season in Revy and could lend me a hand figuring out how I can do one there myself? Just looking on info about jobs, accommodation ect

kijiji/fb groups my dude