Another Halloween in stats and video

We always hope to beat the previous year in terms of Halloween visitations, and this year was no exception. 

When all was said and done and it was time to lock our front door and turn off the lights, we managed to do better than last year by a small 5% margin, at least beating inflation. 

Seven groups added up to 21 visitors, just one more than last year and that compares to our best year (at our previous home location) with 82 youngsters in 2007 and just 12 in 2011. 

Sadly the Latina family chose not to show up with their kids, like they did last year, fearing Trump’s resurgent ICE raids by its barbaric force, and hopefully, next year this sad situation might improve somewhat. 

On the plus side, I included a short video to help you picture that very low key event at our home! 

Sölden post-mortem

Like many ski racing enthusiasts, I watch the recent opeing race in Sölden and while some think the Rettenbach slope is one of the most punishing on the circuit with gradients of up to 68% (approximately 34 degrees) on its steepest section, it’s quite brutal and, in my view, lacks the variety of sites like Adelboden or Alta Badia. 

The race starting at an altitude of 3,040 meters drops about 370 meters over a course length of nearly 1.2 kilometers. This "very long and steep ascent" is considered the key passage of the Rettenbachferner glacier. To break the monotony of the flat end-section, 2026 saw its profile further “enhanced” by deliberately modeling it three wave-like bumps. 

Without natural snowpack, the snow on the race course was praised for being in excellent condition. This was achieved through a massive logistical effort involving 60,000 m³ of snow stockpiled from the previous spring and preserved over the summer using the "snow farming" method allowing to keep 70 to 80% of the stored snow over the summer. 

That old snow, combined with high-performance snowmaking systems activated by a cold spell, created a "compact and race-ready base" with an "ideal snow surface". The result was the hard, icy, and consistent racing surface required for a fair World Cup race. This said, it was hard to shy away from the view of the Rettenbach Glacier looking "unusually brown" just before the races, with the prepared piste looking like a narrow white ribbon in a barren landscape. 

Whatever snow was there was ultimately tested by difficult and rapidly changing weather on race day, which became a major story-line for pundits as the women's GS was delayed by 30 minutes due to snow and wind on the glacier, setting a chaotic tone for the day. 

Then the race became a battle not just against the clock, but against the elements, with a changing weather becoming a decisive factor in the race outcome. Mikaela Shiffrin, who led after the first run, encountered fog and increasingly dark conditions in her second run. 

Meanwhile, Paula Moltzan who won the day, caught a crucial break of sunlight, allowing her to ski a flawless second run and take the victory. Shiffrin later admitted, "It was tough, you can say that, this second run... It was getting darker and darker on the course". I didn’t particularly enjoyed the race, but based on the press articles I read, I must have been the only one!

The Nobel Prize Committee doesn’t get it

Unanimously, it seems, Norway is recognized as a highly developed, first-world nation with one of the highest standards of living, strongest social safety nets, and largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. In spite of that reality, Donald Trump begs to differ. 

Last Sunday, at a rally in Michigan, he characterized that county as a "shithole", like he likes to name countries he abhors. 

That name-calling began in 2018 when in an Oval Office meeting on immigration, Trump contrasted nations he described as "shithole countries" with Norway, asking why the US didn't have more immigrants from places like Norway (though he had previously praised Norway's economy and trade relations). 

Perhaps he was already fishing for his coveted Nobel Prize. 

Fast forward to Sunday October 25 when suddenly Norway, the “shithole” opposite, conveniently fell into that colorful category, following the decision by the independent Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to a South African jurist. 

It’s amazing how things change fast with Trump, how unpredictable the man is, and therefore how mentally troubled he must be. Someone should finally teach him what peace means, what good judgment is, and that one catches many more flies with honey than vinegar.

Handling repulsive projects…

We all have projects that haunt us — tasks we know must be done, that nag at us every time we walk past them, yet somehow remain untouched. They sit there like silent judges, reminding us of our ingrained procrastination. 

In my case, recently, it was a set of home repairs — complicated, multi‑stage, time‑consuming. Every time I saw them, I felt a mix of guilt and irritation. I could hire someone, of course, but I also knew I could do it myself, if only I could get past the psychological barrier. 

The first trick I use is simple: I stop avoiding the task and look it straight in the eye. I remind myself that if I consider myself competent, then this is exactly the kind of thing I should be able to handle. It’s a gentle but firm form of self‑accountability if not self-shaming. 

The second tool that comes to my mind is the salami technique: slice the project into thin, manageable pieces. A task that feels impossible in its entirety becomes surprisingly doable when broken into small, self‑contained steps. And then I remember Lao Tzu’s old wisdom: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

That line has become my trigger. Once I take that first step — even a tiny one — the project loses its power over me. That’s how I finally began tackling the repairs I had dreaded for so long. In the end, repulsive projects aren’t defeated by willpower alone. 

They yield when we stop avoiding them, but begin to tame them by breaking them into slices, and taking that first small step. Once I did that, the project I had loathed for months finally began to move — not because it became easier, but because I finally stopped letting it intimidate me.

The invisible car license plate

As of 2026, it’s no longer need to install a license plate in the front of our vehicle in Utah. Even though this practice was tolerated before, it’s now official. The state only issues one plate for the back of the car. 

Along with that, cyclists that like to carry their bikes on their car use the rack hitch that attach to the rear tow insert. 

That placement however does a perfect job in hiding the license plate and it prevents its reading by toll cameras on bridges and other paid access areas. So my question is, what’s the police doing about it? Is it even aware of that reality? 

Even since these bike carriers have been out, I’ve always wondered about the impact of this problem, not just in Utah, but in the US or even elsewhere? I did some research and yes, the police everywhere absolutely know this is happening. Now here are the official rules grounded in how US states actually enforce license‑plate visibility laws and how police deal with rear‑mounted bike racks that block plates. 

Utah’s one‑plate rule (2026) doesn’t change the visibility requirement, the law still requires that the plate must be clearly visible, unobstructed and illuminated at night, so a hidden plate is illegal. Outside of Utah, this also a known nationwide problem and police departments have been dealing with it as the rear plate is the only identifier. 

This means that toll cameras. red‑light or speed cameras, ALPR (automated license plate readers) and police patrol cars, all depend on that single rear plate. Now, here’s the real enforcement pattern, based on how departments handle this in Utah and other states, police issue warnings or citations in a large number of States and anywhere with toll roads or ALPR systems. 

This said, there does not seem to be much enforcement in Park City, probably because of the tourism economic impact. Elsewhere, I’m told that if an officer sees a plate that is partially or fully blocked, they can stop the vehicle and issue a fix‑it ticket or a visibility citation. They ask for plate‑relocation brackets and move the plate to the bike rack using a plate relocation kit. 

In Canada, most provinces require the same. Most European countries and Australia require two plates with no obstruction allowed and mandatory relocation if a bike rack blocks the plate. Now you know the score. Drive safely and have fun riding your bike!

Marcel Grivel-Delillaz, 1946-2026

Marcel and I first met at Chamonix, in May of 1971 during a staff orientation meeting prior to leaving for Australia to teach skiing at Mt. Buller the following summer. 

We then met again at the small Victoria resort in mid-July when I finally got there along with JP Chatellard following a protracted 6-week ocean journey. 

Marcel was an avid skier, full of energy and enthusiasm and kept his high-level intensity through the end of the September when the ski season came to an end. Following that fun-sharing experience, we kind of lost touch, I simply knew that he just married Nadia and as a result decided not to rejoin some of us for another season down-under. 

We then briefly reconnected on April 13, 1974 when I ran into Marcel and Nadia at the Robinson ballroom under memorable circumstances. It would almost take another three decades for us to reconnect when I retired and had time to chase my former acquaintances. 

Skiing, mountain biking and shared memories fed our many phone conversations and social media sharing. Finally, on October 14, 2023, Evelyne and I had an enjoyable lunch with Marcel in Annemasse, near Geneva. 

Following that we talked on the phone and exchanged on social media and our last conversation goes back to January 23 of this year, and our exchange on Whatsapp this past September 24. Marcel passed away on October 26 from heart failure, he was about one month away for his 80th birthday. 

He will be missed a lot by his family and all of his mountain loving friends.

Socialism and economics “à la française”

France, my home country, offers a remarkable confluence between comfortable socialism, “elastic” economic, financial concepts and reluctance to confront hard and painful issues. Simply said, all the benefits earned and accrued over time, could be likened to what’s called a no-return mechanism, used in any winch, namely a ratchet and pawl system. 

This ratchet effect didn’t appear overnight. It grew out of the post‑war social contract, reinforced by strong unions and a political culture where the street is considered the legitimate and most potent arena of democratic expression. 

This means that any social benefits earned over the years cannot be removed and if there were any attempt to impose it, no matter the reason, it seems that the populace would come down in the street to protest and oftentimes, break, burn and loot around. 

This might seem like a hostage-taking scheme and it probably is. So if you are thinking of retirement age (62), numbers of hours worked in a week (35) or a host of other hard-earned benefits as well as the most robust social safety net in the world, forget even thinking of changing or reducing any them. It’s in a way similar to our US Constitution, it’s set in stone and practically unchangeable. 

France’s social architecture, admirable in many ways, now collides with a global economy that rewards flexibility, innovation, and rapid adaptation — qualities the French system often suppresses. Yet, the work around us change, each nation ends up being in economic competition against its neighbor and this onerous social net is now paralyzing a French government held hostage by demonstrations that always have the potential of choking the Nation. 

French demonstrations oscillate between peaceful mass mobilization and disruptive unrest. Both forms are part of a long tradition where public protest acts as a counter‑power To change this would require political courage that Macron, and the traditional right before him were woefully unable to muster. Today, by taking a page from the Trump playbook, LePen would probably dare to do so if she can managed to be elected, which I still doubt. The next obvious candidate, the leftist Mélanchon if elected, wouldn’t be able to achieve much either with a divided parliament. 

Successive governments — left, right, and centrist — have struggled to reform the system because any attempt to adjust the ratchet triggers massive resistance. Whether future leaders can overcome this dynamic remains uncertain. France’s ratchet‑and‑pawl system has preserved social gains admirably, but it has also created a political equilibrium where change is nearly impossible. Whether this equilibrium can endure in a rapidly shifting world is the question France must eventually confront.