Thirty Years in a White Haze: Dan Egan's Story of Worldwide Adventure and the Evolution of Extreme Skiing

by Dan Egan, Eric Wilbur

"Sheltered in a snow cave on Mount Elbrus in 1990, I stared into the mouth of a storm on the tallest peak on the European continent, a merciless mountain that claims more lives per year than Everest. When I emerged from the white haze of that storm alive, after so many had perished, I had no idea how this event would impact the next 30 years of my life. "My brother John and I-known as the Egan Brothers-could be seen on the Discovery Channel, ESPN, and were featured in twelve Warren Miller Ski Films during the 1980s and 1990s. We found our place in history as storytellers and East Coast renegades of skiing, and were inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2017. " Thirty Years in a White Haze is a tale of trials, success, and loss told through worldwide adventure and the evolution of extreme skiing as thirty years of haze dissipates to clarity." - Dan Egan

Genres: Biography Memoir

480 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2021

About the author

Dan Egan is a world-renowned skier and pioneer of extreme sports. He has appeared in thirteen Warren Miller ski films and is known for skiing the most remote regions of the world with his brother John Egan. In 2001, Powder Magazine named him one of the most influential skiers of our time and in 2016, he was inducted into the US Skiing & Snowboarding Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[David Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning - this is more of a reminiscence than a review. This book showed up in my Facebook feed a few months ago. I went to Amazon and read an excerpt and decided to buy the kindle version. Reading this book was an exercise in nostalgia. The Egan brothers are about the same vintage as me and came of age skiing at the same time. Reading of their early obsession with extreme skiing and the personal tragedy along the way felt almost like a road not taken.

When I was in 7th grade I had a paper route. Just up the street from my house was one of two ski shops in my hometown of Ogden, UT, Alpine Sports. My paper route took me right past the store and I delivered the paper to the owner, Bob Chambers. I couldn’t afford any of the gear in the store. In my early years of skiing, I used second-hand gear, leather lace-up boots, cable bindings, and wooden skis. My mom signed me up for ski lessons in 3rd grade. After one of my many stops at Alpine Sports the store the owner called and asked if I would like to work in the evenings cleaning the store. As a 7th grader, I thought I had the coolest job on the planet.

Within about 6 months, in addition to cleaning, I was doing ski waxing and tune-ups. By 9th grade, I was a full-blown shop rat. I actually got to work on the skis of some of the real “superstars” in both the alpine racing and freestyle circuits. I watched the birth of freestyle and knew guys that went on to fame, some mentioned in the book, Bob Salerno (world champ moguls), Tom Levitt (world champ aerials and ballet). I recall Bob Chambers saying that if all the great skiers from our home mountain, Snow Basin, were competing on the Tour we would have the top 10.

One of the fall rituals was when Warren Miller came to town with his latest movie. I’m sure I went to every movie through college. And as a young father took my own kids. The Egans were a big deal in that world. Their skiing was otherworldly. I was a good skier but not great. I raced on my high school team placing usually in the top 10. Over time we saw the hotdog movement wane as the good skiers moved into what is now known as extreme skiing. We just called it backcountry. It is what we did when the lift lines got too long. We were dumb, had no training, or understanding of snowpack. We just looked for trackless powder without a clue as to the danger.

The stories of the Egan’s adventures are fascinating. Particularly the tragedy on Mt. Elbrus. The personal tragedies of broken relationships, addiction, and financial failure are sadly all too common. I look back on my earlier years and see many that attained fame and fortune that were caught in the same web that the Egans were pulled into. However, just like the Egans, the story of recovery and redemption are common. In retrospect, I am glad I had the skiing experiences I did. But I’m also glad that I was not so good to be noticed and pulled into a world of fame, fortune, and ultimately sorrow.

For me the lesson is like just about everything in life, moderation in all things is the real path to happiness. If you are a serious skier and grew up in the freestyle, extreme skiing era, this is a fun, easy read. Kind of a romp down memory lane with a great story of redemption. It was worth my time. Could have used some editing but overall a good book.

Quote

"As Dan puts it, the sixties had a purpose, the seventies had none, and the eighties gave the world a lost generation. “The ’60s, of course, were about rebelling, the ’70s kids were about music and drugs, but the ’80s kids—we didn’t have either,” he said. “We had shitty music and we didn’t know what to do with the drugs. We didn’t have a cause and we didn’t belong. We saw the end of disco music and eventually the birth of punk rock. We were a really funny generation from that point of view."

[Melissa Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

For skiers, this is practically a sacred text. For everyone else, it’s a deeply human story of chasing passion and surviving the costs. I loved how much history is packed into this memoir, not just Egan’s personal history, but the history of extreme skiing itself. The Egans weren’t just participants; they were pioneers. They skied lines nobody thought possible and brought them to a wide audience through film. What resonated most with me, though, was how Dan talks about clarity after chaos. You can tell he’s writing not just to relive the glory days but to understand them. That honesty makes the book unforgettable.