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.