Wednesday, September 01, 2010 1

32. Ski-Bum for a winter

On our 2010 Life List: ski-bum for a winter.

By:
Telluride

Telluride    Photographer: Don Beresini

To find out how, we went to the source, 20-year-veteran ski bum George Kuckly, of Telluride, Colorado, who said: "The big misperception is that working as a liftie is the ultimate ski-bum job. It's not. That just guarantees that you'll be working on every single powder day. What you want is a night job. I worked as a dishwasher for my first eight years. Bartending, waiting tables—that's another unrealistic situation. Those jobs are locked down by the locals. I drove the transportation bus at night. And don't think you're going to find a nice room for $300 a month. Try $1,000. I live in a three-bedroom, the last ski-bum house in town. It's basically nice winter camping. If you're fortunate, you can ski-bum in a lot of luxury. But at the end of the day, whether you have six zeroes at the end of your bank account or two, we're all on the mountain to get after the same thing. In Telluride, that makes us one big happy family."

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Comments

1
CB

Being a liftie can indeed be the ultimate ski bum job. Location! Location! Location! The Yellowstone Club located in South West Montana offers one of the best gigs around. Lifties are allowed a 2 hour break per day ( 1-1/2 hours paid). During this break, you have access to a millionaire's playground. The wealthy only frequent the slopes during holidays. This means acres of untracked terrain.They'll cut you a check for $600 bucks to put toward a ski pass = 3 days/week at Big Sky on your time off

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