'Ski Bums' Hanging On In Mountain West
The ski bum lifestyle is changing as corporate mergers and tourism have turned some small ski towns into high-end resorts.
For generations, the siren song of deep powder and steep inclines has lured starry-eyed young people into the time-honored tradition of “ski bumming.”
The phrase is as much a term of endearment as an aspiration to a life lived simply: Pick a mountain, find some roommates, and ski or snowboard as much as humanly possible. But decades of corporate mergers and tourism are turning once-scrappy ski towns into high-end resorts, leaving the alluring glow of ski bum life to grow dim in much of the Mountain West.
“Ski fast, drive slow,” a friend-of-a-friend chuckles, as the rest of us cower in the backseat of a massive Chevy Silverado.
