Beer Goggles #10 - Being a Liftie
Safety bar!
Back in 2022 I went on a bit of a gap year after completing Uni. Instead of doing the usual and predictable Euro Summer trip, I decided to spend the middle months of the year working a snow season as a liftie (the people who run and attend to the lifts) up at Mt Hotham.
Applying was a somewhat spur of the moment decision, motivated by an ad for planning a ski trip and then remembering how much I enjoyed skiing and snowboarding as a kid (even though the last time I was at the snow I ended up breaking my collarbone). I chose to be a liftie because I remember my Mum always saying she thought it would be a fun job. For the most part she was right.
Recently I have been thinking back to my time there with great fondness, so thought it would be fun to present what I think the three best things about working a snow season are:
The Laps
This first one is probably the most obvious as it’s the main reason anyone goes to a ski mountain, and that is getting to ride (a lot). Or more specifically getting to ride with friends. There’s not a whole lot to do on a mountain besides drinking, riding, or drinking while riding. As a result, I got quite a few laps in (some drunker than others).
Being the only snowboarder in a household of skiers was never something I gave much thought to. But since getting to experience the joy or roaming around a mountain in a pack of boarders I don’t know if I would want to ride in any other way. After spending so much time on the mountain you begin to know it in a more intimate sense. The old heads that have done a few seasons can show you the less trodden (ridden) paths and best places to go on a powder day, while the park rats will motivate you to send it that little bit harder over a jump or down the pipe.
At the end of the day snowboarding is a lot of fun, but it's more fun with friends.
The people
Although it can take many forms the underlying culture of a mountain is unique. An essence that propels everyone forward for the sake of fun. Some people are all about riding and getting as many laps or powder days in as they can, others are more about living in a winter wonderland and just want to party. You can certainly do both but what unites the many factions on a mountain is that they are all there to have a good time (it is a holiday resort after all).
It takes no time at all to pick up and start speaking the slang, whether it be talking smack about Jerrys at knockoffs or planning how you are all going to chase winter together, it’s hard not to buy in to mountain life.
The people up there are what make it so special as they are the ones you will be crowded into a pub with while you wait out the bad weather, or the ones who egg you on to go bigger and faster on every lap. I know I made many friends for life during my time (although this could be due to the squishy living conditions too).
The work
A lot of people would probably say that the actual ‘working’ part of a snow season is their least favourite bit, as it can be tiring and take away from all the fun. I had my fair share of grim times while on the job, but at the end of the day the work is your ticket to being there, and as with almost any job it’s what you make it.
All jobs have their good and their bad, being a liftie is no different. Standing up all day in the cold shoveling snow and watching chairs go round and round can get old pretty fast. But I chose to see each of the negatives as an opportunity to test and learn more about myself.
I have never been one for getting up early and attacking the dawn but considering the lifts are the first thing to get going each day I had to get over this pretty quick. One of the factors that made this easy was the commute to work each day. Getting to be the first person down the freshly groomed runs each day was a privilege and made all the sweeter of the days when the sun came out to greet us. I don’t think I will ever have a better commute to work (it definitely beats taking the train).
Another key takeaway I learnt from the job was how to deal with monotony. At times I would be assigned to the most distant of the lifts when the weather was less than savory with nothing but my thoughts, some chairs, and mother nature’s cold shoulder for company. I think of myself as a fairly gregarious person, and this was likely the most physically isolated I have ever been. Yet I found it very tranquil and eventually learned to enjoy my own company for what it was and treat the isolation as a nice break from the overcrowded dorm I was living in.
The unique experiences everyone had on the job were always fun to hear about at knockoff drinks at the end of the day and were a great way of bonding with the other lifties. The most enjoyable shifts by far were the ones where you had a great crew working together. Making up games or telling stories always made the day pass a lot faster.
However, the most rewarding thing about being a liftie came from my interactions with the public. Even though you only see each other for the 30 or so seconds it takes for them to get on or off the lift, over a whole day or even the entire season it adds up and you can develop a unique and special bond. Some of the most memorable ones for me were Dim Sim Guy, where we would just yell ‘DIMMMMMMYYY’ as soon as we saw each other from the line (I don’t think we ever said anything else) and the Race Club Kids who trained up there for the whole season. It was a lot of fun having snowball fights and telling them fake stories or messages to pass on to the liftie at the other end of the lift.
Through my interactions with the public, I learnt just how powerful a bit of kindness and sharing a laugh can be in making someone's day. As much as it was a means to help the day pass quicker, I found trying to make people smile the most rewarding part of my time on the mountain.
I highly recommend working a snow season to anybody giving it some consideration. It’s a lot of fun and easy to see how people get sucked into a life of chasing winter around the globe.
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