That's why I don't even pretend. Some people in my company are amazed that I dare to do so, but I am very blatant about it.
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How does some someone ski more than 50 days per season
- Thread starter dlague
- Start date
That's why I don't even pretend. Some people in my company are amazed that I dare to do so, but I am very blatant about it.
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Good so I don't have to worry about you showing up at Wildcat and making a lift line.
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Not Sure
Well-known member
NICE! .........................And I wont pee on your tires .....again.
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kingdom-tele
New member
it is only 10 days a month, not including Nov and the few days on either side from the freak snows.
live closer is my advice. I don't know what the criteria everyone uses for a ski day, but skiing 4-5x per week is not hard to do with a flexible work schedule, a head lamp, and a mid week pass. I don't count days, but I also don't let weather decide if I ski or not, the dog has never complained and waits by the door once he sees the boots, maybe geta dog who loves the mountains more than you
jimk
Well-known member
Ditto.
Obviously, access and a season pass are pretty critical to 50+.
Only time I ever got 50+ was when I was a senior in college almost 40 years ago. Was a season pass holder and skied every day of Christmas/semester break, which was 20+ days straight. I was lucky to have parents who owned a vacation cabin one mile from the slopes and we went to it every weekend all winter. Also drove myself to CO for a week during spring break that year. Could exceed the 50 day barrier next year?? Considering retirement and spending extended time out west.
My son has been getting 50-60 days each of the last five seasons. Four of those years he was a pass holder or ski instructor at an area 45 minutes from his college skiing every weekend and some weeknights. This winter he's out of school with full time job as software engineer and drove 80 minutes each way every Sat and Sun to teach at a ski area. (I would often join him one day per weekend.) He also took two one-week ski trips this winter and two long weekend ski trips. Very few of his ski days were short ones. Many were 12+hrs due to ski school demands. His life this winter consisted of skiing and work and little else. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're young and unattached. He paid off $30K in student loans.
drjeff
Well-known member
Step #1 - I've got a wife and kids who LOVE to ski, so it's more likely to be some complaining/questioning of one's sanity about why we're not going as opposed to why we are going skiing!
Step #2 - Both my wife and I are fortunate enough to have jobs/schedules that allow us to take Monday's off every week and our kids, at least through the end of this school year, are in a Montessori School where the teacher doesn't mind if they're only there 4 days a week
Step #3 - Having a place at Mount Snow and a season pass there makes it easier to rack up a 40-50+ days a year
Step #4 - From basically Mid November through Mid April we essentially "withdraw" from any social life in our home state of CT and switch it all up to VT
Step #5 - We have a bunch of friends, who have kids that are close in age to our kids, who also have places up at Mount Snow and as a result we have a very good "social network" of friends up there that makes us want to go up there every weekend to enjoy not just the skiing but each others company
Step #6 - See step #1 since that's the most important one!
And note, I can honestly say that in the over 15 years that I've been a dentist, only once have I ever cancelled out a day of patients to go skiing, and that was just over a year ago the day that the Blizzard of '13 was set to roll in and 10 out of my 12 scheduled patients had already cancelled the day before and we all pretty much knew that the state of CT was going to shut down, so I cancelled the rest and headed North
Step #2 - Both my wife and I are fortunate enough to have jobs/schedules that allow us to take Monday's off every week and our kids, at least through the end of this school year, are in a Montessori School where the teacher doesn't mind if they're only there 4 days a week
Step #3 - Having a place at Mount Snow and a season pass there makes it easier to rack up a 40-50+ days a year
Step #4 - From basically Mid November through Mid April we essentially "withdraw" from any social life in our home state of CT and switch it all up to VT
Step #5 - We have a bunch of friends, who have kids that are close in age to our kids, who also have places up at Mount Snow and as a result we have a very good "social network" of friends up there that makes us want to go up there every weekend to enjoy not just the skiing but each others company
Step #6 - See step #1 since that's the most important one!
And note, I can honestly say that in the over 15 years that I've been a dentist, only once have I ever cancelled out a day of patients to go skiing, and that was just over a year ago the day that the Blizzard of '13 was set to roll in and 10 out of my 12 scheduled patients had already cancelled the day before and we all pretty much knew that the state of CT was going to shut down, so I cancelled the rest and headed North
mister moose
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Ski mid October to end of April nearly every weekend: 28 weekends, 56 days. There's your 50 right there, but you need to be at a big boy resort up north to get those early and late days.
Add a vacation week, 5 days.
Add 3 day weekends, MLK, Veterans, President's, New Years, 4 days.
Add powder days: 3 days.
That's 68 days. I just crossed 50, and should with a little luck, cross 60.
As others have said, you need a pass, and you need to be tolerably close to the hill to make the drive every week. "tolerably close" means different things to different people.
But to get to just 50, you can let 18 of the above days (that's 9 weekends!) slide for birthday parties and weddings and family, and still get the 50. It isn't that hard. A lot of us do it. Many do lots more, usually flex time or remote work type jobs. And you'll be impressed with how much better a skier you are too at 50 days plus.
Hardpack bony what the hell am I doing here days? First off, at least half the time it's better than you expected. The other half is going to the gym so you can slay the powder days and spring bumps. Secondly, you need to be at a mountain that gets a lot of snow and makes a lot of snow, so the crappy days are at a minimum.
And to echo what Dr Jeff said, the more friends you make on the hill of your choice, the more you want to be there on a regular basis.
Add a vacation week, 5 days.
Add 3 day weekends, MLK, Veterans, President's, New Years, 4 days.
Add powder days: 3 days.
That's 68 days. I just crossed 50, and should with a little luck, cross 60.
As others have said, you need a pass, and you need to be tolerably close to the hill to make the drive every week. "tolerably close" means different things to different people.
But to get to just 50, you can let 18 of the above days (that's 9 weekends!) slide for birthday parties and weddings and family, and still get the 50. It isn't that hard. A lot of us do it. Many do lots more, usually flex time or remote work type jobs. And you'll be impressed with how much better a skier you are too at 50 days plus.
Hardpack bony what the hell am I doing here days? First off, at least half the time it's better than you expected. The other half is going to the gym so you can slay the powder days and spring bumps. Secondly, you need to be at a mountain that gets a lot of snow and makes a lot of snow, so the crappy days are at a minimum.
And to echo what Dr Jeff said, the more friends you make on the hill of your choice, the more you want to be there on a regular basis.
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There's people on here that just go every opportunity, despite the weather from OCT to April or beyond and take lots of vacation in winter and have somewhat flexible scheduling. BobR comes to mind....that guy gets it done every winter AND has a real job. There's others on here for sure.
For me I plant myself near good skiing, work as little as possible and keep it to nights. This has netted me 2000 days in the past two decades but there are obvious sacrifices.
For me I plant myself near good skiing, work as little as possible and keep it to nights. This has netted me 2000 days in the past two decades but there are obvious sacrifices.
Hawkshot99
Active member
I work 6 days a week non-holiday, 7 days a week during holidays. I had 1 day off in the month of February...
I am currently sitting at 105 days. I work at a ski mtn, but my job does not get me on skis(I am not a instructor/patrol).
I race 2 nights a week for 8 weeks. I ski almost every day after work, or sometimes I get to go take some lunch laps. I skied every day off I had from mid Nov. thru 2 weeks ago except for 1.
If you trully want to ski alot you can do it. You just need to give up other things. I am single, and dont spend much time with friends over the winter(I move closer to the mtn for the winter actually). I have a great small group of friends that are always interested in skiing, so we force each other to go out rather than sitting on the couch after work.
I am currently sitting at 105 days. I work at a ski mtn, but my job does not get me on skis(I am not a instructor/patrol).
I race 2 nights a week for 8 weeks. I ski almost every day after work, or sometimes I get to go take some lunch laps. I skied every day off I had from mid Nov. thru 2 weeks ago except for 1.
If you trully want to ski alot you can do it. You just need to give up other things. I am single, and dont spend much time with friends over the winter(I move closer to the mtn for the winter actually). I have a great small group of friends that are always interested in skiing, so we force each other to go out rather than sitting on the couch after work.
dlague
Active member
Well wife and kids that want to ski, check. My wife and I even work a booth at the ski show in Boston! From mid December to end of March we try to ski every day of every weekend! This yer we missed about 8 days for various reasons! I would like to ratchet up the number of times between early November and mid December! More night skiing would be god too! Ok next year I will shoot for 50! That is half a ski bum right?
Hell my wife wants to ski on Mother's Day!
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Hell my wife wants to ski on Mother's Day!
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abc
Well-known member
Today is April 17, and I'll be skiing the next 3 days!!!
If you're limited to December to March, I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle.
While I don't break 50 every year, I never have to "sacrifice" to get there when I do. Probably the biggest reason is the long season that I have compare to 90% of other skiers. Depending on my work schedule, I may ski 3 out of 4 weekends of April in northern Vermont, or even a full week out west.
Basically, I have as many weekend as you have between December and March (though I don't ski every single weekend as you do, I pick and choose the best condition). But one way or another, I add anywhere from 5 to 10 extra days in April. Throw in the one (or two) full week vacation (which I typically do either in January or even May, basically when the northeast often have poor condition), I have no trouble get up to 50 if I so choose.
MadPatSki
Member
Here are some suggestions.
1) Live close to a ski hill. Ottawa is great, you have a few ski hills within 30 minutes from downtown.
2) Night skiing
3) Vacation time and leave without pay. I can't take sick day, people know me too much.
3a) Job with allows you some flex time.
4) Work at a hill (volunteer, etc)
5) Family that skis with Spring Break. Kids in a race program...you'll get that the hill often. One of the parents of younger kids in the program has skied 56 days, his wife 45. They stopped two weekends ago and started skiing at US Thanksgiving.
6) Season pass.
7) Deals...
8) Stay healthy
9) Earned turns - hiking/skinning up bc or closed ski areas. Tuckerman holds snow well into June and I've made some turns sometimes in July.
10) Ski 12-months a year.
I've hit 50 in all but two years (last 2 at 44 and 47) when I hit 40yrs old in June 2005. But I made up this season, today was day 73. Skiing 3 days this weekend at Jay. Previous record was 65 (on 12-month period)
PS. I'm not even close to having a 6-digit salary. Even further with leave without pay.
1) Live close to a ski hill. Ottawa is great, you have a few ski hills within 30 minutes from downtown.
2) Night skiing
3) Vacation time and leave without pay. I can't take sick day, people know me too much.
3a) Job with allows you some flex time.
4) Work at a hill (volunteer, etc)
5) Family that skis with Spring Break. Kids in a race program...you'll get that the hill often. One of the parents of younger kids in the program has skied 56 days, his wife 45. They stopped two weekends ago and started skiing at US Thanksgiving.
6) Season pass.
7) Deals...
8) Stay healthy
9) Earned turns - hiking/skinning up bc or closed ski areas. Tuckerman holds snow well into June and I've made some turns sometimes in July.
10) Ski 12-months a year.
I've hit 50 in all but two years (last 2 at 44 and 47) when I hit 40yrs old in June 2005. But I made up this season, today was day 73. Skiing 3 days this weekend at Jay. Previous record was 65 (on 12-month period)
PS. I'm not even close to having a 6-digit salary. Even further with leave without pay.
jimk
Well-known member
Actually, the way it often works is the people making the biggest salaries ski the least due to demands and responsibilities of their job. Sad to say.
Another thing, quality over quantity is not always a bad approach. I find fewer days, but in the company of family or friends to be a reasonable alternative to lots of solo skiing or skiing more frequently in dismal conditions.
Of course, this is coming from someone always scheming for more ski days.
ScottySkis
Well-known member
For me i hzppy to have no pass nad when it snows i happpy to hit around 30 dYs my season memories are all good to great powder days this year. i think if i lived in North VT i have more days but they get double snow that get in Normal year down herre. This year was way above way above normall in The Cats and PA .
Sparky
New member
The first step is to retire. After that the rest is easy. I retired 2 years ago and this year I got 76 days in and I'm a little disappointed with that. I expected to rack up a lot of new and/or seldom visited places, but apparently there are still outside forces that effect my ability to indulge my obsession. Inasmuch as I "have all day free" I'm the one doing the running around dealing with the mundane as well as many of the household chores, which is not inappropriate, just time consuming. I also live just 17 miles from my home mountain, where I'm an instructor. Working as an instructor three days a week really can rack up the days, and it isn't all that busy during the week so I get a lot of free skiing. In addition my wife and I get a seasons pass, that saves a lot of money. Be for I retired I taught skiing two nights a week as well as one weekend day, that helped with the season total, but there wasn't much free skiing and some of those nights were really cold.
gmcunni
Active member
day count this season sucked but a couple years back i managed 40 days. Living in S CT and having a traditional job (9-5 / m-f) i think that was a pretty good achievement.
planning and commitment was the key. i don't have a house in the mountains, most of the time it was day trips or weekends. that year we did a family trip for winter break from school so that helped.
for the most part i skied every Sat/Sun.. alternating local hill in CT 1 weekend (season pass to Sundown) and weekend trip(s) to VT or NH the next weekend.
a few midweek day trips taking a vacation day from work helped. i think i also did a few 1/2 day sessions in spring locally by adjusting my work hours (and doing conference calls from the lodge)
planning and commitment was the key. i don't have a house in the mountains, most of the time it was day trips or weekends. that year we did a family trip for winter break from school so that helped.
for the most part i skied every Sat/Sun.. alternating local hill in CT 1 weekend (season pass to Sundown) and weekend trip(s) to VT or NH the next weekend.
a few midweek day trips taking a vacation day from work helped. i think i also did a few 1/2 day sessions in spring locally by adjusting my work hours (and doing conference calls from the lodge)
dlague
Active member
My family often comes a day or two shy of 40 which is very doable! Need to commit! 50 Days will be the holy grail. More than that probably not happening unless I retire or quit my job which neither will happen any time soon - gotta pay the bills!
What I have extracted from most posts on this thread is 40-50 is pushing it for most with 50 being the extreme upper limit! More than fifty - well you either work for a ski area, are retired or have a very flexible job!
Is 50 days the new age working ski bum sort of speak?
What I have extracted from most posts on this thread is 40-50 is pushing it for most with 50 being the extreme upper limit! More than fifty - well you either work for a ski area, are retired or have a very flexible job!
Is 50 days the new age working ski bum sort of speak?
I got 64 days in this year, but unfortunately I'm now done due to business travel for the next couple of weeks. I skied every weekend, starting at the beginning of November, arranging my work schedule so I could get on the road in the afternoon Friday. I took vacation and skied every day during Christmas and Winter school breaks. I skied three days over Thanksgiving weekend. I watched the weather, took vacation days and drove up for every potential powder day during the week, staying thru to the weekend, and I took other vacation days to turn several weekends into 4 day weekends. I was lucky because I had vacation days to burn, and I took full advantage of them. I have to drive from Newport RI to the Mt Washington Valley to do it. Most of my friends think I'm insane...
hammer
Active member
This hits the nail on the head.Step #1 - I've got a wife and kids who LOVE to ski, so it's more likely to be some complaining/questioning of one's sanity about why we're not going as opposed to why we are going skiing!
...
Step #6 - See step #1 since that's the most important one!
My wife is OK with skiing but not enough to go more than once every two weeks, and even then only between about mid December and early March. Had to push to get out for our last trip which was about a month ago.
I'd like to get back up to double digits at some point.
50 days...maybe when I retire, just hope the body holds out...
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