In Search of Powder - 9780803228399

"In Search of Powder by Jeremy Evans is funny, irreverent, hedonistic, saucy, insightful, and ski-obsessed. Much like the ski bums detailed within."---Rob Story, editor at large of Powder and Skiing magazines

"As with being poor, the problem with ski bumming is it takes up most of your time....Fortunately, Jeremy Evans has taken the time to write the book, long needed, that ski bumming has always deserved."---Wayne Sheldrake, author of Instant Karma: The Heart and Soul of a Ski Bum

"At times tragic and enlightening, In Search of Powder is a must-read for anyone who cherishes the ideal of finding freedom in the mountains."---Matt Hansen, senior editor of Powder magazine

As a recent college graduate and fledging newspaper reporter in the Lake Tahoe area, Jeremy Evans became immersed in ski bum culture---a carefree lifestyle whose mantra was simply: "Ski as much as possible." His snowboarding suffered when he left for a job in the Portland area; and when, at twenty-six, he suffered a stroke, he reexamined his priorities, quit his job, moved back to Tahoe, and threw himself into snowboarding. But while he had been away, the culture had changed. This book is Evans's paean to the disappearing culture of the ski bum. A fascinating look at a world far removed from the larger culture, it is also a curious account of a passion for powder and what its disappearance means.

Evans looks at several prominent ski towns in the West (including Crested Butte, Jackson Hole, Telluride, Lake Tahoe, Park City, and Mammoth) and the ski bums who either flourished or fled. He chronicles the American West transformed by rising real estate costs, an immigrant work-force, misguided values, and corporate-owned resorts. The story he tells is that of quintessentially American characters---rejecting materialism, taking risks, following their own path---and of the glories and pitfalls their lifestyle presents.