Living in a ski town sounds like a dream. But the reality is crushingly expensive.

• Ski towns are so expensive that workers struggle to afford local housing and stay in their jobs.
• Vail, Colorado has spent $17 million paying homeowners to rent to local workers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• It's a little bit of progress for a massive problem.

Callie Kuchan moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, with dreams of hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing on breaks from her job as an account manager at a local resort. But she found that parts of living in an outdoorsy paradise were unsustainable.