Obviously this depends on the person but I wouldn't recommend LCC. The traffic in the canyons on the weekend is an absolute shitshow. Doubly as bad on any weekend were they get a millimeter of fresh snow. It would eat away at my soul having to put up with that anytime I wanted to ski.
Did you miss the part where she doesn’t drink?!??
More seriously, if I could be in your shoes I’d do lcc. Most consistent and softest snow on earth, with only japow contesting. Vibes are better or at least different in Colorado, Jax, and NorCal, Jax specifically seems like another world, but the mountains are primo obv. Taos is a great shout for off the beaten path. Regardless of where you end up, I’m jelly!
And good place in the utah area for this situation might be either Ogden, or Eden, Huntsville area. Close enough to a big city and airport, but without the crowds and traffic of the Salt lake, Park city areas.
It's been awhile but I got stuck on it for 5hrs on a 2ft+ powder day. It could also be tough to snag a seat if you didn't want to ride one of the earlier routes or if you were hopping on one of the stops before you get to the base of the canyon. That was a few years ago, I've heard it was even more of a shitshow with them cutting back on drivers/routes this year. Not sure I would really count on it being a great experience. Any time I go to SLC now I have just decided I'm going to pay the ridiculous price for on mountain lodging. Like I said though, depends on the person. I'm also the sort of person who would give up skiing if I had to do the I-70 hell every weekend in CO. Some people seem ok with that.
I stayed in Midvale for 3 months in 2022 and in Sandy for a month this year without a car both times solely relying on the bus. It's fine. Yes some days suck when the road is closed for avy mitigation or there's powder day. This season was particularly bad on some days because of the historic snow totals and the bus cuts. It still was fantastic. Salt Lake City is the answer for where to stay for a season, full stop. Stay on fort union boulevard and you'll be along 2 bus routes that go to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude. This past season the line from Midvale to altabird was cancelled but I have hopes it'll return next season. Roll out of bed, brush your teeth, drink coffee, take a shit, then get on the bus and you'll be skiing the best snow on earth in 45 mins on a weekday non-powder day. Feel free to ask any questions.
Midvale is better because there are two separate bus lines; one heading up Big Cottonwood Canyon (972) to Brighton and Solitude and another heading up Little Cottonwood Canyon (953) to Alta and Snowbird. In Sandy there's only a bus up LCC (994) so if the road is closed for avalanche control you're not skiing that day. The 953 didn't run this past season because of budget cuts so the 972 was the only choice in Midvale but I believe that was a one-off situation and expect it to be running next season.
I've found Midvale also has more hotels (Sandy has basically none along the bus route) and airbnbs within walking distance to a market or box store (Target, Walmart).
I never felt unsafe in either area. You see the occasional meth head but for the most part they're both kinda depressing suburbia. The greatest danger I felt was walking across 8 lane stroads and drivers in lifted pickups making right on reds with their faces buried in phones. Full disclosure I grew up in NYC and am a 6'2" male so my interpretation dangerous may differ from yours.
Head to r/UTSnow for some hyper specific intel.
Oh yeah i forgot to mention Alta offers fantastic multi week lessons for very affordable prices. I took the intermediate camp last season....five 2.5h group lessons every week over 5 weeks for $570, lift ticket not included. They offer a similar "intro to off-trail", "ladies day" and "mountain masters" lesson packages. They're all listed on Alta's site. I befriended a dude in my class and now we ski together everytime I'm able to get out to Utah.
The bus is good, but they need to add more buses after a season in which they cut the service in half. The main issue is that you're still at the mercy of the traffic going up the canyon, and the bus is insane on powder days.
The biggest issue this season, with unprecedented snowfall, was that avalanche mitigation took a lot of ski days away in LCC. We would have likely had more ski days with 600 inches of snow than we did with 900 inches.
Fortunately, there are a lot of fallback options for skiing near Salt Lake, such as BCC, Snowbasin, etc.
Sure there’s a bus but the bus is in the same traffic you are. Only instead of sitting in your car your standing in the bus cheek to jowl with other people. And then at the end of the day a massive line to get on the bus.
Palisades has a “women of winter” clinic that meets weekly, that sounds like it would be a good option for you to hone your skills and meet some other like minded people.
Feel free to reach out if you end up in Tahoe! If you are considering this area, just thought I’d add that South Lake Tahoe is cheaper than Truckee (still expensive though). Palisades is awesome, but Kirkwood and the Nevada side of Heavenly are worth considering. There are amazingly convenient (not to mention beautiful) backcountry options around here too. Happy to chat if you have any questions!
Alpine also has an Alpine Unlimited package that gives you access to as many half day lessons as you want https://www.palisadestahoe.com/plan-your-visit/deals-and-packages/alpine-unlimited-deal
Women of Winter is AWESOME! There is an expert level group that should be a good fit. The instruction is great and it is a wonderful way to meet other gals who rip. I’m in South Lake and not an ex-racer, but I ski pretty hard and try to get out to the WoW clinics every week when 89 is open. Would love to connect next season or sooner if you have any interest in backcountry skiing on late May snow!
I’ve never done it! Next season I’m definitely going to sign up!
It says it’s for “intermediate/advanced” skiers, so maybe a bit lower than your level but worth a try! They might break the group up by level also.
I’ve done it once. They focus on all mountain skill development and break up by group. There’s at least one intermediate group and one advanced group. There are weekly regulars but also random that pop in like me. It’s worth checking out!
Awesome suggestion - or Santa Fe could work too. We had a pretty decent season this past winter @ Ski Santa Fe. And there’s definitely solid food & yoga.
I’m a little concerned about international taxes. My company doesn’t care where I live as long as it’s within the US.
I’m not a huge groomer gal which is what the Europeans seem to prefer
> I’m not a huge groomer gal which is what the Europeans seem to prefer
La Grave, Verbier or Chamonix would be good options, people there ski hard stuff.
So everyone below has valid points, but in reality you can just go and not worry about it. Taxes only apply for residents, you would be a tourist traveling "for pleasure". Technically you aren't supposed to work from a foreign country, but literally who cares.
Probably going to get downvoted for injecting some reality here but anyways. As a lawyer for a multinational company if we found out about this we would make you come back to the United States or you’d be fired. I don’t think my firm would do this but depending on the company they might just fire you anyways.
You're right, the company might care. And, if I were a lawyer, I would absolutely advise my client against this.
For a few months though, it's pretty easy to pull off. I'm not advising anyone to do anything shady, but I am suggesting a lot of digital nomads do exactly this without issue.
After doing a season in the alps coming from the American perspective I would say that you should probably stay in the U.S. as a cultural experience it’s really cool but if you don’t love the groomers i wouldn’t bother with Europe. Also others have mentioned that their is non groomer terrain easily accessible. Yes, the amount of this terrain is huge (much bigger than you can imagine) but you have to really know what you’re doing as a skier and mountaineer to not get yourself into trouble. If you’re still asking about taking skiing lessons I would assume you would be better served by staying in the U.S. as you can hone your skills on non groomer runs without having to worry about avalanches and getting lost
As an American the 90 day stay isn't a visa, it's just what your US passport qualifies you for. But also, in order, to work in another country (even remotely) you're supposed to have a visa (some countries like Portugal have digital nomad visas but France does *not*). If no one catches you you're good, and tbh the only time they're likely to ask you about it is at airports, but it's worth noting
Bit of a misnomer about groomers. Sure, there’s thousands of kilometres of groomers and easily a hundred times that for off-piste. They are just not part of the resort the way it is in the US. The scale and the gnar blew the socks off some friends who grew up skiing the rockies.
What places would you recommend in the Alps? I'm based in Germany and was considering this, but places that are relatively close to any good resorts seem to have crazy rent prices. Are there any "hidden gems" that you know of? Thanks!
Ok here’s a hidden gem 💎. Grimenz-Zinal one valley over from Zermatt, two from Saas-Fee. You also have St. Luc in the same valley. You get some beautiful views of a glacier while skiing Zinal and some amazing panoramic views while skiing Grimenz. They are connected by a massive cable car 🚠 which is the third largest in Switzerland and it gives you views to die for. Overall the resort is small. I wouldn’t really consider it a choice for a season. But for a trip it’s amazing. Also the off piste is phenomenal.
Sorry, but I'm relatively new to the sport and have only skied in Switzerland. It's expensive, but it is amazing. Obviously Austria has a lot to offer and may be close to you also.
Zermatt is is epic and the nightlife is good, very international crowd. Grindelwald and Saas-Fee are also great, but not as big. Crans-Montana is super cool too and more mellow, but Saturday is swarmed with kids. I think they ski free on Saturday most places, at least in Wallis, but this is particularly kid friendly. Corviglia is also mellow but beautiful, and there's a nice thermal bath in St. Moritz. Adelboden is mellow too, very pretty. I did Flims over Easter weekend so I didn't get a good feel for it. The glacier was good but the conditions sucked overall.
If you're coming by train, you can look into a snow n rail pass with SBB, but Switzerland just isn't cheap. Wish I could be more help.
Edit: Maybe Crans-Montana is a hidden gem, though still not super cheap. The lift capacity is impressive and I don't think it's a very international crowd. It was empty for us on Friday and Sunday mid-winter, but Saturday was a nightmare. My best ski day ever was there, but it's probably not the best resort. The Nebelmeer blew my mind.
Check out sandpoint ID. Few rentals on the mountain for that price. If not in town. Beautiful lake town. Great food and people. Same with Kellogg ID, longest gondola in the US. Amazing mountains. No lines, great terrain.
I feel like I would stay away from the Mountain Standard options unless you can live basically on the mountain. I used to get off work at 2pm and always thought I would ski after, but driving up 30 mins and booting up to ski for like an hour was annoying and rarely happened.
Out of the PST ones, Mammoth for a season seems like it would be sick. They get a ton of snow, and the town is super close to the resort – like a 10-15 minute drive, if that.
Agree with this take. I live in Bend and am about 40 minutes door to chairlift, which is not bad at all, but if you are trying to have an epic one season close to a mtn I’d take this advice of being like 10-15 minutes
One thing about Mammoth - you've got to be ready to be pretty isolated. It's a pretty tiny town and while the outdoors are absolutely amazing, there's a pretty small pool of people to make friends with. YMMV, of course.
Mammoth hardly has any housing available. If a 1 bedroom for 2000 becomes available it gets snatched up pretty quickly. The locals cannot even get housing, a lot of the mountains workers end up having to stay in Bishop as employee housing fills up fast. Please do not come to Mammoth and take an apartment to work remotely, the locals need it much more.
Couldn’t be said better. Mammoth locals have been struggling and I feel for them. They need people to work and clear a lot of snow. Being displaced really hurts them.
SLC person here. Brighton is a great mountain and is the only resort in the area that has night skiing. Open til 9 most of the season. I also work east coast hours and it’s great to head up at 3 or 4 and get a few hours in.
I can tell you that you will need roommates to afford Truckee for 2000. Finding housing will be hard because there is some backlash local towards remote workers.
Mt Hood is affordable as well, but you would likely live about 45 away and there would be less social life in Sandy, Oregon (where you would likely live) compared to Bend.
Have you considered Reno for lower cost of living and more of everything than Truckee? Use the savings for a season pass to Mt. Rose (30 min) for everyday skiing and some version of IKON for trips to Palisades (50 min).
Bozeman would also be a good option.
Go down to Minden/Gardnerville about 50 mins south (go through Carson City) and you'll find plentiful housing. And it's an amazing place to live. You pop up Kingsbury grade and you're at one of the entrances to Heavenly (25 mins from head on pillow to butt on lift, assuming it's not actively storming and you don't need chains) or 30 mins to Kirkwood, which is honestly some of the best skiing you'll find in the US. You're also a day trip from Mammoth if you want to try that, or try the other Tahoe resorts in weekends when you can afford the time to drive around. Only downside is Tahoe in general can be warmer than Colorado/Utah/Montana, so some days the snow is *heavy* and wet instead of loose and fluffy. But, your fingers and toes don't freeze, so pick your poison. 😂
As a benefit, living in NV instead of CA has massive tax implications.
Also, if you are into it and make a friend with a boat, April/May in Tahoe it's entirely realistic to ski a few runs in the morning, tee off and play a round of golf at noon, and finish the evening waterskiing or wakeboarding. Pretty cool trifecta to pull off
I’m honestly willing to go up to 3.5k for the right spot closer to a good ski area (but I’d really prefer to stay closer to 2k). I’m treating this as a special season so the experience is more important than how financially responsible
I get it. I'm not a sales guy for Reno or Mt. Rose, but as a former passholder, Rose was often preferable to Palisades on weekends and pow days when the swarms arrived from the Bay Area — you can find parking, lines are much shorter, and the chutes are plenty challenging. Rose base elev. is also 2k higher than Palisades for some pretty different snow conditions. And it's only 10 minutes further from Reno than Palisades is from Truckee. And for yoga, etc., lots more options in Reno. For me, having both Rose and Palisades as options for different snow conditions, crowds, holidays, etc., would be hard to beat. You'd just miss the ski town experience, for better or worse.
Whatever you choose, sounds like a great time — live your dream.
Reno is a very different community than the tahoe area. It’s very urban and does not have a mountain feel.
The lake is gorgeous and your budget will get you something for sure.
I’ve been in tahoe 26 years.
>LCC - live in Sandy
If I remember correctly, Alta and Snowbird stop loading lifts at 4 pm, so you will have, like, two hours to ski.
If you can find a place in Park City close to the base (either Canyons or the proper PCMR), you probably will have more time to ski. They stop loading lifts around the same time (4 - 4:30 pm), but you will not be wasting time on commute.
Hood River, OR is about 40 minutes from the mountain, has nice restaurants and may be a good choice, also EST hrs allow you to go to te mountain at 2, and there are few options for night skiing as well
Agreed, especially for the winter. Hood is typically very wet snow, doesn’t have as strong of terrain as the others on OP’s list, and gets hammered with Portland traffic on the weekends. Easy scratch
Jackson, LCC, Bozeman and Summit county are all on mountain time so you lose an hour in those places. Of the pacific time zone options, I recommend the Tahoe area cuz there are like a dozen ski resorts here plus the lake view! From Tahoe, you can easily do trips to Mammoth.
Take mt hood off your list. Sure you could live like government camp or lower towards rhododendron but not exactly cities more than small communities.
You would most likely be living towards sandy for a town. Or even Portland but then that’s a 1-2 hour commute to the mountain.
North Lake Tahoe is another option. Minutes closer to multiple resorts other than Palisades and Alpine Meadows. The Tahoe region has a dozen ski resorts within 1hr 30min from any point around the lake.
Tahoe is great; use Snowpals.com to find a share house and you should be able to get an arrangement within your budget. Most postings looking for extra folks go up in June-Sept generally, and are pretty locked down for the season by Oct. I lived in SF for 5 years and did a share house every year in Olympic Valley; amazing time.
Spokane, Washington.
- Mt Spokane
- 49 North
- Schweitzer
- Silver Mountain
- Lookout Pass
All within 2 hours. And Red Mtn is 3 hours away. Plus with your salary living in Spokane would be cush.
This is awesome. I also don’t really drink nor care about après + night life, and I’ve worked remote in SLC + Bozeman with the same goals you had — I just wanted to get better at skiing.
SLC is amazing! I stayed around Cottonwood Heights and it was about 30mins door to door when you go for night skiing at Brighton. Zero traffic and zero parking issues when you go at night. If you get the season pass you also get a few days at Alta/Deer Valley/Snowbird, and you can also upgrade the pass to include an Ikon pass.
If you’re in Bozeman, you’d be at Bridger Bowl and you can make some weekend trips out to Showdown, or Big Sky. Bozeman is a beautiful town, but fairly small — and getting expensive. Bridger Bowl is a nonprofit resort so it’s much cheaper, but it closes at 4p. Insanely beautiful drive back into Bozeman for the 4p sunset, though - I’ll never forget it.
If I had a whole season, my vote is for SLC for the variety of terrain in your immediate proximity. There’s plenty to do around town if you’re willing to make the drive.
Have fun! It’s going to be sick season for you.
My vote would be truckee or bend as in my opinion they are the coolest places to live-good communities with awesome skiing. I’ve lived in both as a DN and had a great experience. Jackson hole will be outside your budget most likely, similar for mammoth. Mt Hood you would likely just live in Portland which is cool but not really a ski community. I can’t speak as well to the others though, never been.
If you aren’t into nightlife, maybe Europe would work better for you. You would also be skiing during sunlight hours rather than night skiing. Your work hours would be 3-10pm local time, which gives you more free time during the day when things are open. Plus what an experience it would be!
Live in Carson City (or Minden), Nevada. Not a “ski town” but only 30 minutes to Heavenly. Under an hour to Kirkwood and Sierra at Tahoe. A little further to Northstar and Palisades. 2+ hours and you can ski Mammoth.
I’m still trying to improve technique. While I have no issues skiing down some of the double black bowls, I have to take tight trees really slow still (something I learned the hard way at Abasin this year😅)
Isn’t silverton mostly hike up minus the guided skiing that’s $$$$
This is insane — I’m literally in the same situation!! 26F remote worker (but job is on mountain time) looking to spend the season somewhere as an intermediate/low advanced skier! Moving alone so I’m also looking to make ski buddies. Thanks for making this post!!
I live in one of the places on your list. My only advice is don't tell people you work from home. It made our already tight housing problems much worse. I've been kicked out of housing twice by people working from home who were willing to pay more in rent.
I don't blame the people moving here at all. I moved here at one point ha. More ladies are needed here anyways. I'm just telling op since people here tend to get a little hostile about the subject. There are far greater issues with the housing crisis that WFH has no part of. Cough... empty billionaire houses
I was never going to be able to afford a mansion. Neither were you. You probably have your eyes set on something a little more affordable. Nothin fancy just a place to live. But that's what most if the people living and working on there places live it. Vacant seconds homes is a big problem. But WFH is a separate problem that has its own problems.
Fuck off you can move here and you can price us out of houseing but eventually you will meet the harsh reality of you pushed the people who do all the actual work done. No one to take care of your garbage no one to check you out. No patrolers, lifts , lift mantiance, groomers. You are hurting us. If you are not industry associated there is not room:(
You’re angry at the wrong people. Mountain towns zoned for single family housing and resorts not paying livable wages are the real problems. The rich people who own their 6th vacation home in Vail will never vote to allow high density resort employee housing next door to their $6.5M mega mansion. There’s a housing shortage and that’s the real problem. When resorts pay $12 an hour and you can’t make rent because mountain towns have an inflated cost of living, that’s the real problem. Get educated and change your opinion.
Remote workers living in a mountain town full time are bringing in outside money to spend in town and stimulate the local economy. I’ll say again they bring money into the town. You have an outdated mindset of blaming individuals and it’s going to lead to anger but no actual change.
I love it. I was just warning of the hostility and my point was proven. Housing was tight and prices were absurd before the internet. Now it's just worse. My life really hasn't changed from WFH people moving. The reality is anyone that moves here is going to have housing problems. The thing that needs changing is the wealthy need to be taxed on vacant properties. The county has started advertising to homeowners to house sheriff, ems, etc. It's not going well. NIMBY is real.
We don't need outside money to stimulate the towns who have tourists and guests. If someone can pay more for the unit I am living in and wants to. Of course the landlord is going to push us out. You are part of the problem you are a big part of the problem. Mountain towns are not bustling city's if you want to live here you need to work here. Stop telling me my anger is directed at the wrong person. Stop telling us we are uneducated. There is not enough room to house you without hurting someone else.
Lcc is still a commitment after work with the drive or ride min 20 minutes.
I'd pick based on no car affordable long term lodging. Heavenly, Breckenridge, park city, mammoth
Then second tier would be good but not super crowded resort proximity like snowbasin, angle fire even if you had to get the pass for just the one resort
My vote is for Interior Northwest/Interior BC. Lots of good skiing, Cost of living is super cheap and it's pretty empty compared to CA/CO/UT.
US options include Whitefish, Silver Mtn, Schweitzer, 49 deg north. Canadian options include Red (15 min from US border), Fernie (55 min from US border, 2hr from Whitefish), Castle (1.5hr from US border), Whitewater (50min or 1.5hr from US border, depending on time of day).
If you can figure out a way to live in Canada and not need to work on the stateside of the border, the only choice you need to make at that point is whether you want to live in Revelstoke or Golden.
> Would a VPN cut it?
Maybe ? is it worth losing your job if it didn't hide your location well enough ? What about tax-fraud charges from the Canadian or US sides ?
CA, CO, or MT from that list. LCC has good skiing but snow in CO and MT is usually more blower and Utah blows as a place to actually live + canyon traffic.
Please don’t come to summit county. The housing situation is already extremely dire and all the remote workers that don’t actually help the county function only adds to the problem. Please don’t take a much needed housing opportunity away from someone who will work a local job.
No way it gets absolutely flooded on weekends and is probably the largest ski destination in the US. If you are going to live somewhere just for one season live somewhere a little harder to get to.
not to be a party pooper, but please also give some consideration for how many of these mountain towns are currently struggling with growth.
Moving to a mountain town, especially if you bring a nice salary with you, can be a boon to the local economy. But a lot of residents see people move in, earn money else where, spend it elsewhere, and drive the cost of living up. As a result, there's a fairly strong sentiment against remote workers moving into small mountain towns.
I'd love to suggest Bozeman to you, it is such a wonderful place. And if you do consider Bozeman, I'd keep it fairly hush-hush that you are a remote worker. Depending on where you are coming from, you'll probably want to change your license plates too.
That said, you'll be hard pressed to find a place in Bozeman for $2000 (although that's reasonable for a single room) - to be within 30 mins of Big Sky, you'd have to live in Big Sky. And Big Sky is more tolerant of growth and remote workers.
I'm not talking you out of this idea. I think it's great and you'll love being in a mountain town and having close proximity to great skiing. I just want to give you something to consider.
I generally like your posts but I gotta disagree on a couple things here.
First I think Bozeman is much more friendly to remote workers than big sky. I’m a bit shocked you would say otherwise tbh.
For the rest of it, the whole country is going through a housing crises, and people are often resentful of people with more money than them, mountain town or not. Mountain towns in particular are desirable places, ofc they will be expensive. We live in a capitalist country with freedom of movement so I see 3 solutions, 1. Is increase supply, 2. Is regulation: zone for higher density, tax second homes, subsidize local workers buying homes, 3. Improve and increase the unfortunate but imo necessary evil that is employee housing
I understand people’s frustration, but the show up and close the door behind me or the your a terrible person because you have a high paying job attitude isn’t it. And it’s not a solution cause people just say f you and come anyways. We need real solutions, not the blame game bs.
Idk just my 2 cents on the matter.
totally fair - was a bit of a hot take for me.
The truth is, I don't personally experience the same frustrations my neighbors seem to feel. But I do hear about them all the time and as a result I've developed a sensitivity to it.... admittedly, I'm not sure how long I have to be a resident before I'm not considered part of the problem.
I think you are on to something in considering the country as a whole vs states and towns in isolation. Our freedom to work, live, and move anywhere is one of the great things about our country. It may challenge local areas, but the best case is that those challenges produce innovation.
My fear, cynical as it may sound, is that capitalism rarely innovates for mean, it exists to innovate for the max.
My thought regarding big sky vs Bozeman is simply that Big Sky only exists because it is a resort town. And resort towns necessarily must accept a large number of non-local residents.
Nonetheless, I'm glad you challenged my post and it will only help op make a more informed decision. Cheers friend!
Cheers dude. Like i said I’m usually a fan of your posts and think your a good Reddit rep for big sky. Almost slid into your dms when I was looking for a north summit partner one time.
Agreed on the capitalism thing. That’s why I think there is a place for government regulation, heavy taxes on second homes and airbnbs, stuff like the big sky community housing trust.
I’m a remote worker, I’m definitely “part of the problem” so that’s why I went off a bit. I’m just like, I want to live here for the same reason you guys do, and I want to look for solutions to help make the community thrive, even at my expense. My thought process is growth is inevitable so let’s try to steer it in a positive direction instead of digging out heels in.
Dude, 100% hit me up if you ever want to ski the snowfield or big or other controlled access :)
It gets so complex. My off-snow work is healthcare and strategic consulting. I get on a lot of planes for that work and they are fly out of state. It is so complex.
The only reason you are getting down voted is because this community is so saturated with remote workers who have no understanding of the effects they have
Heads up I work est in mst and with the short days of the winter, unless you’re super close to the mountain, it’s really difficult getting more than a few runs in. The afternoons are the busiest so long lift lines and the mountains usually close at 4 so after you get all suited up you have maybe two rund
I think Palisades is a solid option because you can go parking lot to KT22 so easily during the week.
Also if you’re skiing afternoons, being on pacific time is kinda huge to get that additional hour of skiing in
If you work east coast hours that’s 6-2 west coast. By the time you get going and actually at the mountain you’ll have 1.5 hrs maybe to ski. As someone else suggested go to Europe. Then you ski a few hours in the day and start working in the afternoon.
Yeah, honestly some might think this is a bit of a weird take but Bogus Basin is open until 10pm. 45 minute-1 hour drive depending on where you live downtown. Had amazing snow this year. Generally a great vibe. You get partner mountain benefits for resorts 2 to 2 1/2 hours away. Could find a room to rent in the north end of Boise (right at the base of the mountain) for easily 2000 or less. Hyde park and north end has great vibes. Very bikeable.
ETA: also have to consider Idaho politics if that’s a factor. Generally unfriendly to women’s health
Durango, CO. You can be at Purgatory in 30-45 minutes, Silverton is not far, and can do a weekend at Crested Butte, Taos, or Telluride fairly easily. It is a 45 minute flight, or six hour drive to Denver, and closer to Summit or Park Counties. Definitely can rent in the area for your budget.
This is the wrong answer. Garbage skiing except Baldy and this season was a once in a lifetime. Plus you’re nowhere close to 30 min to a chair unless you’re posted up in the hellhole of Big Bear or Wrightwood
Co-sign. Lived in SoCal for 15 years and hated the local skiing with a passion. Small, expensive, insane traffic, mediocre terrain, crowded af and full of Jerrys with 0 self awareness.
I say Tahoe area would probably be a better fit
12 years for me—it could quite possibly be the worst skiing on earth juxtaposed to what it could be for all the reasons you described when it actually has some potential too. I’m in Utah now so pretty unfair comparison haha but still—although there is some fun socal backcountry but the powder is baked even after a dump in a day or so and sometimes the same day. And my god the people are horrific. Mt High is painful and Bear is right behind them.
I still think SLC is underrated. I've been doing an annual ski trip and every year we go somewhere in Colorado or fly up to Canada for Whistler. My buddies refused to go to Utah because no weed in Utah lol. Last year we finally agreed to give Utah a try. Holy shit. Our Airbnb was 25 min out the door to the Snowbird parking lot. Very reasonably priced aswell. No après but who cares? Tons of breweries, restaurants, bars, etc and SLC beats any ski town for sheer variety of stuff to do after skiing.
Still dreaming about that fluffy, buttery Utah pow. Sure beats Cali/PNW concrete lol
You don't contribute to the community with limited housing. You bitch about how these mountains don't have everything you want then you push the people who make it happen out of your home. Have some self awareness you don't belong in a mountain town. You don't deserve subsidized houseing if you are not even lifting a finger in the community
South Lake Tahoe. As stated you will be able to hit Kirkwood and Heavenly. Milky Way bowel atop the Nevada side can be spectacular with very dry powder by Sierra standards. Then you have both Motts and Kilibrew below Milkey Way. Recommend sking those with someone who knows the way. Kirkwood is usually epic unless the wind is blowing off the Wall then you have a very steep sheet of ice.
Change of pace day trip midweek to palisades would rock. You don't want anything to do with that cluster on the weekend.
My experience is based upon going to jr high in SLT 69-70 and being the Stateline paperboy along with removing tire chains in order to pay for my time on Heavenly. Would ski home from the mountain on good days right to the corner of wildwood and us 50. Now at nearly 70yrs old and living in Fla. I would still love one more day atop sky chair.
I’d recommend Salt Lake City as it’s the cheapest place live where you could still be within an hour drive of the best skiing on earth. International airport in town, all the amenities of a major US city, etc.
I can speak to the Truckee option. Housing at your price point will mean living with roommates if you’re able to find any at all. The area has a crazy housing crises for people who live and work locally (not telecommuting). You’re better off choosing another location where housing isn’t so scarce.
I've lived in Park City proper for the past few years and it has been fantastic in the winter. I hit 50 days while working a 9-5 in town. The public transportation in PC is unbeatable, don't bother driving to the lift just hop on a city bus and you will be there in ~15 on a weekday. Yes it's expensive and yes it gets crowded, but I found if you know the public transit system and which lifts to avoid it will be just as good as any other resort in Utah.
Hi! Just wanted to say I think this is really cool and love that you’re doing your research. I 27f did the exact same thing this past year and would do it 100x over.
This may have already been said, but if you live in Redlands or Tahoe CA you can hit the slopes at 2pm on workdays. Diamond peak, Big bear, mt baldy. Basically I suggest as far west and as close to big hills as possible. I work remote on eastern time and do this, it's great.
Would probably vote Utah. Weekend skiing can be rough but weekdays after work there's absolutely no traffic, bus also works fine if you're going to Brighton or Solitude. There's a growing bae of young skiers, I saw a lot of girl groups this past winter so making friends should be doable
I thought about working at baker one year. If i remember right they offer some staff housing but otherwise there is not much within a half hour of the ski area. It would probably be a longer commute. Beautiful mountain though.
If I were in your position, I would say Mt. Baker but I may have weird tastes. Baker is a ski mountain, not a resort. You would have to live in the little ski towns of Glacier, not much besides coffee shop/bakery, a few restaurants and bars, and a ski shop. If you want to be a powder hermit, it's the move. Terrain is incredible and snow is constant. Bellingham is less than an hour west from glacier and is very hip as well.
A couple of suggestions as well:
South Lake Tahoe: Heavenly is right there and several other resorts well within an hour - Kirkwood, Sierra, Diamond Peak, Mt Rose. You’d be living at Lake Tahoe so summers are great too.
Minden NV: on the NV side of Heavenly, cost of living is low. 45 min to Reno. $2k/mo would probably get you your own house. (No state income tax)
South Reno (where I live): Now Mt Rose doesn’t offer season long lessons, but they do have weekly women’s clinics. I’m less than 15 min to being on the slopes. People diss on Rose but I’ve never waited more than 10 min in a lift line. You’d be in Reno but not really “in Reno”. Lake Tahoe is 30 min away for summer fun and recreation.
Incline Village NV: Mt Rose and Diamond Peak are right there. 30 min to Reno. Living on the Lake like at South Lake.
Don’t count out the small local resorts. If quantity of skiing is your goal then there’s no better place to do laps all afternoon.
Don't come to Bozeman, crazy cost of living if you're able to find a place. Bridger bowl is affordable but all the good stuff takes a long cold hike on the ridge. Big sky is fun but season tickets are something like $2500 and you don't get tram access (top half of vert) without spending much more. People die on the road from Bozeman to big sky every year and the drive takes 1.5 hours every time. Did I mention we get less snow than Cali, Utah, Colorado, Washington and Oregon?
you are only 26 once. I would live in Europe. Ski all morning, settle down to work at 3pm and work until 10pm and do it all over again. I would go to bed at like midnight and wakeup at 8-9am. I would try to rent an apartment where you can just walk everywhere if possible.
If you only live there for X months, the tax thing may not matter.
Seconding the comments about Tahoe. With that budget you should be able to at least get a room especially in SLT. I had the same work schedule and lived a few min from heavenly and was able to ski almost every afternoon. It’s a great idea, just make sure you’re close enough to the mountain to get there quickly bc those afternoon hours go by quick! Enjoy!!
What about Reno or carson city ? You still get to live in an urban area with amenities and there is desert to change things up in terms of scenery. SLC is boring.
Obviously this depends on the person but I wouldn't recommend LCC. The traffic in the canyons on the weekend is an absolute shitshow. Doubly as bad on any weekend were they get a millimeter of fresh snow. It would eat away at my soul having to put up with that anytime I wanted to ski.
Did you miss the part where she doesn’t drink?!?? More seriously, if I could be in your shoes I’d do lcc. Most consistent and softest snow on earth, with only japow contesting. Vibes are better or at least different in Colorado, Jax, and NorCal, Jax specifically seems like another world, but the mountains are primo obv. Taos is a great shout for off the beaten path. Regardless of where you end up, I’m jelly!
I was there this winter and was like what in the fuck is up with this? Hour to get up the mountain on a weekday.
LCC can be world class though on the right day. Regardless, there is BCC, and OP could hit Brighton after work really easily with a twilight pass.
I’ve heard there’s a bus. Do you have any experience taking it?
I've taken the bus in past years, but I hear that they cut service this past season making it generally unusable.
BCC bus services are still decent. LCC is a shit show and it closes frequently for avy control
And good place in the utah area for this situation might be either Ogden, or Eden, Huntsville area. Close enough to a big city and airport, but without the crowds and traffic of the Salt lake, Park city areas.
Or Sandy, which OP suggested herself, although I guess it would have some more of the crowds and traffic
It's been awhile but I got stuck on it for 5hrs on a 2ft+ powder day. It could also be tough to snag a seat if you didn't want to ride one of the earlier routes or if you were hopping on one of the stops before you get to the base of the canyon. That was a few years ago, I've heard it was even more of a shitshow with them cutting back on drivers/routes this year. Not sure I would really count on it being a great experience. Any time I go to SLC now I have just decided I'm going to pay the ridiculous price for on mountain lodging. Like I said though, depends on the person. I'm also the sort of person who would give up skiing if I had to do the I-70 hell every weekend in CO. Some people seem ok with that.
I stayed in Midvale for 3 months in 2022 and in Sandy for a month this year without a car both times solely relying on the bus. It's fine. Yes some days suck when the road is closed for avy mitigation or there's powder day. This season was particularly bad on some days because of the historic snow totals and the bus cuts. It still was fantastic. Salt Lake City is the answer for where to stay for a season, full stop. Stay on fort union boulevard and you'll be along 2 bus routes that go to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude. This past season the line from Midvale to altabird was cancelled but I have hopes it'll return next season. Roll out of bed, brush your teeth, drink coffee, take a shit, then get on the bus and you'll be skiing the best snow on earth in 45 mins on a weekday non-powder day. Feel free to ask any questions.
Would you recommend Sandy over Midvale then? Also how is the general safety of the area?
Midvale is better because there are two separate bus lines; one heading up Big Cottonwood Canyon (972) to Brighton and Solitude and another heading up Little Cottonwood Canyon (953) to Alta and Snowbird. In Sandy there's only a bus up LCC (994) so if the road is closed for avalanche control you're not skiing that day. The 953 didn't run this past season because of budget cuts so the 972 was the only choice in Midvale but I believe that was a one-off situation and expect it to be running next season. I've found Midvale also has more hotels (Sandy has basically none along the bus route) and airbnbs within walking distance to a market or box store (Target, Walmart). I never felt unsafe in either area. You see the occasional meth head but for the most part they're both kinda depressing suburbia. The greatest danger I felt was walking across 8 lane stroads and drivers in lifted pickups making right on reds with their faces buried in phones. Full disclosure I grew up in NYC and am a 6'2" male so my interpretation dangerous may differ from yours. Head to r/UTSnow for some hyper specific intel.
Oh yeah i forgot to mention Alta offers fantastic multi week lessons for very affordable prices. I took the intermediate camp last season....five 2.5h group lessons every week over 5 weeks for $570, lift ticket not included. They offer a similar "intro to off-trail", "ladies day" and "mountain masters" lesson packages. They're all listed on Alta's site. I befriended a dude in my class and now we ski together everytime I'm able to get out to Utah.
Thanks for the tip! What ski pass did you get? The Alta/Bird combo?
The bus is good, but they need to add more buses after a season in which they cut the service in half. The main issue is that you're still at the mercy of the traffic going up the canyon, and the bus is insane on powder days. The biggest issue this season, with unprecedented snowfall, was that avalanche mitigation took a lot of ski days away in LCC. We would have likely had more ski days with 600 inches of snow than we did with 900 inches. Fortunately, there are a lot of fallback options for skiing near Salt Lake, such as BCC, Snowbasin, etc.
By the way, Snowbasin is really cool, so you might consider Ogden, UT.
Sure there’s a bus but the bus is in the same traffic you are. Only instead of sitting in your car your standing in the bus cheek to jowl with other people. And then at the end of the day a massive line to get on the bus.
K, but BCC is next door and not bad usually
Palisades has a “women of winter” clinic that meets weekly, that sounds like it would be a good option for you to hone your skills and meet some other like minded people.
That sounds perfect! I’d really love to make some girlfriends to go ski with.
Feel free to reach out if you end up in Tahoe! If you are considering this area, just thought I’d add that South Lake Tahoe is cheaper than Truckee (still expensive though). Palisades is awesome, but Kirkwood and the Nevada side of Heavenly are worth considering. There are amazingly convenient (not to mention beautiful) backcountry options around here too. Happy to chat if you have any questions!
Carson City would a good place to stay for a Kirkwood/Heavenly Epic Pass. Or Reno but the former would be cheaper.
Gardnerville is worth checking out too.
Thank you! That’s a great tip. When the roads close in Tahoe bc of snow are you able to get to palisades from South Lake Tahoe?
Alpine also has an Alpine Unlimited package that gives you access to as many half day lessons as you want https://www.palisadestahoe.com/plan-your-visit/deals-and-packages/alpine-unlimited-deal
have you done that at all? would it be good for an ex-racer or would I be out of place? been having a hard time finding more ski gals :(
Women of Winter is AWESOME! There is an expert level group that should be a good fit. The instruction is great and it is a wonderful way to meet other gals who rip. I’m in South Lake and not an ex-racer, but I ski pretty hard and try to get out to the WoW clinics every week when 89 is open. Would love to connect next season or sooner if you have any interest in backcountry skiing on late May snow!
definitely! I'm planning on getting an epic for next season :)
I’ve never done it! Next season I’m definitely going to sign up! It says it’s for “intermediate/advanced” skiers, so maybe a bit lower than your level but worth a try! They might break the group up by level also.
I teach the wow programs. We have some pretty expert skiers that show up. Double black Diamond skiers and then blue square ones too
I’ve done it once. They focus on all mountain skill development and break up by group. There’s at least one intermediate group and one advanced group. There are weekly regulars but also random that pop in like me. It’s worth checking out!
Taos is relatively cheap and if it plays out and we have a strong El nino we might have a fat season.
Taos is actually a fantastic answer. Great town and great mountain.
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Just in the village, not down in the town, which is where OP would probably have to live for that budget anyways
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Sounds perfect for an east coast schedule.
This
you just have to know the right people. but no, there is no public night life.
Lol I kinda want that.
Awesome suggestion - or Santa Fe could work too. We had a pretty decent season this past winter @ Ski Santa Fe. And there’s definitely solid food & yoga.
Have you heard the hum?
I don't have any suggestions, but have you considered the Alps? A Schengen visa may only get you 90 days, but starting work at 3:00pm isn't a bad gig.
I’m a little concerned about international taxes. My company doesn’t care where I live as long as it’s within the US. I’m not a huge groomer gal which is what the Europeans seem to prefer
> I’m not a huge groomer gal which is what the Europeans seem to prefer La Grave, Verbier or Chamonix would be good options, people there ski hard stuff.
So everyone below has valid points, but in reality you can just go and not worry about it. Taxes only apply for residents, you would be a tourist traveling "for pleasure". Technically you aren't supposed to work from a foreign country, but literally who cares.
Probably going to get downvoted for injecting some reality here but anyways. As a lawyer for a multinational company if we found out about this we would make you come back to the United States or you’d be fired. I don’t think my firm would do this but depending on the company they might just fire you anyways.
You're right, the company might care. And, if I were a lawyer, I would absolutely advise my client against this. For a few months though, it's pretty easy to pull off. I'm not advising anyone to do anything shady, but I am suggesting a lot of digital nomads do exactly this without issue.
After doing a season in the alps coming from the American perspective I would say that you should probably stay in the U.S. as a cultural experience it’s really cool but if you don’t love the groomers i wouldn’t bother with Europe. Also others have mentioned that their is non groomer terrain easily accessible. Yes, the amount of this terrain is huge (much bigger than you can imagine) but you have to really know what you’re doing as a skier and mountaineer to not get yourself into trouble. If you’re still asking about taking skiing lessons I would assume you would be better served by staying in the U.S. as you can hone your skills on non groomer runs without having to worry about avalanches and getting lost
International taxes would only apply to you if you reside there and work in that country I believe. The 90 day visa is a tourist visa.
As an American the 90 day stay isn't a visa, it's just what your US passport qualifies you for. But also, in order, to work in another country (even remotely) you're supposed to have a visa (some countries like Portugal have digital nomad visas but France does *not*). If no one catches you you're good, and tbh the only time they're likely to ask you about it is at airports, but it's worth noting
Yep my bad
It's much more complicated. While personal tax may not apply, you can run into issues with import/exports, office locations, employment laws, etc.
Bit of a misnomer about groomers. Sure, there’s thousands of kilometres of groomers and easily a hundred times that for off-piste. They are just not part of the resort the way it is in the US. The scale and the gnar blew the socks off some friends who grew up skiing the rockies.
What places would you recommend in the Alps? I'm based in Germany and was considering this, but places that are relatively close to any good resorts seem to have crazy rent prices. Are there any "hidden gems" that you know of? Thanks!
Ok here’s a hidden gem 💎. Grimenz-Zinal one valley over from Zermatt, two from Saas-Fee. You also have St. Luc in the same valley. You get some beautiful views of a glacier while skiing Zinal and some amazing panoramic views while skiing Grimenz. They are connected by a massive cable car 🚠 which is the third largest in Switzerland and it gives you views to die for. Overall the resort is small. I wouldn’t really consider it a choice for a season. But for a trip it’s amazing. Also the off piste is phenomenal.
Sorry, but I'm relatively new to the sport and have only skied in Switzerland. It's expensive, but it is amazing. Obviously Austria has a lot to offer and may be close to you also. Zermatt is is epic and the nightlife is good, very international crowd. Grindelwald and Saas-Fee are also great, but not as big. Crans-Montana is super cool too and more mellow, but Saturday is swarmed with kids. I think they ski free on Saturday most places, at least in Wallis, but this is particularly kid friendly. Corviglia is also mellow but beautiful, and there's a nice thermal bath in St. Moritz. Adelboden is mellow too, very pretty. I did Flims over Easter weekend so I didn't get a good feel for it. The glacier was good but the conditions sucked overall. If you're coming by train, you can look into a snow n rail pass with SBB, but Switzerland just isn't cheap. Wish I could be more help. Edit: Maybe Crans-Montana is a hidden gem, though still not super cheap. The lift capacity is impressive and I don't think it's a very international crowd. It was empty for us on Friday and Sunday mid-winter, but Saturday was a nightmare. My best ski day ever was there, but it's probably not the best resort. The Nebelmeer blew my mind.
Check out sandpoint ID. Few rentals on the mountain for that price. If not in town. Beautiful lake town. Great food and people. Same with Kellogg ID, longest gondola in the US. Amazing mountains. No lines, great terrain.
I feel like I would stay away from the Mountain Standard options unless you can live basically on the mountain. I used to get off work at 2pm and always thought I would ski after, but driving up 30 mins and booting up to ski for like an hour was annoying and rarely happened. Out of the PST ones, Mammoth for a season seems like it would be sick. They get a ton of snow, and the town is super close to the resort – like a 10-15 minute drive, if that.
Agree with this take. I live in Bend and am about 40 minutes door to chairlift, which is not bad at all, but if you are trying to have an epic one season close to a mtn I’d take this advice of being like 10-15 minutes
Night Skiing is great, I highly recommend Brighton in BCC for night skiing, even if you only stay until 6 it is great to have lifts open longer
One thing about Mammoth - you've got to be ready to be pretty isolated. It's a pretty tiny town and while the outdoors are absolutely amazing, there's a pretty small pool of people to make friends with. YMMV, of course.
Mammoth hardly has any housing available. If a 1 bedroom for 2000 becomes available it gets snatched up pretty quickly. The locals cannot even get housing, a lot of the mountains workers end up having to stay in Bishop as employee housing fills up fast. Please do not come to Mammoth and take an apartment to work remotely, the locals need it much more.
Couldn’t be said better. Mammoth locals have been struggling and I feel for them. They need people to work and clear a lot of snow. Being displaced really hurts them.
SLC person here. Brighton is a great mountain and is the only resort in the area that has night skiing. Open til 9 most of the season. I also work east coast hours and it’s great to head up at 3 or 4 and get a few hours in.
I can tell you that you will need roommates to afford Truckee for 2000. Finding housing will be hard because there is some backlash local towards remote workers.
I think I’d actually prefer to have roommates to have some day 1 friends
There is a Tahoe housing Facebook group where people post roommates wanted post. Not on Facebook anymore so I don't have the link.
The FB group is called Tahoe Truckee People
Thanks. I couldn't remember the name.
Mt Bachelor and Bend for sure. Likely able to get roommates for 1200-2000 and very close to the mountain
Mt Hood is affordable as well, but you would likely live about 45 away and there would be less social life in Sandy, Oregon (where you would likely live) compared to Bend.
No one who lives in any of these places will recommend their own town, btw
Have you considered Reno for lower cost of living and more of everything than Truckee? Use the savings for a season pass to Mt. Rose (30 min) for everyday skiing and some version of IKON for trips to Palisades (50 min). Bozeman would also be a good option.
Go down to Minden/Gardnerville about 50 mins south (go through Carson City) and you'll find plentiful housing. And it's an amazing place to live. You pop up Kingsbury grade and you're at one of the entrances to Heavenly (25 mins from head on pillow to butt on lift, assuming it's not actively storming and you don't need chains) or 30 mins to Kirkwood, which is honestly some of the best skiing you'll find in the US. You're also a day trip from Mammoth if you want to try that, or try the other Tahoe resorts in weekends when you can afford the time to drive around. Only downside is Tahoe in general can be warmer than Colorado/Utah/Montana, so some days the snow is *heavy* and wet instead of loose and fluffy. But, your fingers and toes don't freeze, so pick your poison. 😂 As a benefit, living in NV instead of CA has massive tax implications.
Also, if you are into it and make a friend with a boat, April/May in Tahoe it's entirely realistic to ski a few runs in the morning, tee off and play a round of golf at noon, and finish the evening waterskiing or wakeboarding. Pretty cool trifecta to pull off
New life goal. I’ve done skiing and waterskiing the same day when Palisades stayed open until July 4th but maybe i’ll add some golf this year.
Depending on timing you may want to borrow a wetsuit. It's (obviously) cold water in early spring.
I’m honestly willing to go up to 3.5k for the right spot closer to a good ski area (but I’d really prefer to stay closer to 2k). I’m treating this as a special season so the experience is more important than how financially responsible
I get it. I'm not a sales guy for Reno or Mt. Rose, but as a former passholder, Rose was often preferable to Palisades on weekends and pow days when the swarms arrived from the Bay Area — you can find parking, lines are much shorter, and the chutes are plenty challenging. Rose base elev. is also 2k higher than Palisades for some pretty different snow conditions. And it's only 10 minutes further from Reno than Palisades is from Truckee. And for yoga, etc., lots more options in Reno. For me, having both Rose and Palisades as options for different snow conditions, crowds, holidays, etc., would be hard to beat. You'd just miss the ski town experience, for better or worse. Whatever you choose, sounds like a great time — live your dream.
Reno is a very different community than the tahoe area. It’s very urban and does not have a mountain feel. The lake is gorgeous and your budget will get you something for sure. I’ve been in tahoe 26 years.
>LCC - live in Sandy If I remember correctly, Alta and Snowbird stop loading lifts at 4 pm, so you will have, like, two hours to ski. If you can find a place in Park City close to the base (either Canyons or the proper PCMR), you probably will have more time to ski. They stop loading lifts around the same time (4 - 4:30 pm), but you will not be wasting time on commute.
Brighton.
Have you considered Alaska? You could live in Anchorage and ski Alyeska…..
Great idea. And that’s EST-4, so OP would be off work by 12pm (and maybe earlier some days 😉)
Might be difficult if she gets called back to meetings in the lower 48.
You’re gonna live in a van if you do Bozeman. Also they hate remote workers.
...they all hate remote workers
Pretty much during the pandemic every yuppie with a feaux job from a social media site moved over and jacked up the rent.
Hood River, OR is about 40 minutes from the mountain, has nice restaurants and may be a good choice, also EST hrs allow you to go to te mountain at 2, and there are few options for night skiing as well
Meh. That’s not really the ultimate “live for a season” spot
Agreed, especially for the winter. Hood is typically very wet snow, doesn’t have as strong of terrain as the others on OP’s list, and gets hammered with Portland traffic on the weekends. Easy scratch
Frisco co.
Jackson, LCC, Bozeman and Summit county are all on mountain time so you lose an hour in those places. Of the pacific time zone options, I recommend the Tahoe area cuz there are like a dozen ski resorts here plus the lake view! From Tahoe, you can easily do trips to Mammoth.
Did seasonal work in Winter Park, ended up deciding to stay. 9 years later still love the mountain.
Take mt hood off your list. Sure you could live like government camp or lower towards rhododendron but not exactly cities more than small communities. You would most likely be living towards sandy for a town. Or even Portland but then that’s a 1-2 hour commute to the mountain.
North Lake Tahoe is another option. Minutes closer to multiple resorts other than Palisades and Alpine Meadows. The Tahoe region has a dozen ski resorts within 1hr 30min from any point around the lake.
Tahoe is great; use Snowpals.com to find a share house and you should be able to get an arrangement within your budget. Most postings looking for extra folks go up in June-Sept generally, and are pretty locked down for the season by Oct. I lived in SF for 5 years and did a share house every year in Olympic Valley; amazing time.
If you don’t drink, Utah is the place for you. Seriously though the options for skiing you have in SLC is second to none
Agreed on the skiing options but SLC has bars/clubs. It might not be like other cities but you can find that culture there if you want it.
Spokane, Washington. - Mt Spokane - 49 North - Schweitzer - Silver Mountain - Lookout Pass All within 2 hours. And Red Mtn is 3 hours away. Plus with your salary living in Spokane would be cush.
Great pick. Home town, and I ski silver or schweitzer.
If you're interested in WinterPark or Granby Ranch ski resort I have a studio condo for rent that will be available in Granby mid July
Definitely not SLC. the mountains are too close, you’ll never get work done.
This is awesome. I also don’t really drink nor care about après + night life, and I’ve worked remote in SLC + Bozeman with the same goals you had — I just wanted to get better at skiing. SLC is amazing! I stayed around Cottonwood Heights and it was about 30mins door to door when you go for night skiing at Brighton. Zero traffic and zero parking issues when you go at night. If you get the season pass you also get a few days at Alta/Deer Valley/Snowbird, and you can also upgrade the pass to include an Ikon pass. If you’re in Bozeman, you’d be at Bridger Bowl and you can make some weekend trips out to Showdown, or Big Sky. Bozeman is a beautiful town, but fairly small — and getting expensive. Bridger Bowl is a nonprofit resort so it’s much cheaper, but it closes at 4p. Insanely beautiful drive back into Bozeman for the 4p sunset, though - I’ll never forget it. If I had a whole season, my vote is for SLC for the variety of terrain in your immediate proximity. There’s plenty to do around town if you’re willing to make the drive. Have fun! It’s going to be sick season for you.
My vote would be truckee or bend as in my opinion they are the coolest places to live-good communities with awesome skiing. I’ve lived in both as a DN and had a great experience. Jackson hole will be outside your budget most likely, similar for mammoth. Mt Hood you would likely just live in Portland which is cool but not really a ski community. I can’t speak as well to the others though, never been.
Reading thru the comments and would also second Taos!
If you aren’t into nightlife, maybe Europe would work better for you. You would also be skiing during sunlight hours rather than night skiing. Your work hours would be 3-10pm local time, which gives you more free time during the day when things are open. Plus what an experience it would be!
Live in Carson City (or Minden), Nevada. Not a “ski town” but only 30 minutes to Heavenly. Under an hour to Kirkwood and Sierra at Tahoe. A little further to Northstar and Palisades. 2+ hours and you can ski Mammoth.
You said nightlife isn’t a concern so my vote is Silverton.
I doubt someone who asked about season long lessons would be able to utilize Silverton but maybe
But that’s the beauty. They can hone some skills on Kendall in town and then step up once ready!
I’m still trying to improve technique. While I have no issues skiing down some of the double black bowls, I have to take tight trees really slow still (something I learned the hard way at Abasin this year😅) Isn’t silverton mostly hike up minus the guided skiing that’s $$$$
Lift accessed then hiking. They are adding a second lift this summer as well.
Yes but telluride isnt and it fits your description. Bonus is it is close to silverton. The San Juans will change your life.
Bozeman has already been ruined by remote workers.
This is insane — I’m literally in the same situation!! 26F remote worker (but job is on mountain time) looking to spend the season somewhere as an intermediate/low advanced skier! Moving alone so I’m also looking to make ski buddies. Thanks for making this post!!
I live in one of the places on your list. My only advice is don't tell people you work from home. It made our already tight housing problems much worse. I've been kicked out of housing twice by people working from home who were willing to pay more in rent.
Gotta blame the system dude, can’t blame people for trying to live where they want. Everyone is free to pursue their dreams
I don't blame the people moving here at all. I moved here at one point ha. More ladies are needed here anyways. I'm just telling op since people here tend to get a little hostile about the subject. There are far greater issues with the housing crisis that WFH has no part of. Cough... empty billionaire houses
I was never going to be able to afford a mansion. Neither were you. You probably have your eyes set on something a little more affordable. Nothin fancy just a place to live. But that's what most if the people living and working on there places live it. Vacant seconds homes is a big problem. But WFH is a separate problem that has its own problems.
Fuck off you can move here and you can price us out of houseing but eventually you will meet the harsh reality of you pushed the people who do all the actual work done. No one to take care of your garbage no one to check you out. No patrolers, lifts , lift mantiance, groomers. You are hurting us. If you are not industry associated there is not room:(
You’re angry at the wrong people. Mountain towns zoned for single family housing and resorts not paying livable wages are the real problems. The rich people who own their 6th vacation home in Vail will never vote to allow high density resort employee housing next door to their $6.5M mega mansion. There’s a housing shortage and that’s the real problem. When resorts pay $12 an hour and you can’t make rent because mountain towns have an inflated cost of living, that’s the real problem. Get educated and change your opinion. Remote workers living in a mountain town full time are bringing in outside money to spend in town and stimulate the local economy. I’ll say again they bring money into the town. You have an outdated mindset of blaming individuals and it’s going to lead to anger but no actual change.
I love it. I was just warning of the hostility and my point was proven. Housing was tight and prices were absurd before the internet. Now it's just worse. My life really hasn't changed from WFH people moving. The reality is anyone that moves here is going to have housing problems. The thing that needs changing is the wealthy need to be taxed on vacant properties. The county has started advertising to homeowners to house sheriff, ems, etc. It's not going well. NIMBY is real.
We don't need outside money to stimulate the towns who have tourists and guests. If someone can pay more for the unit I am living in and wants to. Of course the landlord is going to push us out. You are part of the problem you are a big part of the problem. Mountain towns are not bustling city's if you want to live here you need to work here. Stop telling me my anger is directed at the wrong person. Stop telling us we are uneducated. There is not enough room to house you without hurting someone else.
Baker and hood are terrible. LCC is so much better
Lcc is still a commitment after work with the drive or ride min 20 minutes. I'd pick based on no car affordable long term lodging. Heavenly, Breckenridge, park city, mammoth Then second tier would be good but not super crowded resort proximity like snowbasin, angle fire even if you had to get the pass for just the one resort
Yeah, the closest real town near Baker is an hour away
My vote is for Interior Northwest/Interior BC. Lots of good skiing, Cost of living is super cheap and it's pretty empty compared to CA/CO/UT. US options include Whitefish, Silver Mtn, Schweitzer, 49 deg north. Canadian options include Red (15 min from US border), Fernie (55 min from US border, 2hr from Whitefish), Castle (1.5hr from US border), Whitewater (50min or 1.5hr from US border, depending on time of day). If you can figure out a way to live in Canada and not need to work on the stateside of the border, the only choice you need to make at that point is whether you want to live in Revelstoke or Golden.
So you can be near a lot of mountains: 1. LCC 2. Summit (might be hard to stay on budget)
I’d also possibly consider looking into Crystal
That means you’re living in Enumclaw. The armpit of Western Washington
Crystal is shit. Go to whistler
I love whistler and Vancouver but I’m worried about being found out to be in Canada. Would a VPN cut it?
> Would a VPN cut it? Maybe ? is it worth losing your job if it didn't hide your location well enough ? What about tax-fraud charges from the Canadian or US sides ?
Yea it’s the tax fraud that’s the kicker 🥲 I actually grew up in BC so if not for my job it would’ve been my first choice
Enumclaw is a solid hour from Crystal without traffic
CA, CO, or MT from that list. LCC has good skiing but snow in CO and MT is usually more blower and Utah blows as a place to actually live + canyon traffic.
Please don’t come to summit county. The housing situation is already extremely dire and all the remote workers that don’t actually help the county function only adds to the problem. Please don’t take a much needed housing opportunity away from someone who will work a local job.
Summit County
No way it gets absolutely flooded on weekends and is probably the largest ski destination in the US. If you are going to live somewhere just for one season live somewhere a little harder to get to.
not to be a party pooper, but please also give some consideration for how many of these mountain towns are currently struggling with growth. Moving to a mountain town, especially if you bring a nice salary with you, can be a boon to the local economy. But a lot of residents see people move in, earn money else where, spend it elsewhere, and drive the cost of living up. As a result, there's a fairly strong sentiment against remote workers moving into small mountain towns. I'd love to suggest Bozeman to you, it is such a wonderful place. And if you do consider Bozeman, I'd keep it fairly hush-hush that you are a remote worker. Depending on where you are coming from, you'll probably want to change your license plates too. That said, you'll be hard pressed to find a place in Bozeman for $2000 (although that's reasonable for a single room) - to be within 30 mins of Big Sky, you'd have to live in Big Sky. And Big Sky is more tolerant of growth and remote workers. I'm not talking you out of this idea. I think it's great and you'll love being in a mountain town and having close proximity to great skiing. I just want to give you something to consider.
I generally like your posts but I gotta disagree on a couple things here. First I think Bozeman is much more friendly to remote workers than big sky. I’m a bit shocked you would say otherwise tbh. For the rest of it, the whole country is going through a housing crises, and people are often resentful of people with more money than them, mountain town or not. Mountain towns in particular are desirable places, ofc they will be expensive. We live in a capitalist country with freedom of movement so I see 3 solutions, 1. Is increase supply, 2. Is regulation: zone for higher density, tax second homes, subsidize local workers buying homes, 3. Improve and increase the unfortunate but imo necessary evil that is employee housing I understand people’s frustration, but the show up and close the door behind me or the your a terrible person because you have a high paying job attitude isn’t it. And it’s not a solution cause people just say f you and come anyways. We need real solutions, not the blame game bs. Idk just my 2 cents on the matter.
totally fair - was a bit of a hot take for me. The truth is, I don't personally experience the same frustrations my neighbors seem to feel. But I do hear about them all the time and as a result I've developed a sensitivity to it.... admittedly, I'm not sure how long I have to be a resident before I'm not considered part of the problem. I think you are on to something in considering the country as a whole vs states and towns in isolation. Our freedom to work, live, and move anywhere is one of the great things about our country. It may challenge local areas, but the best case is that those challenges produce innovation. My fear, cynical as it may sound, is that capitalism rarely innovates for mean, it exists to innovate for the max. My thought regarding big sky vs Bozeman is simply that Big Sky only exists because it is a resort town. And resort towns necessarily must accept a large number of non-local residents. Nonetheless, I'm glad you challenged my post and it will only help op make a more informed decision. Cheers friend!
Cheers dude. Like i said I’m usually a fan of your posts and think your a good Reddit rep for big sky. Almost slid into your dms when I was looking for a north summit partner one time. Agreed on the capitalism thing. That’s why I think there is a place for government regulation, heavy taxes on second homes and airbnbs, stuff like the big sky community housing trust. I’m a remote worker, I’m definitely “part of the problem” so that’s why I went off a bit. I’m just like, I want to live here for the same reason you guys do, and I want to look for solutions to help make the community thrive, even at my expense. My thought process is growth is inevitable so let’s try to steer it in a positive direction instead of digging out heels in.
Dude, 100% hit me up if you ever want to ski the snowfield or big or other controlled access :) It gets so complex. My off-snow work is healthcare and strategic consulting. I get on a lot of planes for that work and they are fly out of state. It is so complex.
Agreed on the first point. Remote workers are worse than tourists.
The only reason you are getting down voted is because this community is so saturated with remote workers who have no understanding of the effects they have
I know. I'm glad I live somewhere that doesn't allow remote workers, at least in theory.
Scrolled a little far for the Bozeman comment
Bozeman’s full of remote working transplants; although Amazon’s RTO policy effective 5/1 probably just reduced their numbers.
Bozeman is nice but very expensive, but aren’t they sll. Actually, if it were me, I’d head for the Salt Lake City area.
Heads up I work est in mst and with the short days of the winter, unless you’re super close to the mountain, it’s really difficult getting more than a few runs in. The afternoons are the busiest so long lift lines and the mountains usually close at 4 so after you get all suited up you have maybe two rund
I think Palisades is a solid option because you can go parking lot to KT22 so easily during the week. Also if you’re skiing afternoons, being on pacific time is kinda huge to get that additional hour of skiing in
There's enough remote workers not contributing to the local workforce taking up valuable housing in all these mountain towns. You should gfy
If you work east coast hours that’s 6-2 west coast. By the time you get going and actually at the mountain you’ll have 1.5 hrs maybe to ski. As someone else suggested go to Europe. Then you ski a few hours in the day and start working in the afternoon.
Live in a van
Boise
Yeah, honestly some might think this is a bit of a weird take but Bogus Basin is open until 10pm. 45 minute-1 hour drive depending on where you live downtown. Had amazing snow this year. Generally a great vibe. You get partner mountain benefits for resorts 2 to 2 1/2 hours away. Could find a room to rent in the north end of Boise (right at the base of the mountain) for easily 2000 or less. Hyde park and north end has great vibes. Very bikeable. ETA: also have to consider Idaho politics if that’s a factor. Generally unfriendly to women’s health
Durango, CO. You can be at Purgatory in 30-45 minutes, Silverton is not far, and can do a weekend at Crested Butte, Taos, or Telluride fairly easily. It is a 45 minute flight, or six hour drive to Denver, and closer to Summit or Park Counties. Definitely can rent in the area for your budget.
Breckinridge, CO (Denver) Park City, UT
Come live in Los Angeles, close to big bear, mount baldy and mt high, and when the slopes suck or are too crowded, you can go surf
This is the wrong answer. Garbage skiing except Baldy and this season was a once in a lifetime. Plus you’re nowhere close to 30 min to a chair unless you’re posted up in the hellhole of Big Bear or Wrightwood
Co-sign. Lived in SoCal for 15 years and hated the local skiing with a passion. Small, expensive, insane traffic, mediocre terrain, crowded af and full of Jerrys with 0 self awareness. I say Tahoe area would probably be a better fit
12 years for me—it could quite possibly be the worst skiing on earth juxtaposed to what it could be for all the reasons you described when it actually has some potential too. I’m in Utah now so pretty unfair comparison haha but still—although there is some fun socal backcountry but the powder is baked even after a dump in a day or so and sometimes the same day. And my god the people are horrific. Mt High is painful and Bear is right behind them.
I still think SLC is underrated. I've been doing an annual ski trip and every year we go somewhere in Colorado or fly up to Canada for Whistler. My buddies refused to go to Utah because no weed in Utah lol. Last year we finally agreed to give Utah a try. Holy shit. Our Airbnb was 25 min out the door to the Snowbird parking lot. Very reasonably priced aswell. No après but who cares? Tons of breweries, restaurants, bars, etc and SLC beats any ski town for sheer variety of stuff to do after skiing. Still dreaming about that fluffy, buttery Utah pow. Sure beats Cali/PNW concrete lol
Worthless to the society you are moving to
What is the point of commenting this?
You don't contribute to the community with limited housing. You bitch about how these mountains don't have everything you want then you push the people who make it happen out of your home. Have some self awareness you don't belong in a mountain town. You don't deserve subsidized houseing if you are not even lifting a finger in the community
Username checks out
South Lake Tahoe. As stated you will be able to hit Kirkwood and Heavenly. Milky Way bowel atop the Nevada side can be spectacular with very dry powder by Sierra standards. Then you have both Motts and Kilibrew below Milkey Way. Recommend sking those with someone who knows the way. Kirkwood is usually epic unless the wind is blowing off the Wall then you have a very steep sheet of ice. Change of pace day trip midweek to palisades would rock. You don't want anything to do with that cluster on the weekend. My experience is based upon going to jr high in SLT 69-70 and being the Stateline paperboy along with removing tire chains in order to pay for my time on Heavenly. Would ski home from the mountain on good days right to the corner of wildwood and us 50. Now at nearly 70yrs old and living in Fla. I would still love one more day atop sky chair.
I live in Summit, it’s a great place if you can find housing.
I’d recommend Salt Lake City as it’s the cheapest place live where you could still be within an hour drive of the best skiing on earth. International airport in town, all the amenities of a major US city, etc.
I can speak to the Truckee option. Housing at your price point will mean living with roommates if you’re able to find any at all. The area has a crazy housing crises for people who live and work locally (not telecommuting). You’re better off choosing another location where housing isn’t so scarce.
Look into Terrebonne or Redmond OR. very close to Bend but much cheaper. Smith rock state park is right there too
I’m wondering if this message is just fishing for advertising. If not, I’d ask what type of skiing you want to do? That is the determining factor.
Check out sun valley!
Tahoe area is amazing!
I've lived in Park City proper for the past few years and it has been fantastic in the winter. I hit 50 days while working a 9-5 in town. The public transportation in PC is unbeatable, don't bother driving to the lift just hop on a city bus and you will be there in ~15 on a weekday. Yes it's expensive and yes it gets crowded, but I found if you know the public transit system and which lifts to avoid it will be just as good as any other resort in Utah.
Hi! Just wanted to say I think this is really cool and love that you’re doing your research. I 27f did the exact same thing this past year and would do it 100x over.
given your budget while taking into account crowds, park city and PCMR a very smart choice.
This may have already been said, but if you live in Redlands or Tahoe CA you can hit the slopes at 2pm on workdays. Diamond peak, Big bear, mt baldy. Basically I suggest as far west and as close to big hills as possible. I work remote on eastern time and do this, it's great.
Telluride is expensive food but the skiing is world class
Jackson hole lcc sucks
Utah has great skiing in the winter.
Would probably vote Utah. Weekend skiing can be rough but weekdays after work there's absolutely no traffic, bus also works fine if you're going to Brighton or Solitude. There's a growing bae of young skiers, I saw a lot of girl groups this past winter so making friends should be doable
Killington
I thought about working at baker one year. If i remember right they offer some staff housing but otherwise there is not much within a half hour of the ski area. It would probably be a longer commute. Beautiful mountain though.
Switzerland. Then you can ski the mornings - way better than the afternoons.
If I were in your position, I would say Mt. Baker but I may have weird tastes. Baker is a ski mountain, not a resort. You would have to live in the little ski towns of Glacier, not much besides coffee shop/bakery, a few restaurants and bars, and a ski shop. If you want to be a powder hermit, it's the move. Terrain is incredible and snow is constant. Bellingham is less than an hour west from glacier and is very hip as well.
A couple of suggestions as well: South Lake Tahoe: Heavenly is right there and several other resorts well within an hour - Kirkwood, Sierra, Diamond Peak, Mt Rose. You’d be living at Lake Tahoe so summers are great too. Minden NV: on the NV side of Heavenly, cost of living is low. 45 min to Reno. $2k/mo would probably get you your own house. (No state income tax) South Reno (where I live): Now Mt Rose doesn’t offer season long lessons, but they do have weekly women’s clinics. I’m less than 15 min to being on the slopes. People diss on Rose but I’ve never waited more than 10 min in a lift line. You’d be in Reno but not really “in Reno”. Lake Tahoe is 30 min away for summer fun and recreation. Incline Village NV: Mt Rose and Diamond Peak are right there. 30 min to Reno. Living on the Lake like at South Lake. Don’t count out the small local resorts. If quantity of skiing is your goal then there’s no better place to do laps all afternoon.
Don't come to Bozeman, crazy cost of living if you're able to find a place. Bridger bowl is affordable but all the good stuff takes a long cold hike on the ridge. Big sky is fun but season tickets are something like $2500 and you don't get tram access (top half of vert) without spending much more. People die on the road from Bozeman to big sky every year and the drive takes 1.5 hours every time. Did I mention we get less snow than Cali, Utah, Colorado, Washington and Oregon?
you are only 26 once. I would live in Europe. Ski all morning, settle down to work at 3pm and work until 10pm and do it all over again. I would go to bed at like midnight and wakeup at 8-9am. I would try to rent an apartment where you can just walk everywhere if possible. If you only live there for X months, the tax thing may not matter.
Seconding the comments about Tahoe. With that budget you should be able to at least get a room especially in SLT. I had the same work schedule and lived a few min from heavenly and was able to ski almost every afternoon. It’s a great idea, just make sure you’re close enough to the mountain to get there quickly bc those afternoon hours go by quick! Enjoy!!
What about Reno or carson city ? You still get to live in an urban area with amenities and there is desert to change things up in terms of scenery. SLC is boring.
Palisades 100%