Stairs and crutches

When I received my brand new pair of crutches no one told me how to use them. I just assumed that I would easily figure these walking sticks. That was until I went down the stairs with them. Juggling with imbalance, gravity, fear and enormous luck, I landed unscathed at the bottom of the staircase.

I then realized that the law of skiing “what goes up must go down” also applies to crutches. I have since done some research on the net and found some safer methods for navigating in style, up and down the stairs.

Ouch!

While post-surgery was quite comfortable, pain suddenly came out of nowhere yesterday... And what a pain that was, especially last night; the stinging, relentless kind (voodoo style, pins included). I spoke with the nurse and she said that it came from some upset nerves. Come to think of it, fixing that ruptured tendon came with... strings attached!

Almost... seamless

I underwent surgery yesterday at TOSH (that's The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Salt Lake City). It's amazing how low-tech these institutions still are! From my first visit with the orthopedic surgeon last week, I've been asked the same questions or have filled out the same forms over and over... Seems to me that data could be entered once and for all by the patient on a digital tablet or some P.D.A. Aren't we in America? Going digital would shave costs off an increasingly costly health care system.

In spite of that cumbersome way to handle records, the operation went perfectly well. Getting the I.V. in worked fine (usually, no one can find the largest of my veins!), the anesthesia was smooth and easy, and when the nurse woke me up 75 minutes later, I was so awake that I impatiently asked her when the operation was scheduled to start; I felt perfectly clear, a bit elated (a shot of morphine always does the trick) and after 30 minutes extra rest was able to converse with Evelyne as we drove back all the way up to Park City.

Dr. James Morgan (the surgeon) and Dr. Farnworth (the anesthesiologist) did an almost seamless job (I still have the stitches;) I can barely wait till my next accident and surgery!

My Achilles Heel

For years, my two Achilles tendons have always done a fine job. That was until March 23, 2007, when the right one decided to break apart from my loose federation of free and flexible limbs.

Sure, the break-up took some provocation on my part: I went to a place where I wasn't really supposed to be, gathered too much speed, ignored the mystery of blind corners and wham! I hit a pile of huge rocks that caused a tearing deceleration and a spectacular separation of the man from his skis and tendon...

Today, I suppose that most of that poor Achilles tendon hides all curled up into the depth of the right calf muscle that reluctantly plays host to the intruder. Ever since the incident, that muscle has been protesting, sending me a daily dose of painful signals.

Tomorrow, a modern shaman will attempt to reunite the tendon with its heel attachment and will pour a white cast over the whole thing in order to contain the crisis for ten to fourteen more days.

I'll soon let you know how the relationship patches up...

Welcome

Here comes a brand new Blog. We’ll cover lifestyle, creative ideas, pragmatic philosophy and personal reinvention. Hang on and enjoy the ride!

Gene-altering project may help ski numbers

Most of us who depend on the tourist trade and on skier or rider visits know that, for the past ten years, the number of mountain resort's visits during winter has been flat with no foreseeable rebound in sight.

This lackluster trend may soon reverted if Dr. Eugene Ettick, a Swiss professor of genetic engineering succeeds in cloning skiers and snowboarders.

Dr. Ettick's initial survey conducted in 1992 at the University of Geneva has shown that out of 100 people who admit they ski or ride, only eleven percent have the genetic making and behavior that will hook them to the sport. Out of that small percentage, three quarters are male.

The same study also showed that up to ninety-five percent of these same "hard-core" practitioners may continue -- if given the opportunity -- to ski or ride well into their 70's.

A few months later, Dr. Ettick and his team of researchers began to collect DNA from hard-core snow enthusiasts and compared it to a control population.

Initially, this study was both difficult and frustrating as skiers did not cooperate with the research team as they felt that the scope of the study was trivial and even some type of a hoax. Thanks to rather lax privacy laws in Europe, the research team undertook to "get" the material data without really asking. They just took advantage of the late winter season when mostly die-hard skiers can be found on the slopes and when clothing layers get much thinner. Stealing a tiny sample of the subject's fleshy DNA in overcrowded trams, gondolas or jammed ski lines at major alpine resorts then became a lot easier.

A rough estimate of the subject's age and sex was simply assessed by data collectors as they "pricked" the skiers' fleshier body regions.

While this approach sometime occasioned complaints from female customers who reported that "perverts" were harassing them in crowded situations, enough data was collected to paint a representative picture of what avid skiers' DNA looked like.

For instance, the early samples showed that the majority of subjects exhibited over-achieving attitudes, a propensity for independent thinking and greater-than-normal tolerance for risk.

From this information, the Geneva-based group started to "enhance" some of the DNA collected and proceeded to "dial" certain traits up or down, like need for speed or fear factor.

With the invaluable help of one of Dr. Ettick's associates whose spouse is a high ranking physician in a Basel sperm bank owned by Novartis, some modified DNA was introduced into several sets of vials, half of which were inseminated between 1995 and 1997.

While the tracking of babies born as the result of that work proved to be arduous, ninety-five percent of the subjects identified were noticed to have a propensity of sliding before they could even walk. Since that time, half of them had literally coerced their parents to take them skiing, but the most widely observed behavior was the extraordinary toddlers' enthusiasm and skills on playground slides.

Today, not only has the Swiss Ski Federation started to become a significant contributor to Dr. Ettick's research in an effort to enhance its talent pool, but so have its bobsled, luge and skeleton counterparts.

It must be noted however that kids whose genes have been "skierezed" are also showing mischievous behaviors; like laying banana peels on sidewalks, recklessly driving their big wheels into street traffic, jumping off their high-chairs when dinner is not served fast enough, ingesting far too much liquid and generally being loud and obnoxious.

On a more positive note, the same kids began to stay away from TV, Nintendo and other computer games; even Barney's suddenly lost most of its appeal.

Many of them also exhibited above-average skills at playing "connect the dots" on a piece of paper which -- some child psychologists assert -- shows an innate attraction for interconnected mountain resorts!

From a gender standpoint, the "gap" has now disappeared, (a more powerful tool than Title 9!) which has prompted some visionary lift operators to suggest a "dosage" that would create more female skiers than males. This should boost resorts visitations by prompting boys to look for girls on the slopes. The most aggressive expert even suggested that by striking the right "unbalance" between sexes, ski area visitations could see a geometric progression...

Towards the end of the 90's Dr. Ettick extended the same study to a Colorado university that started to gather its data at A-Basin but ended up at nearby Snowbird because its crowded and steamy tram sped up sample collection. A handful of Parkites have reported being "pinched" inside the Snowbird tram on several occasions during May of 1997 and 1998.

Thanks to the sophistication of U.S. genetic research, samples that were processed here in the past months have shown great promises.

Among others, the U.S. research group has determined that certain behaviors such as "rope crossing" could be eradicated from a skier or rider's internal programming, even though the ACLU has strongly objected to that.

In addition, a person biological clock could be slightly altered or even remotely controlled so the urge of sliding could be programmed to kick in November or April when ski resorts are slow.

Real estate developers are also jumping in and have asked the scientists to program impulse buying of condos or timeshares at their resorts.

This promising new technology is not without its danger. Because a Colorado school is behind the program, some fear that there is an obvious temptation to steer the new crop of destination skiers into picking the Centenial state instead of Utah, California or Canada, for example.

At present, Governor Levitt who knows of the situation has vaguely spoken of launching a similar program at the U of U or at Utah Valley Community College. He has also hinted that he might combine the project with Pons and Fleishman's cold fusion work of several years ago to attract venture capital investors.

Until now, and because of so-called ethical concerns attached to gene modifications in general, the study has assumed a very low profile. This may change soon however as a "Save our Canyons" sticker-bearing member claimed he was "stabbed" two years ago in Snowbird and suffered a mild infection in the right buttock.

At press time, this individual is considering bringing legal action against the U.S. research team...

Growing the winter sports industry

The winter sports industry is more fragmented and divided than it needs to be, and this may be one of the reasons why we fail to attract more participation into our wonderful world of winter recreation. There are indeed many facets to the snow industry that don't always work in concert.

The most critical entities are the ski areas that make their lift equipment and other infrastructure available to our visiting guests; ski or mountain areas are joined under the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA).

Lodging operations are obvious participants, and the final pieces of the puzzle are the various suppliers of winter sports equipment and apparel, all grouped in what is called Snow Industries America (SIA).

While both NSAA and SIA tried to merge back in the late 80's and attempted to launch some common promotional programs, their respective leaderships could not surrender full control, and soon that temporary alliance was followed by a bitter divorce.

For the past ten years, all winter sport industry players have sensed a lack of growth as the number of skier days have hovered around the 50 million mark without showing any significant growth.

Stop-and-Go Programs
With a constantly growing supply of goods, infrastructure and services, it becomes quite obvious that we will soon suffer if we fail to attract more participants.

The "Ski it to Believe it" promotion of earlier this decade was a timid two-season attempt that was abandoned too soon because no measurable results could be seen out of the effort.

Last May, Les Otten, American Skiing Company's chief and owner of The Canyons, was urging all segments of the winter sports industry to raise a $57 million war chest for a three-year marketing campaign. This laudable effort was abandoned a few months later because of "bad snow conditions". These kinds of stop-and-go actions won't do much to pull skiing and snowboarding out of their stagnation.

Something consistent and sustained needs to be done, but none of the segments of the industry appear to have a clear idea as to what the right prescription should be. While we are very much dependent on snow, capricious snow conditions are not necessarily the sole reasons behind the lack of expansion of winter recreation.

In reality, skiing may be suffering more from a clear lack of promotion by its own industry and from a number of other hurdles ranging from its cost to its complexity and inherent risk. The logical question is what set of actions are more likely to spark a renewed interest for winter sports?

Nurturing Feeder Ski Areas
In looking closely, there are many avenues that could be thoroughly explored. One of them is a closer partnership between large destination resorts and small family ski areas scattered throughout the nation. These are the critical feeder markets for tomorrow's destination skiers and snowboarders. Through strong co-op programs, large ski areas could make available lifts, grooming, snowmaking and other equipment -- still in good operating condition -- to these smaller mountain areas. Likewise, mountain operations and private ski rental shops could donate older equipment to the same feeder markets in an effort to make this first snow experience as affordable as possible.

Other support programs at these same local areas could revolve around children and young families in an effort to make snow sports a weekend pastime that most people can afford. It is quite obvious that we must enroll kids' participation into the sport if we want to see sustained results in the future. Donated equipment, ski-swaps or lease programs could all be orchestrated to making winter sports extremely affordable to parents who normally would never consider letting their kids play in the snow...

Of course, feeder markets and programs aimed at developing local skiers will only work best in the snowbelt or in those metro areas with skilifts within reasonable driving distance, but how can we enlist Sunbelt states' participation?

Tapping into Low Occupancy Periods
Ski areas and lodging must do a much better job in maximizing low occupancy periods. Offering promotions during the early part of December or April should attract people to the slopes. Even if the snow isn't plentiful yet or has already passed its prime, new skiers or riders should still be able to learn the rudiments of the sport.

All segments of the industry could pitch in: rental operators could make gear available at minimal costs, ski areas could cut the cost of lift tickets to a bare minimum or, better yet, let these first-timers ride free. These same resorts would recoup some of their investment by selling more hamburgers, drinks, sun tan lotion or goggles while lodging companies could offer accommodations at or near cost. This should prime the pump and would inoculate first-time visitors with a life-long dose of "snow fever."

These are just a few ideas that have the potential to re-energize our industry if we have the fortitude and patience to let them grow and are willing to give them more than just a couple of years.