Heather Hansman’s pursuit of ski bum dream led to “Powder Days”

Heather Hansman is an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor at Outside Magazine, and the author of the books “Downriver” and “Powder Days.” She lives in Durango, where she’s at work on a book about women in the outdoors. 

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate? 

Heather Hansman: A lot of the backstory comes from my history. I’m a former ski town gig worker, and a ski magazine editor. In 2005, when I was 21, I moved to Avon, sight unseen, to work at Beaver Creek. I had a vision of what being a real skier would be: full of adventure and exploration and deep snow. And my life scanning lift tickets was like that, but it also wasn’t.

I was stressed about money. I got…