Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg

Uncovering the Hidden Side of Ski Seasons

by Christiane McGuire

szn

The Idealised Season

Ski seasons are the experience of a lifetime, offering alternative lifestyles to pursue our wildest dreams and adventure in ways we never have before. They provide escapism, a mountain life away from the confines of classrooms, offices, and lecture theatres.

Just picture it:

Whoops of joy break through the still and snowy morning as you and your friends carve fresh tracks through the snow. After experiencing an adrenaline rush from the day, you drink the night away with great people in vibrant bars. Waking up the next day, you realize this isn’t a holiday. It has no end date. This holiday is, in fact, your real life. Better than you ever dreamed it.

This is a true insight into ski seasons, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. In reality, like everything else, ski seasons are not the solution to all your problems, and are not without some caveats. Moving country, and finding accommodation and work in a highly sought-after location can be incredibly taxing on mental health. Comparing the difficulties you find in a season with the picture-perfect Instagram lifestyles of other seasonaires makes it much harder.

Screenshot 2024 08 22 at 8.04.37 PM

Fresh Powder Mornings on My Whistler Ski Season (2022-2023)

Glamorising the Ski Season

Glamorised since the 1920s, it is no surprise that ski and snowboard videos and culture have flourished in the age of social media. TikTokers receive millions of views for promoting a seasonaire lifestyle. Often these accounts only show the euphoric side of seasons, isolating those who are facing very normal struggles of homesickness, housing, and job problems. Ski instructor ‘@thatgirlwhoskis’ has 27,600 followers and a subsequent sponsorship with Atomic, regularly posting content that idealises a seasonaire lifestyle. In a recent TikTok post, her smiling face informs us that working as a ski instructor means … she can ski for free all year!


Free ski passes, meeting like-minded people, and experiencing incredible nightlife are all real, truly amazing aspects of the ski season. However, by only showing the positive sides, this unrealistic idealisation ignores the tougher areas of the season. This hyper-positive environment silences those experiencing highly normal challenges on their season. Without a space to discuss the harder aspects of the seasonaire lifestyle, those struggling can feel isolated and alone.

It is normal to feel this way.


Everything in life comes with struggle and benefit. Yes, ski seasons are amazing. And yes, they are also difficult to sort out. Through SZN, we now have a community to talk about these very normal challenges, a space to discuss negative feelings to prevent people from struggling alone.

The Full Iceberg of Ski Seasons

True Struggles of Seasons

Nothing good in life comes easy, and with the highs of a ski season being so high, obviously the lows can be low too. Decisions to do a season are largely based on a past holiday, an idealised Instagram post, or dreams of what could be. You will experience the positive, the great moments. There are challenges though; homesickness, job, and housing can cause anxiety and mental health issues. Please continue reading to learn my tips and tricks for navigating these issues.

Navigating Life Abroad

Moving overseas is incredibly exciting, but it is also highly normal to become homesick, and to sometimes feel lonely. Homesickness is something I truly struggled with, even when I was loving the new place I was in.


I moved out alone, greatly enjoying the freedom to exist outside of preconceived expectations. I made some excellent, lifelong friends and learned a great deal about myself, gaining clarity on my sense of self. Yes, I know, it’s a ‘gap yah’ cliché, but it rings true. Even if you move out with friends, being far from your widespread support system throws new challenges at you every day. Your resilience and independence increase as you deal with issues yourself. In resorts further afield from Europe, you are not even awake during the same hours as your home friends and family. Asking for their opinion becomes limited to a few hours of the day.

I truly loved living abroad and believe doing so is vital in your 20s, giving you true freedom to explore yourself and enjoy. Amidst all the benefits, I found an underlying homesickness. Stronger on some days than others. Some days I would wake up super excited to be away from home, skiing every day and having endless fun. On other days (predominantly the hungover days, let’s be honest), homesickness would hit me with a genuine sharp pain in my chest. Missing my family and friends, and wishing I could just fly home to see them or pick up the phone to call them.

If you feel this way, I know it is overwhelming and feels uncontrollable. These are some tips and tricks I found helpful when feeling this way:

  • Take Control: Remind yourself that this is only temporary and you have complete control over the situation. It was much harder for me at the start when I felt unsettled, jet-lagged, and had no routine. I recommend that you push through it. But remember, if you are still upset you can leave, nothing is keeping you there and it’s absolutely fine to realise you’re happier at home. Sometimes it takes going somewhere else to realise your life was perfect before.

 

  • Schedule Times To Talk: Schedule a specific day and time to talk to your family and friends (this can be weekly, or whenever). That way you’re not stressing about when you can next talk, or whether you’ll have time.

 

  • Know the Time: Add the different time zones to your home screen as a widget. This really helped me to feel connected and also not call at all hours of the night. (I have an iPhone but am sure it’s possible for the non-iPhone owners amongst us.)

 

  • Use Online Tools: I connected with Better Help (an online, affordable therapy service). When moving abroad, homesickness is undeniable for most of us. Please remember that this struggle is only normal, and there are ways to cope. Reach out for further help if you need it, and be proud of yourself for relocating elsewhere to pursue the unbelievably incredible ski lifestyle.

Securing a Job

Another thing that goes forgotten with the glamorisation of ski seasons is the fact you do actually have to work. It is not a permanent holiday. Jobs can be great fun and I met some great people when working.


If you’ve never visited a place or done a ski season, it’s difficult to know what to look for in a job. I found looking from home incredibly overwhelming, with many different websites, pages, and Facebook groups. There are some large companies where you pay £1000 or more for them to sort out a job and accommodation for you. However, you have no say or choice in where you work, opening you up to working in awful conditions, or far from the slopes, etc.


As you are doing a ski season for 6 months, you should be equipped to choose the job you will do to sustain yourself there. With SZN, you can finally properly understand the job you may do on your season, and choose one that works best for you.


I truly wish SZN existed when I was looking for jobs, allowing you to filter and understand jobs based on your preferences. Because ski seasons are working holidays, you will be working in one place for 6 months, so it would be ideal to like the workplace and ensure it allows you to make the most of your working holiday.


Here are some tips when filtering jobs on SZN:

  • Accommodation: Unless you have already found somewhere to stay, this is a necessity. As ski resorts are so popular, non-staff accommodation is limited, expensive, and majorly goes to well-connected locals. (Take it from me, it’s not fun to go without housing.) Ask how many people you are sharing with and for images of housing.

 

  • Visas: Depending on where you’re going, if a company will help you through the visa process this is vital. For Canada, it is relatively easy to secure a visa.

 

  • Hours: Think about opening hours and what your priorities are. Working evenings means you can ski in the day, but may sleep through your early morning alarms! Some offer split shifts that give you a 4-hour break to ski, etc.

 

  • Ski Pass Provided: Many companies will offer a free ski pass, saving you thousands.

Sharing Accommodation

Whether you have sorted accommodation before or plan to sort it later, you must prepare for living in shared and confined spaces. You will likely be sharing a room alongside living with a large number of people. If you went to university, it’s similar to halls in the first year, sharing common spaces with many other people. Alongside this, you will likely be sharing a room.


In my 18 months in Whistler, I shared a 3×4 metre room with 4 others (private accommodation), then a lovely hotel room with double beds with 3 others. Ultimately, after a year, I secured a private room; however, I lived with 14 others, and my room was still very small.


In a ski resort where a private room is coveted and largely unheard of, living in shared rooms has its strains. Waking up when your roommate wakes up, not having access to privacy, and living in messy conditions in large share-houses takes its toll. Some aspects of shared living are extremely fun, whilst others drain on you as time goes on.


Highly dependent on who you are sharing with, here are my top tips for sharing accommodation:

  • GOOD HEADPHONES!!: You will hear noise at all times. If you’re not at afters, you don’t want to be kept up until 6am. My personal choice is a ‘Musicozy,’ a sleep mask with built-in Bluetooth headphones (I kept losing my AirPods).

 

  • Respect People’s Space: Mostly, seasonaires are like-minded and there for the same reasons. However, people are different ages, looking for different things, and have different schedules. Ensure you talk about this and navigate differences. Don’t push your needs to the side, but have healthy boundaries.

 

  • Prepare for it to be hard: Sometimes sharing is really fun, other times I wanted to scream at my roommates. Understand that you’re living in an incredible place and this is temporary to experience a ski season (it’s all part of it).

 

  • Take Time For Yourself: Working with others, skiing with others, going out, and sharing a room. Being around others is fun, but when it’s constant, you must remember to take time for yourself. Ski alone, go for a walk, or simply ask for half an hour in the room alone.

 

  • Remind yourself that you’re lucky to have accommodation, even if it is shared. I knew people who sofa-surfed (essentially homeless) for the entire season. Enjoy having people there at all times, learn from others, and implement your boundaries.

Take the Leap!

Despite their challenges, seasons are a very privileged thing to be able to do, and we must not forget that. To get the chance to do a ski season is extremely lucky and should not be taken for granted.


My season was still one of the best things I have ever had the privilege of doing. I am not trying to put you off a ski season. Struggling through these conditions made me more resilient. Working and living with like-minded people made the experience enjoyable and hilarious. Oh, and skiing every day with new friends made it truly incredible.


There is no better feeling than waking up and skiing before going to work. Or taking a split shift and skiing on a 4-hour break. Or going to the local pub and getting some discount beers after a hard day skiing. The camaraderie and friendship that comes from ski seasons is unmatched. And the fun had is unbelievable, especially when you have worked harder to get it.

Welcome to the Future

SZN, a Community of Seasonaires

Let’s bridge the gap between the idealised and the hidden underbelly of ski seasons. To move beyond the tip of the iceberg, and portray the full thing.


Mental health shouldn’t be masked with unrealistic lifestyles, and seasonaires should have a place to find community.


As a free platform that pairs you to jobs you actually choose, SZN means you don’t have to go through these challenges alone. If you are struggling, I hope this platform has provided you with some comfort and made you realise these issues are normal.

If you are experiencing stress & mental health issues there are 24/7 crisis phonelines available to call, free of charge- This website provides a list of helplines filtered by country: https://www.helpguide.org/find-help.htm. You do not have to struggle alone.