Please! International Advice

Please help!
I'm an English Chemistry graduate, well, I will have graduated come Sept '09. I would absolutely love to move to the Pacific Northwest to live and work and to get involved in the all year round skiing. I would come with a good degree and would want to use that to work in a relatively skilled job.
I am basically looking for advice as to:
Where to live?
Requirements for getting into the country (and staying)?
Good resorts / trails?
and all things related to relocating.
Any adivce anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Tom

Hi Tom, where to live and ski is entirely dependent on what you like.  The PNW and Seattle area have so many different qualities, not one area is necessarily better than anywhere else.  I would recommend spending a couple of weeks over here and exploring the area before deciding.  Yelp is a good website to get a feel for what there is to do around here.  And Turns-all-year has an abundant amount of info on the skiing as you may have noticed.  One piece of advice I will give,  if you live in the seattle area, live close to work.  (traffic sucks!)  Good luck to ya!

Are you hoping to find work as a chemist? Biotech and biopharma are not looking too rosy here (or anywhere for that matter). There could be biochem technician jobs at UW, and maybe some analytical lab techs; otherwise, slim pickings, FWIW. But the skiing and outdoor opportunities make up for that, for sure!

Vancouver, BC is located close to lots of fine skiing and climbing and Canada is a commonweath nation, so work permit issues should be easier there than in the US.

i'm not necessarily looking to work within biochem or something directly related to chem, just a reasonably paid job using a numeracy based degree so i can support myself comfortably.
plus i have a bit of a confession, i board rather than ski...

Vancouver in British Columbia. excellent mountain biking, good skiing (whistler, mt baker) , good backcountry skiing, 2 nice ski resorts with night skiing 30 minutes from down town, a functioning health care system, same Queen ...