Your First Ski Season: What to Expect When You Take Your First Mountain Job
Welcome to your first winter season. You're about to have one of the best (and weirdest, and most intense) years of your life.
Maybe you're a brand-new ski instructor. Maybe you're running lifts, making snow, working rentals, or slinging coffee at the base. Either way, here's what we wish someone had told us before our first mountain job.
The friends part is easy
One of the coolest things about seasonal work: making friends isn't the hard part!
You're surrounded by people who chose the same weird, wonderful life you did. People who'd rather be on the mountain than in an office. People who get up at dawn for a powder day without complaining. Your coworkers, roommates, and ski buddies will often be the same people.
In most jobs, you see coworkers for eight hours and go home. In a mountain town, you work with them, ski with them, live with them, eat with them, and go out with them. That's a lot of time together, and it builds bonds fast.
The first few weeks will be overwhelming
Walking into your first staff meeting, you'll see the whole range: the 25-year veteran who has seen everything, the second-year folks who already seem like they run the place, and a whole crew of rookies looking as lost as you feel.
Here's the good news: you're part of a rookie class! Those other first-years are about to become your people. You'll go through training together, survive opening week together, and figure out the unwritten rules together.
By the time you've taught your hundredth toddler, worked your first powder day as a kids instructor, or gotten up before dawn to make snow or open lifts, the bonds you've formed will be intense. Doing hard, physical, early-morning work together does that.
A few things we've seen help in the first weeks:
Ask the veterans questions. Most of them love sharing what they know, and they remember being new.
Say yes to the early invites. The first après, the first crew dinner, the first ski day. That's when the rookie class forms.
Be patient with yourself. Nobody knows the lift names, the unwritten rules, or where to park on day one.
Housing: the hard part
If you already have employee housing, you're lucky. Enjoy it (and read what to expect living in seasonal employee housing).
If you don't, we won't sugarcoat it: finding housing in a mountain town can be a real struggle. What's worked for people we know:
Check Craigslist and local Facebook groups, and post your own "looking for a room" with your start date, budget, and a line about who you are.
Talk to people. In small mountain towns, the best housing moves by word of mouth. Tell your new coworkers, the coffee shop staff, and anyone who will listen.
Ask your employer about waitlists, overflow housing, or returners looking for roommates.
Watch out for scams. Don't send a deposit for a place you haven't seen or confirmed.
Money: it costs more up front than you think
Between gear, deposits, a pass, and a first paycheck that's often weeks away, the start of the season can drain your savings fast. Ask about pro deals, buy job-critical gear first, and know exactly when your first payday is. We break it down in the real cost of starting a ski season.
Don't skip the boring stuff
Health insurance: if you just moved, you may be able to get coverage where you live now. Open enrollment runs November 1 to January 15 in most states. See our open enrollment guide.
Mailing address: get a PO box (split it with roommates) or make sure your mail is forwarding. Your W-2 needs to find you in January.
Your car: winter tires, an ice scraper, and a blanket in the back.
Think about what you need
The intensity is one of the best parts of seasonal life. It can also be a lot. When you're working, living, skiing, and partying with the same people, it's easy to lose track of what you need.
A few questions worth asking yourself early:
What helps me recharge: alone time, sleep, a call home, a solo ski run?
How much partying do I actually want, and when do I want to skip it?
What will I protect when peak weeks get busy (sleep, food, my body, my savings)?
Who can I be honest with when it gets hard?
You don't need all the answers on day one. Just keep checking in. (We wrote about setting yourself up before peak weeks if you want a head start.)
Enjoy it!!
Your first season goes fast. And it will stick with you - you’ll never experience firsts quite like this.
So…Ski a lot. Say yes to the dawn patrol. Learn from the 25-year veteran. Lean on your rookie class. And remember that a lot of us started exactly where you are, and kept coming back.
When your season wraps and you're wondering what's next, the Shoulder Season Series is built for exactly that moment.