When you “hit” seventy...

I recently turned 70 and had always wondered how it would feel to reach that milestone. Well, the morning of that day wasn't much different from the 25,550 other mornings I had experienced so far.

When I rolled out of bed, I fell stiff, but it was mostly because I had skied for six consecutive days with my daughter in less than pristine snow conditions.

That's why I decided to take a deep breath and repair the skis we had damaged on the thinly covered slopes during the previous days, dodging skiers and rocks.

I felt grateful to have eluded death and incapacitating accidents many time and made it that far in life as a left-handed (a category that doesn't last long), to be in great health, have a wonderful family and live in a wonderful place.

I know much more today than when I was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60, and I'm eager to keep on learning, having more fun and fulfilling experiences in the years ahead. The picture is so clear, bright and enticing that I can't really know where to start!

In praise of rock-skis...

Any serious alpine skier should have at least two types of skis in his or her quiver. Normal skis and rock-skis.

With almost no snow this year, rock-skis are the ones that I pulled out most often, and are working wonder for me.

Ignoring snow depths (or lack thereof), honing for shale, sliding over rocks while, I hope, self-sharpening their edges, hitting stones, rubbing against gravel or loose pebbles and reminding me of all of that mineral world that lives below us.

Rocks create sound, just like rock and roll makes music. They also shake tips, delaminate fibers, crack edges, cut deep grooves into the Swiss-made P-tex as if our ski bottoms were vinyl LPs ready to play us some Rocky Mountain blues.

Bless the rock skis, they give us the strength, the audacity and the faith that no matter how thin our snow cover is, they'll always provide this finite interface between our feet and the ground.

They'll always touch our hearts of skiers, and if those aren't made of stone, they'll melt at least some of our bases and sometime bend our edges by the time we get to the bottom.

Never, ever discard your older boards, always give them a second chance by promoting them to the after-life of legitimate “rock-skis!”

Perfect resting place for presents!

Yesterday morning, as we often do, we walked through the Park City cemetery.

During the Holidays quite a few graves brighten up for the Season, either with a Christmas tree or a host of other Holiday decorations.

Today, we found this one and its trove of apparently still unopened presents; priceless!

Quarter-century old marketing concepts

Some 25 years ago, I was working with Pre Skis, an off-shoot of K2 skis, and was in charge of international sales for a change instead of what I knew best, marketing. Back in December of 1992, we had produced a movie for our 1993 sales meeting that was meant to communicate the product marketing positioning as a “Western, big mountain ski”.

Image-building was the only thing we really could sell. Our U.S. distribution had been poorly setup and wasn't what it should have been, but I was totally powerless to changing it, given the fact that our General Manager, at the time, “knew better”.

Scott USA, its previous distributor had it set up right the first time, but this was thrown out of the window, like the proverbial baby and his bathwater. To make matters worse, K2 wasn't willing to give good or specific product to nurture that parallel brand.

So from the get-go, I witnessed a build up that I knew full well was destined to crumble and crash.

This vain effort lasted four year before K2 closed down the division after wasting a few million dollars on its effort.

 

Old talents revisited...

After I threatened to return to my old passion for illustrations, I received many comments from old buddies of mine that managed to dust off some ancient artworks of mine that they had providentially kept.

Needless to say that I couldn't remember any of them as I was all but a collector in these days, and was quite shocked when I rediscovered them.

The one I most recently got were comic strips and I must say that, upon close examination, these art samples woefully failed to meet my current standards!

This said, if I were (as I said I will) to revive that old pastime of mine, I would have to accept stepping into a phase of initial and extended mediocrity before I get closer to what my “standards” of the present day could be.

Clearly, there's no free lunch, and if relearning and all the pain it entails is part of the price to pay, so be it!

Embracing the ski crowds!

This year with little (yet quite providential) snow, most Utah and Colorado skiers will be limited to runs covered with man-made crystals.

The foot and a half of natural snow we've received so far won't cover most of the terrain that's either at higher elevations, in the trees on or rough and steep slopes.

This means we'll have to co-exist with a multitude of skiers coming and going in all directions. Call this “white-knuckle” skiing if you want; the kind that tightens up your rear-end while making you ski more parallel, I guess.

To me, who will be skiing with my daughter during her ten-day stay with us, I see it as a healthy, steep challenge, that will call on my very best skiing and navigating skills.

Short of crossing my ski tips, I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Please, don't hang up!

Young folks seem to communicate more that older ones and I'm always puzzled as to the reason why. I'm a natural connector and social animal, but some of the people I know are not at all like me, and their openness to the outside world seems to shut down as time goes on.

Should we put this on the account of cynicism, fear, diminishing strength, social vicious circle closing down on them or all the above? I'd probably vouch of the latter, and once again, this erosion comes down to the issue of good old practice.

Old age is no excuse for giving up or becoming lazy, if our physical world isn't under attack by ailments or other problems.

Now, get ready for this: Staying alive mentally and physically is key to lasting!

The gift of snow

Yesterday, we magically woke up to more new snow. Sure it wasn't a few feet, but just a welcome few inches, and the Park City universe will definitely be much better for it as every little bit ends up counting.

What's even more precious than this pristine snow fall is a photo I received a couple days ago, from a Facebook friend and former schoolmate, that's a little work of art and was marrying this season's lack of early snow with two characters I had created to illustrate our Christmas and New Year video.

The work is artistic, delicate and make me want to wish all of you a Merry Everything!

Over 30 year of change in Park City...

Sometime we wonder what has changed so much in Park City in the more than 32 years we've been there. It's not so much the housing sprawl, the worsening traffic conditions or just the crowds. It's more the way people act.

Long gone are simple and unpretentious relationship within the community!

When we came to town, we were pretty much all the same; mountain lovers, driving beat-up Subarus or Jeeps and not paying much attention to the externalities of daily life, be it in the houses we lived in, the cars we drove or the trips we took.

All this has since changed for the worst. Snobbery, vanities, massive money and big egos have spoiled the landscape irremediably, we think. We'll continue to behave the same and unwittingly, we'll stand out...

The big dump

For a few days, the weather forecast had promised us some snow and the expectation was up to 7 inches. Well, we got it yesterday morning and the cover was seven times less than promised!

It was one of these quandaries: Should I sweep it or shovel it? I ended up shoveling it, to indulge my delusion about snow this dreary winter.

Without a doubt, the inch is now the new foot! To console myself I went skiing in the afternoon. It was day #11 for the season. When I got there there were huge lines everywhere and even more folks on the slopes.

It was just crazy and very cold. I didn't last very long and wondered how things would be in a few days when the crowds of visitors would add to the overall fun...

Parallel skiing? Still not a fan!

I made another effort to watch the women's parallel slalom yesterday, and once more, I remained unimpressed.

The race is boring and borders towards some circus act than good competitive skiing.

Why did I like dual slalom when it was “Pro” in the 70s and 80s? I'm at a loss to explain, but my appreciation for quality competition must have matured a lot since those days.

At any rate, I'm no longer a fan. FIS, please get rid of it!

Burning the wood floor to keep warm

Our Republican Congress are gambling that digging a deeper hole for ourselves in giving the richest of us a huge tax break will just pay for itself when most economists and even business leaders say that it won't affect their business plans.

While our last governments, since Clinton, have been burning the furniture to stay warm, Trump and his Republican allies are now ripping up the wood floor and throwing it into the chimney.

The price we'll pay for these follies will be severe, and let's hope that we begin accounting for that huge waste in November 2018!

"Rocket man" and the Olympics

Yesterday, in an interview from National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on PBS, the former general said that North Korea has continued “to perfect” its weapons program and called for “swift action” from the United States and its allies to block the regime from successfully completing its nuclear program.

This said, in the rest of the interview, the top adviser couldn't walk his talk with any specific plans. My sense is that the little fat man from Korea is very mean and dangerous and probably plans to throw a monkey wrench into the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang.

I'd worry a lot if I were Trump and, in his spot, would have already taken action. But, like he repeatedly said it during his campaign about Hillary Clinton, his mantra must be: “All talk and no action..."

The daunting job of making all that snow!

Park City Mountain (PCM) claims 7.3 acres of skiable terrain.

This is big when compared to Deer Valley's 2 acres plus. The problem is that Deer Valley seems to be skilled at making more snow to cover a lesser number of critical runs.

One could say that PCM should put its money where its runs are and focus on beefing up its woefully thin snow-making infrastructure!

Relearning old skills

These past 10 days, I've been relearning some of my old drawing skills that were mothballed for the past half-century and I must say that the initial results leave a lot to be desired.

The tool and the talent I might have back then are simply rusted and are in dire need of extensive practice.

Hopefully, I'll work on it as time goes by, and next year we all might be amazed, starting with my very self!

Senator Franken should move to Utah!

As some of you many know, Senator Hatch is up for reelection.

The old Orrin Hatch is also a strong supporter of President Trump who has been accused of abusing women, not to mention, boasting about it. To me that make him as bad as Trump by the mere fact he condones his unpresidential behavior.

Now, Senator Al Franken from Minnesota has been also accused of inappropriate sexual behavior, that while paling in comparison to Trump's, he admitted to. Today, a lot of Franken supporters feels that their man has been unjustly punished by being forthcoming and honest.

So to help everyone, I'm proposing a move to Utah for Franken to having him run against Hatch in the 2018 contest. He's a good politician and his moral character is probably better than Hatch's, so let the youngest and best win!

Spending money we don't have

Look at any advice column, whether you find it on a financial magazine, your newspaper or any popular publication, and you'll read that spending money you don't have is a lousy idea.

These articles generally give you plenty of advice on how to get rid of that flawed and terrible habit.

Evidently, this does not apply to our government and specially Trump and our Republican Congress.

They have no problem spending money we don't have as a Nation, in recklessly gambling upon the unlikely return on their foolish expense, not to mention the fact that they're just deepening the hole we're in. Are these people brain-dead or just acting as proxy for they big corporate donors?

The answer is definitely both and it's a sound reason for getting read of them next time we vote.

Is religion really poison?

I know, I keep chanting it to myself: “Religion is poison, religion is poison...” and there is much more to it than just the rhyme.

I really think it's a potent poison for the following reasons:

• It's totally irrational, and frankly, in the 21st century, we should all know better 
• It's promising goods it can't deliver on, like eternal life 
• It's a form of constant pressure on people, through guilt and other forms of manipulation 
• It's mental abuse on kids that are brainwashed when they are too young to know better 
• It's sometimes physical abuse on many other kids 
• It's a baby-mill, forcing women to have too many kids, regardless of the planet overpopulation 
• Finally, it screws up your Friday, or your Saturday or your Sunday!

Don't study to be a lawyer...

.. Or an engineer or a doctor for that matte; just become a plumber! In this early winter season there's not a day that goes by, when we walk around our neighborhood, that we don't see on of these ubiquitous plumbing and heating trucks, called in emergency, as the furnace or the hot-water tank dies without warning and demands immediate inspection, repair or replacement!

Specialized manual labor is the unsung hero of hot professions that don't require years of schooling, student loans and painful start-up.

We all have home infrastructure and machinery that can't wait to fall apart, break down or wear prematurely.

Today's systems are complex and don't last, that's a shame, but that's what hoist the repair profession to the top. Simple, but so true!

Thoughts about LDS people

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS) is a strange mixed bag. It unites some smart people at its leadership as well as in top local politics that cannot possibly believe in the bunch of crock that their religious doctrine is since they appear so intellectually refined.

This is what would make me qualify that leadership as being highly hypocritical.

Then, you have the myriad of followers that seems to be brainwashed through constant repetition of scriptures and participation into prayers and that have bathed into that set of belief, since they were highly impressionable as young kids. This approach works in any religion.

Then, as their leadership tell them to do absurd things while keeping a straight face, you have the most gullible flock ever known to man!

The French Idol Frenzy

Saturday, France bid farewell to Johnny Hallyday, its biggest rock star ever, with an extravagant funeral procession down the Champs-Elysees, a presidential tribute and a televised church ceremony filled with the who's who of France.

This kind of honor usually reserved for heads of state or literary giants like Victor Hugo, must say a lot about French culture that I can't quite understand.

To me, this behavior is in part childish, nostalgic and might have something to do with a very generous definition of what constitutes renown.

Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra or even John Lennon never reached that level of mass-hysteria in America!

Michel Lanvers, 1947-2017

My boyhood friend Michel, known from all of his friends as “Mickey”, passed away in Marin, near Thonon, France, today.

He was born the same year I was, but got his driver's license almost one full year before me, so he would drive me in his Citroen 2cv to Isba, the best disco in Morzine when I was about 18 or so.

He was a nice guy, who when I set my sights on girls that I thought were attractive, he always rained on my parade, admonishing me “not to aim to high!” I have resented him a lot for this...

Michel wasn't lucky in the rest of his life. He was stricken by rheumatoid arthritis and died of cystic fibrosis. He had also tragically lost his first wife and two daughters many years ago. Rest in Peace, Mickey!

The “tax reform” rush job

This is what happens when projects get rushed. There is never enough time to prepare and to test, so blind angles are missed and the end-project gets riddled with potential loopholes.

The net result will be less money collected and of course a soaring deficit.

If the government pays any attention to the result of its rush job, the only levers left to actuate will be to increase people's taxes (not corporations' of course) and/or cut medicare and social security.

American terrorists at work...

The American gun lobby is what I call “domestic terrorist” for pretty good, common-sens reasons.

This morning, I heard on the radio that the House Republicans just passed a bill, allowing licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines, so America can feel a bit safer.

It was the first major gun bill in fact, to go before Congress since two deadly mass shootings took place this fall, and all four Utah GOP Representatives voted for it.

Hard for them to refuse, because they all got plenty of money from the terrorist gun lobby.

In the last election cycle, the “pacifist” Mia Love raked in more than $63,000 from gun rights groups, more than three other House members combined, while our Senators Hatch and Lee have lined their electoral pockets with $38,350 and $21,500 respectively since they have been “in business”.

Now, excuse them all for a few moments; they're just washing up some blood stains off their hands...

Snow, weather and climate

This early season doesn't bode well for snow. We shouldn't get anything until – perhaps – later on this month, if at all, because that's a far a the reasonable weather models can see.

A stubborn ridge of high pressure that sits over California and the central Rockies seems to be to blame for the drought. While the temperatures stay low enough to make lots of snow, it's never going to be enough to satisfy all the visitors and me.

Droughts are not unseen events during a winter season. Back in the Alps, I remember the dreadful 63-64 winter season, and closer to my current home, I knew that 75-76 was terrible too, with no snow-making to boot!

These dismal conditions repeated themselves in 79-80, which I remember particularly well, because it was my first visit to Park City in January of that season, with no decent skiing possible. Later on, snow droughts were a bit milder, like in 86-87, one year after we moved to town.

What role has climate change played recently in our snow cover? Elevated temperatures for sure, but it remains hard to judge its effect on precipitations just yet, even though we've been promised that our region will eventually turn into some desert.

So, what will this season be? I have no idea, but have a hard time staying optimistic... aucune idée, mais j'ai du mal à rester optimiste ...

The day (French) music died

Almost like in the song “American Pie”, yesterday the French music almost died with the passing of its national rock and roll artist, Johnny Hallyday. I was a freshly-minted teenager when I used to love Johnny's sound and this infatuation lasted for three of four year.

After these precious few yeas, the idol became a marketing product; I remember when he came to Avoriaz to show off during the days when I was a ski instructor there.

The only time I saw the man on stage was in Washington, DC, in 2014. I wasn't impressed. Well, the artist was not writing his material, was "faking" an American rocker character and as a way to compensate, was taking himself a tad too seriously unlike some of his much more famous contemporaries like Paul McCartney or Bob Dylan.

This is probably why I never found him so endearing to me. Godspeed, Johnny!

Religion's forked tongue

If looking at the past 18 month and America's political upheaval, is any indication, I can see the forked tongue of religion with its formidable force of penetration, through gullibility and its one-way fence that is hypocrisy.

Gullibility first, because when politicians address religious folks, they're having a field day. There's no critical thinking that gets in the way, so it's open season for lying and making empty promises because just like with prayer, the most vulnerable want to believe what they hope for and what they are told.

Next come hypocrisy, or do as I say but not as I do, which is this convenient wall behind which most politicians hide by promoting “moral values” to the outside, while making a mockery of them inside.

I am not asking to believers to renounce their religions, but to be wary of what they hear, be consistent in their beliefs and by all means, to think critically!

Trump comes to Utah

Yesterday, Donald Trump came to Utah to shrink down two National Monuments put in place earlier by Clinton and Obama.

This environmental disaster, engineered by our congressmen and senators, is a bloody shame. Senator Mike Lee boasted about it on Facebook and a string of angry comments immediately appear on Mike's wall.

Here is one of the best I read that I want to share with you:

“Someone really needs to do Utah a favor and get rid of you [Mike Lee], Orrin Hatch, Mia Love and all the rest of them. All you are is butt sniffers and follow in suite with your fearless, orange leader. You are lining your pockets. You are crooks and liars. PERIOD!!”

Resurrecting an old talent of mine...

Starting when I was a toddler, I loved to draw and kept on doing it until I was about twenty years old. After that, I simply gave up. Sure, I was never encouraged by my family and was never too sure to pick a career in that field.

At age ten, I even won a contest at school that sent me on a trip across Europe and gave me my first opportunity to fly (a big deal in the fifties!).

As I get older, I'm very much tempted to revive this lost talent of mine. Sure, I'm a little apprehensive that I could be disappointed, but in the end we always feel the urge to revisit something we once loved, even if it's no longer up to par to the level at which we left it off, there's always time to nurture it back into fun...

The aftermath of the future tax reform

It now look as if the tax reform will pass, and since it was put together thoughtlessly, very hastily and in a one-sided, “Republican style”.

Pretty soon the Nation will discover all of its shortcomings and its ugly effects on the national debt.

My prediction and my hope is that it is exactly the rope the conservative have pulled at them to hang themselves during the next 2018 elections.

The bad news is that reform and its devastating consequences are likely to haunt us for a very long time and unnecessarily burden our children and grand-children.

The face of the stock market bubble

Yesterday's stock market gyrations on the news that Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. is an indicator of how fickle Wall Street is regarding all things Trump.

In fact, the embattled president is the true face behind that huge bubble that keeps on bulging ever since he's been elected.

The stock market analyst Morningstar pegs the market at being 3% over-valued and I would be tempted to say it's in fact closer to 5%.

So, even if Trump can't be impeached, or if the new tax bill passes, expect the market to eventually flatten and take a breather, if not drop in the 3% range or more, come early 2018...

Next Deer Valley pass; how much?

Recently, KSL/Crown resorts' COO David Perry announced that: "I don't think there's any secret we will have a pass product on the market next year".

This said, next season's Deer Valley ski pass pricing is clearly up in the air at the moment, along with its skier's only status.

Vail's Epic Pass was created in 2008. To come up with a competitive offering the new consortium will probably have to fuse their different resorts ski passes into one, and this is likely to take a lot of creative work because, currently, pass prices in their different resorts are all over the place.

While they're generally much higher than the Epic Pass (except for Squaw-Alpine that must compete with Heavenly, Kirkwood and Northstar), they offer Senior rates which is an appreciable perk for folks like me. So what are we going to see next year?

My guess is something closer, and therefore much more competitive with Vail. Let's check next summer!