When I worked for a major resort in California, many of the instructors and patrollers were Australians. The resort would fill the lift op and general hospitality positions with kids from Orange County but the more specific pro skiing positions need people who ski as a career. BUT the need is seasonal so they hire Australians during what is the off-season down under. By going back and forth the Australians could work on snow year-round. They also had some employees from so cal theme parks during what were the lighter months for theme parks and heavy for skiing, eg February through Easter.
The resort had hundreds of hotel rooms right across the street from the main lodge that were only used for seasonal employees. Your job and the rooming were tied. If you quit or were fired you lost your room also. Rent came out of your check. One rowdy wing of the hotel was nothing but lift ops and food service workers.
I haven't looked at any numbers recently but skiing visits were in decline from the 1980s onward. Skiing has always skewed toward the upper middle class and the wealthy. My sense is the contraction in business and the decreasing numbers for total ski days per season have led to the obvious split in business models: 1) small local resorts are going under or barely hanging on and afraid to raise ticket prices, or 2) big brand resorts are going more exclusive and trying to get more revenue per visitor. eg do the same or higher dollars even as total customers decrease.
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