Author Topic: In search of powder  (Read 2119 times)

Joey

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In search of powder
« on: November 25, 2015, 03:00:05 PM »
The ski season is fast approaching and at least here in BC loads of snow are dropping already. So I just started to read "In Search of Powder: A story of America's disappearing ski bum". For those of you who don't know, ski bum culture is a lifestyle where getting to ski as much as possible is the number one priority and every luxury is sacrificed to be on the slopes almost everyday in the winter.

So I just got started with the book and it seems those ski bummers have totally understood the core values of mustachianism. Anybody wanna read that book with me or has read it?

big_slacker

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Re: In search of powder
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2016, 01:02:25 PM »
I haven't read it, but will be picking this up. I was a snowboard bum most of my 20's in South Lake Tahoe where the author is from! Strangely enough I do not know him or share any facebook friends with him which absolutely blows my mind. The town isn't that big, and it's just wild that we're not connected socially in some way.

FWIW we weren't mustachian because we didn't save much for stuff. We were just broke snowboard bums, frugal because we had to be.

$650/month condo in Tahoe split with roomate ($325 rent, yeah!)
Beater car, but could always get a ride from someone or even walk to work
Oatmeal, frozen chicken breasts, pasta, frozen veggies and cheap beer were the dietary staples.
Season pass $400 IIRC, big spend for the year but always made it happen.
Gear was whatever we could afford.
I worked 2-3 nights a week as a blackjack dealer which netted me like $800-1000+ a month

Ride all winter, bike and beach all summer. Absolute best times of my life.

big_slacker

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Re: In search of powder
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2016, 12:43:41 PM »
Just wanted to update since I read this one. I was initially a little disappointed because the book wasn't so much about ski bum life as it was about the decline of ski bum culture and cheap mountain town living. This is a subject near and dear to my heart since it was one key driver for me moving away from Tahoe (paradise!) in the first place. Here is a copy 'n paste of my amazon review:

The book has the feel of a text version documentary. It details with history and interviews the changes seen in America's ski towns and ski bum culture. Like Evans I'm from South Lake Tahoe (though currently residing elsewhere due to some of the issues in the book) surprisingly I've never heard of the guy or even have any facebook friends in common. It's a very small town, but he is a bit younger.

In any case, he covers a lot of the issues that our mountain towns are facing. I moved to tahoe in the 90's and always assumed I'd spend my entire life there. Those of us who were snowboard/ski bums eventually get older. We want to settle down at some point, we have kids, etc. In a healthy community we'd get some kind of real job, buy a house and maybe start living some kind of semi-mature life. When I moved to town there were condos and houses available for 90k-150k all over the place. However by the time I was ready for adult life I was staring at 300-400k price tags, and keep in mind the average casino dealer (one of the better paying gigs in town) is looking at 40-50k/yr.

As mentioned in the book, the price has been driven up by out of towners who buy 'vacation homes' which either sit vacant or worse yet are VRBO'd out to obnoxious partiers on weekends. Schools are dwindling and educational quality is a serious issue. The town starts to become a hollowed out facade, a ski town themed amusement park for well off bay area folks. The lack of opportunity and high cost led to me making the call to move out. Lots of my friends are still in the area but have moved to carson city (mentioned in the book) and the ones who are still at the lake struggle with the above issues.

Evans shows what we've seen first hand repeating itself all around the great American ski towns on the west coast and in the rockies. He also goes into detail a little about how the ski/snowboard bum has gone from an alternative to standard 9-5 existence to a marketing front for consumerist culture. From lifestyle to lifestyle marketing.

So all this is laid out, and in an enjoyable way. What I really would have loved to see is some kind of discussion near the end on how to solve these problems, as they surely are problems. There are pros and cons to limiting who can buy, how long you have to stay, funding education and so on. It no longer becomes a truly organic community but an artificially controlled one, and is that better or worse then the 'theme park for the rich' situation that is occurring now?

Overall though, an enjoyable read and one that should be read by anyone making their home in a ski town.

 

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