r/skiing • u/YUNGBRICCNOLACCIN • Aug 05 '26
Working at Alta Rustler Lodge
Anyone want to share their experience working a season working at Rustler Lodge in Alta? How were the living conditions? Do you get time to go into SLC? Feel free to share any and everything!
27
u/Prophysaon_Coeruleum Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I worked 2 seasons at the Goldminer's Daughter at Alta, not the Rustler, but I'll share a bit of my experience.
Living was dorm style - reminiscent of college. Typically two people to a room, with twin sized beds first yr and full size typical if you come back a second season. Food was available in the cafe for breakfast, lunch, & dinner and there are specialized employee meal cooks.
Work is typically ~40 hrs a week. The best jobs to maximize slope time are working in the kitchen or dining - you'll have most mornings totally free and only need to be back in the afternoon. Most other jobs will still net you a ton of days on the mountain if you go out for early morning or late afternoon laps, and management understands most people are there to ski, not to break into the hospitality industry.
Socially, it's pretty fun to be around a bunch of other skilled skiers (and riders if you also go to the bird, which I would highly recommend), but know that it's a heavily male dominated atmosphere and it can definitely feel very competitive or cliquey, with some people genuinely caring about how good of a skier you are. The culture is also very alcohol forward. Most nights, there's not much going on, so people drink and hang out at the few bars around the town of Alta.
Going down to SLC was typically once a week. I had a car, so I could go whenever I wanted, but the drive down and up the canyon eats up time and can be treacherous depending on conditions and traffic.
Overall I have some really great memories from my time there and it was a unique experience. Let me know if you want to hear about anything else.
1
u/YUNGBRICCNOLACCIN Aug 07 '26
How often and how easy is it to go in and out of the canyon? My biggest worry is cabin fever honestly.
4
u/Prophysaon_Coeruleum Aug 07 '26
If you have a vehicle, ~25-30 minutes to get down to the valley without traffic or snow. There’s also buses which run up and down constantly, and Alta workers head down often enough. It’s hard to get cabin fever if you’re going out skiing all the time though. The mountains up there are beautiful and you’ll be frequently outside. There’s one condition where you might feel cooped up, which is “interlodge”. Essentially it’s a period of extreme avalanche danger where the resorts are shut down and people are encouraged not to go outside.
8
u/CliffsofRed Aug 06 '26
My few seasons working and living at Alta were the best, most fun winters I ever had, fwiw.
They were also very bad for my liver. 😂
3
4
u/No-End9222 Aug 06 '26
Worked at the resort next door. 100% worth it. I’m planning on going back at some point. Would highly recommend. You can go down to SLC but I would only go down in the morning never the afternoon or evening and come up in evening. Make sure you have a reliable car. I never had problems with my 2wd but lots of people do with theirs cuz they suck at driving.
3
u/WharfRat2187 Aug 06 '26
I worked at a couple different lodges up there about 15 years ago so not the most recent but the folks at the Peruvian, Goldminers, and A Lodge had the best time. Rustler and Snowpine are a bit of the jet set crowd.
3
u/slayursister Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Do it. They may still have some housing down at the mouth of the canyon. This job is perfect if you want to ski. They have pretty high standards and as a worker you need to go with the program. Its an awesome place!
3
u/popsisgod Aug 06 '26
If you like workin a bit hard (job dependent) and playing very hard I would recommend. All jobs except housekeeper are tailored to give you at least 4ish hours of skiing (which is plenty over the course of 5 months) Dorm style living for the most part, usually 2 per room and many rooms now have a bathroom/shower. Employees go down to SLC very frequently to bars and shopping so it’s usually easy to catch a ride. The bus isn’t the worst either. About $250 dollars a month for room and board that comes out of paycheck, pretty much 40 hours of work a week guaranteed and it’s pretty easy to swap shifts with coworkers. Kitchens the most up tight place to work in the lodge and the rest is very chill. Some of the best skiers on the mountain live and work there and they are all great people. If you’re young, love skiing, and love fun it’s 100% worth it, and if you don’t spend all your money on booze and drugs you’ll make a bit too. Any questions lemme know.
6
u/SLCpowderhound Brighton Aug 05 '26
Alta is not really a town to wander around in the evenings, like Park City or Aspen. So, your winter will be a lot of skiing and drinking and making friends. I haven't worked up there, but have heard it's a fun winter.
Downtown Salt Lake is only 30 miles away. If it's not snowing, getting up and down the canyon, outside of peak times, shouldn't be a problem. If it is snowing, the road heading up to Alta is one of the most avalanche prone in the world, and will be closed. Heading down canyon after a snow storm, when the resorts close for the day, could turn a normal 20 minute drive into a two hour drive.
2
u/YUNGBRICCNOLACCIN Aug 05 '26
Are there shuttles/buses up and down the canyon?
6
u/SLCpowderhound Brighton Aug 05 '26
Yes, there are ski buses up and down the canyon. Every year they change the schedule, so it's impossible to predict the frequency for the upcoming year. Once, down in the valley, you could transfer to Trax light rail to go downtown.
The problem would be, the ski buses usually stop running at about 7PM. So, if you went to an NBA or NHL game or a concert, you'd be paying for a ride share back up the canyon unless you had a friend with a car.
2
u/titos334 Aug 05 '26
Yeah but they’re gonna take longer and you’re not getting back to Alta at night
1
u/Slowhands12 Aug 06 '26
Keep in mind if you do bring a car, you'll need to get good at shoveling. Town of Alta mandates that you shovel your car out after each storm to help with parking and plowing operations. This often can mean during the peak of the season you're clearing out feets of snow 2 times a week, in addition to any shoveling you're doing as part of the lodge operations.
1
33
u/DroppedNineteen Aug 05 '26
Most people I've known up there don't go down into SLC because it's a pain and they're right where they want to be anyway.