Snowlines: A working guide on how to ski for free

By COLIN MOORE

Sometimes it is an advantage to live at the bottom of the world, particularly if you are young and want to ski or board on the legendary powder slopes of North America and get paid for it.

The advantage in living Down Under is that our annual holiday times tend to coincide with the winter sports season in Canada and the United States, where, at the height of the season, the resorts are crying out for workers.

And most just can't get enough of your typically resourceful and hard-working young Kiwi. Go to any of the bigger resorts in Canada or the United States and you'll likely find a Debbie, from Dunedin, cleaning your room, or a Paul, from Tauranga, working as a liftie, and David, from Whangarei, clearing tables in the resort cafeteria.

Some have finished their tertiary studies and are on the way to Europe for their OE but others are working during our university summer break.

A season pass lift ticket usually comes with the job so there is plenty of opportunity for skiing or boarding on days off.

While there is usually no difficulty in finding work, you do have to take something of a gamble, particularly at the Canadian resorts.

Most require that you be interviewed in Canada. That means you have to get a student work visa from the Canadian consulate, buy an air ticket and take your chances.

In reality, it is a fairly safe bet that you will get a job. Log in to a resort's website and you should get all the information you need before taking the plunge.

A good place to start looking may be at the annual Ski'n'Board Canada Travel Show at the Maritime Museum on August 5. Representatives from several Canadian skifields will be there and while they won't be looking for workers, they should be able to provide contacts.

There is more certainty of a job before you leave home with International Exchange Programmes, a student work and travel programme that recruits New Zealand seasonal labour for nine US resorts.

IEP uses Work USA, a programme sponsored by the International YMCA, that allows fulltime tertiary students to work and travel legally in the US at the end of the academic year. A special visa allows participants to take paid employment for four months and travel for 30 days.

Resorts have representatives here next month for interviews but you need to apply for a work visa before August 3.

The resorts include Heavenly and Mammoth in California; Deer Valley, Utah, one of the host venues for next year's winter Olympics; and Copper Mountain in Colorado.

Jobs range from lift operators to cooks and childcare workers. Auckland interviews are on August 11 at Sky City.

Contact: IEP, ph 0800 443 769

info@iepnz.co.nz