The piste-basher, vampire of the snowboarding world, operates at night (usually around 1am to 6am), alone smoothing the pistes for the masses of punters each and every day. It’s dark, (sometimes) dangerous and lonely work, but there is a sense of achievement in handling such massive machinery and getting the job done.

The upsides are you have the whole day to ride and no one knows a resort better than a piste-basher. The downside is the nightshifts affect your social life somewhat and the isolation can be hard to take.

A basic piste-basher training takes three days, and you’ll need a season to master it. The pre-lift freshies though, will keep you coming back.