DrHF Even the successful end up in a challenging lifestyle. Ski instructors start at over $25/hr and quickly move into the $40+/hr range (my numbers are a few years old) at Aspen. This doesn’t include tips which can be $100s a day. Then there are the perks. The goal was to befriend several wealthy families who then requested you every time they were in town. It wasn’t really for lessons so much as a “rent a local” deal. You would be invited to their home for dinner. Take the kids up when the folks had other plans. Run errands. Sometimes get a summer trip to their Hawaii home for a couple of weeks. Everything paid but you were expected to help out with things. In return you got lots of hours, big tips, all expenses, and maybe a cast off ten year old Porsche. Meanwhile when they weren’t around you lived a regular ski town life. You probably were out of the employee housing but that down valley two bedroom house costs $5000/month. And you had reached the peak.
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