Where have you been??

Don’t make me choooosseeeeeee!!!!!

Honestly Kirkwood is epic. Love it there, love the cornice/cliffs/shoots(thats sounds like I am great at these things. I am not! LOL but they have good starter/baby ones!

Heavenly will always have a soft spot as it was my first resort I worked at. Although I haven’t been back since… :-(

But in Colorado I love Copper Mtn. Great Groomer’s, a good park (well my snowboarding friends loved it). And great tree/back country skiing.

And Aspen is pretty cool too, for the same reasons as Copper. But a bit bigger and more expensive!

Thanks heaps for sharing ozgirl, what is chucky’s job?

I currently live at home and pay board too (well kinda, i travel for work ALOT and probably spend less than a week a month at home) and im thankfully on abit more coin than $250 a week, im in my second year atm and im trying to get atleast 1 big trip in per year until i finish (this year perisher 26/07/12-12/08/12, aswell as some weekends before and after :D) and then when i finish head overseas and start doing seasons following the snow (anyone here done this, advice??).

My apprentership finishes mid jan 2014, should i start the world tour around march? (if so where should i start?) or should i leave it until abit further thru the year and start in the northern hemi?

Australia-
Perisher
Thredbo,
Falls Creek
Charlotte Pass
Selwyn

NZ-
Coronet
Remarks
Mt Shutt

Canada-
Whistler

Austria-
Something glacier?? I really can’t remember. I was 14.
Edit: it was Stubai Glacier

DylanV - 20 May 2012 05:38 AM

Thanks heaps for sharing ozgirl, what is chucky’s job?

I currently live at home and pay board too (well kinda, i travel for work ALOT and probably spend less than a week a month at home) and im thankfully on abit more coin than $250 a week, im in my second year atm and im trying to get atleast 1 big trip in per year until i finish (this year perisher 26/07/12-12/08/12, aswell as some weekends before and after :D) and then when i finish head overseas and start doing seasons following the snow (anyone here done this, advice??).

My apprentership finishes mid jan 2014, should i start the world tour around march? (if so where should i start?) or should i leave it until abit further thru the year and start in the northern hemi?

Dylan - can I ask what you do?

IMO I would try, if you want to work in the snow back to back winters in resorts, then I would try and get a job in and Aus resort for the season after your apprenticeship ends.

But there is nothing wrong with getting a little more experience post apprenticeship and working the rest of the year out until the Nth Hem winter.

My snow journeys have taken me to a few places, not as many as others though.

Australia-
Falls
hotham
baw baw
buller
lake mountain
Threadbo

NZ
Cardrona
Snowpark
Remarks
Treble cone with a free trip ending wrist break

JAPAN
Asari
Kiroro loved love LOVED this place
Niseko
Rusutsu
and heaps of side of road back country stuff

ozgirl - 20 May 2012 07:08 AM

Dylan - can I ask what you do?

IMO I would try, if you want to work in the snow back to back winters in resorts, then I would try and get a job in and Aus resort for the season after your apprenticeship ends.

But there is nothing wrong with getting a little more experience post apprenticeship and working the rest of the year out until the Nth Hem winter.

yea im doing refrigeration and air-conditioning, i work on alot of new/refurb woolies, coles, big w, dan murphies, ect. stuff

i might even end up just heading straight for the northern hemi and getting some spring boarding in at whistler then travel around for summer before i decide where i want to set up for the season, ive got a mate whos just moved over there and is renting at whistler now, he’s having an absolute ball

So what sort of work would you be looking for? Are you thinking of dropping your trade when you finish?

ozgirl - 20 May 2012 11:13 AM

So what sort of work woudl you be looking for? Are you thinking of dropping your trade when you finish?

thats my next question, what on/near mountain jobs have yous worked and whats the pay like on each (is there a website or forum that will give me a good guide)?

once youve got a trade you dont “drop” it, it will always be there for me to go back to

Hmmmm not sure about that - If you work as a lifty for 5 yrs back to back winters, trying to work as a refrigeration dude (sorry not your of your really job title LOL) after that you may struggle.

I certainly had a lot of issues when I tried to return to permanent work. A lot of people thought i wouldn’t stick around and so didn’t want to give me a job. I did a lot of contract work over the years.

Not saying it can’t be done though just making sure you have thought it through.

Friends of mine did 3 seasons in Austria and then worked for 8 mths a year in London and saved so they didn’t have to work in winter.

I am a Chef and I dropped - and would certainly struggle to go back to a kitchen - if they gave me a chance (with no retraining) I would certainly go back to the bottom of the ladder - yes not an apprentice but a first year out.

Can’t even go on Masterchef to get back in! As I am technically a professional (i have a piece of paper that says I can cook)

You would easily walk into a lifty job, good hours (so good pay) ski breaks etc. But working in maintenance should be pretty easy for you too considering your trade. But if something goes wrong on a powder day you may not get a board!

Whilst Instructors get paid well it is hourly and if you are doing adult lesson you may be lucjy to get 6hrs. Contray to popular belief working in the kids area is good cause you usually get a full days pay!

working an evening job in some kind of lodge/hotel/bar/restaurant is the best option, in my opinion. I don’t care for partying but I do care for snowboarding. Securing an evening job means you can be riding as much as you want, whenever you want and you never, ever have to miss out.

I personally like jobs like cleaning, dishpigging etc as you can just turn up, listen to your music, do your work (usually fairly minimal responsibilities) and not have to talk to anyone much (if you don’t want to), think about snowboarding for most of the time and then go home, sleep, wake up and go snowboarding! Often you get your evening meal included/free/mega discount when you are working in those kinds of positions, as well.

I’m heading for my second season in sweden at the end of this year and that is the kind of position I will be scoping for. It worked well for me last time!

ozgirl - 20 May 2012 12:20 PM

Hmmmm not sure about that - If you work as a lifty for 5 yrs back to back winters, trying to work as a refrigeration dude (sorry not your of your really job title LOL) after that you may struggle.

Not saying it can’t be done though just making sure you have thought it through.

You would easily walk into a lifty job, good hours (so good pay) ski breaks etc. But working in maintenance should be pretty easy for you too considering your trade. But if something goes wrong on a powder day you may not get a board!

Yes i have thought of that, but with the trade im doing i dont realy have that concern.
i work with alot of guys that have done their time and then just gone off on different paths for years, and then come back into the industry with relative ease, plus they have told me that they never realy found it difficult to pick up decent paying technical work anywhere they went because the range of things we can work on and do is so broad.

i would probably look at doing something on the “technical” side of resort operations (or near mountain jobs) just to keep a decent cash flow going + better chance of not working weekends :D
^and not have to work as much^

cords - 20 May 2012 12:43 PM

working an evening job in some kind of lodge/hotel/bar/restaurant is the best option, in my opinion. I don’t care for partying but I do care for snowboarding. Securing an evening job means you can be riding as much as you want, whenever you want and you never, ever have to miss out.

I personally like jobs like cleaning, dishpigging etc as you can just turn up, listen to your music, do your work (usually fairly minimal responsibilities) and not have to talk to anyone much (if you don’t want to), think about snowboarding for most of the time and then go home, sleep, wake up and go snowboarding! Often you get your evening meal included/free/mega discount when you are working in those kinds of positions, as well.

I’m heading for my second season in sweden at the end of this year and that is the kind of position I will be scoping for. It worked well for me last time!

i can understand how that would work for some, but i like to party, not as much as i love to snowboard, but still. and ive worked in and around kitchens cleaning and dishing and serving for a fair while and i now hate working near kitchens haha

my uncle is a chef and has travelled the world, worked in all kinds of places, owned/owns restaurants and what not and honestly the best piece of advice he ever gave me, “dont become a chef or ill kill you” haha

GL at the end of the year in sweden cords!!!

haha yep fair enough - different priorities. For me I’m much happier to be working weekends when I’m doing a season because a) the slopes are always more crowded with tourists on the weekends and b) penalty rates!

When I did my first season, I came out of a permanent teaching job I’d had for 3 years and had never really worked in any menial jobs before…and I loved it! I cleaned toilets and vacuumed and mopped floors and washed dishes and I’m not kidding when I say the lack of responsibility felt like a holiday!! AND I was snowboarding every day. Never been happier, really!!
Pay wasn’t amazing but it didn’t matter because I spent virtually nothing cos I ate at work a lot. By the end of the season, I was way richer than I had ever been at home in oz. I didn’t go out drinking more than 2-3 times in the whole season but I rode nearly every day.

Good luck!

DylanV - 20 May 2012 12:49 PM

I would probably look at doing something on the “technical” side of resort operations (or near mountain jobs) just to keep a decent cash flow going + better chance of not working weekends :D
^and not have to work as much^

haha! things still break on the weekends!

Most resort jobs are a 6 day week!

Summers are for relaxing!