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Ski Bum Chronicles
It's 1981. Ross Ryan leaves Texas to pursue ski bum dreams. He joins a cast of outlandish characters that run Elk Valley Ranch near Winter Park, Colorado. They are seasonal staffers willing to postpone careers and take menial jobs to live and ski among the wealthy in the Rocky Mountains.
The peons of paradise are survivors of the disco decade and careen into the 80s with a vengeance. Self-centered baby boomers flourish. Conspicuous consumption is cool. Status seekers are the rage. The reckless youth that cook meals and clean rooms are often fueled by pot and alcohol.
Ross’s attempt to delay growing up is derailed by a near fatal skiing accident, getting busted, death of a friend, tragic romances and work responsibilities. He discovers that the bonds of love and friendship will pull him through catastrophic events, even when the people he feels closest to are just passing through.
Crank up your bindings and get ready for some wild bumps and deep powder. This is an out of control run full of fun and mayhem.
The peons of paradise are survivors of the disco decade and careen into the 80s with a vengeance. Self-centered baby boomers flourish. Conspicuous consumption is cool. Status seekers are the rage. The reckless youth that cook meals and clean rooms are often fueled by pot and alcohol.
Ross’s attempt to delay growing up is derailed by a near fatal skiing accident, getting busted, death of a friend, tragic romances and work responsibilities. He discovers that the bonds of love and friendship will pull him through catastrophic events, even when the people he feels closest to are just passing through.
Crank up your bindings and get ready for some wild bumps and deep powder. This is an out of control run full of fun and mayhem.
ebook
First published March 31, 2011
About the author
Jeff Lyon
7 books2 followersJeff Lyon writes adventurous tales laced with humor from personal escapades. His stories are based on actual events and filled with extraordinary characters encountered in fascinating locales. Names are changed to protect the far from the innocent, and facts are altered only when needed to avoid the tedium of memoirs.
After graduating from the University of North Texas, Jeff decided to go skiing for a season in Winter Park, Colorado. He stayed for four years. Jeff returned to Texas and worked as a Health Inspector for seven years and then three years as a Fire Marshal for the city of Lewisville.
Jeff moved to Florida with his girlfriend, Karen Reneau, married her, and became a professional boat captain. He spent the next four years running sailboats and power yachts up and down the Atlantic coast from Chesapeake Bay to Trinidad, South America.
Jeff survived twelve winters in Chicago, Illinois. He spent his summers managing DuSable Harbor, captaining other peoples' boats on Lake Michigan, and winters writing.
Dozens of Jeff's travelogues have been published in newspapers and magazines. Jeff's first published novel Hank is a testament to his hillbilly great-uncle. His second novel, Bliss, documents the hilarious growing pains during Lewisville's spectacular building boom. Jeff's third work was Ski Bum Chronicles. It’s a fantastic journey through the wide eyes of a Texas kid living his dream in the majestic Rocky Mountains.
Jeff returned to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He captained yachts and published his fifth novel, Sailing Escape, before moving north four years later.
Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jeff veered from personal-experience novels to working on a paranormal trilogy about a Voodoo cursed flip phone that predicts dire accidents and death. The first two have been published, and the third book is well underway.
Jeff currently lives with his wife Karen in Chattanooga, TN, and hopes this will be their last move.
After graduating from the University of North Texas, Jeff decided to go skiing for a season in Winter Park, Colorado. He stayed for four years. Jeff returned to Texas and worked as a Health Inspector for seven years and then three years as a Fire Marshal for the city of Lewisville.
Jeff moved to Florida with his girlfriend, Karen Reneau, married her, and became a professional boat captain. He spent the next four years running sailboats and power yachts up and down the Atlantic coast from Chesapeake Bay to Trinidad, South America.
Jeff survived twelve winters in Chicago, Illinois. He spent his summers managing DuSable Harbor, captaining other peoples' boats on Lake Michigan, and winters writing.
Dozens of Jeff's travelogues have been published in newspapers and magazines. Jeff's first published novel Hank is a testament to his hillbilly great-uncle. His second novel, Bliss, documents the hilarious growing pains during Lewisville's spectacular building boom. Jeff's third work was Ski Bum Chronicles. It’s a fantastic journey through the wide eyes of a Texas kid living his dream in the majestic Rocky Mountains.
Jeff returned to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He captained yachts and published his fifth novel, Sailing Escape, before moving north four years later.
Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jeff veered from personal-experience novels to working on a paranormal trilogy about a Voodoo cursed flip phone that predicts dire accidents and death. The first two have been published, and the third book is well underway.
Jeff currently lives with his wife Karen in Chattanooga, TN, and hopes this will be their last move.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 20, 2014
Reviewed by Michael McManus for Readers' Favorite
Ski Bum Chronicles by Jeff Lyon is a complete delight. I never skied in my early years, and I never had the pleasure of working in a resort, but Jeff presents the episodes of his experiences as a resort employee and ski enthusiast with such relish and joyful passion that I feel I was there alongside him, taking it all in. From the moment he arrives at the EVR, the acronym for Elk Valley Ranch, the mythical resort in Jeff Lyon’s story, when he gets a job at the gigantic gymnasium that houses a roller rink and basketball court, you are drawn into a youthful introduction to work and responsibility that is the means to an end – the end being a constantly stimulating free-time lifestyle in the Rocky Mountains. Jeff paints a picture of his time in Colorado - and he admits that most of what he writes about is based on actual events – that will make you wonder how he survived.
What is so special about the writing in the book is the way the characters are handled. You get to know them very quickly, the ones that were around all the time, and you fall in love with each of them for the strengths and quirks. Then, as the seasons change and the temporary help is introduced, you want it to continue. You want to see how they will replace the ones you think must be indispensable. You want to see how the misfits are winnowed out. Mr. Lyon has done a great job of taking us back to spend time with him in the 1980s, when he did survive a couple of years in paradise, living free where the limitations were few.
Ski Bum Chronicles by Jeff Lyon is a complete delight. I never skied in my early years, and I never had the pleasure of working in a resort, but Jeff presents the episodes of his experiences as a resort employee and ski enthusiast with such relish and joyful passion that I feel I was there alongside him, taking it all in. From the moment he arrives at the EVR, the acronym for Elk Valley Ranch, the mythical resort in Jeff Lyon’s story, when he gets a job at the gigantic gymnasium that houses a roller rink and basketball court, you are drawn into a youthful introduction to work and responsibility that is the means to an end – the end being a constantly stimulating free-time lifestyle in the Rocky Mountains. Jeff paints a picture of his time in Colorado - and he admits that most of what he writes about is based on actual events – that will make you wonder how he survived.
What is so special about the writing in the book is the way the characters are handled. You get to know them very quickly, the ones that were around all the time, and you fall in love with each of them for the strengths and quirks. Then, as the seasons change and the temporary help is introduced, you want it to continue. You want to see how they will replace the ones you think must be indispensable. You want to see how the misfits are winnowed out. Mr. Lyon has done a great job of taking us back to spend time with him in the 1980s, when he did survive a couple of years in paradise, living free where the limitations were few.
Displaying 1 of 1 review