"So, what do you do in the summer?"

I have heard this question more often than "how can I improve my skiing?" or "Where is the best place to ski?" or " Does this Bogner stretch ski suit make me look fat?".  Students ask their instructor, instructors ask peers, and concerned family members that wonder how long this ski thing is going to continue, ask their loved one(s): 

"So, what are you going to do this summer?"

I'm pretty sure that this question is payback for the start of my 5^th grade year.  My class was asked to write a report titled "How I Spent My Summer".  Honestly.  The teacher had been around for awhile, and she might have even been the originator of this cliché assignment (her name was Mrs. Armour, and we called her Midevil Armour-she eventually liked the nickname....I think).  At any rate, in all of my 5^th grade wisdom, I felt the assignment was lame, and I turned in a very half-hearted paper that did not help to set me up for success throughout the year.  I have paid for it ever since.

"So, what do you do during the summer?"

In one of my first years of teaching skiing, a student asked me what I did during the summer, and I jokingly answered that I spent the time flying from fantastic place to place visiting ski school clients that had invited (and paid for) me to enjoy their summer vacation homes.  The client took me seriously and sent an airline ticket the next week.  I did the right thing ethically, and told the client that I had been kidding.  But that client had actually done this for previous ski instructors, didn't see anything unusual about it, and still really wanted me to visit.  Go figure.  It wasn't the last time that a client would generously offer me a trip/visit, and if I can make it work with my minimum wage summer job schedule, I take the offer gratefully.

Before you think that this is what I routinely do all summer long, please know that trips like this are rare and treasured in my life.  Also know that I prefer a window seat, somewhere in the front of the plane.

As I recounted this story on the phone this afternoon, the other party chuckled, then asked in a very serious voice:

"So, what are you going to do this summer?"

I will reveal my summer plans for this year, but before I do, here's an idea of what I (and other instructors) have had as options:

--Teach at ski resorts in opposite hemispheres

--Work like a slave in the retail or restaurant scene

--Provide a FUN, exhilarating outdoor experience!! (raft guide, horseback guide, fishing guide, basically anything the instructor used to enjoy doing before realizing it is not nearly as fun when you have to do it)

--Perform in a summer children's theater group  (I mistakenly thought that because I could make my ski school students laugh, it would work with the summer tourists at my resort.  I was wrong.)

--Return to the "real" job-the one that pays for the addiction to teaching skiing (I admit, I haven't personally tried that option)

"Summer is coming up, what are you going to do?"

A lot of instructors I've worked with actually do have a trust fund, and can literally afford to do what they want over the non-snow times.  For the rest of us, creativity, flexibility and a vow of poverty come in handy.  The insecurity of potentially no income for over half of the year is too much for many instructors, and eventually leads them to another line of work.  Looking at the same issue with a different view, what other profession allows someone to try on other hats, cultures and locations when the work year ends?

"So, what are you going to do this summer?"

Here it is:  This year, we (Tom, 6 year old Christopher, the dog, the cat, the goldfish, one shamrock plant and I) are going to be campground hosts at a resort on the borders of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.  I have visited the area before to try waterskiing on the 91 mile reservoir that highlights this resort, thinking that snow skiing would easily translate.  In my case, it doesn't. 

But I do love the blend of lake/desert/forest at altitude (6,400 feet above sea level) and I love a challenge.  This should provide ample opportunity for the latter.  Once again, I get to take something I love to do and try to eke out an existence, and it is both exciting and scary.  If nothing else, it should provide plenty of writing material!

Now, your turn:  What are you going to do this summer?

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written by Sparky , March 10, 2009

I’m going to do the same thing I have done for the last 32 summers, my low level bureaucratic desk job. A job that requires me to wade through meaningless minutia without letting any of it stick to me. However the end is in site, if the market turns around at all I will be able to retire without having to give up that nasty habit I have of eating everyday. Then I just might be able to switch from part time instructor to the slam bam live on the racers edge of full time ski instructing. I can’t wait.

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written by bananarama , March 18, 2009

I like this post. Good work. I plan on spending my summer in the woods.

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