Hello again, and welcome back to WTB’s packing list for niche travel situations! This episode, we’ll be listing everything you should pack to survive the winter while living and working at a ski resort.
Believe it or not, all of this can fit into one suitcase! Of course, some items such as laundry detergent needed to be bought upon arrival, but for the most part, all of these things allowed me to live, albeit minimalistically, for three whole months in California.
So without further ado, here is what I packed to work at a ski resort:
Luggage
- 1 large suitcase (checked bag)
- 1 collapsible water resistant backpack (personal item)
Dorm gear
- Subzero-Sleeping Bag (unzips to double as a blanket)
- Camping Pillow
- Fitted Sheet (queen size)
- Towel
- First-Aid Kit (decongestant, peptobismol, ibuprofin/naproxen, gauze, bandaids, antibiotic ointment)
- 3 small tupperware containers (for lunch packing/meal prep)
- 1 bowl, 1 plate, 1 set of utensils
- drawstring bag (used as lunchbox, reusable shopping bag, etc.)
- fold-up posters for room personalization 🙂
Clothes
- Snow pants
- Skiing gloves
- normal gloves
- heavy winter coat
- patagonia fleece pullover
- baseball cap
- winter hat
- 2 thermal headbands/sweatbands? I don’t know the exact name
- 1 pair of jeans
- 1 pair of denim shorts
- 5 thermal tshirts/tank tops
- 3 turtlenecks
- 2 sweatshirts
- 2 pairs of running shorts
- 2 pairs of black leggings
- 1 pair of linen pants
- 1 pair of sweatpants
- 14 pairs of underwear
- 2 sports bras, 2 regular bras
- 10 pairs of normal socks
- 16 pairs of thermal socks
- 5 face masks
Toiletries
- Shampoo
- Conditioner
- Body and Face Sunscreen
- Facial moisturizer
- Bar of Body Soap
- Bar of Hand Soap
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrush
- Retainer
- Loofah
- 2 face towels
- 3oz micellar water
- Makeup
Electronics and other tech
- Laptop + charger
- Phone + charger
- Portable powerbank
- GoPro + charger + MicroSD card
- Multi-outlet surge protector
So that was everything that I packed to prepare for working the winter season at a ski resort!
I hope it helps you to begin a packing list of your own, but since everyone’s needs and preferences are different, be sure to personalize it to your comfort!
Did I miss anything on this list? If so, please let me know so that I can add it.
Some things I learned from my experience working at a ski resort:
- In my experience, clothes get dirty way faster when you work outside as opposed to inside, which meant that the tradeoff of minimizing clothes-packing is that I had to do laundry at least once a week, which can add up in cost.
- I know it seems like an outrageous number of socks, but trust me, you will need them. Clean socks were always the item I ran out of first.
- If I could go back, I would have brought more kitchen items, like pots, pans, and a can opener. We weren’t provided with many of these in employee housing, and I felt like I was gambling with my life every time I used a knife to open (stab) a can of beans.
- I was able to get/borrow ski gear from my friends, so didn’t experience a great need to buy gear ahead of time. There are also charity and consignment shops that have some amazing deals on second-hand gear, so I would recommend waiting until you get to the resort to buy ski and snowboard gear.
- Even after offloading a lot of items before I returned home, I had to pay Allegiant an embarrassing amount of money in overweight baggage fees 🙁 I’m not sure how this happened since I didn’t add any weight but basically weigh your bag ahead of time if if you can.