MOST Recently Added: 2024 Los Angeles and Hawaii Trip, 2024 San Francisco Bay Area Visit, 2024 Ski Jackson Hole Wyoming, 2024 Visit New Orleans, 2023 Los Angeles Chung Family Visit then Backblaze Holiday Party, 2023 Howard Wilson Memorial, 2023 Brian Neck Surgery, 2023 Cancun Mexico Trip, 2023 Visit Lia in San Diego, 2023 Solar and Batteries, 2023 Austin Seal Concert, 2023 Mari San Francisco Trip, 2022 Howard Wilson's 90th Birthday, 2022 Visit Chung Family in Los Angeles, 2022 Austin City Limits (ACL), 2022 Suburban Survivalist, 2022 Galveston Trip, 2022_visiting_Ari_in_France, 2022 Brian and Katherine's New Austin Home, 2022 Brian and Katherine Get Married, 2022 Growing Zoysia Grass in Texas, 2022 Miriam Latshaw Memorial Service, 2022 Ski Telluride Colorado, 2022 Puerto Vallarta Mexico, 2021 Naples Florida Trip Including Miami, 2021 Expanding Batteries in 2016 Macintosh Laptop, 2021 The Rolling Stones Live in Austin Texas, 2021 Backblaze IPO, 2021 Adventure to Corpus Christi Texas and Port Aransas Texas, 2021 California Oregon Trip, 2021 Visit Chung Family in Los Angeles, 2021 Visit Lia In San Diego, 2021 Austin Random Pictures, 2021 Austin Backblaze Office Search, 2021 Ski Mt Hood Meadows Oregon, 2021 Brian and Katherine get Covid-19 Vaccinations, 2021 Austin "The Great Blizzard of 2021", 2020 Austin Texas Move, 2020 Ski Bend Oregon Mt Bachelor, 2020 Nathanael Marries Elizabeth in Seattle, 2019 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2019 Backblaze Boat Ride, 2019 Palmdale Los Angeles Weekend, 3411 Calle Noguera, 2019 Backblaze Interns, 2019 Eli Echt-Wilson Stanford Graduation, 2019 Backblaze Family Fun Day, 2019 Cigars and Scotch, 2019 Ski Banff Canada, 2018 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2018 Meet Ava the Papillon Puppy, 2009 Smart Fortwo Hatchback for sale, 2018 New Smartcar from Los Angeles, 2018 Backblaze Boat Ride, 2018 Sailing with Candace, 2018 Seattle Katherine Birthday, 2018 Backblaze Family Fun Day, 2018 Virginia Wilson Interment, 2018 Portola Valley 4th of July, 2018 Pavni Diwanji_50th_Birthday_Boat_Cruise, 2018 Palos Verdes Day Trip, 2018 Korea, 2018 Ski Mount Hood Meadows Oregon, 2018 Los Angeles Trip to See a Boat, 2018 Walter Wilson Memorial Gathering, 2017 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2017 Making Korean Kimchi From Scratch, 2017 Hunting Deer and Elk at Dry Wolf Creek Montana, 2017 Backblaze Tilden Park, 2017 Hawaii Kauai Trip, 2017 Ari Echt-Wilson Stanford Graduation, 2017 Catie Hoffmann Graduation, 2017 Cigars and Scotch, 2017 Backblaze Ten Year Anniversary Party, 2017 Ski Telluride Colorado, 2017 Smartcar Hydroplane Wreck, 2017 Ski Vail Colorado, 2017 Virginia Wilson Memorial Service, 2016 Xmas in Portola Valley and New Year's Eve, 2016 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2016 Thanksgiving Portola Valley, 2016 Tiburon Ayako Going Away Party, 2016 Corvallis Virginia Wilson Move 2, 2016 Pismo Beach, 2016 Marina del Ray Los Angeles Boat Trip, 2016 Backblaze at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, 2016 Corvallis Newport Visit, 2016 Corvallis Family BBQ, 2016 Portola Valley 4th of July, 2016 Boat Notes, 2016 Moscow Russia Bolshoi Ballet, 2016 Backblaze Visits Lagunitas Brewery, 2016 Corvallis Howard Wilson Move, 2016 Corvallis Virginia Wilson Move, 2016 Papillon Puppy Party, 2016 Hawaii Kauai Trip, 2016 Santa Barbara visit Randy and Ramey's House, 2016 Lia's 50th Birthday, 2016 Ski Hokkaido Japan, 2015 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2015_Elk_Hunting_in_Montana, 2015 Ramey Echt's 50th Birthday Party in Santa Barbara, 2015 Scotland Will MacDonald Birthday in Duns Castle, 2015 Scotland Edinburgh and Loch Ness and Balvanie Distillery Tour, 2015 Casey Jones Wedding, 2015 Omar Steinberg Wedding in Oregon, 2015 London Weekend, 2015 Portola Valley Housewarming Party, 2015 Portola Valley House, 2015 Backblaze Company Sailing Trip, 2015 San Mateo Pothole, 2015 Austin Texas Weekend Trip to Visit Brennen and Britta, 2015 Day Trip to Vancouver Canada to Pick Up Singapura Kittens, 2015 Ski Whitefish Montana Big Mountain, 2015 Mike Moxness Memorial Service in Los Angeles, 2015 Palos Verdes Los Angeles Weekend, 2014 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2014 Palos Verdes Los Angeles Weekend, 2014 Thanksgiving Weekend, 2014 Randy Wilson 50th Birthday Party in Santa Barbara, 2014 Chartered Airplane Flight on GaryAir Piper Matrix, 2014 Aurora Borealis at Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks Alaska, 2014 Dinner at Benu in San Francisco, 2014 Carmel Weekend, 2014 Pacifica 4th of July, 2014 Backblaze Pacifica Boat Docks Day, 2014 Hawaii Kauai Trip, 2014 Papillon Puppy Party, 2014 Devil's Slide Recreational Trail, 2014 Virginia Wilson 80th Birthday, 2014_Errol, 2014 Ski Whistler Blackcomb, 2013 Backblaze Holiday Party, 2013 Maldives and Singapore Trip, 2013 Deer Hunting at Fort Peck, Montana, 2013 Corvallis September Visit, 2013 Santa Barbara and Resort Bacara, 2013 America's Cup Backblaze Boating, 2013 A Love Letter to Surf Air, 2013 Jetski and Delta Boating Day, 2013 Pacifica 4th of July, 2013 Virginia Wilson 79th Birthday, 2013_Ski_Vail, 2013 Mavericks Surf Contest, 2012 Sweat Lodge on Dock, 2012 Howard Wilson's 80th Birthday, 2012 Thanksgiving Weekend, 2012 Hawaii Kauai Trip, 2012 Palos Verdes Los Angeles Weekend, 2012 Pacifica 4th of July, 2012 Caribbean British Virgin Islands
Added a little while ago: 2012 Ski Taos New Mexico, 2012 ASUS Zenbook UX31 Disassembly, 2012 Corvallis October Visit, 2011 Chaotic Thanksgiving in Pacifica, 2011 Deer Hunting at Fort Peck, Montana
(Read a personal description of Backblaze here.)
Second Most Recently Added: 2011 One Weekend in Pacifica with a Telephoto Lens, 2011 Manhattan New York Trip, 2011 Palm Tree Dock Party, 2011 Machu Picchu Peru and Cusco Peru, 2011 Pacifica 4th of July, 2011 Peninsula Debutante Ball, 2011 Low Profile Graphics Gaming Card, 2011 Melanie Graduation, 2011 Ski Park City Utah, 2011 Napa Wine Tasting, 2010 Echt Wilson Family Visits Pacifica, 2010_Albuquerque_Balloon_Fiesta, 2010 Thanksgiving in Pacifica, Google Holiday Party, 2010 Europe Motorcycle Trip
Click here for all other pictures and pages by Brian.
Everything below here is the original ski-epic:
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Ski Epic Statistics:
- Total Days: 86
- Days On the Ski Slopes: 53
- Miles driven in the Sentra: 9,192
- Total Number of Ski Areas: 27
- New (for me) Ski Areas: 13
- Number of files on this web site: 934
- Number of pictures on this web site: 822
- Size of this web site: 76.7 Megabytes
Itinerary and Day By Day Log:
Click here to see "on location" blurbs as they happened each day. Click here for a summary of my itinerary.
Pictures:
Whistler gallery, Clarkston gallery, Sun Valley gallery, Albuquerque gallery, Eli's Motorcycle Trip, Taos gallery, Paige Taos Accident, Santa Fe gallery, Purgatory gallery, Telluride gallery1, Steamboat gallery, Boulder Area gallery, Winter Park/Mary Jane gallery, Breckenridge gallery, Copper Mountain gallery, Keystone gallery, Arapahoe Basin gallery, Telluride Tune and Tour gallery, Telluride gallery2, Ostentatious Log Cabins of the Filthy Stinking Rich in Telluride, Hike Up Telluride's Gold Hill, Dinner with Johnny Rotten, 221 Oak Street, Telluride gallery 3, Vail gallery, Snowmass gallery, Aspen Highlands gallery, My Spooky Trip Through Area 51 (with Space Aliens and Mutilated Cows), Mammoth gallery, Debbi and Mike in Thousand Oaks gallery, Jim and Judy Young in Santa Barbara gallery, Mom and Dad's House gallery, Willamette Pass gallery, Hoodoo gallery, Bachelor gallery, Bachelor gallery 2, Random Oregon gallery, Northstar gallery, Squaw gallery.
Thoughts and Rants:
Why Stairs To Every Bathroom?, Helmets Laws for Skiers, Only One Way to See America, Senior Citizen Skiers.
Ski Log:
11/27/98 Alpine Meadows First day of the season! 11/28/98 Alpine Meadows 12/25/98 Kirkwood Xmas 12/26/98 Alpine Meadows 1/23/99 Snowbird First day in Utah. 1/24/99 Alta 12" fresh powder that fell overnight! 1/25/99 The Canyons HUGE resort, got fresh tracks in 18 inches of powder in sunshine. Awesome day. 1/30/99 Whistler First day on the snow in Canada, fresh snow, a little sunshine. 1/31/99 Blackcomb TONS of snow, fell all day long, marginal visibility 2/1/99 Blackcomb (Day 10) More and more snow, top closed due to high winds. 2/2/99 Whistler Packed up, checked out of condo, then skied Whistler once more. 2/6/99 Sun Valley First day at Sun Valley, icy rain chased me off the slopes early. 2/7/99 Sun Valley 18 inches of powder, sweet day. 2/10/99 Sun Valley Skied in sunshine, then headed south to Albuquerque. 2/13/99 Taos Skied in sunshine, Paige whacks her skull. 2/14/99 Taos More sunshine. 2/15/99 Taos Hiked up to the ridge to ski Juarez double black. 2/18/99 Santa Fe Ramey and I skied in the sunshine. 2/20/99 Purgatory Skied Purgatory, Colorado. 2/21/99 Telluride (Day 20) First day in Telluride! Kind of hard pack. 2/23/99 Steamboat Skied on a day old 8 inch drop, very nice. 2/24/99 Steamboat Skied in sunshine, hiked up to Christmas Tree Bowl 2/25/99 Winter Park In the Boulder area 2/27/99 Breckenridge A little windy, but nice. 2/28/99 Copper AND Keystone Skied Copper Mountain during the day, then night skiing at Keystone! 3/1/99 Arapahoe Basin Skied morning at Arapahoe, then drove to Telluride. 3/3/99 Telluride Got the tune and tour from Lance. Great day in the sunshine. 3/8/99 Telluride Fresh powder for my return to Telluride! 3/9/99 Telluride Man, that powder went fast! Icy and cruddy today. 3/10/99 Telluride (Day 30) Skied with Ken and Lise. 3/12/99 Telluride Fresh powder! 3/13/99 Telluride More fresh powder, hiked up Gold Hill. 3/14/99 Telluride Skied in the sunshine! 3/15/99 Telluride Skied wth Lise and Lance, snow's getting hard-pack, spring conditions. 3/17/99 Telluride Skied with Lise. Spring slush, warm weather. 3/18/99 Telluride Skied. Kind of overcast. 3/19/99 Telluride Skied. Balmy weather, good spring snow conditions. 3/21/99 Telluride Serious slush, TONS of sunshine, a few rocks. 3/22/99 Telluride Big sunshine, little snow. My last day at Telluride unless it snows! 3/24/99 Vail (Day 40) Big sunshine, big slopes, big slushy conditions. Some pictures. 3/25/99 Vail More big sunshine. 3/26/99 Snowmass AND Aspen Highlands Snowmass in the morning (pictures), Aspen Highlands in the afternoon (pictures). 3/29/99 Mammoth Mammoth in the sunshine (pictures). 3/31/99 Mammoth 18 inches of fresh Mammoth powder! Got sick, almost killed me. :-) 4/3/99 Mammoth (Day 45) Skied Mammoth GREAT POWDER, then drove to Debbi and Mike's in L.A. 4/10/99 Willamette Pass Skied 18 inches of fresh Oregon powder. Click here for pictures. 4/11/99 Hoodoo Skied in the sunshine. Click here for pictures. 4/13/99 Bachelor Skied in the sun. Click here for pictures. 4/14/99 Bachelor More sun! 4/16/99 Bachelor (*** DAY 50 ***) That's "fifty days", baby! Skied in the sunshine. 4/17/99 Bachelor Last ski day of the sabbatical. Spring Oregon conditions. 4/24/99 Northstar Spring Tahoe Trip! Click here for pictures. 4/25/99 Sqaw Spring Tahoe Trip! Click here for more pictures.
Ski Terms:
- "powder" : fresh, light, fluffy snow. The very best snow to ski on.
- "pow" : slang for powder
- "champagne powder" : extra light powder
- "face shots" : skiing through powder so deep it sprays up and hits the skier in the face. Very fun.
- "fresh tracks" : the first time anyone skies on powder (two tracks are left in the snow)
- "mashed potatoes" : wet, old, heavy snow that is hard to turn skis in.
- "death cookies" : patches of broken up ice and hard snow chunks that are difficult to ski on, usually made by grooming machines moving too fast.
- "Sierra Cement" : mashed potatoes snow in the Sierra mountains (Lake Tahoe, California).
- "Cascade Concrete": Similar to Sierra Cement but refers to the snow in the NW Cascade mountains.
- "bumps" or "moguls" : mounds of snow usually about 1 - 2 feet tall that skiers enjoy skiing over.
- "cordouroy" : groomed snow, where a grooming machine has left very fine parallel lines in the snow.
- "Volkswagen" : a mogul that is very large
- "ego bumps" : well spaced, small moguls on an intermediate slope that are easy to ski.
- "cancer" : the rocks and dirt that poke through the snow on a run with light snow coverage.
- "local" : a person who lives in a ski town. Locals are usually great skiers with a bit of disdain for tourists.
- "gaper" (pronounced gay-per) : a person who owns all the right equipment, looks great standing in the lodge, but is a terrible skier. Used by locals to make fun of tourists.
- "texan" or "howie" : a bad skier, see "gaper" above. I'm not sure of the origins of these terms.
- "trust funders" : young skiers from rich families whose skiing lifestyle is afforded from their wealth or trust fund. They do not have to work.
- "trust-a-farian" : a trust funder with dreadlocks. Surprisingly common. You see them get out of their Range Rovers at the ski slopes sometimes.
- "shredding" : originally pertaining only to snowboarders, good hard fast skiing, making good turns. "Owning" the mountain.
- "yard sale" : when a skier falls and his hat, skis, gloves, and poles are left strewn about the slope.
- "ski bunny" : a beautiful woman on a ski hill. Doesn't have to be that good at skiing.
- "yo-yo" : a skier who buys a lift pass, rides the ski lift up to the top, then ducks under the boundary rope and skis out of bounds to ski fresh untracked powder. This is illegal in most places.
- "helicopter" : when a skier jumps off a bump and spins around 360 degrees and lands facing forward. An extremely difficult maneuver.
- "pinner" : a telemark (special type of skis) skier, named for the pins in the toe of the boot.
- "sitzmark" : A term that comes from a German word for the depression left in the snow by a skier falling backward.
- "knuckle-dragger" : term for a snowboarder, because they drag hands in the snow while turnng.
- "figure eleven" : the tracks left by a skier making no turns.
- "channel twelve" : a gaper trying to do a figure eleven but hunches down and sticks their poles in the air.
- "s's" : the tracks left by a single skier making very regular, very good turns down a powder slope.
- "eights" : the tracks left by two good skiers making "s's" in synchronization on the same fall line, but one behind the other and crossing their tracks.
- "tuna points" : a skier who loses control and wipes out into a net either in a lift line or more commonly during a race. The reference to "tuna" is from being "netted".
Techie Stuff:
I have some electronic gear along to help build this WWW site and to stay wired while on the road. Click here to find out about it. In addition, several people have asked about the technical details of this web site such as what kind of machine is ski-epic.com and where is it, etc. Click here to find out all about this.
Contact Info:
- Brian Wilson
- http://www.ski-epic.com (this page)
- Cell Phone: (650) 455-3123
- Rest of Life (before and after the Ski Epic)
Useful Links, Family Links, Links so I remember them:
- Randy Wilson (brother): http://www.echtwilson.net/
- Ari Echt-Wilson (niece): http://ariatstanford.blogspot.com/ or http://www.echtwilson.net/Ari
- Eli Echt-Wilson (nephew): http://www.echtwilson.net/Eli
- Ramey Echt (sister-in-law): http://www.echtwilson.net/Ramey
- Cheryl Hoffmann (sister): http://www.hoffmannfamily.net/
- Katie Hoffmann (niece) blog: No Longer Live: http :// c atherinegracehoffmann . blogspot . com/
- Howard Wilson (father): http://oregonstate.edu/~wilsohow/
- Howard Wilson NEWER: http://www.hleroywilson.com
- Chip (Ralph) Wilson (cousin): http://rawilson.net/
- Lise Waring (friend): http://www.lisewaring.com
- SurfSlow (Pacifica Linda Mar Surf Webcam): http://www.surfslow.com
- Sarah Parks (friend, co-worker): http://www.sarahparks.net/
- SBrian White (friend, co-worker): http://sbrianwhite.phanfare.com/
- Yev Pusin (friend, co-worker): http://yevyev.com/
- David Mott (friend, co-worker): http://dadshouseblog.com/
- Billy Ng (friend, co-worker): No Longer Works: http :// www . betiffany . com/
- Stuart Cheshire (friend): http://www.stuartcheshire.org/
- Pavni Diwanji (friend/ex-biz-partner): http://www.pavni.org/
- Casey Jones (friend/co-worker/artist): http://www.caseysmac.com/
- Eric Hawkes (friend/co-worker): http://www.erichawkes.com/ or http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~echawkes/eh.html
- Brian Wilson's Codeblaze Consulting Company (me, my company): http://www.codeblaze.com/
- Brian Wilson (my personal Stanford webpage): http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~brianw/index.html
- Mike Boger (friend): No Longer Live: http :// www. lovelyearth. us/
- David Buehler (friend): http://www.galacticnorth.net/
- Jerome McCarthy (friend): http://jerometree.com/
- Scott Eikenberry (friend, co-worker): http://www.eikenberry.org/
- Steve Chen (friend, co-worker): http://www.ski-epic.com/shc/
- Leslie's Kiwi Website (friend, motorcyclist): No Longer Active
- Donna Beker and Graham Beker (friends, motorcyclists, Kiwis) New Zealand Motorcycle Tour: http://www.bekersmct.co.nz/
- Macromental is an investment research firm that connects equity analysts with industry experts.
- James Fleishman (friend): he wrote a book called "Inside Story: The Wall Street Criminal Who Wasn't"
- Chris Pirazzi (friend, co-worker): http://www.lurkertech.com/ who now lives in Thailand and wrote a cultural guidebook for westerners on Thailand called Thailand Fever and also a Palm Pilot based Thai to English and English to Thai Dictionary called Word-In-The-Hand. Chris also created MapFling where you can get a map, add your own labels, share it with others.