Brothers looking to make the move this season! (Vail, Telluride: health insurance, employment)

[ehonda]

My brother and I have decided that this is the year to do it. Late, we know, but we are both in the right positions to do it. We just got finished with this semester of school, and we will be able to graduate next fall.

The problem with me is that I am 25 (he is 21). I feel like I need to do it now or I never will do it. I've had a steady girlfriend for the past 5 years and I think now is the time to work a season in Colorado before I do something crazy like get married.

I know Colorado has a good 4 months of season left. The main reason we want to go out there is to ride and work.

What does everybody think the chances are of us finding jobs and housing? We were looking at Telluride, we've been there before, but jobs look slim there compared to Vail resort jobs.

We are living on a pretty tight budget as it is, but we would still like to work full time there and be able to snowboard a couple days a week. We don't mind sharing a place with someone else.

Is it too late in the season to be able to achieve all of this?

[fleurecarlate2013]

I know many young people who love mountain sports live in the mountains and work in the resorts. They get some kind of discount to use the slopes. Fot this season, they are probably already staffed, but please check online if there is need. This option would be the best for your move.

[Mike from back east]

Dude, use our search tool with this: Ski Bum

[Idunn]

Plan for it, and wait until next autumn.

If graduating next fall, taking what appears to be a hiatus from school that close to finishing doesn't seem the wisest course. There is a momentum in things which can be lost through inadvisable detours.

Moreover, this is hardly the ideal time to be securing employment in the mountains; as usual, positions filled and housing secured by those working here in late summer/early autumn. Something could always come up, people do leave for various reasons, and the determined might find something suitable—but certainly more of a challenge now. This also doesn't promise to be a much better ski season than last year, due the ongoing drought. There has thankfully been a little new snow of late, but without snowmaking there would be precious few ski areas with anything open.

You are correct that Telluride will have less options (and possibly higher housing costs) than in the larger resort areas such as Summit County or Vail.

Insofar as marriage, it can wait. There is every good reason to get in some personal time in the mountains before the onset of that; once married, practical considerations will quickly supersede and probably end the realization of such a dream. But why not approach this in a fashion most likely to succeed? The most feasible time to approach this is after graduation, in having taken the time to well lay the groundwork: in having done more research and with a better idea of where and how to secure employment in the mountains; and with a future spouse that understands as much, supporting it. If they do not, then you have a bigger problem (ongoing) than how many roommates might be necessary in Telluride.

The proposition that a semester of me-time in the mountains would be great is sound, as well that it should occur before the onset of family responsibilities—only the timing is somewhat off. Take a breath, reconsider, and do it right.

[ShellKing]

Telluride has current full-time seasonal jobs in housekeeping and retail sales. It's very easy to check their job listings. Those jobs come with health insurance and a ski pass. There is contact information to find out about housing.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by ehonda

My brother and I have decided that this is the year to do it. Late, we know, but we are both in the right positions to do it. We just got finished with this semester of school, and we will be able to graduate next fall.

The problem with me is that I am 25 (he is 21). I feel like I need to do it now or I never will do it. I've had a steady girlfriend for the past 5 years and I think now is the time to work a season in Colorado before I do something crazy like get married.

I know Colorado has a good 4 months of season left. The main reason we want to go out there is to ride and work.

What does everybody think the chances are of us finding jobs and housing? We were looking at Telluride, we've been there before, but jobs look slim there compared to Vail resort jobs.

We are living on a pretty tight budget as it is, but we would still like to work full time there and be able to snowboard a couple days a week. We don't mind sharing a place with someone else.

Is it too late in the season to be able to achieve all of this?

It's possible to do it, but you need to get it done now. There will be jobs, but all the best housing is gobbled up by now.

Pretty tight budgets and snowboarding several days a week doesn't work unless you are willing to put in the hours at night, which some people have done to make it happen.

[lurtsman]

I got married young and got to enjoy all the adventures with my spouse. If you don't want kids, don't have them. Being married doesn't force kids on anyone, and I prefer the company of my wife to a room mate.

That said, make sure you are finishing college in a reasonable way and make a budget for the potential move. It seems to me the housing costs are usually high enough that anyone wanting to work a low level job and live near it will pay out the nose or have several room mates to try to defray the cost to a reasonable level.