Replying to Where can I afford to ski bum?

Alright folks, how the fuck do you do it? I mean honestly, how can you afford to be a ski bum? Do you have rich parents who support you? Grandma owns a condo in Colorado? I'm wondering WHAT IS YOUR SECRET because I am really fucking struggling right now to make ends meet let alone ski.

I finally made the jump from the east to the west this past year. I have what most would consider a decent job, working in the environmental field. The work is fucking rad. I love where I work. I love getting paid to be in the field. However the pay sucks. I'm talking significantly less than what all these fast food workers are fighting to earn. I have a solid college degree too. And to make things better, these jobs are 7-8 month temporary positions, meaning I am cut for winter. Now, you may think to yourselves, "That's perfect you have the whole winter to ski!" Well I contest that collecting unemployment and food stamps, is far from perfect and a slight blow to my hard-working ass, but the simple fact remains I come out of this job with just as much money as I started. I have a shit rig that won't make it out of the valley. Affording a new(er) car seems near impossible. I don't get handouts from rich family. I work hard for everything I've earned.

Now, that leaves me to working in a ski town. Great... Tahoe, Colorado, Jackson, Whistler, etc. get a job at a mountain that pays $9/hr part-time so they don't have to pay benefits. Then tack on exorbitant housing prices and cost of living. All you folks shredding pow for breakfast, then getting wasted at night with pics of hot mountain babes, with your shit-eating smirks, it all looks so fun yet what is your secret? How do you do it?

Get a touring rig..ski for free... Yah if only I had a few hundred dollars for new (even used) equipment), safety gear, and a recommended avalanche course.

I need to vent and I need advice and motivation. I used to love this sport so much it consumed most of my days just thinking...dreaming about the big mountains out west, the endless powder, the wild, desolate open lands of endless opportunity. Is this the American tragedy of the west? I feel like I'm almost there, but like the countless gold miners and oil rig workers am in search of a lucrative dream that is almost there, but always just burned right at the end, while the already well-off get richer and richer. What can I do?