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Is it too late to be a ski bum

polaris0

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Hi! I'm from NH and I just turned 44 last month and I was wandering if you guys thot it was to late to be a ski bum. Lemme no what you think. thanks
 

snoseek

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Keep life simple enough and it's never too late. I'm 38, taking a year off to hustle $$$$ and plan to resume the 100day plus year somewhere stupid fun next year.
To do it proper you need zero debt, none.

Good luck!

P.S. it will help a ton if you have a skill and work as you go. Eight bucks an hour as a lifty doesn't go far in a ski village. Figure out how to make decent money in the p.m.
 

AdironRider

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I aspire to be like some of the mid 40 year old dudes out here killing it.

Something about having toiled in the rat race for 20 years make you appreciate every day a whole lot more I think.

While I get a ton of days in myself, I just know Im taking it all for granted sometimes.

Make the jump. You can always get a job again. Its not like you haven't done that before. But have you had that 100+ season yet with no obligations?

But Im 25. So yeah, Im still just winging it.
 

billski

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There are a lot of over-50 bums out West. Not so much in the East. The real trick is what to do when it's not snowing. Kinda goes without saying they are unmarried.
 

AdironRider

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Most of em take up a mean fishing habit round these parts. I can think of worse ways to spend a summer.
 

gmcunni

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Hi! I'm from NH and I just turned 44 last month and I was wandering if you guys thot it was to late to be a ski bum. Lemme no what you think. thanks

sounds like somebody just started his mid-life crisis.

Get a BMW, a trophy wife and ski every weekend during the season, that's my advice. you are too old to be a ski bum, work on building your 401k and planning for the golden years.
 

wa-loaf

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If you don't have any family obligations I see no problem with taking a year off and having a good time. I'm 42 and if I didn't have little kids I'd pack up and head west in a heartbeat.

FYI if you are going to do it go west young man!
 

snoseek

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sounds like somebody just started his mid-life crisis.

Get a BMW, a trophy wife and ski every weekend during the season, that's my advice. you are too old to be a ski bum,

or an old beater and a hot young foreign girl.....
 

SkiDork

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Hi! I'm from NH and I just turned 44 last month and I was wandering if you guys thot it was to late to be a ski bum. Lemme no what you think. thanks

sounds to me like a troll... wandering? thot? no? lemme? Gotta be a 15 y/o
 

KevinS

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You are never too old to do anything.

I advise you to rethink what being a ski bum means. Your average 23 year old ski bum moves out to the mountain pre-season and works a menial job (lift, janitor, bartender, ski shop sales etc) to get a pass and not much else. The upside is that you can ski a lot. The downside is that you can't ski all the time becuase you have to work.

I did a mini ski bum season last year and lived with a bunch of guys who are ski bums. They worked the night shift at the resort which was good becasue on a powder day they could get first tracks (far better gig than being a liftie). The downside was that they had to bail pretty early everyday and were too tired to get up if it wasn't a powder day. That meant a lot of 10am-2pm days on the mountain. Good, but not great.

I went out there with enough money saved up to not have to work for 2 months. I got to ski every single day and sleep as much as I needed at night to be up for first chair everyday. It was much more of a vacation for me, they were almost in a bizaro ski bum rat race with 2 jobs going on and trying to ski as much as possible, it looked exhausting.

You are probably better off socking away enough money to just take a 2 to 3 month vacation at a nice western resort. Just skip December (worthless) and the first two weeks in January. If you go January 15th to the end of the season, you will have base when you show up and get almost all of the storms that matter for the winter. If you buy a cheap pass and live frugal (I think I was paying like $400 a month for my rent and I didn't even have a car) you could probably do it for not that much money. You don't even have to leave your "real" life behind, I know guys who have taken sabaticals from their job for more than 3 months to sail around the world, you certainly could try.
 

sLoPeS

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one thing i've learned is that there is no "age" in a ski town. everyone's a kid at heart and is here for the same reason....to ski A LOT. there are plenty of "older" folks out there skiing it everyday and are sooooo stoked on life.

buy a pass, get a night time gig somewhere, ski all day, everyday.

its your life, do what u want with your time.
 

Huck_It_Baby

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I advise you to rethink what being a ski bum means.

Agreed. You don't have to be the traditional ski bum working nights or as a liftie to make turns everyday. Evaluate your professional skill set or trade craft and get creative on how you could market and sell what you do and work for yourself.

The best way to make money and not have to go into a job everyday is to run an online store. I personally sell digital products online. Because my products are digital files and there is no shipping involved customers purchase my products and download on the spot.

Everything is automated.

Your site makes sales while you are making powder laps.

At night you work on marketing, SEO and website upkeep instead of bar tending.

It's not magic money...you still have to work hard but you can work your own hours which suits the ski bum perfectly.
 

skiberg

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I consider myself one of the mid forty guys killing it on the weekends. I consider myself a ski bum, but I am also a professional. I always wanted to bum but was too chicken. I went to school and got my degrees. Now I do alright and I own my own ski house near Cannon. I ski about 35 days per year. For the past 5 consecutive years I have skied at least two whole weeks in the west each year. My son races. My entire family is immersed in skiing. I definitely admire those who have chosen to follow their passion full time. It really is about being passionate. Some people are over the top, like the famous guy form Cleveland who drives to Killington frequently during the season and every weekend to Holiday Valley. He still lives in above a garage but he is happy.
 

dmc

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If you have to ask... You'll never know..
 

Geoff

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I consider myself one of the mid forty guys killing it on the weekends. I consider myself a ski bum, but I am also a professional. I always wanted to bum but was too chicken. I went to school and got my degrees. Now I do alright and I own my own ski house near Cannon. I ski about 35 days per year. For the past 5 consecutive years I have skied at least two whole weeks in the west each year. My son races. My entire family is immersed in skiing. I definitely admire those who have chosen to follow their passion full time. It really is about being passionate. Some people are over the top, like the famous guy form Cleveland who drives to Killington frequently during the season and every weekend to Holiday Valley. He still lives in above a garage but he is happy.

Ski bums don't ski 35 days per year. They have that before Christmas.
 

polariso

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Hi! I'm from NH and I just turned 44 last month and I was wandering if you guys thot it was to late to be a ski bum. Lemme no what you think. thanks
A trolling impersonator..funny thing is I would never be a ski bum.. Ive got A house in the Lakes region and a condo in Tahoe..Thanks for tryin though.
 
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