Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Roles within and membership of the seasonal snow sport community
A sense of knowing who they are in relation to others was refl ected in this theme, not just the
functional aspect of the role but the identity of the role and the shared consciousness of being
similar are refl ected in the following two quotes:
So winter came round and we sort of knew all the important people around the town and
we are the locals on the mountain. And we, you know we just owned it. Not really but just
knew a lot more about the mountain, we'd spent some time there and everything was really
close. It is really small, like real tight knit, so you can't really choose who you do and don't
like, you have to deal with everyone.
(Jake, cleaner)
I can be sat next to somebody from the café or patrol on the bus to work, it really brings
that community spirit cause you end up just chatting to whoever next to you. And it's
awesome because you know the
lifties
, cause you sat next to them in the van, or you've been
to a party with them, then they help your kids. This year I've been helping out in rentals on
Saturday morning. Which is awesome 'cause rentals know me, and like when you're in the
staff room everyone's interacting.
(Alex, ski school, third year at Cardrona)
Both informants use similar terms, 'tight knit' and 'community spirit' to describe how they feel
about their co-workers. Knowing someone socially is not perceived as being signifi cantly
different from knowing them within the context of work, sharing the experience of working
at Cardrona creates a merging of spheres of work into a community of seasonal workers.
Membership of this community forms a bond of interaction that is not freely chosen, as Jake
comments 'you have to deal with everyone'. This description has much in common with Muniz
and O'Guinn's (2001) defi nition of a community, the shared consciousness of being similar with
a shared outlook overriding any personal differences.
Inherent in the sense of community is the sense of difference from the customers and the
literature implies that as 'locals' the snow sport workers believe they have higher status than
customers, however several informants expressed their gratitude towards customers. This
underpinned their sense of difference but not necessarily their superiority:
Every day I come up here and look at all the customers and thank God for them! If they
were not here paying lots of money I wouldn't be able to do the job I love. So every single
day I want to thank them.
(Maureen, snowboard instructor)
Popular culture and 'living the dream'
The underpinning assumption regarding the desirability of the lifestyle of seasonal snowsport
workers is evident in the preceding two sections; this fi nal section addresses how the 'living the
dream' concept is articulated by seasonal workers. They draw upon resources of the 'other' life
and popular culture perceptions of the attractiveness of their chosen style of life. 'Living the
dream' was mapped by Duncan (2008) in her work on snowsport employees at Whistler ski
resort in Canada. The phrase represented a seamless combination of work practices, community
membership and very enjoyable leisure practices. This analysis maps aspects of the destination
