I learned a lot about myself this year. Working at Nashoba taught me that there is a way to work in the ski industry and still be able to ski. After talking with people involved in the ski industry, I got turned away from getting throughly involved in the ski industry, because most people end up not skiing that much in the end. My internship, and Matt's job proved that you can have a job in the ski industry and still ski a lot. I also learned that I would make a great ski bum if I had a job working at a mountain. I had to get up very early on weekends in order to make it to Nashoba in time for the events, but I had no problem with it because I knew I would be skiing, and that was absolutely worth waking up early for. When I got there, I was ready to work. Regardless of how tired I may have been, I was willing to do the job at hand. It was all for the sake of skiing.
From working on my senior project, I learned that when working on a project independently, I need to stay on top of my work, and push myself. When there is no direct, strong driving force, pushing me to do the work that needs to be done, there is a good chance that I will ignore it. In the future, I need to physically break up my work into sections of time, and stick to my plan. It will take time and training, but with dedication, I think that I will be successful in completing independent projects more timely, and more efficiently. If I could change one thing about my entire senior project, I would have spread out my work more so that I would have been able to do more of it, and collect more data. Doing that would have allowed me to do more skiing in the end. The academic work I would have put into it would have paid off in more time on the slopes, and a less stress to complete my project on time.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Ski Vocabulary
This ski vocabulary guide is for anybody waiting in line, on a chairlift, in a gondola, on a trail, or in a lodge at a ski area, listening to people talking, and not understanding what in God's name they are talking about. There are a lot of terms that are not used commonly outside of the skiing world. Here is your translation guide:
Ski bum- n. Any person who arranges their lifestyle in order to maximize the amount of skiing they will be able to do.
To shred- v. To ski very well.
Gnarly- adj. Extremely impressive, or extremely disgusting.
Lifty- n. A person who operates the chairlifts and/or gondolas.
Powder- n. Deep, soft, dry snow. Very preferable skiing conditions.
Freestyle skiing- n. A variation of skiing, involving aerial maneuvers off of jumps and sliding on rails with your skis. Originated by people purely breaking the norm and skiing in their own, new, free style.
Groomers- n. Groomed trails on a ski mountain.
Terrain park- n. A trail on a mountain dedicated to jumps and rails. Freestyle terrain.
Glades- n. Sections of forest, cleared of underbrush, that are open to skiers.
Backcountry- n. Unmarked terrain, unserviced by resorts. Many times referring to the backside of a ski area.
Yardsale- v. To fall and have both skis and both poles come off.
Steez- adj. Good ski style.
Sponsorship- n. When a company provides an athlete or event with free products in exchange for publicity.
Ski bum- n. Any person who arranges their lifestyle in order to maximize the amount of skiing they will be able to do.
To shred- v. To ski very well.
Gnarly- adj. Extremely impressive, or extremely disgusting.
Lifty- n. A person who operates the chairlifts and/or gondolas.
Powder- n. Deep, soft, dry snow. Very preferable skiing conditions.
Freestyle skiing- n. A variation of skiing, involving aerial maneuvers off of jumps and sliding on rails with your skis. Originated by people purely breaking the norm and skiing in their own, new, free style.
Groomers- n. Groomed trails on a ski mountain.
Terrain park- n. A trail on a mountain dedicated to jumps and rails. Freestyle terrain.
Glades- n. Sections of forest, cleared of underbrush, that are open to skiers.
Backcountry- n. Unmarked terrain, unserviced by resorts. Many times referring to the backside of a ski area.
Yardsale- v. To fall and have both skis and both poles come off.
Steez- adj. Good ski style.
Sponsorship- n. When a company provides an athlete or event with free products in exchange for publicity.
Interview Reflections
Without a doubt, the most noticeable connection between all of the ski bums that I interviewed was having a job through the ski area. All of the ski bums that I interviewed had jobs at the ski area that they were ski bumming at, which provided them with advantages unattainable anywhere else. All of them got free skiing, the ones who worked in the food service industry got free food, and in one specific case, the job included a place in the lodge to sleep. John Marshall, the head custodian at my school, and former ski bum, says that being a ski bum these days is just as easy as it used to be if you get a job at a mountain. Since there are so many different job opportunities at resorts, getting a job would not be difficult. This connection with the resort will seriously decrease a ski bum's expenses.
One trait that was common in many interviews was a desire to avoid starting a career. For John and Deborah, being a ski bum was a way to avoid growing up immediately. It was a way for them to prolong their childhood, and avoid taking on large amounts of responsibility as an adult. Deborah did not feel prepared for college, so she took a year off before going to North Adams State College, and went to Killington for a winter. John had just graduated from Umass Amherst, and did not want to work on his father's farm during the winter, so he packed his bags and left for Colorado. He spent two winters at Vail instead of staying home in Massachusetts, trying to get a "real job."
For a fortunate few, being a ski bum is a way to launch yourself into the ski industry. You have to work harder than the average ski bum, but it absolutely pays off. Owen spent his winter travelling around with his senior project mentor, taking pictures for a snowboard magazine at professional snowboard competitions. Once his winter was over, he flew out to Oregon to take pictures for High Cascade Snowboard Camp on the summertime glacier at Mount Hood. He got to know professional snowboarders and photographers who are very involved in the snowboard industry, which will/is helping him get great jobs. Matt got hired as Nashoba's first-ever videographer and editor when they began to turn their focus towards their terrain park. He was and is on the forefront of something that is gaining a lot of attention (http://www.skitheeast.net/blog
One trait that was common in many interviews was a desire to avoid starting a career. For John and Deborah, being a ski bum was a way to avoid growing up immediately. It was a way for them to prolong their childhood, and avoid taking on large amounts of responsibility as an adult. Deborah did not feel prepared for college, so she took a year off before going to North Adams State College, and went to Killington for a winter. John had just graduated from Umass Amherst, and did not want to work on his father's farm during the winter, so he packed his bags and left for Colorado. He spent two winters at Vail instead of staying home in Massachusetts, trying to get a "real job."
For a fortunate few, being a ski bum is a way to launch yourself into the ski industry. You have to work harder than the average ski bum, but it absolutely pays off. Owen spent his winter travelling around with his senior project mentor, taking pictures for a snowboard magazine at professional snowboard competitions. Once his winter was over, he flew out to Oregon to take pictures for High Cascade Snowboard Camp on the summertime glacier at Mount Hood. He got to know professional snowboarders and photographers who are very involved in the snowboard industry, which will/is helping him get great jobs. Matt got hired as Nashoba's first-ever videographer and editor when they began to turn their focus towards their terrain park. He was and is on the forefront of something that is gaining a lot of attention (http://www.skitheeast.net/blog
Aside from having a job at the ski area that you are trying to be a ski bum at, the only trait that all of my interviews had in common was a love for the sport. None of these people would change their life in such dramatic ways if they did not have a serious love for skiing or snowboarding. It brings each of them a feeling that cannot be attained any other way, and they will go to the absolute extreme to attain it as much as possible.
10 Years
10 years from now, I will be 28 years old. I hope to be out of college, and not starting a career. I hope to be a ski bum in Breckenridge, Colorado. Breckenridge is a small, super relaxed town in Summit County, which has multiple large resorts in it. Breckenridge does not have its own season pass, it uses The Epic Pass, a season pass that works at multiple mountains around Colorado (and Heavenly in California). Because it is valid at multiple, extremely large resorts, The Epic Pass is $630. There is something called a The Summit Pass, which only allows you access to the resorts in Summit County, but it is significantly cheaper, priced at $390. Housing is expensive, due to the easy access to multiple large resorts, but I would be living with multiple people who all contribute towards rent.
Ideally, I would be cooking food at a restaurant in the lodge, or a restaurant affiliated with Breckenridge Resort. This would get me a free Epic Pass or a free Summit Pass. Regardless, I would be saving either $390 or $630, both would be extremely helpful, considering the fact that I would be working a low paying job and spending most of my paycheck on rent. Another advantage of working in a restaurant in the lodge is that whenever I'm skiing and hunger strikes, I can just walk into the lodge restaurant and get myself some food for free. I considered working as a bartender at an unaffiliated bar, since I would make more money doing that than cooking at a restaurant, but the free food and free season pass most likely will make up the difference.
Ideally, I would be cooking food at a restaurant in the lodge, or a restaurant affiliated with Breckenridge Resort. This would get me a free Epic Pass or a free Summit Pass. Regardless, I would be saving either $390 or $630, both would be extremely helpful, considering the fact that I would be working a low paying job and spending most of my paycheck on rent. Another advantage of working in a restaurant in the lodge is that whenever I'm skiing and hunger strikes, I can just walk into the lodge restaurant and get myself some food for free. I considered working as a bartender at an unaffiliated bar, since I would make more money doing that than cooking at a restaurant, but the free food and free season pass most likely will make up the difference.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Nashoba Reflection
The best way that I integrated some aspect of ski bumming into my life this year was by getting an internship at Nashoba Valley Ski Area. I went and took pictures at their competitions, and I got to ski for free. One thing that was really amazing about my position there was that my job required me to go skiing every time I worked. I had to be on the hill, skiing around, trying to get good pictures, and every once in a while, trying to make a good video. Like Matt Ciampa, I had a job where skiing was a necessity in order to perform well. Aside from ski patrol, park staff, and instructors, Matt and I had the only two jobs on the mountain in which we were forced to go skiing, showing how rare those types of jobs are. We got to do exactly what we want to be doing while we are working, and having a great time.
Another thing I learned while working at Nashoba is the basics of how a small ski area operates. There are so many small details that go into keeping a ski area running that I never had thought of before. Most of the time, I was focused on the website and my photos, but every once in a while, I would find myself doing random chores around the ski area, such as restocking the vending machines with my boss (the web designer for Nashoba. Why it is his job to restock the vending machines, I will never know.). Even a tiny ski area, such as Nashoba, needs hundreds, if not thousands, of employees to be working every winter to keep the business afloat.
The most noticable thing that I noticed about the ski industry from working at Nashoba is the obvious laid back attitude of everybody skiing and working there. It was really nice being able to go to work wearing whatever I wanted to, and being able to joke around with the people I worked with (or for). Most of the time, one would assume that the laid back atmosphere would be left to the large resorts, who are trying to make their customers feel relaxed and stay longer, but even small ski areas, such as Nashoba, have a similar vibe.
My Daily Snow Report---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STrBFqaqudE&feature=channel_video_title
My Pictures---> http://nashobaparks.com/
Another thing I learned while working at Nashoba is the basics of how a small ski area operates. There are so many small details that go into keeping a ski area running that I never had thought of before. Most of the time, I was focused on the website and my photos, but every once in a while, I would find myself doing random chores around the ski area, such as restocking the vending machines with my boss (the web designer for Nashoba. Why it is his job to restock the vending machines, I will never know.). Even a tiny ski area, such as Nashoba, needs hundreds, if not thousands, of employees to be working every winter to keep the business afloat.
The most noticable thing that I noticed about the ski industry from working at Nashoba is the obvious laid back attitude of everybody skiing and working there. It was really nice being able to go to work wearing whatever I wanted to, and being able to joke around with the people I worked with (or for). Most of the time, one would assume that the laid back atmosphere would be left to the large resorts, who are trying to make their customers feel relaxed and stay longer, but even small ski areas, such as Nashoba, have a similar vibe.
My Daily Snow Report---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STrBFqaqudE&feature=channel_video_title
My Pictures---> http://nashobaparks.com/
Famous Ski Bums
Many professional skiers are just ski bums who are better at skiing than most people. Skiing, especially freestyle skiing, is not something that people get into for the money; there is almost none. Since freestyle skiing is still an emerging sport, there are not as many massive sponsors willing to throw millions of dollars at athletes. There are a few professional freestyle skiers who make a living off of their talent, but very, very few. If freestyle skiers want to be good enough to be professional, they have to be skiing everyday. This means that they, essentially, have to be ski bums. Most of them are young, white men who love skiing.
One major difference between a regular ski bum and a professional skier is sponsorships. Ski bums have to pay for everything and work extremely hard to be able to make ends meet. They must get a job with the mountain, or else they have to pay the full price of a season pass. Professional skiers get their skiing paid for at any mountain they go to, as well as their travel expenses. All they really have to pay for is lodging and food. Regardless, most of these professional skiers, with their fancy sponsorships, live ski bum lifestyles. They live in cramped conditions with many people, in order to afford a house in good proximity to the mountain, just like most other ski bums.
My favorite famous ski bums are Ian Cosco and The Line Travelling Circus. Both of them are well-known professional skiers, with full sponsorships and all, but live ski bum lifestyles. Ian Cosco is a Canadian skier, who has a video blog called "Chug Life." It is a window into the real lives of professional skiers. The best thing about the video blog is that it shows that professional skiers act and live the same way as most ski bums. They are just looking to have fun and go skiing as much as they can. The Line Travelling Circus is a group of young professional skiers (mostly from the East coast), all sponsored by Line Skis, who jump in a sponsored van and travel all around the United States skiing, with a lot of other random footage from the road. They fit the description of "bums" better than most ski bums do. These are the kinds of guys who sleep in their car for weeks and don't shower for days. Like Ian Cosco, the Line Travelling Circus has a video blog as well, where they videotape all of their adventures. Their blog is more focused on skiing than Chug Life, but it still provides a great opportunity to see how professional skiers live; not much differently than the average ski bum.
Chug Life: http://newschoolers.com/ns/content/tvchannel/id/4826/t/chugLIFE/
Line Travelling Circus: http://newschoolers.com/ns/content/tvchannel/id/3924/t/Traveling+Circus/
One major difference between a regular ski bum and a professional skier is sponsorships. Ski bums have to pay for everything and work extremely hard to be able to make ends meet. They must get a job with the mountain, or else they have to pay the full price of a season pass. Professional skiers get their skiing paid for at any mountain they go to, as well as their travel expenses. All they really have to pay for is lodging and food. Regardless, most of these professional skiers, with their fancy sponsorships, live ski bum lifestyles. They live in cramped conditions with many people, in order to afford a house in good proximity to the mountain, just like most other ski bums.
My favorite famous ski bums are Ian Cosco and The Line Travelling Circus. Both of them are well-known professional skiers, with full sponsorships and all, but live ski bum lifestyles. Ian Cosco is a Canadian skier, who has a video blog called "Chug Life." It is a window into the real lives of professional skiers. The best thing about the video blog is that it shows that professional skiers act and live the same way as most ski bums. They are just looking to have fun and go skiing as much as they can. The Line Travelling Circus is a group of young professional skiers (mostly from the East coast), all sponsored by Line Skis, who jump in a sponsored van and travel all around the United States skiing, with a lot of other random footage from the road. They fit the description of "bums" better than most ski bums do. These are the kinds of guys who sleep in their car for weeks and don't shower for days. Like Ian Cosco, the Line Travelling Circus has a video blog as well, where they videotape all of their adventures. Their blog is more focused on skiing than Chug Life, but it still provides a great opportunity to see how professional skiers live; not much differently than the average ski bum.
Chug Life: http://newschoolers.com/ns/content/tvchannel/id/4826/t/chugLIFE/
Line Travelling Circus: http://newschoolers.com/ns/content/tvchannel/id/3924/t/Traveling+Circus/
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Matt Ciampa: Ski Industry Ski Bum
Matt's skiing career started three years ago. He is an average 19 year old, living in Alston, Massachusetts. Straight out of high school, he has a year-round, full-time job at Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Westford, Massachusetts (a 45 minute commute) as a videographer/editor. Unlike most ski bums, he did not learn to ski as a young child. He first started skiing in his junior year of high school. He rode through the park, hitting jumps and rails as soon as he was learning how to turn. At the end of Matt's first season, Nashoba was looking to improve their terrain park and increase publicity. They hired a new staff, made a bunch of new rails, started filming daily snow reports, creating multiple websites, and posting videos online. Matt was hired as the mountain's videographer and video editor.
As videographer and video editor, Matt spent the next two years skiing around the mountain getting footage for Daily Snow Reports, filming freestyle competitions and events, and editing together all of the footage. Once the footage is edited, it is uploaded onto the websites so that people can watch, and hopefully, be encouraged to come ski at Nashoba. The job gets him a free season pass, and actually requires him to go skiing most of the day to get footage so that he can make videos. His job is the perfect ski bum job. It allows him to ski for free. He gets to ski every single day of the season. His job actually requires him to ski for a good part of every day. He is getting paid every minute that he is at Nashoba.
Matt's motto is "ski free or die." He says that the best part of his job is that he gets to ski all day and he doesn't have to pay for any of it. Most ski bums are young adults, and most young adults don't have a lot of money. Skiing costs a lot of money. You can get a discounted pass for unlimited skiing if you are going to a college and can get a college pass, but what about the people who don't go to college? If they don't have a job at the mountain, they have to buy passes or just jump on the chairlift. Matt knows that both of these options are completely realistic options; skiers do both all the time. He loves to ski, he doesn't want to pay for it, and he doesn't want to cheat the mountain out of business; especially a little ski area like Nashoba.
Getting involved in the ski industry is risky business for ski bums. There is a really good chance that you will get sucked in and end up doing no skiing at all, but Matt has found a loophole. Not only does he get a free pass, he gets to ski while he works, gets paid the entire time, and he gets to be part of a small ski area's initial plan for consumer growth. Nashoba is beginning to get noticed by sponsors, investors and consumers alike. Last year, a tiki bar was opened across the parking lot from the lodge for the summer. This year, a summer camp is opening up during the day. More and more people will start coming through Nashoba, and fresh out of high school, Matt will be there, fliming it all, editing it together into a video, and spreading it to the public.
Matt's motto is "ski free or die." He says that the best part of his job is that he gets to ski all day and he doesn't have to pay for any of it. Most ski bums are young adults, and most young adults don't have a lot of money. Skiing costs a lot of money. You can get a discounted pass for unlimited skiing if you are going to a college and can get a college pass, but what about the people who don't go to college? If they don't have a job at the mountain, they have to buy passes or just jump on the chairlift. Matt knows that both of these options are completely realistic options; skiers do both all the time. He loves to ski, he doesn't want to pay for it, and he doesn't want to cheat the mountain out of business; especially a little ski area like Nashoba.
Getting involved in the ski industry is risky business for ski bums. There is a really good chance that you will get sucked in and end up doing no skiing at all, but Matt has found a loophole. Not only does he get a free pass, he gets to ski while he works, gets paid the entire time, and he gets to be part of a small ski area's initial plan for consumer growth. Nashoba is beginning to get noticed by sponsors, investors and consumers alike. Last year, a tiki bar was opened across the parking lot from the lodge for the summer. This year, a summer camp is opening up during the day. More and more people will start coming through Nashoba, and fresh out of high school, Matt will be there, fliming it all, editing it together into a video, and spreading it to the public.
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