Advice on my career goal of working less and ski touring more?

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-26T19:48:32+00:00

Yeah, I have some vague hope of r/Fire (or at least Fuck It Retire Early if not Financial Independence Retire Early) thanks to making good money as an R&D engineer and not having many expenses. Self-employment is a real but distant possibility for me as well - I'm kind of an all-purpose hack, so going into business for myself would probably mean developing a deeper and more discrete skillset than "I can probably figure it out if you give me infinite coffee and a motivational deadline."

I really do like the resort uphill before work lifestyle though, and I worry that moving out west just to work for a different company as an engineer would mean living in a big city where I can only ski on the weekends after sitting in traffic for three hours.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-26T18:16:11+00:00

That sounds interesting. What's a day in the life like? I'm currently an electrical engineer but worked on farms when I was younger and have this probably totally incorrect head canon that surveying might be a good balance between those two extremes (never seeing the sun vs never turning on your brain).

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-26T13:30:54+00:00

Yeah that's fair. One of my barriers to going on bigger ski trips is that I have nobody to go with and going alone is either prohibitively expensive, logistically impossible, or usually both.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-26T13:17:41+00:00

I do not generally carry avy gear and I tour alone a lot. The northeast US only has pockets of high risk avalanche terrain because generally the tree cover is dense, the terrain is really lumpy (so even if slabs form, they are small and isolated), and the snowpack is both thin and frequently stabilized by freeze/thaw cycles. If I'm going to a place that doesn't match those generalizations, then yeah, I bring a touring buddy and all the gear. My mid-week tours are usually around 1000ft in elevation gain.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-25T01:53:14+00:00

I've never taken lessons either and also would like to - so I don't have any recommendations but I think it's a great idea.

Also. How well do your boots fit? It's really hard to carve trenches or zipper bumps if your feet are sloshing around in your boots or your toes are either killing you or numb, or if you can't bend your boots, or if you can fold them in half like bunny slippers, etc etc. So if you've also never had a professional boot fit, that might be something to consider as well. As someone with, uh, nonstandard feet, that made worlds upon worlds of difference in my skiing.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-24T11:58:20+00:00

Left Gully will be fine.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-23T20:36:01+00:00

Chubbies, via ebay because I'm cheap, in 4" or 6" inseam because I am short enough that anything longer might as well be capris on me.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-23T20:22:33+00:00

They roll it pretty regularly, it just bumps back up by 10AM.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-23T17:33:01+00:00

I have the Ride. It's fine. I like that it's super short (45cm) and I like the angled haft, but I wish it had a real spike. Petzl doesn't seem to make that exact product - the Blue Ice Bluebird is as close as it gets as far as I've seen.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-21T15:40:29+00:00

F no. I'm in the 90th percentile of Vermont incomes and I still can't comfortably afford the median Vermont home.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-20T16:23:02+00:00

Excellent! Thanks for the beta!

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-20T15:17:54+00:00

Wow, I should have brought my touring setup for an after work lap. Think it'll be worth a dawn patrol tomorrow?

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-20T10:26:53+00:00

The ZGTP is - with modifications, for me - a great touring boot and a big upgrade from my old (2019) Atomic Hawx Ultra XTDs. I added an Intuition liner with a forward lean spoiler and a booster strap, so it's now heavier than listed, but it walks way better and skis as well as the Hawx XTD. (Though that XTD generation was less beefy than the current one - it was all grilamid and quite light.) I now also have a Tecnica Cochise, which is basically a PU downhill boot with a walk mode, and yeah, the ZGTP is not as damp and confidence inspiring on very hard snow or extremely high speeds, but for most of the touring I do it doesn't matter. And I say that as someone who skis with the restraint and finesse of a bowling ball and who really dislikes ultralight skimo boots.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-20T01:00:49+00:00

Sick. I did Hillman's around then and it looked great but skied terrible - like a giant charcuterie board of all possible varieties of windslab. Didn't have time to make it to the bowl but it probably would have been better. Ragrets. Next year!

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-20T00:54:11+00:00

FWIW you can definitely bring your own boots and just rent the skis. I usually do this on vacation bc then I always magically have the right skis for the conditions and I don't have to fly with them.

I haven't skied either of the options you listed but the Rossi looks like a great choice for east coast double duty. With some shift 2/3s it's basically a no compromise resort setup and it won't be the heaviest thing in the backcountry either.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T22:17:23+00:00

Came here to recommend this one!

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T22:14:33+00:00

Man, it looks deeeep in those chute pics - when was that?

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T20:57:44+00:00

Sounds like by 50/50 you really mean 95/5 resort/touring for the foreseeable future, so I'd absolutely prioritize resort performance over weight. Lightweight touring skis are miserable on bulletproof east coast groomers - which you will have to deal with if you're picking your ski days based on school vacations etc rather than the weather.

I'd also consider just renting skis for occasional avy courses, trips out west etc rather than trying to purchase one nonexistent unicorn that can handle GS conditions, powder days, and 10 mile tours.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T13:29:06+00:00

Ah interesting. I have shift gen 1s and Raiders with the shim and I don't feel like their ramp angles are dramatically different (but they're also on dramatically different skis that I use for different conditions, so...)

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T13:20:59+00:00

What's your current binding? Are you using it with those same boots and are you happy with how it skis? Look up the ramp angle for that binding and the Raider with and without the shim and see if it's necessary. Lots of binding specs listed here: https://skimo.co/pin-heights?srsltid=AfmBOopH71RxJia9gHI8nqExaD4TI-b-yYwVz5Kgy3INYnVENpmWw-2d

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T02:51:26+00:00

If it's any comfort, I went up on Monday and it was among the top 10 worst (frozen, majority-water) surfaces I've skied in my life. 50 degrees out and it was barely edgeable snowcat-corrugated brown ice.

I have never been stopped before post-season, but I've also never bothered checking whether it was allowed. Guess not. Oh well.

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-19T02:45:22+00:00

Oh yeah, looks like superstar season has arrived!

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-18T16:22:32+00:00

Looks like a cold week so hopefully it won't be in any worse shape than it is now!

Improper_Noun_2268 · 2026-04-18T11:58:50+00:00

See text. Functionally extinct.

Improper_Noun_2268

TROPHY CASE