Having somewhat of an annoyance and dilemma at the moment… to keep the mountain job or not. Easy job with cool people, sometimes pretty fun work and a season pass, but long, cold days with sometimes inclement weather.

I knew what I was getting myself in for, in terms of standing around in the cold and sometimes wet weather without proper breaks, but that wasn’t exactly the selling point of it. The season pass and the “40 mins to the mountain” was. Then reality hit; the bus trip in the morning is 60 mins, and in the afternoon after waiting 20+ mins post-shift for the bus to depart, it’s often another 90+ mins before  I’m home. And as fun as snowboarding is, coming up on a day off (for just as long as a regular work day) takes a lot of motivation, when it winds up being 6 days a week you’re on the mountain and away from home for 11-12 hours…

On top of all that, in the early and late parts of the season, when attendance is low and weather is poor, they’re likely to close the mountain at short notice. Closed mountain = no shifts. This week, out of 5 shifts I was rostered, only 1 has been worked, and weather permitting, a 2nd on Friday. I’m told the majority of the season doesn’t have closures like this, but with the already low wages, I can’t really let shifts just slip out from under me like that.

So job hunting again it is for me. Thinking about getting another full time job and switching this to part time hours, or giving it the flick completely. Obviously holding onto it in the meantime, but I don’t think I can just shrug it off and say “well I just have to stick it through the next 4-5 months”.

Anyways, enough of the rant, here are some pics from last week when I went boarding. Turned out to be an absolutely amazing day, if only Vancouver could put on more days like this: