Jed

If snowboarding makes you happy and you think it'll make you happier than you are now, then go for it.

You're 23, what's the worst case scenario? Even if you spend a year snowboarding and decide to go back to your old life, it's not like it'll be impossible for you to find another job down the road.

Maybe you'll find yourself happier living the resort life. If you work at it you can even become one of the 'lucky' few who finds a way to make that life part of their daily routine.

There's plenty of ways to design a life you want, it just takes a lot of work, planning and some element of risk that a lot of people aren't willing to take.

You get one shot at life, don't waste it.

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Qball

If it's something you really want to do, then do it. Try to avoid working a day job at a resort, you won't ride much. Get an evening or night job that allows you to ride every day. Night jobs work best for me because I get to ride every single day, pay is slightly better than a day shift, and it keeps me away from the party every night crap a lot of people get sucked into.

Just don't become a snow carnie.

Donutz

This was discussed at length in another thread earlier in the year. The consensus was that getting a job on the mountain isn't your best bet, either for money or for time to board. Ideally you should be looking for a job near the mountain with flexible hours, preferably with good pay and preferably in what you're trained to do. If you can work evenings and weekends (when everyone else is on the mountain) and ride weekdays (when everyone else is working) you will get the maximum snowboarding benefit.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

I hate the parts between winter...

RagJuice Crew

No one can tell you what you really want. All we can do is tell you how we'd feel about it, but you have to weigh up the pro's and con's as far you personally are concerned.

For example: From my POV, age isn't a factor. Certainly not at 23. I'm 32 and I'm packing in a well paid, steady job to travel the world on a round the world snowboarding trip. Myself and the better half have always dreamt of such a trip and decided we were just going to do it. There's big risks in that, but for us it was a no-brainer - we'd regret not doing it more than we'd ever regret whatever comes our way because of it. Some of our friends think we're mad or are in awe but couldn't do it themselves. It's a personal decision. We love travel and we love snowboarding, and getting to board just a week or two a year just wasn't enough. But in this current climate the security of a job is not something some people want to pass up, and at our age some just want to settle. Different strokes for different folks.

I would definitely agree with that. We hope to do just that, but working on/in a resort wouldn't cut it, for the reasons above and more. Again, it's down to what would suit us as individuals.

Snow Hound

I say yeah do something. Back when I was 22 I gave up a career to follow my dreams, which before snowboarding was to get smashed and fuck a lot of hot chicks. I did it for 4 months living in a holiday resort and had a blast. Did it again 2 years later and had an even crazier time. I then decided to go to college and carry on the party. When I finally sobered up I started my own business that's been going pretty well, I'm now approaching 40 with a lovely wife and about to start a family. No regrets.

Live while you're young.

That said, even now, if I had the funds and my work was transferable I'd be moving to the mountains cause I've got it bad.

AAA

If you're going to go for it, do it before you have a mortgage, wife, and kids. Once you're there, snowboarding becomes low man on the totem pole, especially in those early family years. On the other hand, if you're going to have a mortage, wife, and kids, do it before you commit to responsiblilies to the rest of your days.

Bones

23? That's it?

Doesn't matter if it turns out to be a mistake, you'll have tons of time to recover from it.

I'm 50 and I've taken a sabbatical twice (albeit not to snowboard). Once at 26 and again at 42. Does it fuck up your career? Maybe, depends if you're into comparing yourself with your friend"s careers. For me, the various recessions, the high tech crash, etc. did far more to fuck things up than taking a couple of years off by choice.

So of my friends now make far more money than I do, some kept their nose to the grindstone and still ended up losing their jobs/pensions anyway.

Unless you've got people depending on you, do it.

RaID

Definitely do it

I did a gap year straight after finishing Uni (College) when i was 21, spent a season rinding in Canada then worked and travelled for the rest of the year.
Got back to the real world got a professional job. Now 6 years later with my gf, took a sabbatical from my professional job, we spent 3 months riding in Japan then are currently travelling in Europe for the rest of the year.

Seriously some of the best times of my life and best things you can do. It puts everything in perspective regarding what you really want out of life. Do it especially when you do not have any other people depended on you. There is always time to work your a$$ off for a real career if thats the way you end up going.

Just make sure if you work on the snow, the job allows enough time for riding. Nothing worse then being at the slopes while watching everyone else have the fun.

iechoi

I'm 25 and have been working for a few years in a career job, which doesn't put me in a very good position to give life advice.

However, if you know there will come a time within the next few years when you decide to move on, I'd say you should stash your money now and use your exit as an opportunity for a sabbatical and see where it goes from there. Since you have a degree in a skilled field, it shouldn't be too hard to find another job if you make a commitment to staying sharp.

Tarzanman

I'll chime in again with some wisdom that seems to hold true for most people.

In order to have enough free time to do what you want, you either have to be really rich or really poor.

Anything in between seems to use up all of your time.

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Read on another forum: "If someone held a gun to my head and said, "You have to move to Salida tomorrow", I'd probably do it. If they told me I had to go to Breckenridge instead, I think I'd just let them pull the trigger."