Okay so I decided I want to move to a ski town next season to focus on riding for a while. I never moved out of state and I'm curious about which resort out west would be the best for me to look into. I have experience waiting tables so finding a job shouldn't be a problem, but I'm trying not to break the bank while moving out there. Preferable I would like to live in a actual town at the base of the mouton, do you guys have any advice for me?
I worked ski patrol two seasons at a resort on Mt. Hood in oregon. I'll tell you right off the bat, if you're looking for a big mountain with lots of terrain and great snow this probably isn't the place for you. However if you're a park rat the crews up here keep the parks well maintained and switch it up often.
There's 3 main hills up here. Skibowl is the smallest but it's right in town and has the most night time terrain in the country. Timberline is a little further up the mountain, lots of good parks but a little flat. Skibowl and Timberline are sister resorts and if you buy a season pass it's good for both places. There's also Meadows, if the steepest and has the best terrain l but it's also the most expensive and get stupid busy on the weekends, I don't ever go there.
Government camp is the name of the town. It's a resort town first and foremost so it's not exactly cheap but you can find a bedroom to rent for $400-500 a month. If you don't have a car you everyone hitch hikes on hwy 26 around there and you can usually get a ride within a few minutes. There's even a trail down from Timberline into government camp and you can just ski right into town(if the snow pack is good enough).
If you have a car I'd suggest renting further down the mountain it's just cheaper and you can still get up the resorts in 15-20 mins.
That's just one place though, we're not the Rockies, we don't have world class riding, but we certainly are cheaper then those places. I'd look into the Montana as well. There's some awesome skiing out there too at some of the smaller resorts.
I'm always browsing, feel free to ask questions if you have any.
>>1076003
>Montana
This if you want great skiing without being too expensive. Bozeman is awesome because it's very cheap to live there and it's not super small. Plus there's tons of other shit to do when it's not winter. It's not right at the base of a mountain, but you're less than 30 minutes away from Bridger Bowl. And you've got Big Sky (better skiing) about an hour away. Big Sky is a nice place to live but it's much more expensive. However I have some ski bum friends that live up there, so it's definitely possible.
You're probably going to have to choose between world class skiing and being cheap. Don't think you can have both unless you're willing to live outside of the resort town. What else do you value in a place to live?
Look at Boise and Bogus Basin. There's better ski hills, but you get to live in a cheap college town, with good skiing 20 miles away.
If you're really serious about skiing look at Alta, UT.
It's a "town" in the loosest sense of the word, but the skiing is great. There are four lodges, Alta Lodge, Rustler, Gold Miner's Daughter and the Peruvian. They all offer room, board and a season pass for employees. It's also a reasonably short bus ride down the canyon to Salt Lake City. You're also only about a mile from Snowbird and a short drive to Park City, Deer Valley, Solitude and Brighton.
The downside is that the whole town buttons up at about 10 PM (other than lodge dorm parties), so if you're big on nightlife and shopping this is not the place for you. But if you want to make good friends, ski your ass off and not worry about rent or groceries come to Alta.
>source: I'm a houseman at the Peruvian.
>Also Ski Patrol was filmed here.
>>1076163
Shit, sorry, there are five lodges. I always forget the Snowpine Lodge.
Also the ski area runs a few cafeteria/ski service areas. One at the base and two mid-mountain. They also have employee housing but it's more limited than the lodges. There's also an on-mountain dorm for the lifties, ticket services and Cat drivers.
There's also the Shallow Shaft restaurant and Powder House Ski Shop that offer season passes but no on-mountain housing (but they're pretty good about helping you find a place down canyon).
There's always stuff going at the community center/church too. Classes, ski movies, women's arm wrestling championship, etc. There's also a community based streaming radio station, live music at the Peruvian Wednesday and Sunday and either trivia or open mic at the Miner's Daughter on Tuesdays.
Personally I really like how unplugged it is up here. You actually interact and build a social circle with people.
>>1076163
I'm actually looking into salt lake city, it seems cheap from what I saw on Craig's list and is a actual town so I could find a job serving tables hopefully ahead of time. Any word on that? I'm a 20 year old single female who has been snowboarding for about 3 years and I know there's a college in town so hopefully I wouldn't stick out too much.
>>1076244
Salt Lake City is not a town, it is a CITY. Complete with smog, traffic jams, homeless junkies and literally thousands of 20 year old girls. If you want to live and work in SLC and snowboard at the resorts you will lose a shit ton of money on gas and passes. You will also lose aor of time, on a busy weekend it can take up to 2-3 hours to get up or down one of the canyons.
Your best bet is still to work at one of the resorts. That way they will cover your pass and you ride before/after work. If you get a job at Brighton or Solitude, your best bet is Hebert City, which is on the other side of the canyon from SLC. Powder Mountain - Ogden (though Ogden is basically part of SLC now thanks to urban sprawl. Deer Valley offers on-mountain housing, skip Park City you can't afford to live there.
Snowbird is probably your best bet, they have like four restaurants there and hire year round. You can probably get a place to stay in Sandy or Halladay but then you still have to commute the canyon.
Your best bet is still Alta. Even though Alta is skiers only, it's close enough to Snowbird that all the lodges offer either an Alta pass, a Bird Pass or a Combo pass.
>>1076319
Sorry
Snowbird = better bet.
Alta = best bet.
Financially and logistically it just makes more sense to live on-mountain than to commute from the valley.
>>1076329
I snowboard so I can't do Alta but I might have a couple of guys joining me which will make everything so much cheaper to live closer
>>1076610
Then I'd say get a job at Snowbird and try and find a place as close to the canyon as possible.
Or get a job at Solitude or Brighton and get a place in Hebert City.
>>1076003
if youre interested in heading to Europe, Id recommend St.Anton am Arlberg in Austria. A massive world class ski area with lots of powder. there is also decent nightlife since many british and swedish people tend to spend seasons there so it's not a ghosttown like many other ski towns.
>>1076003
Last time I went to Bulla I stayed in a hostel, I met two girls in my dorm who turned up just after me.
They decided they were going to work at the snow for a season because they'd never been. So they just bought bus tickets and booked a few nights in the hostel and turned up to see what they could do.
When I went to dinner that night, they already had waitress jobs in the pizza place I went to.
Probably helped that they were hot 18yos but still, it can be pretty easy.
