10 MINUTES WITH: Jess McMillan
So you ski full time now?
Yep, I’m really lucky. In the summertime, I work my butt off as a river guide in Ashland, Oregon. I’ve already done all the normal ski bum stuff: working as a waitress and a ski coach.
I hear you’re a kayaker, too.
I quit skiing two years after college and spent three years endless summer kayaking. I shot some video. But then three summers ago I had five friends pass away kayaking and it really hurt me mentally. So I came back to skiing, which was my first love. I still do quite a bit of kayaking. My boyfriend is a professional kayaker.
But can your boyfriend keep up on skis?
I met him kayaking and he used to take me off 30-foot waterfalls and I’d be swimming everywhere. It was great when he finally came to Jackson to ski and it was payback time. We bought him his first pair of fat skis and told him to keep up. He’s been here for four years now and he’s pretty good.