Most people go skiing a couple of times a year. On Friday night after work, your parents pack the car with the luggage, the food, and the skis, meet up with the other family that is going and get on the road headed to your favorite ski resort town. Just over the line in NH you stop at the state run liquor store so Mom and Dad can pick up the libations for the weekend and get back on the road. Late that night you pull into the condo or rental house, unpack all the gear, the adults have a cocktail and the kids head to bed to dream of the great day you are going to have tomorrow. Everybody wakes up in the morning, long before the alarm, excited for the day ahead. After a quick breakfast and one more equipment check to make sure everything is in order everyone gathers around to make the plan for the day. You would think you were in the war room planning a covert operation! Now that all the logistics have been worked out and the trail maps are put away you are finally headed to the mountain, after all, the lifts open in an hour and you NEED to be on first chair. After a quick pit stop at the ski shop, because somebody undoubtedly forgot something, you are finally on the chairlift excitedly looking over the trail map, that you have been studying for 2 weeks prior planning out your runs. Now it's 4 o'clock and you've skied from first chair to last chair, stopping only for a sandwich that mom made and to check in with the adults. You feel like the most independent kid in the world!!!
With the ski day over, everyone heads back to have spaghetti and meatballs...or steaks cooked in the fireplace because the grill ran out of propane. The adults get into the cocktails and the kids play games and everybody reminisces about the day. Exhausted, sleep comes easy for everyone. The next morning the car gets packed up and you are headed back to the flatland, you can't wait to tell all your friends about the amazing ski weekend you had! It's these times that I will cherish forever and can't thank my parents enough for making them possible. Unknowingly, or possibly knowingly, they were planting a seed that would continue to grow forever.
Fast forward through high school and the college/work/college/work/college years.....I was able to get some days in with bus trips and the occasional weekend with friends. It wasn't the same as the family ski trips of my youth, but it was enough to keep the seed growing....
As I began to make my own way in this world I realized that I wanted, scratch that, I needed, to make skiing an integral part of my life. As it turns out, I made life part of my skiing. Somewhat by happenstance, I chose a career that allowed me to do so....boats. For the last 6 or 7 years I have been laid off in the winter allowing me to spend my winter skiing 60, 70, 80+ days a season. While that isn't nearly as many days as some of the local bums, it is still respectable for a flatlander like myself. This lifestyle isn't for everyone and requires some sacrifice to pull it off. First off, financial security pretty much goes out the window when you don't work for three months of the year. There have been times where I should have gone home but had to wait for an unemployment check to clear before I had the money for the gas to get home. When everyone in your ski house is going out to dinner or out to the bar for the night, you are staying home to watch TV. It works out most of the time though because you're not too hungover to ski in the morning. You learn to live on free wings at happy hour and half price burritos. It's not healthy, but we're talking about sacrifices and they taste good. Secondly, trying to maintain a lasting relationship with the fairer sex is not easy. Apparently you can't disappear for 3 weeks, come home to pay the rent and head back for another 3 weeks. A lot of women are understanding but not when you cancel date night because there is a storm coming and you have to get there before it does. The point is, skiing becomes your life and your top priority. There are a ton of perks that come with this lifestyle too. You meet the locals and get in on the local beta; where to go first on a powder day, where to find freshies three days later, how to get in to the Pickle Barrel without paying the $20 cover, and which bar has the best happy hour specials, just to name a few. You volunteer for the mountain to get your pass, and you hang around the local shop until they put you on the "Pro Team" to get your gear. A ski bum isn't what you wanted to be, it's just who you've become.
This year I took a new job. I am getting older, the lifestyle, it is a lifestyle, is getting less appealing and I have my future to think about. It doesn't allow me the freedom to be a total ski bum, I might only get to ski 40 or 50 days this year, but it is still in the boating industry and there is always down time in the winter. I am typing this in front of the fire at the ski house in Killington. I may have to cut my day short to send emails and make phone calls or head home for a meeting right before a powder day. I may be able to go out for dinner or go out to the bar once in a while now. I might even be able to afford my own gear or my own season pass, but I will always be a ski bum. It is who I've become and will always be a part of who I am.......
