France Foodie to First Chair: Nightshift Nathan

Words and photos by Nathan Allen l STE Contributing Chef

Long ago, I decided to go to culinary school because I liked cooking. I was reasonably good at it and if I got the degree, I could make some money at it. That was my thinking, but for most people cooking school is a pretty bad investment. When you graduate there are few restaurants willing to hire the inexperienced, regardless of education. If you can work your way up the ladder, the upper reaches of the industry don’t pay that much and culinary school was very expensive. It’s not a great career path either. Chefs and cooks are often addicted to drugs, alcohol, adrenaline or simply being an ass. Those who are successful tend to be very driven, and leave little time for a life outside the kitchen.

This column is not about deriding my chosen profession though. On the contrary, I hope to give the Ski The East community some helpful information on nutrition, where the best places to eat are and how to save money on the hill. Food and skiing have formed an unlikely partnership in my life and my job lets me ski almost every day.  …..And people say you shouldn’t mix business and pleasure. 

This column is also about working for ski resorts. It is about people you meet in town and on the hill and it is about the experiences and viewpoints that only a person on the inside can get.  It is not simply about repetition either. Obviously a person who skis 60 days a year is going to have a different viewpoint than the guy up from New Jersey with his family once a year.  

Resort employees spend 40 hours a week on or near the hill and that does not include the hours of skiing before work or the hours spent in bars after work. We see all sides of the sport; the good, the bad and the ugly. We have made our lives revolve around a place that carries people up a mountain and lets them slide down it.  People do this for different reasons and believe it or not some of them actually hate skiers, snow and cold temperatures. Some of them have never skied before and never will while some of them become hardcore skiers because of their jobs. Many do it for a short period of time while they are young and unfettered and some are lifers. 

Before I moved to Vermont I was living in Paris, France. It was an amazing, life changing experience and I know what you’re thinking; the skiing must have been awesome. I am sure it was but I could never go.  It was a stressful time and all I did was work. Paris is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I made the French minimum wage. I lived in a tiny room with a bathroom down the hall and I had to shower in the locker room at work. I spoke terrible French and spent my days being screamed at by psychopaths and masochists.

I lived in Paris for 2 years and when it was time to move on; my future wife and I decided we did not want to live in the city for a while. Vermont was near our families and ski area towns provided the best opportunities for restaurant work. I was ready for a more relaxed pace. At the time, skiing was secondary; I would not have considered myself a hardcore skier before I moved here. Sure I knew how to ski, had grown up skiing, but it wasn’t an important part of my life. 

We started at Stowe and secured jobs in town. We did not have a place to live yet and we camped in Smugglers Notch. I don’t mean at a campground either, we were living out of a piece of crap car my father had given me. We had literally just gotten off a plane from Paris two days ago and now were brushing our teeth in a mountain stream. It was quite a culture shock….or lack of culture shock.  Luckily enough we had arrived during fall foliage season and there were plenty of people hiring. We soon got an apartment and moved out of the woods. Fall is an exciting time in a ski town. Stowe is great because everybody is making a bunch of money and the excitement is building for opening day.

I met some skiers at work and they were stoked to talk to a newbie and heralded the benefits of their mountain. All they cared about was skiing. They lived in a world I never knew existed.  They were waiters or cooks and bartenders and dishwashers. As long as the job didn’t have too much responsibility and left the mornings free, it was an acceptable source of modest income. Many stay in swanky rented condos with hot tubs and fireplaces. They pretend they’re on vacation all winter.

Once the snow fell that winter, my season began in earnest. I skied every day. The more I skied the more I strived to get better. I went out in the rain and when everybody else agreed it was way too cold.  My life was skiing followed by work. If I had the day off it just meant I could ski for a few more hours. My friends from work were real rippers. They would lead me all over Stowe’s secret stashes, bring me up above tree line to the summit and generally enable me to risk life and limb by chasing skiers who were way above my skill level.  

I got to know the mountain really well that year. I was amazed at how much my skiing improved. I was careful to not adopt the annoying vibe that some of the locals had. You know the guy who tells you how many days he had on the hill last year before he tells you his name. We are not finding a cure for cancer; after all, it is just skiing. I did feel like I was experiencing Stowe in a special way. I was a part of the machinery that provided a lot of people with unforgettable experiences. I was on the inside now and I got to make fun of the tourists, complain about white license plates clogging the parking lot and duck ropes to access my favorite out of bounds powder stashes.

As that first winter wound down I realized I was living an exceptional lifestyle. Not everyone gets to indulge themselves this way. I thought to myself that I could probably do it for another season at least. I have worked at 4 different resorts or nearby towns over the last 8 winters and maybe this'll be the start to telling a few of those stories here on Ski The East. Hope you liked this one.