Learning a language with IA (Part One)

After learning Spanish with Duolingo two years ago, I felt that I had accumulated enough knowledge to tackle conversation, something the popular language learning method” seemed ill-equipped to provide. I'm now moving on with the halo of AI and the TalkPal app. I now need to practice my conversation and I suspect that I’ll have to retool my approach to make the best out of that new technology.

After learning more than three extra languages, I know that I’m entering the most important phase of language learning — conversation — and after quite a bit a research, I turn to TalkPal because I found it to be the best bridge between structured learning (Duolingo) and real‑world fluency. The key for me now is to use the tool in a way that forces my brain to operate in Spanish rather than “translate into Spanish.” 

Obviously, TalkPal shouldn’t be treated just like a quiz, but like a teacher (albeit a robotic one!) This is no time either to ask it for vocabulary lists or grammar explanations, as I’m already supposed to know those from Duolingo. Instead, the new tool should be used a conversation partner.

I should tell it stories, describe my day, argue a point, ask for opinions, express emotions make mistakes and keep going, the goal being flow, not correctness. Of course, I’ve learned a long time ago, that when learning a language I must immerse myself into it, so there’s no English (or French) unless it’s absolutely necessary. 

Based on that premise, if I don’t know a word, I use several to express what it means and describe it in Spanish: 

“Es como…” 

“Es una cosa que…” 

“Sirve para…” 

“Parece…” 

This is one of the most powerful fluency skills and I make it mine! When I learned English, adult beverages helped me a lot as I was shy and afraid to look like a fool. In using TalkPal to simulate real situations by creating scenarios that matter to me, like booking a hotel in Madrid, asking for help on a hike in Patagonia, discussing architecture or mountain climate, reminiscing about Park City glorious winters or just planning a trip with my wife. 

I could also use it for explaining my philosophy about aging and dreams (in Spanish!) In the next blog, we’ll see how I can fine tune my learning to my advantage...

Aging: running out of time and dreams (Part Two)

To pursue on that subject of ambition vs. curiosity, let me add that dreams may shrink in size but they grow in intensity. Curiosity is the antidote to the fear of limited time because it doesn’t require a future — only a present. At that point, it’s time to stop asking dreams to justify themselves. 

As we age, we demand that dreams be practical, meaningful, efficient, worth the time and the energy, but dreams don’t survive interrogation, they just survive permission. True, dreams don’t need guarantees; they need oxygen. And oxygen comes from allowing ourselves to explore without demanding a return on investment.

We must also use mortality as a focusing lens, not a threat. This is perhaps counterintuitive but extremely powerful. When time feels infinite, dreams scatter, but when time feels finite, dreams sharpen. To this, we could add that the awareness of limited time can either suffocate dreams or distill them. The trick is to let mortality clarify what truly matters instead of letting it intimidate us. 

Let’s also not forget that the biggest barrier to dreaming later in life is the belief that dreams must be large. This said the mind blooms when the dream is actionable, immediate, sized to fit our time-frame and emotionally resonant. A dream that begins today is a dream that survives. There’s no question that getting older is tricky because time suddenly feels like a narrow corridor instead of a wide, open plain. 

When we sense that the future is limited or uncertain, dreams become timid — they hesitate, they hide, or they never germinate at all. Still, dreams don’t disappear because we age; they disappear because we start demanding guarantees. We ask them to justify themselves, to prove they’re worth the time, the energy, the risk. And under that pressure, they retreat. 

So let’s remember that the way forward is to make dreaming lighter again. To shift from lifelong ambitions to seasonal ones. To replace ambition with curiosity. To let mortality sharpen our focus instead of dulling our imagination. Dreams bloom when they’re small enough to begin today, gentle enough not to intimidate us, and meaningful enough to stir something inside us. 

Time may be limited, but imagination isn’t — and the mind remains fertile as long as we give it permission to wander, explore, and play.

Aging: running out of time and dreams (Part One)

Getting older isn't for the faint at heart as we are under a pretty strong impression that the time ahead of us is more than limited and uncertain. So it’s pretty obvious that when we feel boxed-in in such a way, whatever dream we might generate gets scared, runs away in a hurry or doesn't even bother to germinate into our minds... 

The interrogation we’re left with is how can they pop-up into our mind and bloom no matter the time constraints we’re imposing on them? This is one of those questions that sits right at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and the essence of aging.

When time feels finite, our mind becomes conservative. Dreams don’t die because we’re older; they die because the mind becomes like a risk‑averse accountant, constantly calculating “Is it worth it?” instead of "Let's try it" or “What if?” For instance, “Should I even buy a ski season pass this year? There's no absolute guarantee that I will make it through the winter, right?” The thought captures the emotional truth of that shift.

What we can add — and what will make our reflection more powerful, is a clearer articulation of how dreams still can emerge and thrive even under the pressure of limited time. What I’m convinced of, is about the psychological contraction of aging: that boxed‑in feeling is real. Then there’s the fragility of dreams under time pressure and the existential tension of still wanting to bloom while fearing the clock. One solution to that quandary is to shift from “lifelong dreams” to “seasonal dreams”. 

When we’re young, dreams are grand arcs, but as we grow older, dreams need to become seasonal in order to fit into our timeframe and thrive. They turn into smaller, sharper and more immediate inspirations. All dreams don’t need 20 years. They can be a 6‑month project, a 3‑week exploration or just a 1‑day experiment. Our minds need a proper scale in order to bloom!  

There’s another way to improve that situation by replacing ambition with curiosity. Ambition is heavy, curiosity is much lighter. If ambition asks, “Will this succeed?” curiosity asks, “What happens if I try?” We’ll continue that discussion tomorrow and explore that subtle change from ambition to curiosity, so if you're curious, please return!

A simple passive solar detail

Ever since I came to live in Park City, I’ve placed enormous importance on choosing a home site with true southern exposure. 

After spending a quarter century in a shaded location, back in the Alps, where my parents’ home received only a few hours of winter sun, I learned firsthand how profoundly mountain sunlight affects both comfort and morale. Of course, site orientation is only half the equation — architecture must do the rest. 

At 7,000 feet, our sun is stronger, our winters are colder, and our skies are clearer, which makes solar geometry one of the most powerful and overlooked design tools. I’ve always been surprised by how little attention many local architects give to passive‑solar principles. 

When we built our home in 2013, I insisted on deep south‑facing eaves — in our case, 7 feet — to block the high summer sun while welcoming the low winter sun. At this latitude, the sun’s altitude swings nearly 47° between seasons, so a well‑designed overhang can dramatically reduce summer heat gain while providing free warmth in winter. 

The photo below was taken on July 7, shortly after the summer solstice at 11 a.m. MDST, and it shows exactly how the eaves perform: full shade in summer, full sun in winter.

Passive solar isn’t complicated — it’s simply good mountain architecture.

Roland Collombin, 1951-2026

Roland Collombin was a legendary Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer, two-time World Cup downhill champion, and Olympic silver medalist. He passed away on July 10, 2026, at the age of 75 following a two-year battle with cancer. 

A ski daredevil, Collombin dominated downhill racing in the 1973/1974 ski season before sustaining some devastating spinal injuries that cut his career short at 24. He captured back-to-back Downhill Crystal Globes in 1973 and 1974. 

Taming the notorious Streif, he won the dangerous Hahnenkamm downhill race in Kitzbühel twice, in 1973 and 1974, setting a course record during his second victory. Collombin’s high-risk, high-reward racing style led to a tragic relationship with the Oreiller-Killy piste in Val d'Isère. In December 1974, he suffered a severe spine injury during a training crash that sidelined him for the entire season. 

In December 1975, as he attempted a comeback, he crashed violently at the exact same spot, fracturing two vertebrae and was temporarily paralyzed. That jump became known as "La Bosse à Collombin" (the Collombin Bump). In these days, I was ski instructing at Avoriaz and working as a volunteer on January 12, 1974 on the Jean Vuarnet downhill course there, and Collombin’s passing brought back some key memories. 

The night before the race, I got together at “Chez Caroline”, a Morzine bar-nightclub, with my friend Jean-Pierre Chatellard, then coach of the French team and Scott Henderson, coach of the Canadian downhillers that would soon become the “Crazy Canucks”. 

These days, even though I loved ski instructing, I was desperately looking for a year-round job, instead of this seasonal job, I also had no real desire to set up a souvenir shop or run a restaurant in Les Lindarets for the rest of my life. 

Just the three of us downed a bottle of whiskey among other beverages. While reminiscing and conversing, Chatellard whom I had not seen since 1972 in Australia, gave me a few serious leads for jobs in the ski industry that I followed to the letter and finally got me into me inside that area of the ski biz. 

The next day as we were side-slipping a frozen race-run, I was experiencing the worst hangover of my entire life, but I survived and Roland Collombin won that race! 

Living cruising the seas (Part Two)

So what pushes so many to spend almost as much time (if not more) on a cruise ship than at home? Many retirees mention the same advantages, no cooking, cleaning, change of scenery without packing or unpacking, safety and convenience plus excellent opportunities to socialize. 

As you can see, a touch of laziness goes a long way! For our neighbors, visiting dozens of destinations doesn’t seem to make any difference and repeatedly packing and unpacking is not even a factor. For couples, it can be an especially relaxing lifestyle because neither person has to plan every day's activities, like “What’s for dinner” or cleaning up the roof gutters. 

Of course, there are a few downsides to that sea life. Even on a huge ship, internet access can be slow or expensive (although it has improved greatly with satellite services). Medical emergencies could end up being costly and in some cases might require expensive evacuation. Cabins are relatively small, buffet food never changes, so it quickly becomes tiring, and entertainment never fails to become repetitive on a long stay away.

For those who are more curious than our neighbors, ports only provide a brief glimpse of a destination. Then, long cruises can become surprisingly expensive unless one is very disciplined about onboard purchases as everything is engineered to separate passengers from their money. This said, the economics of this lifestyle may surprise many. 

For retirees who have sold their house or rent a modest apartment, cruising isn't always as extravagant as it sounds. For instance, the cheapest ocean cruises start around $50 to $80 per person, per night (before taxes and port fees) for interior cabins. The lowest per-person, per-day rates are found on shorter 3- to 4-night sailings, repositioning cruises, and older ships from mainstream fleets like Carnival Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, and Royal Caribbean. 

So if we conservatively said $100 per person and per day, we’d get to a $36,500 cost year round which would include lodging, all meals, utilities, housekeeping, transportation between ports, entertainment, fitness facilities and many activities. This would be hard to beat for a single person renting an apartment anywhere in the US and while $73,000 for a couple might be over the actual cost, it still might be justifiable on account of the affordable services and entertainment received. 

If we compare this with maintaining a home, paying property taxes, insurance, utilities, groceries, dining out, and taking occasional vacations, the difference may be smaller than many people expect. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Now is this lifestyle a growing trend? It would seem that way as the population of healthy retirees has grown, and cruise lines now actively cater to repeat customers with loyalty programs, extended voyages, and even "world cruises" lasting three to six months. 

Some newer itineraries are designed specifically for people who want to treat the ship as a temporary home rather than simply a vacation. This would never work for us as life on a boat feels claustrophobic, but many people who love to do nothing, and never imagined spending months at sea, discover that the combination of comfort, variety, and social interaction suits their retirement remarkably well. 

What about you? 

Living cruising the seas (Part One)

A few days ago we gave a couple of retired neighbors a ride to the airport, as they were flying to the Pacific Coast to catch a cruise. They told us that they spend almost half of their time sailing on large cruise ships with climbing walls, swimming pools and all kinds of amenities and entertainment. They don’t care where the ship sails, where it stops. 

What only counts for them is getting a good (cheap) deal, so anything goes as long as they’re housed and fed. Even though they’re rich they’re also extremely cheap. We could wonder if that practice is widespread, but after searching a bit, I found out that it’s more common than we think. 

Among retirees with sufficient income, spending months each year on cruise ships has become a legitimate lifestyle. While our neighbors' "almost half the year" sounds extraordinary, it’s far from unique. There are even people who live aboard cruise ships year-round. Several factors have made this possible, starting with available time. 

Once retired, many people no longer need to fit travel into two or three weeks of vacation and cruises can be surprisingly cost-effective. If someone books long voyages, lives in an inexpensive home, and takes advantage of loyalty discounts, the daily cost may compare favorably with maintaining a house and paying separately for hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and transportation. 

Everything is included. Meals, housekeeping, shows, pools, fitness centers, organized activities, and transportation from port to port are all bundled together. They also meet the same people repeatedly. Frequent cruisers often develop a circle of friends and even coordinate future voyages together. In addition medical services are available. 

Care on cruise ships meets basic standards for stabilization and minor illnesses, but it’s not free, nor cheap, and not directly covered by US Medicare in international waters. Patients are required to pay out of pocket upfront for all onboard medical services, and Medicare will only reimburse you if the ship is in a US port or no more than six hours away from one. While these services are not substitutes for hospitals, they provide reassurance for older travelers. 

Now, how common is that practice? Of course, the vast majority of retirees do not spend months at sea, but avid cruisers spending 60–120 nights a year aboard is fairly common. Spending 150–200 nights annually, like our neighbors, is uncommon but certainly not rare within cruise enthusiast communities. 

Tomorrow, we’ll see some other aspects of this lifestyle, so if you want to know, stay tuned!

Will the Saudis rescue the ski business?

Faced with global warming, the ski industry should logically turn to Saudi Arabia, based on its rather foolish plan or dream to build a ski resort. You read it correctly, Saudi Arabia has been planning to build an ambitious, year-round outdoor ski resort named Trojena in its mountainous desert region of the country's northwest. 

However, following ballooning costs and shifting priorities within the broader NEOM giga-project, Saudi officials have halted major construction contracts, indefinitely delaying the resort. 

Just for those like me who didn’t know it, NEOM stands for "New Future."It is a combination of two words, NEO: The Greek prefix for "new", while M is the first letter of "Mostaqbal," the Arabic word for "future" or most probably Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who envisioned the project. 

One bad news linked to that location is its low latitude at 28.10° The planned resort is situated roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of the Gulf of Aqaba coast in the Sarawat Mountain range of the Tabuk Province reaching 8,530 feet (2 600 meters) above sea level which is a bit of a stretch in being generous! By comparison: 

• Afriski Mountain, Lesotho, latitude 28.8° S , base altitude 3,050 meters (10,010’). 
• Oukaïmeden, Morocco, latitude 31.2° N. altitude 2,600 m to 3,200 m (8,500 to 10,500') feet). 
• Portillo, Chile, is 32° S, base altitude 2 880 m (9,450’) 

At Trojena, winter temperatures occasionally drop below freezing. The resort was designed to offer 30 kilometers of ski slopes featuring both real snow (via massive artificial snow-making operations using desalinated water) and year-round synthetic "dry" slopes. 

The place’s architecture featured a "vertical ski village," a massive man-made freshwater lake suspended by three large dams, ultra-luxury hotels, and a crystal skyscraper comparable in height to the Eiffel Tower, The project was specifically designated to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, marking the first time the event would be held in a desert nation. 

Despite several years of heavy construction and the erection of massive steel frameworks, NEOM developers terminated several multi-billion-dollar contracts (including a massive dam project and a major steel supply deal). 

The project's costs reportedly swelled to $38 billion, causing the kingdom to pivot its investments toward core industrial, AI, and logistics infrastructure, pushing completion and the hosting of the Winter Games into after 2030, at the very least. NEOM has stopped short of declaring the project dead. 

So, I guess our nearby low-altitude Deer Valley East expansion will have to wait in order to reap some useful feedback and lessons learned from the Saudis…

The day I though my computer died…

Late last month, I almost came to the conclusion that my desktop computer was dying on me. It took inordinate amount of time to reboot when stopped, I couldn’t open my Window Photo app, I couldn’t transfer certain documents from my download file and the list of problems went on and on. I spent the rest of the day fishing for solutions, including asking AI to no avail, and finally got deeper into the Dell resources to learn more about my desktop software to resolve the problem. 

I was about to ditch my desktop and buy a new one, even though I was convinced it was not older than 4 to 5 years. When I checked its purchase date, I shocked to find out I had bought it mid January of 1916. About 10 ½ years ago, doesn’t time fly like crazy! In the meanwhile all the updates Dell and Microsoft told me to run were done, I rebooted the computer, it did it promptly and perfectly, and it appeared to have a new lease on life. 

In the process, I was surprised to find out that the average Windows desktop computer lasted 3 to 8 years, if used for daily work. As you might guess industry folks want us to replace our desktop computer every 4 to 5 years, while consumer experience shows that well-maintained machines can easily push 5 to 8 years before becoming obsolete (not counting mine on its 11th year that now works as new!). 

Because desktops are easier to keep cool and maintain than laptops, they tend to last longer. The ultimate lifespan is determined by things like software obsolescence affecting the operating systems and daily applications as well as low system memory and processing power. As for hardware wear the power supply and storage drives usually begin degrading around the 3 to 5-year mark. 

But unlike laptops, desktops allow us to swap in a new Solid-State Drive (SSD) or add more RAM, extending its usable life by several years. The average usable lifespan of a Windows laptop for daily work is less at 3 to 5 years, MacBooks often providing 1 to 2 years longer. Laptops have a tighter configuration and a limited lifespan as a result, including batteries that need replacement after 500 to 1,000 charge cycles (about 2 to 3 years). 

This said, I use a Chrome book when I travel, it’s super cheap and works perfectly well. In closing I had a terrible experience with “All in one” computers made by HP or Sony that didn’t even made it to two years, so my next computer will be another desktop...

Ski tech celebrity

It used to be that being a ski technician with a ski company on the mighty World Cup circuit used to be a relatively lowly job, at least 50 years ago when I was running Look ski binding racing program. Not anymore, that position has since evolved into the celebrity status.

At least, this was the impression I got, when I learned that Niklas Skaardal, son of former ski stars Karin Köllerer and Norwegian great Atle Skaardal, was officially named, late April 2026, Shiffrin's new Atomic ski technician (skiman). 

Skaardal was coaching with the Austrian Ski Federation when he agreed to join the Atomic service team as a ski technician responsible for preparing and maintaining the equipment of Mikaela Shiffrin — the most decorated Alpine skier in the history of the sport. 

The 24-year-old former Austrian national team skier began his work officially on May 4th, before attending his first in-person meetings with the superstar at her regular early-season training bases in Copper Mountain, Colorado. He was mid-renovation on a farm in the Tennengau region when the phone call came that would change the course of his career. 

The former racer, who ended his career in 2024, most recently worked for the Austrian Ski Federation, where he coached the Vorarlberg talents Jakob Greber and Moritz Zudrell."This is an honor for me," Skaardal said of his new role, making it a step closer to celebrity status. 

My point for this whole blog is that the move is highly unusual as in my old world, a ski tech would have aspired and even killed to become a coach but certainly not the other way around! Now that the once discounted profession has become so visible, I might, in a future next life, choose to become the tech of a famous female ski champion, who knows?

Burning bridges (Part three)

As always, in complicated stories the truth is found half-way between its two extremes, and a more accurate way to express the idea would be that when we fully commit to an important goal and have no easy alternatives, our brain often mobilizes resources. 

From attention, to motivation, persistence, and problem-solving. All these skills can substantially increase our chances of success. But, of course, there’s no guarantee of a positive outcome, because performance also depends on our preparation, abilities, external circumstances, and whether the level of stress remains within an optimal range. Did I even mention luck or lack thereof? 

This distinction also sheds light on why some elite performers deliberately create a "point of no return"—announcing a public goal, investing significant resources, or making a firm commitment. They're not just relying on their brain to guarantee success. They're using commitment to make sustained effort more likely. 

Given the philosophical direction of many of my personal questions, whether it’s about meditation, personal growth, aging as a senior, and letting go of resentment, one could see an interesting parallel here. Burning bridges externally is one way to increase commitment. 

Another, often more durable, approach is to "burn the bridges" internally is reaching a point where we no longer want to retreat because the chosen path aligns deeply with our values and identity. In that case, the motivational force comes less from fear of failure and more from a clear sense of purpose. 

Research suggests that this kind of intrinsic commitment tends to be more sustainable and psychologically healthier than commitment driven solely by the absence of alternatives and I agree, that’s probably true!

Burning bridges (Part two)

When people "burn all bridges", that is remove alternatives, commit completely to a project or a task in which retreat is impossible, several mechanisms can indeed improve performance and make for a positive outcome: 

Attention narrows. With no backup plan, the brain devotes more cognitive resources to the task at hand rather than contemplating escape routes. 

Motivation increases. We tend to work harder when the stakes are high. Psychologists sometimes call this a commitment effect. 

Persistence grows. People often tolerate more discomfort, setbacks, and uncertainty when they perceive quitting as impossible. 

Creativity may increase. Constraints can force people to invent solutions they would never have explored otherwise. 

Of course, history offers many examples where extraordinary commitment produced extraordinary achievements: entrepreneurs who invested everything in a company, explorers surviving against all odds, or athletes performing beyond expectations in championship moments.

However, the second part of my statement as I opened up the debate, namely that "our brain will make sure that we come through it with flying colors" could be seen as a bit of banter or exaggeration, and be far less than accurate. In fact, our brain guarantees no such thing. 

Several factors limit this idea as the relationship between stress and performance is often described by the Yerkes–Dodson law: Moderate pressure improves performance, but excessive pressure impairs memory, judgment, creativity, and fine motor skills. This means that biology has limits and no amount of commitment can compensate for insufficient skills, physical limitations, lack of time, impossible odds or total disgust. 

At the same time, fear can become paralyzing. When they have no escape route, some people panic and that erodes their determination. The same "burn the boats" strategy can inspire one person and overwhelm another. Sure, we hear so many stories of people who succeeded because they committed completely. 

We hear far fewer accounts of equally committed people who failed, lost their savings, or suffered severe consequences. Their stories are not sexy and far less visible. 

Next time, we’ll see where the truth about my theory really lies, so don’t go away!

Burning bridges (Part one)

Many times during my life, I’ve burned bridges. On several occasions, it was unsuccessful, but quite a few times it ended up with a positive, if not an excellent outcome. 

For instance, I remember deciding to go to the Cluses boarding high-school, a very tough place, and that adventure worked out very well for me. Then going to work as an R&D technician at Odo, in the god-forsaken town of Morez, Jura, was marred by discouragement and subsequent failure. 

Same thing when I moved to Geneva to work as an airplane mechanic for TWA and couldn’t make it last. Then again, when I work for that land surveyor in Saint Gervais, near Mont Blanc, that venture didn’t long either, or when I worked at that small firm in Cluses, doing an odd, almost indescribable work that would have been seasonal in nature to dovetail with my ski instructor job but didn’t mobilize my personal passion.

I remember that when I foolishly hitchhiked through the Australian Nullarbor desert, that move miraculously worked out. Likewise, taking the plunge at Look both in Nevers and in America or later moving to Utah were successful “burn your boat” type decisions, albeit with their load of pain and challenge. 

The spirit of adventure has always inhabited my persona for good and for worst. I used to believe that “burning bridges” made a lot of things possible as the incentive to succeed was too strong to ignore and made it impossible to fail. Was it’s possible to say that when I engage in a very uncertain, succeed-or-die endeavor my brain would somehow make sure that I’d come through it with flying colors? 

The answer might be, yes—but only up to a point. This idea captures a real psychological phenomenon, yet it goes much further than the evidence supports. Tomorrow, we’ll try to understand why.

Dave Jacobs’ Spyder saga (Part Two)

At the beginning, Jacobs started designing race sweaters for his sons as he became convinced that the equipment available to young skiers was falling short — not fast enough, not protective enough, not built with real racers in mind. Rather than wait for the industry to catch up, he decided to build something better himself. 

He started small as a mail-order operation run out of his Boulder home, offering a race sweater designed with a competitor's eye for performance. It didn't stay small for long. The turning point came when Jacobs designed a pair of navy blue racing pants with yellow ribbed padding for protection. 

Fellow racers thought the pads looked like spider legs — and Jacobs, ever attuned to a good idea, ran with it. In 1978, he formally named the brand "Spyder," from the Ferrari Spyder, one of his favorite cars. What began as a homemade fix for junior racers grew into a global performance-apparel company. 

Jacobs pushed Spyder to focus relentlessly on aerodynamics and materials science, chasing the same margins that mattered to him as a racer — fractions of a second, degrees of warmth, ounces of weight. 

That focus paid off: Spyder went on to become an official apparel supplier to both the US and Canadian Ski Teams, outfitting athletes at the highest levels of the sport, including the Winter Olympics. 

Colleagues and competitors alike have long placed Jacobs among a small group of ski-industry pioneers who built their businesses the same way they raced — by identifying a problem on the hill and refusing to accept it. His path, from a kitchen-table mail-order business to Olympic podiums, became something of a legend within the ski community. 

Unfortunately after bouncing from private equity groups to incompetent investors, the brand is now defunct, and that’s really too bad. Jacobs is survived by his family, including the sons whose junior-racing days first inspired him to pick up a needle and thread. His broader legacy, though, extends to the countless skiers around the world who have raced — and stayed warmer, safer and faster — in gear built on the principles he first sketched out decades ago. 

David Jacobs was a true ski industry visionary who will be missed dearly. RIP. 

Dave Jacobs, 1933-2026 (Part one)

The former alpine racer and coach who built Spyder, one of skiing's top brands, died early this month. He was 92. Jacobs's life was centered on nearly every level of ski racing, from the start gate to the factory floor. He began as a competitor, by becoming in 1957 the first Canadian to win a national downhill championship, a breakthrough that established him as one of the country's top skiers of his era. 

Jacobs was born in Montreal, Canada, and began skiing at age 13. At 21, he won the Quebec Kandahar, and from 1957 through 1961 was a member of the Canadian National Ski Team. In 1957 he captured the title of Canadian Downhill Ski Champion, and was the top-ranked member of the Canadian FIS Team the following season. 

He later moved from racing into coaching, taking on the role of the Canadian National Ski Team's first full-time head coach from 1964 to 1966. In that position, Jacobs worked closely with a rising generation of Canadian athletes, applying the technical instincts he'd developed as a racer to help shape their training. In 1965, Jacobs was contacted by Bob Lange and asked if the Canadian team was prepared to test the boots. 

When they did, Dave Jacob said that "they were really bad boots," so he traveled to the factory in Dubuque (Iowa) and suggested a number of technical improvements to be made on the product. In June 1966, three pairs of re-designed boots incorporating the required changes were made available to the Canadian team when they trained at Mt. Hood; Gerry Rinaldi, Rod Hebron and Nancy Greene tried them on, went skiing, and they thought they were great. 

At Portillo, Jacobs repaired and rebuilt racers’ Lange boots then and there, and wrote copious reports home to the factory. As a result, the boot evolved, growing higher and stiffer. This is when the boot started to become popular with top racers. Nancy Greene started winning on the brand new World Cup circuit wearing Lange. That same year, Lange-Jacobs Inc was formed and in 1967 opened a small factory in St. Jerôme, near Montreal, to assemble the boots. 

This is where I became aware of him. After that company merged with Lange USA in 1969, David moved to Boulder, sat on the board of directors, and was the company's vice president from 1969-1972. During this time, he designed the first Lange competition ski boot, which became the hallmark of World Cup ski boots and predecessor to the Lange race boots used today. Jacobs's most lasting contribution, however, came after his coaching career ended. 

It's in 1978 that he started what would become a world-famous sportswear company right out of his Boulder kitchen. Stay with us for the rest of the story...

Trump and Infantino’s corruption

Setting aside national pride and bias (after all, I am a U.S. citizen), what can be said about the scandal Trump triggered by involving FIFA? While most Americans felt a sense of national pride and an instinct to defend "our team," the Trump-FIFA affair was fundamentally a matter of political interference in an international sports governing body, FIFA’s willingness to bypass its own rules, and the detrimental consequences for the fairness of the competition.

The central issue was not whether the red card issued to Balogun was harsh; it was simply the fact that a head of state took the liberty of successfully pressuring FIFA to overturn a sanction that, according to the regulations, was not subject to appeal. That is why global football authorities reacted so strongly. For those unaware of the facts or who do not recall them: Trump personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask him to review Folarin Balogun’s red card. 

He also acted hypocritically, ignoring the fact that Balogun’s case hinged precisely on citizenship by birthright—a practice Trump vehemently denounces. In response, FIFA rescinded the automatic one-match suspension by invoking Article 27—a rarely used clause allowing for the discretionary suspension of disciplinary measures. UEFA, Belgium, former FIFA officials, and numerous players and coaches were furious; they condemned the decision, describing it as "unprecedented," "incomprehensible," and a case of a "red line being crossed." 

Critics argue that this reversal undermined the tournament's integrity and set a dangerous precedent regarding political influence over officiating and disciplinary procedures; I fully share this view. The scandal is not about Balogun (the player), but about the future of sporting fairness. Smaller footballing nations (like Belgium) lack such leverage. 

Trump demonstrated consistently disastrous judgment by following his instincts: he cast the American team in a poor light and provoked such resentment that Belgium won out of sheer anger—even though the Americans were, on paper, highly competitive. 

His intervention highlighted a two-tier system: on one side, powerful nations capable of influencing outcomes, and on the other, the rest of the world forced to accept decisions they cannot challenge. This imbalance is precisely what global sports governance is meant to prevent; this is not a matter of ordinary football politics, but a crisis of governance and a case of blatant hypocrisy. 

Ill-gotten gains never prosper!

How fast are years aging us? (Part two)

Following our review of mortality risks and physical performance, we’ll turn today to organ function and biological markers. Recent research examining thousands of proteins, metabolites, and DNA markers has found that aging may proceed in "bursts" rather than at a perfectly steady rate. Some studies identified major biological transitions around: 

40–45 

60–65 

75–80 

The exact ages vary between studies, but the general finding is that biological systems often undergo periods of accelerated change rather than a smooth decline. Again, does aging double at 70? Not really, a more accurate description would be that the rate of decline for many bodily functions accelerates after 70, and often accelerates further after 80 and again after 90. If we tried to express this mathematically, there is no single multiplier. 

This table is a rough conceptual illustration. Different systems age at different rates: Then there a some people who seem to escape this which shows an enormous variability among older adults. At age 80, you can find people who, require daily assistance. hike mountains. ski regularly. travel internationally and learn new languages.
 

The difference is often explained by genetics (perhaps 20–30%), lifelong physical activity, smoking history, body composition, social engagement, cognitive stimulation, sleep quality and just plain luck! In fact, among healthy, active octogenarians, the trajectory often resembles that of people 10–15 years younger. 

In reality, aging is less like a car that accumulates one mile of wear per mile driven and more like a dam holding back water. For decades, tiny defects accumulate with little visible effect. Then, as reserves diminish, each additional defect has a larger impact. The body's resilience—its ability to recover from illness, injury, stress, or lack of sleep—declines. Many gerontologists consider loss of resilience to be one of the key indicators of advanced aging. 

That is why a 30-year-old may recover from a hard fall, flu, or sleepless night in days, whereas at 80 the same event can have consequences lasting weeks or months. So my friend's saying is not literally correct, but it captures a real phenomenon that after about age 70, and even more after 80, many aspects of aging become increasingly nonlinear because the body's reserves and repair capacity are shrinking. 

The body is not necessarily aging "twice as fast," but the effects of aging become progressively more visible and consequential.

How fast are years aging us? (Part one)

A friend of mine used to tell me: “When we get to be 70 our bodies age twice as fast as they used to…” I’ve always wondered if this French popular expression held a kernel of truth and if it was the case was the multiplier “two” correct at 70, but how much should it be upgraded at 75, 80, 85, 90 and further as we age. 

I wondered if there had been any studies made, what was objectively measured and what were the findings if any. After doing some research, I soon realized that my friend’s saying contained some figments of truth, but not in the literal sense that "the body suddenly ages twice as fast at 70." Researchers who study aging have found that aging is not linear. 

Many aspects of human physiology decline gradually for decades and then accelerate at certain milestones. However, the acceleration differs depending on what’s being measured. There are in fact at least four ways to measure aging: 

• Mortality risk (chance of dying within a given year) 
• Physical performance (strength, balance, walking speed, endurance) 
• Organ function (heart, lungs, kidneys, immune system, etc.) 
• Biological markers (DNA, proteins, inflammation, cellular changes) 

The above categories or aspects do not all age simultaneously. 

Starting with mortality risk, one of the most robust findings in demography is the Gompertz law, discovered in the 1820s. It shows that after adulthood, the risk of death increases approximately exponentially with age. A rough rule is that mortality risk doubles every 7–9 years after middle age. 

For example, if a healthy 60-year-old has a certain annual risk of death, at 68–69, that risk is about twice as high. At 76–78, it’s about four times as high, then at 84–87, it’s about eight times as high. This does not mean the body is aging twice as fast; it means the consequences of accumulated aging become increasingly apparent. 

In terms of physical capabilities, we see several bodily functions declining at an accelerated rate, starting with muscle mass and strength. After age 30, muscle mass declines slowly (about 3–8% per decade), but past age 60–70 the loss often accelerates significantly, with strength falling faster than muscle mass itself. 

This is why many people notice that, at 80, they may lose strength in a year that would have taken several years to lose at 50. Walking speed and balance both decline gradually until about 70, then the slope steepens after 75–80. These measures are among the best predictors of future health and longevity. 

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how aging affects organ functions and other biological markers...

Getting rid of grudge (Part four)

My way to eradicating grudges began with chronologically walking my memory and making a list of the resentments I had towards specific people, grading them in intensity and stating the reasons. 

Symmetrically, I created a parallel list, including those I feel gratitude from, including mentors, friends, relatives, colleagues and even adversaries that planted in me the seed that made me who I am today. As you may already know, showing gratitude plays a major role when I meditate and having both lists helped me see that the gratitude list is longer and more consequential than the resentment list. 

The benefit of this entire exercise is that grudges often exist as a vague emotional cloud. Identifying them explicitly helps me turning them from something that unconsciously influences me into something I can see and examine consciously. There are however, two very different ways of establishing the list, either by creating a detailed inventory of offenses and repeatedly reliving them, not a helpful one, or treating it as an audit whose purpose is closure. Look at the example below.

The crucial questions are the last three listed. Instead of dwelling on, "How badly was I treated?", I gradually move toward "What exactly hurt me?", "What lesson did it teach me?", "What’s the reason for not forgiving now?". 

Many find that the actual offense is not the deepest wound, for example, a betrayal may conceal a need for recognition, A family conflict may hide a need for love. A professional slight may suggest wounded pride, A friendship rupture may hold back disappointment. Once the deeper wound is identified, the resentment often weakens considerably. 

At my age, there’s another dimension that’s worth noting. I discovered that some of the folks who hurt me were immature, as they acted out of fear, were carrying their own burdens, were badly sick or no longer alive. This doesn’t excuse their actions, but it often changes the emotional view. 

Many people my age also report an interesting shift; what once seemed like malice increasingly looks like human frailty and this can make forgiveness easier. When all entries are finished I suggest you try completing this sentence: "The event remains part of my history, but it no longer deserves space in my future." 

You don’t have to force yourself to feel forgiveness immediately, the objective is not to convince yourself that the hurt never mattered but it’s just to stop paying emotional interest on an old debt. In many ways, my approach resembles an end-of-life accounting process—not in a morbid sense, but in the sense of closing old books before moving on. 

Given my interest in meditation, gratitude, and continual self-improvement, the exercise becomes less a catalog of grievances and more a map of how life's difficulties helped shape the person I eventually became. 

In conclusion, holding onto resentment is like carrying a hot coal in the hand with the intention of throwing it at someone else, but meanwhile, our own hand is the one being burned. Just let go of all our grudges and good luck!

Getting rid of grudge (Part three)

Eradicating resentment and grudges from our lives, gives us greater peace of mind, less mental replaying of old events and just better relationships. All the resentment that we may harbor toward one person often spills into interactions with others. 

Releasing it makes us more open, patient, and generous. In addition, we become less vulnerable to having old wounds constantly reopened. Many people eventually quickly come to realize that those who harmed them were themselves driven by fear, ignorance, insecurity, or suffering. Understanding does not excuse behavior, but it can soften hatred. 

The stronger sense of freedom that comes with letting go, is perhaps the greatest benefit. Freedom is not simply being able to do what we want. It’s also being free from compulsions that enslave our inner life and resentment is precisely one of them. 

I’m not saying that there are situations where anger serves an important purpose. If someone is being abused, exploited, or mistreated, anger can signal that boundaries need to be established. Prematurely trying to "forgive and forget" can sometimes suppress legitimate needs for protection, accountability, or justice. I personally don’t believe that an immoral and outlaw person like Trump has to be forgiven before he pays for what he’s done. 

The healthiest sequence is often to recognize the injury, feel the emotions honestly and learn whatever lessons are necessary. What’s required is to establish appropriate boundaries, then release the resentment. This is where I find the process of forgiveness directly connected to my practice of meditation. I feel gratitude, appreciation for those who shaped my life. 

Then comes my desire to make the latter years of my life a kind of crescendo of personal growth, letting go of grudges align naturally with that effort. Many discover that gratitude and resentment compete for the same mental space. 

The more deeply one appreciates the gifts, lessons, and relationships that have formed one's life, the harder it becomes to remain preoccupied with old grievances. That does not mean becoming naïve or passive. It means choosing which experiences deserve continued residence in your mind. 

In the next blog I’ll propose a step by step process to prepare that change and give it a solid chance to succeed!

Getting rid of grudge (Part two)

Erasing resentment from our crowded minds generally works pretty well because several mechanisms seem to be involved. The first is that we finally stop fighting reality. Typically, a painful event occurred. It shouldn’t have, but it did. 

Our mind often spends years arguing with a fact that cannot be changed. Letting go means acknowledging reality without having to approve of it and this frees enormous mental energy. 

Next, it’s easy to see that as long as our emotional state depends on someone else's apology, punishment, or transformation, part of our well-being remains in their hands. By releasing resentment, we reclaim ownership of our inner life. 

That’s precisely when the message becomes: "What happened was wrong, but I refuse to let it poison my present." At this point, our stress physiology settles down as anger, and grievance activate threat-related systems in the body. The result of repeatedly replaying injuries can maintain elevated stress responses, muscle tension, vigilance, and emotional reactivity. 

When the grievance loses its emotional grip, the body often relaxes as well. At that moment, attention becomes available again. We all know that attention is a limited resource that will finally be able to return to us as extra energy. 

This additional source of energy can be redirected toward our relationships, creativity, helping others, learning, spiritual endeavors and just enjoying life. In essence, forgiveness is not giving something to the offender but it’s recovering something for us! 

Tomorrow we’ll see what kind of benefits will come to us…

Getting rid of grudge (Part one)

 

If there is an operation that costs next to nothing and can relieve us from a heavy and continuous burden, it has to be the simple fact of extinguishing grudge, bitterness, hostility, desire for revenge, rancor, enmity and ill-will, to name just a few. These emotions often function like a form of psychological debt. 

They require energy to maintain. The mind repeatedly revisits old injuries, reconstructs conversations, imagines alternative outcomes, or rehearses punishments for those who have wronged us. Even when we are not consciously thinking about the offense, part of our emotional system often remains mobilized around it. 

Of course, I’m not suggesting excusing wrongdoing, forgetting what happened, reconciling with an unsafe person, or abandoning justice. It is primarily an internal act: refusing to continue carrying the emotional burden. Resentment feels heavy to us because when we’re hurt, our minds often conclude: 

"This should not have happened." 

"Someone owes me." 

"Things would be better if they suffered as I suffered." 

"I cannot be at peace until this is corrected." 

And it’s precisely these thoughts that can keep us psychologically attached to the injury and our attention to the past, the event may be over, but your emotional system continues to invest resources in it. When we can’t remove ourselves from these experiences, it always requires more time, maturity and a more intense understanding before we discover that the person we’re punishing most effectively is just ourselves. 

Next time, we’ll attempt to understand how this mental liberation actually operates, so please stay with me!