Snowboarding on a Budget
Snowboarding is a rich kid sport. With $100 plus lift tickets and tons of necessary gear, how could it not be? Last spring we posted the summer plans of the pros, including Hood trips and more and a bemused reader commented, “I feel like you cant become pro nowadays with out having maaad money to go to snowboarding school, hood, and shit like that…” Someone else lamented. “Yeah they have a real hard life. I’m going to be working 40 hrs a week. Last time I had a summer vacation I was in college. They are lucky ones.”
So is it true? Is it all luck and can you only make a life out of snowboarding if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth? Is the American Snowboard Dream over? Certainly with an industry in decline it seems like the dream is becoming less and less unattainable, but we’ll let you in on a secret: it’s always been hard work.
Chris Beresford, business man.
Those pros “living the dream” are actually working their asses off. And not all of them go home and roll around in fat stacks of cash every night. In fact, many rely on a keen sense of money management to make it possible.
Take Chris Beresford for example. He got his start thanks to a $199 seasons pass and Austen Granger’s parents, who were willing to drive to the mountain every weekend. From there he made a sponsor me video which scored him a shop sponsor. Shop sponsorship led to rep sponsorship and a job at the shop got him free tickets.
“I did that for a few years, and was working odd jobs along the way through the summer to be able to get out to Utah and hang with the boys who had a little more family backing in the winter months, and try to film as much as possible,” Chris explains.
It helped that he was friends with Scott Stevens, who got him a job coaching at High Cascade and from there, well, he’s still working for it. In addition to filming and traveling, he runs his own brand, Dang Shades on the side. Even when you’ve “made it,” money still doesn’t grow on trees.
Tim Eddy’s hand-built house, almost completely off the grid.
Another frugal boarder, Tim Eddy, offers this advice. “For me it’s all about priorities, ” he says. “Spending money on things that are important…board sports! Not wasting it other material things. Splitboards are efficient and way more affordable than motorized forms of backcountry accessibility. Truck/Car camping is sweet too. Cook your own food, free nightly accommodations, and save on gas cause your sleeping at the slopes. Oh and B.Y.O.B. The bar is expensive!”
Andrew Burns takes a similar approach.
“My favorite shit is real expensive,” he explains. “Since snowmobiles and helicopters aren’t cheap, I like to optimize my cash so I can blow most of it on shredding. Living in a trailer: best move ever, I save about $7000 a year. Groceries are key, you can eat 4 times cooking at home for the cost of one restaurant or fast food meal. Getting hammered: 40’s, cheap and get the job done, and make friends with bartenders: they all have promo budgets. Hustle: make dollars anywhere you can.”
This is not actually Burnsy’s trailer but you get the idea. Photo: Levitation project.
The moral of the story?
“Work hard! Don’t be lazy once you sit back nothing will happen,” Chris says. “I do have to thank Scott for getting me that job because that evolved into getting on K2 my first summer coaching and have started my own brand and haven’t had to work a normal job since. It is crazy!! Sometimes I forget, because as soon as things are working good it covers up those not so good days. LiFE!”
This is a good article, kids think that once you get a sponsor life is easy. Kids these days need a wake up call.
In most Vermont grade and high schools you can sign up for JISP ($20 a year when I was a kid) Every Wednesday at lunch the bus would take us to stratton to ride the rest of the day. And I also know mountains like mount snow offer a FREE season pass to kids that get straight A’s.
It comes down to whether or not you want to dedicate your life to snowboarding. Work your ass off, move to the mountains, get a job working nights, and snowboard every single day. You don’t even have to be a good snowboarder.
Great article YoBeat, love the super posi vibe. More like this!
This is a reminder to myself and everyone that you gotta make that dream come TRU.
Forgot one: carpooling is key. Snowboard with your friends, split the gas bill, save lots of dough.
more tim eddy!
So you found 3 pro snowboarders who aren’t spoiled rich kids, Congratulations!
Great Article!
Thought this was common knowledge? Make connections with friends for rides. Work a shitty summer job to afford passes. I work in a shop and now get free tickets to a couple mountains. Get proforms to get cheaper up to date gear. And most importantly, Mooch off your more talented friends. For example my room mate is sponsered for BMX, you know much shirts, hats, and shoes I get that he doesn’t want? No shame in gettin it where you can
snowboarding is totally a rich people sport, and that’s probably why all these kids are complaining! they aint used to working for shit!
you can’t live like that forever. and when you’re older and realize that it’ll be hard to get any where without any relevant experience.
Is being a ski bum lost on kids these days? There’s a few hundred jobs at mostly any resort in america. Boom-ski pass. When you’re in a ski town you can get gear for SUPER cheap, either from hand me downs from rich kids or you get pro deals from any resort or shop gig. Most hills have employee housing that’s usually pretty cheap. You’re living in a dorm basically, but you’re shredding everyday and partying every night – plus there’s usually some South American or Austrailian/Kiwi chicks that LOVE the american cock. Service industry jobs in ski towns will also make you wayyyyy more money than you would in a “normal” place- example- in the town I live in hostesses at most places make about $15/hr vs. where im from in NJ they make about 7 or 8/hr. I don’t really get why these kids think it’s an impossible thing to shred everyday. There’s a lot of us doing it. Off season sucks, you’re layed of for 3 months out of the year, finding a solid chick to settle down with is like hitting the fucking lottery, you gotta deal with tourists, etc,- BUT you get 3 months to do whatever the fuck you want, theres usually a lot of sluts to have fun with , and you get to bang tourists, and you’re shredding everyday and everyone knows how to party . GET AFTER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that IS my trailer! piratelife…
quality shit! follow your passion and good things happen
that IS my trailer!
Or you become a SAM student like I and work your ass off, party, fuck bitches, and shred
eat alot of pizza
Shaun white should have been in here talking about drinking 40s and eating baked beans …. The struggle is real
Just get a job at a ski resort. That’s my method. You get a free pass, get to meet people to shred with, get money to feed and house yourself. Plus, you get a sort of insider feel to the mountain cause you end up knowing all the employees and they hook you up. My season is pretty much a free ride as long as operate a lift for a few hours a day and say hi to people. Plus you get snowboard brakes. How many jobs have you had that let you fuckin snowboard on your 15? Getting a job at a ski resort is the best option for affordable riding.
You don’t have to be rich, be sponsored or pro to spend close to everyday shredding and loving it! I’m from PA, middle to lower income family, 3 hrs from the closest ski resort…Peek’n Peak in NY. That’s right, I learned to shred on ice back in 1995 and I loved it. Kept at it till I decided to move out here to Mt. Hood in my early 20’s. We were planning a summer shred trip and just decided to call it a move. Here I am 9 years later working only 20hrs a week max (at a Resort with an exchange program so that = free lift tickets). Get to go to Skibowl & Timby, summer riding for free rocks by the way, and I buy a Meadows season pass every year. My cabin is uh… pretty empty other than the basic necessities because as the article says, I’ve spent my cash on experiences, not material things. I just got the smarts to start saving for a travel trailer so I can quit the whole rent game. You can rent an RV space in the winter for about $400 per month or park at each ski resorts for awhile, and park on National Forest Land for 2 weeks at a time (gotta move to a new spot every 14 days) in the summer. Can’t wait to get into my trailer. I make about 12 grand per year (that might even be an overestimate, I don’t really pay to much attention), eat all organic/non GMO at home and have unlimited riding all year round. We went to Skibowl during a storm cycle, every day for a 16 day stretch of sick powder. Ski bum is the way to go and bonus it doesn’t even matter how good you are, just ride with your heart! So ya’ll can stick that silver spoon…you know where. See you all on opening day!!!!!
I want to know more about Tim Eddy’s house!
You guys think that’s hard work? Try dentistry school…
More Tim Eddy cabin photos – see #chillderness
http://www.arnette.com/blog/Tim-Eddys-Childerness-Spot/
If you work hard, and you’re not a complete asshole, you can do pretty well in life. I’m no pro, but I worked hard in school, got a job in something I like, work full time with a salary, at night, and can ride every day of the week if I want to. Still can play in the mountains during the summer too. Sometimes I think I could do more, like afford a huge house with a ton of land and farm (like my parents in the midwest), but then I realize I have all I need right here.
BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT RE-WROTE THE ARTICLE IN THEIR COMMENT. REALLY HELPFUL I FORGOT TO READ THE FIRST ONE.
Lmao all yall broke! I get to drink champagne and eat whoppers in my Maybach with a snowboard rack on top while i cruise to the mountains. If yall really wanna ball you have to sell that yayo at the docks like the port of miami. UGH!
Who the hell buys just lift tickets? If you actually want to ride alot what about season passes? Dont have to be expensive, mt seymour $350 boom
Andy Finch said recently that he thinks it’s becoming a rich kids sport more and more these days. The Finch article is toward the bottom of the post. Starts at “Easy Does Not Do It: Andy Finch.” Rad pow edit near the top though…
http://shredbums.com/2013/10/28/this-week-at-shredbums/
Its easy to shred everyday! As long as you have a car, gas money, a snowboard that isn’t broken, a season pass, a job, boots, a house to live in, food, health insurance, outerwear, goggles/sunglasses, gloves, and bindings its no big deal!