Sam Barstow: College Ski Bum

          Being a ski bum means changing your life for the powder. You have to be willing to dedicate your life to getting on the hill. If you want to be in college and be a ski bum, it is nearly impossible. Many people try, and end up dropping out so that they can ski more, or end up skiing less so that they can focus on school. Sam Barstow, 21 year old senior at Union College in New York, has struck a perfect balance. After years of practice, he has discovered ways to be a ski bum while also being a full-time student.

          Union College is a small college in Schenectady, New York, a small city just outside Albany. With the border of Vermont being about a 45 minute drive East, good skiing is completely accessible. Sam took these factors into account when deciding on a college. Since every student at Union is automatically part of the Ski Club, Sam started skiing once the snow hit the ground. All he had to do was sign up for a trip (two trips weekly), and pay $20 (if it's a Saturday trip, Thursday trips are free), which covers transportation and a lift ticket. The Ski Club travels to mountains all over; from the border of Canada, to further upstate New York, to free Thursday trips to Jiminy Peak, in Massachusetts.

          After a few years of being in the Ski Club, Sam became president. He gets to plan all of the trips and choose what mountains the club goes to. He also learned how to get more skiing into his schedule while still getting all of his work done. Since Union is on a trimester schedule, they only have to take three classes per term. Sam discovered that by rearranging his, already sparse schedule, he could have two days during the week completely open for skiing. Most winter terms, Sam would keep his Tuesdays and Thursdays clear. This makes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays very work-heavy, but he says that it is more than worth it. He also buys a season pass (with a college student discount) to Mount Snow; the closest, best skiing. He has a car at school, and countless friends who also have season passes, great skiing is always just a 45 minute drive away. With two weekdays opened up, two guaranteed weekly trips, and accessibility to Mount Snow at any point in time, Sam is as close to being a real ski bum as he can get while still being a full-time college student. Regardless, he does not consider himself an actual ski bum.

          The reason for this is because of his basis for comparison. Yes, he changes his schedule and lifestyle so that he can ski as much as possible, without falling behind in school, but he still feels like he is not a real ski bum. For two winter breaks from Union, Sam went to Alta in Utah to be a ski bum. This is where his basis for comparison came from. He knew some kids who finished college and had moved out to Utah to be ski bums, and went to join them for a month. One of Sam's friends told him that he could stay on their couch, work as a busboy in the lodge, get free food, and free skiing, but it would all be taken out of his paycheck. For $30/day, Sam was sleeping in the base lodge at Alta, working morning and night shifts as a busboy, skiing in between, and eating the, normally overpriced lodge food. Without that connection to the resort, he would have had to buy an $1,100 season pass, rent a house outside of the canyon that Alta is in, find a job in a surrounding town, and buy a car so that he could commute to the mountain everyday. Luckily, he had that connection to the resort, so for two winters (so far) he got to live the dream. When he looks at his skiing routine while at college and compares it to the kids he skis with in Alta, he feels nothing anything even resembling a ski bum.

          Last summer, Sam took the infamous trip to Mount Hood. He had gone to visit friends for a week or so before, but this time he was in for the long haul. He and a big group of friends rented a house together in Govy, the small town at the bottom of the mountain. Most of the people that he was living with had spent at least a summer at Hood, so they knew the deal. They had to pay a bit more, but they rented a decent house and ate decent food. According to Sam, most Govy first-timers rent a house in The Summit, a cheap housing development (a.k.a. "Slummit"), and living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In order to ski on the glacier at Mount Hood, day passes have to be bought to ride the public park. Sam and his friends would go to the base lodge at Hood anytime they wanted a day pass and work for it. They were never assigned hours; if you wanted to ski, you had to work. It didn't give them much of an income, but they were skiing for free.

          The secret to Sam's skiing success is his connections. His school helps him get discounts on season passes, his friends help him get lodging, food, and a job when he wants to really be a ski bum, and some resorts have been more than willing to give him free skiing in exchange for labor. Although he does not think so, Sam fits the description of a ski bum, and equally impressive, he fits the description of a successful student.