Do mountain athletes have jobs/normal jobs?

[cedica]

65 if you're lucky...

Yeheheah, we consider ourselves lucky if they don't kick us out before the age of 65.

French and Greeks will burn the land and boil the sea if anyone tries raising retirement age above 62.

[gb]

One of my friends just told me his parents give them $10k a year at Christmas and bought them a car.

Kinda doing the pre inheritance thing. Want to see their kids enjoy the money rather than just pass it on. Plus the kids get to use it when they need it most, rather than in their 50s or 60s.

Not a bad way of looking at it, and I wouldn't turn that down!

Sounds like his parents read "Die With Zero", a book I'd highly recommend.

Back to the topic at hand, I haven't skied less than 100 days in a season since the mid 90s, and I do have a "normal" job. There are lots of ways to make it work, I've done it on the super cheap and frugal, and make a bit more money these days but still live pretty frugally. I don't really have a lot of things to spend money on. I would spend so much more money living in Denver, going to Avs games and lots of other stuff...

[XterraRob]

I thought they usually host fundraisers for causes like fighting cancer, and then take half the money to fund their lifestyle and trips?

[Jon Frohlich]

I thought they usually host fundraisers for causes like fighting cancer, and then take half the money to fund their lifestyle and trips?

I thought they just asked for donations from the forum to fund their trips to the Himalayas.

[rijaca]

I thought they just asked for donations from the forum to fund their trips to the Himalayas.

[Monte Meals]

Speaking of donations ...

A while ago, there was a guy here on 14ers.com who posted that he wanted us to pay off his college loan because ...

he wanted to live in Colorado for recreation but could not earn enough to cover his debt.

[d_baker]

I thought they just asked for donations from the forum to fund their trips to the Himalayas.

Mario Brothers??!

[boudreaux]

I don't want to work, I just want to bang on my drums(mountains) all day!

[pvnisher]

Regarding The Fisherman and the Businessman, that's a great story.
But it's more subtle than the short version.
It's great to live LIKE you're poor, but not actually BE poor. Kinda like backpacking. Spend a fortune to live like you're homeless. But it's just for a time and then you leave.

For a few years I got to live overseas in a rural community, lower income. It was great, and the community was great, but I didn't have to DO low income rural things to live, but I could dabble when I wanted.

It's like living that Van Life, it's great in your kitted out high end van by choice and can leave at any time. It's less so when you're living in a van (down by the river) by necessity, can't leave, and if sometime happens, you're stuck.

Regarding retirement age, isn't it odd how that's in your 60s, and those over 75 are often regarded as unemployable?
Yet those same unemployable people are exclusively running the federal government.
Not often mayors, governors, CEO, etc. but representatives, senators, presidents, supreme Court? Looooaaaadded with 75+ people.

[Jorts]

Regarding The Fisherman and the Businessman, that's a great story.
But it's more subtle than the short version.
It's great to live LIKE you're poor, but not actually BE poor.

Could argue there’s even more real life nuance to that parable. Sometimes I wonder if I’m actually poor when Im standing on a summit ridge getting ready to rip skins and I see a helicopter buzzing around dropping off skiers on the adjacent summit. But instead I come to the realization that often these people getting helidrops in the SJs are paying a boatload just to get a taste of the goods.

It’s nice to live and recreate where the less fortunate (err… the businessmen) pay to play to just get a glimpse of what it’s like. Plenty of us have sacrificed more lucrative careers in NYC, LA, DC, Denver to live in the mountains but depending on your outlook, it’s worth the trade off.

So I guess my addendum to the parable would be:

Then a local rolls up on the beach and says, “Hi, Bob” to the fisherman as he casts his line. The businessman asks, “Who are you? Another fisherman?” And the local replies, “No, I work part time for the city gov’t here at the beach.” And the businessman says, “you could make way more money working for my business.” To which the local responds, “I’m good. I can fish here at the beach everyday but I don’t have to catch fish in order to eat.”

[Chicago Transplant]

I always liked that fisherman/businessman story, thought of it as a kind of "yep, that's why I moved here from Chicago" kind of thing. I often joke with family/friends that you couldn't pay me enough to live in Denver. My reasoning being that if you could pay me what it would take to get me to live in Denver (and have to deal with I-70 go skiing), I'd have enough money to retire and move right back to where I am now.

By the way, my first time seeing that story was in the Silverthorne Jimmy John's, its one of the signs on their wall

More on subject, I wouldn't call me a "mountain athlete", just a recreationalist. I do have to be a weekend warrior though as I have an 8-5 office job. I work in Avon, live in Edwards. 10 mins from BC and 20 to Vail, look at Mt Jackson out my window. Some cost of living things are certainly higher, but they weren't exactly cheap in Chicago when I lived there either. I don't need much gas though, especially in winter. I know people who have full time good paying jobs that either work remote or work in one of the resort villages and can get 100+ days skiing from getting 1-2 hours on the mountain at lunch if they want. I get about 40-45. I skin/bike after work, sometimes rock climb after work too. I climb peaks basically every Sat/Sun outside of ski season. I am single and have no kids, so that is a factor too. If you can find the right job and living situation, yes, you can work a so-called normal job. I live fairly frugally, I certainly spend less than I make at least. The only thing I would want is more flexibility with work. I'd love to work 10-7, or 11-8 to get some mountain time every morning, but I don't have enough clout at the company to make those kinds of changes!

[dr_j]

I count my lucky stars.

Mountain town living, nearby ski areas, decent pay, paid off the house, now hopefully I can get some more years of enjoying the mountains and physical activity before my body takes a nosedive. It's still weekend warrior status for the most part, but if I'm feeling vigorous I can get in a self-propelled lap at the local ski area after work in the spring, walk to a decent trail from my front door, and have a nearby dose of food and culture. And a 5 minute commute, I eat all three meals at home most days and save both money and gas.

Now don't get me wrong, I love cities, but don't think I can live in one anymore. Spending three hours a day commuting means nearly three hours less time to do things you enjoy.

I'm also no athlete, going fast and pushing my physical limits no longer appeals to me. A lot of people I know have been saddled with injuries, from ACLs, MCLs, shoulders, to broken bones and long healing periods. Pushing hard is good, but there's that fine line between breaking the body and staying in good shape.