For Petterson, skiing always has been a bummer
As a child, one of my favorite stories was that of Peter Pan. He and all his friends never grew old, and I, too, have tried diligently to avoid progressing to the next stage after childhood.
-- Jimmy Petterson, ski bum
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Jimmy Petterson attended Beverly Hills High. He graduated from USC as a history major and obtained a master’s degree in instruction and curriculum.
Armed with a teaching credential, he might have shaped minds and made a difference in young people’s lives.
But there was a problem: All Petterson wanted to do was hit the slopes. He was put on skis as an infant, taught by his Austrian mother and Norwegian father. And he has been addicted to powder ever since.
He gave teaching a try, as a substitute in Los Angeles from September through December. “But then I’d take off for the Alps,” he says, “and sometimes, when the ski season was over, I’d come back and sub again.”
But a funny thing happened after Petterson ultimately gave up teaching and began what remains an endless search for virgin powder and adventure, working odd jobs to get by.
He met the editor of a Finnish ski magazine, told him he was going to South America and begged him for a letter of introduction, passing him off as a journalist.
Petterson’s intent was merely to scam free lift tickets, he said. The editor reluctantly complied and off the ski bum went.
In Chile and Argentina he was not only presented lift passes, but also hotel rooms and meals. The treatment was too royal.
“I got a guilty conscience,” he concedes. “And I thought, ‘I really ought to try and write something.’ ”
Today, Petterson is an accomplished ski journalist whose stories and photos have appeared in publications in 15 countries. Moreover, because his specialty was profiling off-the-beaten-path destinations, he wrote a book: “Skiing Around the World,” which can be obtained via skiingaroundtheworld.net and at various ski shops in Southern California.
While visiting Los Angeles, Petterson, who lives in Sweden, explains that these professional accomplishments by no means strip the ski-bum tag from his persona. The vagabond lifestyle is ingrained in his soul, he says. Hustling freebies is a practice he’d continue even if he had a million dollars.
“I’ll still go into a restaurant at lunchtime and finish a meal someone left on the table, and then return to the slopes,” he boasts. “I can do that. It is no problem for me.”
Petterson, 57, skied in 47 countries before writing the coffee-table book, which contains 440 pages and is about as heavy as an actual coffee table.
It’s not a skier’s guide, but a colorful, photo-filled log of the author’s adventures with other ski bums. Flipping the pages, the reader may land in Japan and find Petterson overdosed on rice and searching for powder amid endless rice paddies.
“If this important Japanese foodstuff had been a little more slippery, I am sure they would have used it as artificial snow as well,” Petterson writes.
In Hungary he is awarded the pleasure of making first tracks on the slope of the Galyateto monolith, which includes 75 turns in 20 inches of fluff.
“Hungarian powder, of course, is not the equivalent of Utah powder,” Petterson writes. “But then again, Hungary is not famous for its powder, but for its goulash. That is not to say that the powder was like goulash -- it was much tastier!”
In Spain he arrives at Candanchu with its multiple double-black-diamond off-piste runs. “We were left in gaping awe at the extreme nature of the large cliffs and sheer rock faces in and around the resort,” the author describes.
“It looked like a cross between the Canadian Rockies and the Dolomites of Italy. And in between many of the limestone walls were steep ribbons of white, which started our adrenaline flowing at a mere glance.”
So it goes, through Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand, the United States, Africa and the Middle East.
In fact, Petterson says, one of his fondest recollections was the trip to Iran, not so much because of the skiing, which was surprisingly good, but the graciousness of the people.
Street vendors handed him fruit. Residents took him into their homes for tea. Iranian skiers invited him to parties.
They were the kinds of freebies that came from the heart, making them different than all others. The ski bum was clearly touched, recalling wistfully, “I have not experienced any people who outshone the Iranians in warmth and hospitality.”
Ready for snow
Southland: Mountain High in Wrightwood has a new retail shop, a renovated West base lodge, increased snow-making capabilities, more terrain park features and a new tubing area. Bear Mountain and Snow Summit have boosted snow-making capabilities that already can cover 100% of terrain.
Mammoth Mountain: Chair 9 has been replaced by Cloud Nine Express, a high-speed six-passenger lift that delivers passengers from Eagle Lodge to the 10,371-foot Dragon’s Back area in six minutes. The freestyle terrain park has been relocated to beneath Chair 7, expanded to 90 acres and re-named Wonderland Park.
Heavenly Mountain Resort: The South Lake Tahoe resort will unveil Olympic Express on Dec. 7. The quad chair will whisk passengers 3,533 feet in 3 1/2 minutes, providing direct access to Olympic Downhill, three new trails and renowned Nevada Woods.
Squaw Valley USA/Sierra-at-Tahoe: Squaw will lead guided back-country tours for upper-intermediate to advanced skiers and snowboarders. Sierra-at-Tahoe is working with the Forest Service to incorporate Huckleberry Canyon into its resort boundary, thus adding more expert-level runs. Squaw has also added a super pipe.
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