Life After Skiing

CUSHKOMANot sure if this is the appropriate forum category for this but here it goes…

This past year was one of the most challenging years of my life. At the beginning of last ski season I tore my ACL, MCL, and lateral meniscus in one of the stupidest falls of my life. For the first time since I was three years old I didn’t get to ski, living in a ski town and working for the ski resort made it even harder having to be around it and keep the stoke and morale high amongst my staff.

My surgery was a success and rehab was going well, but then life threw me yet another curveball. Back in August I got fired and absolutely railroaded from my full time year round job with Telluride Ski Resort for the stupidest corporate bullshit. I got the rug completely pulled from underneath me as I lost my job, housing, and all my benefits that came with my occupation. These past few months were pretty stressful but fortunately I found a new place to live (not an easy task in Telluride) and have a new job working as a delivery rental tech that sounds pretty lucrative with the gratuities that are offered.

My knee is feeling better and I’m getting excited to get back on snow soon, but with everything that’s transpired in the past year I’ve been contemplating life a lot and thinking about life outside the ski world. I always used to joke that once I’ve blown both my knees out I would retire (not truly) but lately I’ve been asking myself if I should go back to school, go travel for a bit, where else I’d like to live, and what I would want to pursue professionally.

I’ve been skiing since I was 3 and for the past 13 years or so have been pursuing it whole heartedly once my days of playing organized team sports were over. It’s been a great ride and I’ve pushed myself to a level I never thought I’d reach. Since moving to Telluride seven years ago I’ve experienced some of my highest of highs and lowest of lows. I love the life I’ve created for myself here but living in a place like this is becoming more and more challenging. Our ski resort as a company is going to shit, housing is becoming more and more complicated, expensive, and harder to find. There aren’t really any legitimate long term career opportunities here as we are mostly a seasonal town, the dating scene here sucks, and the amount of drug and alcohol abuse I’ve been exposed to and admittedly have been caught up in has had me becoming more sober curious.

I’m writing this because I was wondering if anyone else here has found themselves in a similar situation and how they went about navigating it. I love skiing and will always be a skier at heart, but life is short and it’s such a big world out there with so much I want to explore and experience that I feel like I’d be doing myself a disservice if I get caught up living in the ski world forever. Ultimately I know I need to follow my heart and go with my gut, but if anyone reading this is willing to offer some advice I’m all ears.

Here’s to a happier, healthier, and deeper winter than the last one, much love to all 🙏

skiermanLOL you're such a fucking child. Grow the fuck up.

CUSHKOMAI’m grown up enough to have more interests than hiding behind a keyboard and being a negative troll on NS. You don’t know me homie so don’t pretend like you have it all figured out and tell me to just suck it up. I’m a lot tougher than you think, but at the end of the day I’m human just like the rest of us. Ain’t nothing wrong with asking for some advice, your immaturity and lack of compassion is showing.

skiermanLOL you're such a fucking child. Grow the fuck up.

skierman"Wahhh I got fired from my entry-level job and I hurt my knee! I don't know what to do anymore!"



Yeah bro, that's the epidemy of "tough". hahaha

skiermanLOL you're such a fucking child. Grow the fuck up.

ParkingLotPissHey Pal, maybe that enough screen time for today.

Go outside and get some fresh air,

Ask yourself "why am I such a cunt?"

Reflect and try to identify the root cause of this shitty behavior.

Figure out what it is about your life that's making you so insufferable and try to find a solution.

Dude's just trying to improve his life. you should take notes

skiermanYou wanna know how I know you're over the age of 50?



You write Haikus like a Somalian trying to screw a retiree out of her pension.

skiermanLOL you're such a fucking child. Grow the fuck up.

ParkingLotPiss1. Only go back to school if what your studying is gonna pay off. money doesn't buy happiness but it does buy freedom.

KungKalmarThis goes into the same category. Subtitles are available.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1100600/Ilkka-Hannula---Painful-Passion

GorillaMarketGMKWhat other interests do you have? Sometimes stepping back from one thing you love to focus on another thing you love can help. I stepped away from skiing for a few years because it just wasn’t financially reasonable for me and just was getting burnt out on commuting and other factors. so I lost the motivation for it and filled my free time doing more art or fishing. Then after a few years the want to ski came to me more and more. It’s kinda nice in a way because I don’t feel like my personality is as solely based in being a skier anymore and can enjoy the pleasures of my other interests even though they aren’t for anything career wise. As for as career stuff there is so much out there that can be sustainable that doesn’t require a college education. Shop jobs will a lot of time come with benefits usually have decent pay wages and are most of the time really chill work environments. They can also have a pretty broad rage of type of work.

skiermanYou wanna know how I know you're over the age of 50?



You write Haikus like a Somalian trying to screw a retiree out of her pension.

JAHBRADORThis is the experience I have seen from almost everyone that lived in a mountain town from 20-30. Some people left to go to school/move to a city, some people stayed and work construction or another small town job. both are equally as happy/unhappy.

I think you need to sit down and figure out what you want out of life. If you don’t know what you want, you can either keep doing what you’re doing which will most likely lead to a perpetual cycle of ‘what am I doing?’. Or you could try something drastically different for a while which might give you perspective on what your priorities in life are.

From personal experience, I had no direction in life until I was 28ish, all I wanted to do was ski and have a shit job that I didn’t care about. I didn’t listen to any of the old heads saying that your priorities change as you get older. I was incredibly short sighted and wish I had had more balance in life instead of going all in and burning out.

I said fuck it one summer and went and got a job doing construction and ended up really enjoying it - something I never thought I would like. I’m now almost done my apprenticeship and am stoked for what the future holds.

I wish I had spent more time trying new things throughout my 20’s e.g. travelling/other sports/education instead of being so fixed on just skiing. I still love skiing but I don’t want it to be my whole identity anymore. I was hard to shake that in the beginning as I felt like I was betraying myself by ‘conforming’ to society.

I still live in a mountain town, I can mountain bike/climb/swim after work everyday. Its great but everything has its trade offs. Some of my city friends are miserable, some of my friends here and miserable and vice versa.

Life high key kinda sucks everywhere in 2024, you just have to try and stay busy.


TL;DR fuck you read it

skierman"Wahhh I got fired from my entry-level job and I hurt my knee! I don't know what to do anymore!"



Yeah bro, that's the epidemy of "tough". hahaha

aflightlessbirdLove skiing and appreciate the life it can give you or find a different balance and be happy with that.

Life changes, it gets harder, it gets easier, it never stops. There is no correct answer aside doing what gives you the most personal fulfillment and upliftment. Period.

I am 33, torn my ACL twice, and just starting my rookie year as a patroler at a private resort after cat driving, terrain park crew, dishwashing, cooking, shuttle driving and summer trail crew jobs. I still love the mountains and mountain work just as much as day 1 at 7years old. But thats my personal path. It just feels right to me. Where God wants me to be. But it's not right for everyone. I have many ski homies who are more into surfing or biking or just art now than skiing and that's fine. I am happy for them and they are happy for me. I still have friends that are just as passionate as me too. Just accept the path life has for you and don't worry to much about the "correctness" of it. Cause as long as you can provide for yourself and accept the consequences of your decisions your doing just fine.

To add, I work out and do yoga EVERY day to continue skiing as hard as I want too. I don't drink and eat healthy for that same reason. And get good sleep and live a balanced life to keep my body send ready for as long as possible. I know I'll have to start saying no to some rails, tricks and hits one day but I can transition more into touring and alpinism. There's always room to grow, learn and improve. That's what keeps me motivated long term.

Remember most people in the world have little choice for the life they must live. We are insanely blessed to be able to live lives around our passions.

The worst you can do is settle for less than what you think your capable of. Believe in yourself!

skierman"Wahhh I got fired from my entry-level job and I hurt my knee! I don't know what to do anymore!"



Yeah bro, that's the epidemy of "tough". hahaha

skierman"Wahhh I got fired from my entry-level job and I hurt my knee! I don't know what to do anymore!"



Yeah bro, that's the epidemy of "tough". hahaha

KyrgyzSchnitzelYou seem like a pretty well-spoken guy with a lot of experience, knowledge, cool stories, and stuff.