PowderPeople | Miles Clark - Winter all year

PG:Hi Miles, three sentences about you: Who are you, what do you do, and why are we doing this interview?
Miles Clark: My name is Miles, I'm 33 years old and from Northern California. I'm a small-time pro skier, a mountaineering guide, and a writer/editor with UnofficialNetworks.com. I started skiing at 18-years old and skiing has been the one constant in my life since that time.

PG:Most readers will surely ask, "how the hell is it possible to ski all year round?" - tell us your secrets - the real secrets! How can you make a living?
Miles: To be honest, it's tough to ski year-round and make a "living," but there are ways to do it. As of right now, I've lived in year-round winter for 3 years and I've used a bizarre concoction of occupations and unemployment to make it happen.

The first summer I came to Argentina to ski (2009), I had no job the entire summer and was accruing debt each and every day. But, while I was in Argentina that first summer, I met the owners of South America Snow Sessions and the owners of UnofficialNetworks.com. Those meetings paid off. The following summer (2010), I came back to Argentina and worked as a mountain guide for South America Snow Sessions. The summer after that (2011), I worked as local reporter, writer, as well as editor for UnofficialNetworks.com in Argentina.

PG:What's your timetable for a standard year?
Miles: I definitely don't have a "standard year" set up just yet. Since graduating college in 2001, I've worked as a carpentar, mountain guide, writer & bartender during the summer months. In the winter months, I've always made sure I have 6 months to do nothing but ski. My winters are actually pretty standard (Lake Tahoe, CA), but my summers have been extremely varied (Alaska, Washington, Argentina, San Francisco).

During winter, I move to Lake Tahoe, CA on December 1st. I ski in Tahoe (with a bit of ski oriented travel in North America) throughout the winter until June 1st. That hasn't changed since 2001. The past 3 summers I've spent skiing in Bariloche, Argentina. But before that, I'd spend 4, 5, or 6 months each summer working to make enough money to return to Tahoe and take 6 months off again.

Another semi-standard part of my year has been a fall surf trip. Each fall, I try to take a one month tropical surf trip. These trips generally have to be somewhere cheap. I've been lucky enough to surf in Indonesia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, California, and Hawaii on these trips.

PG:Winter all year sounds really lovely. You mentioned the bikins and the heat. Don't you feel cold sometimes, miss the sun or at least some beach bunnies in sexy bikinis?
Miles: Yep, the bikinis are certainly one of the main things missed. But, that said, I don't know if anywhere has more beautiful women then Argentina. They may not be in bikinis, but they are well dressed, sophisticated, gorgeous, and fun to be around despite their obvious over abundance of clothing.

PG:Skiing in South America is a big dream for most freeriders. Whats the (biggest) difference between skiing in the US and down there?
Miles: The differences can be large. The main thing to do in South America, is to open your mind. South America is nothing like Europe or North America. South America is a continent of developing nations and things run very different down there. You have to open your heart and mind and accept things exactly as they are. Things may not run as smoothly as you're used to, but once your mind is open enough, you'll realize that the ruggedness is the most interesting aspect of a trip to South America.

A few fun tips for skiing South America

PG:What are your expert-tips for our readers, who dream about skiing year-round - or even just skiing a lot?
Miles: Okay, here's a few fun tips for skiing South America:
1. Commit to a summer in South America. Don't think about it or dream about it - do it and do it now, while you're young. You'll never regret it. The first time I came to South America to ski was the most interesting trip I've ever been on. Save up almost enough money for the entire summer, put the rest on your credit card, convince some buddies to come with you (or better yet, go alone and really experience South America), rent a room for the summer in a ski town, buy a season pass, study Spanish, and ski everyday. Just go.
2. the season is short in South America. You don't need to show up until July and it's pretty much over by October 1st.
3. Don't come for less than 1 month, and if you only come for one month, come from August 7th - September 7th.
4. Americans have got to get a Credit Union debit card. Credit Unions don't charge to take money out of foreign ATMs nor do they charge money conversion fees and they pay you back for the fees ATMs charge you. Normal banks charge around $5 usd to take cash out of ATMs as well as a 3% conversion fee and they don't reimburse you for the fees charged by ATMs. A Credit Union will save you hundreds of dollars in South America. (Editor's note: Credit cards with free withdrawals worldwide are available in Germany, for example from Comdirect, Postbank and some other online banks)
5. Learn as much Spanish as you can while you're in South America (Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language on Earth - 20 countries have Spanish as their official language). Live with South Americans if you can, date South Americans if you can, take Spanish classes if you can, study Spanish for 30 minutes every night, and spend as much time learning Spanish as you possibly can. If you're a European or North American and you can speak Spanish, many more doors will be open to you in South America.
6. If you have time & money after ski season, go to one of these destinations: Iguzu Falls in Brazil/Argentina, the Amazon River Basin in Peru/Columbia/Brazil, Pennisula Valdes in Argentina (penguins, whales, dolphins, orcas, elephant seals, emus, lamas, armadillos, patagonian hares, flamingos).

PG: Nobody stays young forever. Responsabilities grow and maybe there will be some little Miles's to feed in the future. When will you get a serious life? Will you ever?
Miles: Ah, the dreaded life security question. It's true, there's no avoiding it. After 10 years of ski bumming, you're going to find yourself in your 30s, broke, single & with essentially nothing to show for yourself.

Serious girlfriend: Forget about it.
Successfull Breeding: Difficult without serious girlfriend.
Real World Job: No way in hell.
Money: Ha, you're lucky if you aren't in debt.

This all adds up to a feeling of insecurity, sleepless nights, and the big question "what am I going to do with my life?" We all know we can't simply be a broke-ass ski bum our whole lives, we've got to find something to get us through. For me, the solution was always to go back to school. I moved to South America in 2009 with the idea that it would be my last big hurrah before I took the GRE (graduate research exam), went to graduate school, got a real job, and started my "real life." Of course, that trip to South America backfired violently. During that trip, I ended up making the connections that would allow me to acquire some security while continuing my disgusting ski bum lifestyle. I hope that every die-hard ski bum encounters something that allows them to keep living the life they choose.