I Learned to Ski as an Adult (Thanks to Travel Nursing)

Learning to ski as an adult is challenging and requires time and dedication. I am incredibly thankful that travel nursing made that possible for me.

In this article, I’ll explain why travel nursing is such a great avenue for exploring new hobbies. I’ll also provide some tips for other travelers (nurses, PTs, rad techs, etc) that want to learn to ski or snowboard.

How Travel Nursing Allows You to Explore New Hobbies

My Experience with Learning to Ski

I grew up in the south (read: no ski slopes). Prior to adulthood, I had tried skiing twice and really didn’t know what I was doing.

My First Ski Attempts as an Adult

My first experience skiing as an adult was during a travel nurse contract in California. There is a bus that goes from the Bay Area to Tahoe (A great option for Bay Area travelers to get some ski time in!). At this time, I thought I knew enough about skiing with my two childhood experiences teaching me how to pizza wedge and a few additional You Tube videos. I spent most of the day at Tahoe on the bunny slope before braving a single green (green = beginner) run. I quickly learned that the pizza wedge doesn’t work to stop once you reach a certain speed. I ended up attempting to crash into a pile of snow to stop myself (thinking I’d fall over then just restart). This pile of snow became a ramp that jutted me up in the air before I came crashing down on my back. I was lucky I didn’t get hurt.

Making Progress

The Tahoe experience made me realize that I needed to actually dedicate time to learning to ski correctly if I wanted to do it again. Fast forward a couple of years to my travel contract in Colorado. This is where I really learned to ski (and fell in love with the sport!). I bought myself season pass to many of the ski resorts. I bought ski pants and a jacket at a second hand store once I got to town. I rented skis, boots and poles with a season-long rental, and I equipped by Subaru with snow tires. I also bought a ski lesson. While I was still very much a beginner after the lesson, this taught me how to safely stop, turn and slow down.

After the lesson, the biggest factor in learning to ski was time on the slopes (a lot more You Tube tutorials helped too!). I skied over 20 days that season. I progressed from barely making it down green slopes to confidently enjoying blues (intermediate) and even challenging myself with some black (advanced) runs.

Gifts from This Experience

Not only did I progress in what I could safely master with skiing. I also progressed my enjoyment of skiing. I now have a new hobby that brings me a ton of fun and enjoyment (plus some new friends to enjoy it with!).

Why I Couldn’t Have Done This Without Travel Nursing

Time

Because my home is not anywhere near a ski slope, I wouldn’t have had the time required to progress as a skier. It felt so good to hit the slopes every week and see myself improving. If I had tried to learn with just one ski trip a season, it would take me years to get to where I am today. I likely would also forget some of what I learned previous seasons resulting in even slower progress.

Travel Nursing allowed me to live in a place where I could spend my free time investing in my newfound hobby. I was able to meet other people living there who are passionate about the sport (they have some great tips!). I made friends that I could ski with, and I was able to fully immerse myself into ski and snow-sport culture.

My nursing schedule was also really beneficial for skiing. Having weekdays off means less crowding on the slopes and less traffic on the drive.

Costs

No doubt, skiing is an expensive sport. It is significantly more expensive (per time spent skiing) to ski for a single long weekend than it is to live in the destination. I’ll explain further.

• Equipment rental- You’ll have the option to buy your own ski equipment (I recommend buying used if you go this route and are a beginner) or getting a season long rental. I chose the season long rental which is still much cheaper than renting per ski visit as long as you plan to go more than a hand-full of days.
• Lift pass- Lift passes in Colorado are super expensive, but season passes get more bang for your buck. I opted for the Ikon pass which also offers a nurses discount (this saved me over $200!)
• Travel costs- If I didn’t have a travel nurse contract covering my cost for housing in Colorado, paying for a place to stay near a ski resort would be quite costly. Not to mention flight costs and car rental.

The Big Picture

Travel nursing gives you the opportunity to dive into a hobby that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to fully invest in. That hobby may be skiing or snowboarding, but it applies to many other hobbies or aspirations as well. For example, maybe you are passionate about wine and want to dive into California’s wine country. Maybe you really want to hike in Washington’s Olympic National Park. Whatever it may be, you would learn and do so much more with 3 months as a travel nurse than on a week long vacation. You don’t even have to take time off work to do it (though I definitely recommend taking time off work for other things!).

Tips for Travelers Wanting to Learn to Ski or Snowboard

If skiing (or snowboarding) is your next thing, I have a few tips here for you:

• Look into season passes.
  • You can do ski passes to individual resorts (your cheapest option) or you can choose an EPIC pass or IKON pass. EPIC and IKON give you access to several ski resorts.
    • IKON offers a discount for nurses.
• Go for a season long rental instead of renting equipment for each session.
  • This is more convenient because you are able to hold onto the equipment all season. This means you can pick up and go on a whim.
  • You’ll likely be able to bring the gear into the shop you rented from for a tune up for free.
  • You could go ahead and purchase your equipment, but I don’t recommend this as a beginner.
    • There are many types of skis out there for different conditions. You may find that you prefer one over another. Additionally, beginner skis are typically shorter (allowing for easier turns). As you progress, you may want longer skis for more stability. Note that there is a lot of nuance to this that I’m not getting into here. The point is- the skis (or snowboard) you want as a beginner might be different than what you want as an advanced skier.
• Make sure your vehicle (and you as a driver) are prepared for winter driving conditions (check out the hyperlink for tips on driving in winter weather and preparing your vehicle).
• Ski/snowboard on weekdays instead of weekends
  • Not only are the ski slopes more crowded on weekends, but the traffic getting there can be horrendous. This is especially true for I-70 in Colorado.
• Start with a lesson.
  • Refer back to my early experience with learning to ski. It is better to learn good habits early on that will help keep you safe. That gives you a base build on.
    • Personally, I didn’t find further lessons necessary for someone just wanting to enjoy skiing recreationally. There are tons of You Tubes videos that are helpful, and you can probably make some friends that will give you pointers. Of course, this is very individual and more lessons probably would lead to better skills and faster progression. Choose what’s right for you and your budget.
    • The biggest factor for me after the first lesson was time spent practicing.
• Don’t be ashamed to look like a newbie
  • You will see children who put your ski form to shame. Lucky for them to get to learn at a young age. It’s harder to learn as an adult. Don’t let that stop you.
  • Be mindful or your safety and the safety of others. As long as you do that, I found that most people are respectful of newbies. You may even get some high fives just for being brave enough to get out and try!

I am so thankful that travel nursing brought me the opportunity to learn to ski as an adult. I hope this post encourages you to get out there and see what travel nursing will offer you!

If you’re interested in more things to do in Colorado, click the hyperlink.