jordan2734

what are good careers for ski and snowboarders? jobs that get you free or discounted equipment and/or lift tickets. or jobs that pay well and are near the mountain

Snowolf

Any resort job traditionally does`nt pay well untill you get into positions of resort management like the GM or departpment head. A modest income can made in a full time year round job like lift maintenance. Most seasonal jobs typically pay a little above minimum and people do these jobs for the fun of living the life of the ski or board bum. I am a part time instructor and I do it because I love to teach and interact with people. The benefits of free season pass, letters to ride free at other resorts, the ability to demo equipment etc are all good. I certainly would not want to give up my "day job" and try to live on those wages.

Often, the discounts don`t really add up anyway. Often the inflated prices at a resort mean that even with your discount, you still pay more than from a ski or board shop in town. Jobs that people do for the love of being on snow usually are instructors, coaches, patrollers and park crew. Another job that is a lot of fun, but doesn`t really give you a lot of time to ride is grooming cat driver; I did this for a few months and found that the hours were long and at night so at the end of the shift all I wanted to do was sleep all day to get ready for the next shift and I hardly rode at all. The work was fun, but I drive 70 miles to the mountain to snowboard, not drive a cat all night long.

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BurtonAvenger

If you've been around the snowboard/ski retail side of things you can make a living at it. Starting late september to mid october when the sales start going and we flip from bikes back to winter gear I make between 14 and 18 bucks an hour, but I also hustle my ass off selling gear. I also have a lot of trade skills like custom boot work, tune stuff, etc. etc. Typically a small shop pays you dick but if its in good with its reps they can hook you up with gear, sometimes the resorts have pass programs for the shops. I work in a corporately backed shop so I get paid a bit more, free vail resorts pass to all their mountains, and companies throw gear at us regularly.

NzGnu

out of curiousity how do you learn the trade skills such as custom boot work and tuning gear? did you just get a good job where they gave you this experience and training? or was there some sort of course?

ive often considered trying to get a tuning job, but most places seem to want someone with at least 6 seasons of experience so not sure how to get into that side of things.

Snowolf

BA has the most experience in this, but I can say that if you find a shop as a customer where you develope a good rapor with employees and owner, you can get them to teach you if you are willing to help out for free or minimal pay. I have learned to do quite a bit from the guys at the local shop I have been loyal to and help out every year as a grunt with Expo. If I could justify giving up a $28 an hour job to do it, I could work there full time.

So, one way to get into this is to befriend a local business and have them train you.

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BurtonAvenger

Trial and error. I grew up with a brother working in a shop and when he left for college I took over for him, the guys there would let me play with the big expensive machines under the condition if I broke it I bought it. Same thing happened to me for boot work. There are classes you can take in boot work like master fit university, foot worx school, dfp whatever they call it etc. etc. The big thing is you have to be skilled with your hands and look at the problem and go ok this is what I need to do and this is how I do it. I've never once taken a course on anything, I was either self taught, or looking over someones shoulder.

As far as the 6 years thing, thats just a way to scare people off. ITs a shops way of weeding out the undesirables. I'm with the wolfie on this get in with a shop and go from there.