End of a decade?

In my Holiday Video, I was celebrating the end of a decade and the dawn of a new one. Still, I was dead wrong.

Like many folks, I believed that a decade ran from 0 to 9 instead of 1 to 10, which means that 2021 should be the beginning of the upcoming roaring 20s, if there’s much to roar about what it might have in store for us.

Likewise, we still have one year to enjoy the 10s. That’s the good way to do it, but not the way I see it.

For me, 1960 was smack into the 60s, so no matter what “correct” individuals think, I have arrived at the end of the “Trumpian 10s” and I’m fully ready to make a break into the next one, the new 20s, one that’s roaring enough for me…

Happy New Decade!

Skiing poorly? Get technical!

Skiing is an ever changing canvass. One day there’s fluffy powder, another hard snow, yet another and comes a new set of conditions.

Conditions have a huge impact on our skiing whether it can be measured in personal satisfaction, falls, tiredness or mental tension.

Perfectly groomed run promote both wonderful feelings and technical laziness. As much as we can ski “like Gods” on corduroy, as much we will feel miserable in less than perfect snow conditions.

To mitigate these negative feelings, it helps going back to skiing basics and the technical, or “nuts and bold” aspects of the sport. Beside just the right amount of speed that help us turn more effectively, what’s the most important one?

Upper body anticipation or “Pelvic Thrust”, as I call it. It’s a counter-intuitive move and needs the skier’s full attention, which is why I take the time to remind all of us, skiers!

Let invite myself to ski with you

Earlier this month, my wife and I were skiing and as we were riding the chairlift, a gentleman started a conversation.

After showing off his professional experience, telling us about his impressive possessions and inquiring about who we were - which we did, stopping short of giving him our Social Security numbers – the man decided, quite unilaterally to ski with us.

My wife doesn’t ski often with me and we treat each of her ski outings as special, and not necessarily “open to the public”… So after a first run during which the intruder was intermingling his skiing into ours, my wife suggested that I took him on a more challenging run while she’d wait for us at the bottom after redoing the same easier run.

He accepted and I proceeded to take him into a steep bowl, where of course I left the dude in the dust. A nice host, I waited for him twice so he could catch up with me, and the guy stuck with us for another two runs.

Tired of being shadowed, we pretended that we’d quit skiing for the day to get rid of the ski-parasite. That subterfuge didn’t quite work, because the intruder managed to ski with us all the way down to the parking lot.

Next time, we promised ourselves to be more direct...

Looking back

Recently, my friend Bill sent me that Holiday email that said:

“We’ve arrived to the age when memory likes to recall old friendships that have not been tested by the routine of life and everyday living, and at this time of year — this arbitrary time marker — where a long look backward is practically necessary...”

I loved the philosophy encapsulated in his message and it reminded me of that nice, brand new rear-view mirror that I asked Santa for, earlier in the season.

When I received it and after unpacking the present on Christmas morning, I was delighted because not only was precisely the particular model I wanted, but was the one with a beautiful sunset in it.

Of course, as I my very well grounded wife always reminds me: “Romantic sunsets or not, you shouldn’t be so fixated about the past; instead, remain careful and every now and then, look up in front of you, you might run into something!

Musical reminder

The other night, as I was watching “The Irishman” a new saga on Netflix and my ears noticed a song I had not heard since I was a very young adult and was patronizing the discos of my hometown, back in the French Alps, in which that tune played all the time.

What I heard was “I hear you knocking” by Smiley Davis or Fats Domino. Hearing that tune again after more than fifty years brought back a lot of frozen memories that I didn’t even suspect existed…

Thank you music!

Open for Christmas?

On the afternoon of Christmas Day, we decided to drive to downtown Park City to check things out, go shopping and browse around.

It was kind of snowing and we took two cars. Since I was assuming that the place would be mobbed, I thought I’d beat my son to a great parking spot.

When we got there however, the place was eerily empty. We were almost the sole visitors and realized quickly that more than 90% of the businesses were shut down for the afternoon.

This wasn’t the case in years past as most business were busy, making tons of money on that family Holiday. Not this year.

As to what could have been causing the decision by small businesses to shut down their places, we were at loss to explain. We came to the conclusion this was a problem tied to their staffing.

What else could it be?

My Childhood Christmas

Some 65 years ago, my Christmas, and that of most of my friends, was pretty frugal and this was literally so true.

Consider this, frugal means “sparing or economical with regard to money or food” which originates from the from the Latin “frugalis” derived from “fruit” and hits the nail right on the head as we were given an orange, a luxury at that time of the year, and a good way to teach what frugality was all about!

The end of the short days

I don’t know about you, I like things positive, don’t stand continued decline and that’s especially true with the steady reduction in daylight that we suffer in December.

So, this week, I’m overjoyed as we’ve reached the time of the year when days grow again, brings us hope, positive options and plenty of light.

I don’t need to travel to Stonehenge to celebrate. Just a quick pick out of my morning windows finally reminds me that we’re headed for the right direction!

Nothing's ever enough for the French!

This past weekend, President Macron announced that he was renouncing not just his monthly pension of $5,700 as president when he’s out of office, as well as his monthly stipend of $12,300 as a member of the constitutional council when he’s out of office.

This, I think is a good way to show that he can “walk the talk”, but of course, Fabien Roussel, in charge of the communist party, blurted out that “[giving up on such benefits] is a luxury that few French people can afford”.

This infers that Macron can afford it, so that’s no big deal, which goes a long way to say that too many of my countrymen have a seriously defective judgment and a culture that is totally off-quilter.

I only hope that Macron won’t budge under the pressure of these imbeciles!

Running behind…

This is the first time I feel I’m running behind my many tasks ever since I have retired. 

Perhaps I am doing too much for my working days or is it just a passing trend? At any rate, it’s not fun and I don’t like it. One of the problem is that I need more sleep than in years past and this leaves me less waking hours.

This, I guess, leaves me one simple option: Increase my productivity!

First ski clinic at Avoriaz ski school

At about this time, some fifty years ago, I had just began working at the Avoriaz ski school and Edmond Denis, its director, had taken the entire ski school to review some critical teaching materials.

I remember that we were working around the late Foillis chairlift, In those days, there was a whole collection of side-slipping Christies that we needed to master, before culminating to the French Technique’s holy grail, also know as “Christiana Léger”, a fine, perfect turn using a slight up and down unweighting and circular projection of the upper body, skis perfectly parallel and close together.

The all deal was executed at the lowest speed and the utmost grace possible. Edmond was part of a French expedition that had premiere the south face of the Aconcagua in Chile, back in 1954 and had lost his toes from frostbite during this ascent.

He was telling us that the secret of all Christies was found in feeling a longitudinal and forward pressure on the big toe. He no longer had any and must have felt his phantom toes!

I liked what I heard, was then a sponge, thirsty for knowledge about skiing and thought Edmond Denis, who was pretty much anti-conformist, spoke smoothly and sounded like the greatest guy I’d ever met.

Four years later, he would leave the ski school and become an inspector checking on the quality of ski instruction delivery, a cool gig for a cool dude...

Biden made no mistakes…

The 6th Democratic Debate was a mixed bag.

The good part about it was that 7 candidates are better than 10, as a lower number of participants makes up for a much better exchange, but the bad part was still there, with no one stellar candidate emerging from the group.

Many imperfect individuals, but no clear and compelling leader standing out. According to pundits, Biden made no mistakes so he kind of won even though he looked like a moribund and made fun of stutterers.

Sanders showed the worst side of his stubbornness, Warren continued to put her anger on displays, and like Klobuchar took a cheap shot at Buttigieg, who – in the end – might be the best of the bunch...

Retirement: France exceptionalism

If you follow the news, you’ve heard about the constant wave of strikes against the proposed reform of retirement rules in my home country.

There are currently 42 different pension regimes available that vary widely in terms of both how pensions are calculated and what age workers can retire at.

Officially, the country's retirement age is 62, but many people with “special regimes” such as train or metro drivers can retire much earlier, in some cases at the age of 55.

If you compare France retirement age on the table with that of other countries, you can see that my countrymen have a sweet deal compared to most of the other European and North American nations, and then, you might wonder, what are they complaining about?

My foot is prisoner!

If you live a long life, you’re more likely to have first-time experiences, and one of them happened to me when I was done skiing this week.

My wife and I decided to go out in spite of a very cold, 19 degree temperature. The snow was terrific, but the sun remain hidden by passing clouds most of the time and when we called it quit later in the afternoon, we were literally frozen.

As we always do, we took off our ski boots sitting on the back of my hatchback and getting out of my left ski boot was nearly impossible and a lot of work. When it came to the right, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t extract my foot out of the hardened plastic shell.

I thought that I would have to drive back home with my boot on. It’s only when my wife held the upper collar of the shell open that I was finally able to pull my foot to freedom.

Never be shy to ask for or accept outside help!

Utah Canyons “après ski”

This past Sunday my grandson and I went skiing Solitude for the afternoon, and following a wonderful time together, we found ourselves literally crawling down the canyon, bumper to bumper, as we drove back to Salt Lake City.

I had never experienced that form of “après ski” and this was the perfect opportunity to realize how lucky I was to ski 5 to 10 minutes away from my house!

Great snow makes us greater skiers!

Just like sun and perfect blue sky, excellent snow makes all of us ski much better. While this doesn’t sound like rocket-science, here are the reasons behind the amazing power of good snow.

Lubrication:
The right fluidity of the snow eases the passage of skis as well as their sliding and lateral slipping motion. It’s a subtle matter of density and humidity or water content. A smooth snow requires less muscle power.

Shock absorption:
Soft snow make a huge difference and act as a cushion that, in turn, minimizes greatly the work our joints have to perform in order to absorb any impact. It also encourages speed and evolution in otherwise intimidating spots where it’s necessary to jump or drop significant heights.

Continuum: 
A predictable sensation from the snow demands less speed control, less sporadic slowing down and contributes to a much greater fluidity of movements, which in turn make better use of the natural momentum that gravity provides.

Absence of noise and vibrations:

To many skiers, noise coming from the snow alert them that some kind of danger may be lurking. Icy conditions are a prime example. The more noise and vibrations, the more nervous the skier becomes, this affecting less competent skiers even more. A nice soft snow makes no noticeable noise.

Sense of safety: 
Smoothness, shock absorption, silence and fun tend to keep our fear away and increase our sense of security, that in turn translates into more efficient performance and an overall enjoyment of the sport.

An important early ski season tip!

Skiing is something we often take for granted and that we thing is stored in our subconscious mind forever and won’t never let us down.

This is certainly true for skiing on good snow and easy terrain, when we can afford to be lazy and to let speed, centrifugal force and a minimum resistance to get the job done.

However, when conditions deteriorate, when snow isn’t as good, the terrain is harsh and steep, the need for a sound technique returns triumphantly and reminds us that we are no longer dispensed from following the rules and the law of skiing.

This often is a refreshing reality check!

Was it the snow or my age? (continued)

A week ago I was wondering if my skiing was going to the dog, and following one week of intense verification, I have come to the conclusion that between my skiing fitness and the quality of the snow, the later was the problem.

You see, when snow conditions are bad, a skier’s fluidity isn’t there and one of the secret of good skiing is a continuous flow of coordinated, fluid movements.

That’s it! You could say that it’s like ch’i or qi, in traditional Chinese culture. Ch’i is believed to be the vital force streaming out of any living entity. Ch’i translates as "air" and figuratively as "material energy"or more appropriately to skiing as "energy flow" or overall fluidity as I see it.

So, stay fluid on your skis and you’ll be doing just fine!

The Amora alternative to Grey Poupon

Grey Poupon is a brand of mustard that originated in Dijon, France.

The U.S. rights to the brand were acquired by the Heublein Company, which was later acquired by Kraft Foods. The mustard is now made in American.

When we settled in New York in the late 1970s, Grey Poupon became very popular through a clever ad campaign and was our mustard of choice, until this Fall when Costco stopped carrying it for the winter because Utahans only seem to use it during barbecue season.

Since we hated conventional, American yellow mustard, we had no choice but look if we could find Amora, another popular French mustard here in America.

We did and ordered some at a price of $2.80 a 15.75 oz jar against the $4.00 for a 16 oz Grey Poupon jar. As you’ll see in the video, the class is much lower but the taste is about the same, so for the foreseeable future, we’ll stick to Amora...

Low creative juice?

Some time ago, I’ve embarked upon a tough assignment that is to create a video to mark the Holidays.

Yes, in lieu of the traditional Christmas card. It’s different and seems original.

The challenge with it though, is that it demands some creative juice to put it together and the work isn’t immune to writer or film-producing block!

This year was especially hard on me, but eventually, the clog broke and the juice began flowing.

How much longer will I be able to sustain that foolish commitment to myself?

Another way to diet?

There is hardly a year or a season when we don’t hear about a new diet.

I just heard of the new “14:10 diet” that is supposed, among other benefits, to help prevent diabetes, heart disease or stroke, lose weight, reduce cholesterol and sleep better. It consist of eating within a 10-hour window and put your metabolism to rest for the remaining 14 hours.

Difficult for hard-working folks to follow, but super easy for retirees like me!

That diet is the outcome of a study by University of California San Diego School of Medicine. It involved 19 participants (a tiny sample), who had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, and that were told not to count calories or exercise more during the 12 weeks duration of the study.

Participants lost an average of 3 per cent in weight and abdominal fat. Many also reduced their cholesterol and blood pressure, and improved blood sugar levels. I just feel much better that I have been doing it for quite a while without knowing it!

The new (sad) American math

Recently, I read an article titled “One big reason Americans are broke and overweight”, by Catey Hill, Editor at Market Watch.

The article was asserting that one American out three admits that dining out too much is a financial mistake, that in turn, is a huge factor to increasing their waistline. It’s pretty clear that eating out is very costly and that food served in restaurants is generally too abundant and contribute to fattening patrons.

This perfectly illustrate today’s topic that mathematics or even basic arithmetic are merciless and don’t leave any gray area.

The equation has to balance. For instance, in America, people eat too much, exercise too little = a surplus is created (body fat, most generally). By the same token, people earn too little but spent too much = a deficit appears (just too much debt).

America would be revolutionized if people exercised more than they eat, lose fat as a result, and then if they wanted a perfect balance, would bring both behaviors to the same level.

Likewise, if people spent less than they earn, they would save money (what a concept!) If saving is against their set of belief they could simply keep their expenditures to the level of what they earn.

These were my thought for the day.

Aging means less muscle force too!

Some 5 years ago, I was discussing VO2 max (maximal oxygen consumption) and lamenting that as we age our oxygen processing is going down and, as a result, our physical performance.

This wasn’t counting of course of another physical decline coming from our own muscles As we age, our muscles become more rigid and begin losing tone, even with regular exercise.

This is called sarcopenia, a condition characterized by loss of muscle mass, muscle strength and muscle functionality. The term sarcopenia, means "lack of flesh and is an aging-condition that appear with people over the age of 50.

As the graph shows, it too gets worse as we go older, so between VO2 max and sarcopenia the future seems hopeless.

Well, I’m going skiing instead of worrying about it!

Instructors clinic at Chamrousse, France

Just fifty years ago, before beginning my employment with the Avoriaz ski school, I had to attend a week long clinic in Chamrousse, the site of the 1968 Grenoble Olympic downhill.

No, I wasn’t asked to compete on the run that made Killy so famous, but to follow some basic ski instruction training and, at its conclusion, show my ability of executing the “official French turn”, called Christiania Léger, and display my natural talent to ski down a cruddy steep hill with a certain modicum of control.

I was there in company of my friend Bernard Gradel from the Cluses school and Michel Lascar, also from Avoriaz.

I remember that on exam day, the weather was extremely cold, and in order to look good and best display my ski form, I had dropped my ski parka and only wore a red sweater. Conclusion, I froze the tip of three of my fingers, but still managed to get my certification.

Was it the snow or my age?

On Thursday, 9990, my favorite chairlift opened up and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I didn’t go in the morning, but took my time and made it an afternoon outing.

This was my first “athletic” and technically serious ski day of the season, but as always, I was quite confident in my ability to tame the hill.

The snow, which had not been skied this season and the high temperature combined to create a cement-like density, which made skiing extremely tricky and hard work.

Add to this the fact that with a relatively shallow cover, I was quite mindful of rocks and hidden branches or small trees and this was cutting into my flow and the speed needed to break through the crud, so I got tired faster and wasn’t building the kind of confidence I needed.

So was it all that or the burden of an extra year? I’d guess, it might have been a little bit of both, even though my lap times were still up to the level of the previous season.

We’ll need to verify this!

My ever-evolving view of skiing

When I began to ski, there wasn’t much involved. I side-stepped up the hill, skied down straight and ended my schuss with a hockey stop.

Then, I discovered the magic of lift-assisted ascent and my ski life suddenly changed. I loved to do the tuck position while racing my friends and experience a good modicum of speed.

The next thing on the menu was to refine my turns, nuance them with skidding and it’s only a few years latter that I discovered deep snow, slalom and marveled at a new world of possibilities.

Today, as I enter old age, I still love the huge variety of forms skiing afford, and except for competitive skiing, I still participate in all of them, at varying degrees, for sure, but my skiing remains diversified, opportunistic and always has an eye turned on new discoveries.

My ski adventure keeps on going on!

Why is wildlife invading Park City?

Gradually and over the past ten years we’ve seen a notable increase of wildlife around our Park City home. When we first came in 1985, the entire place was both barren and treeless and there was no way for us to observe much wildlife, except for ground-squirrels in the spring, magpies year-round and robins in the summer.

In the meantime, the small trees began their growth and in the last decade, they’ve created a true urban forest, producing its own life-sustaining environment and encouraging the settlement of pigeons, regular squirrels and occasionally, inviting a visit from the local coyote.

At the same time, in addition to aspen and fir trees, more decorative trees were planted, bushes of all kinds began to populate most gardens and with automatic irrigation, our town turned into an irresistible oasis of fresh, edible vegetation for deer, moose and elk.

And this abundance of fresh food and forest-like environment worked like a magnet on attracting all this wildlife, huge and small. The lack of natural predators (except for motorized vehicles) played also a huge role in this wildlife population explosion. But the idea that the poor creatures have been forced out of their habitat by our sprawling town just doesn’t wash.

Call it an urban legend if you will...

My way of seizing the day…

We all have different ways and styles of embracing a new day. Often times, outside events and personal moods are what direct the course of what we do during that precious fraction of time, and when the sun sets, we end up getting short-changed because we failed to take control of what we should have been doing.

In order to avoid that irretrievable waste, I try to adhere to the following process:

• I endeavor to maintain what I have as much as possible, whether it is my physical or mental capabilities, by not squandering them or exposing them to unnecessary harm as time and live become increasingly precious at my age. 
• I make a point of enjoying every moment, taking it as it comes and doing my very best in turning the mundane into precious matter. 
• I also try to always make the right decisions or at least the very best ones that I can identify at the moment, and move forward with them. 
• Finally, a brand-new day is an exceptional opportunity to learning something new or at the very least seeing life with a fresh and spontaneous view point. 

By achieving all these steps everyday, I keep on enriching my life, remain more in tune with the universe and feel really good...

Re-introducing convenient ski boots (continued)

Getting into and out of a four or three buckle front-entry ski boot is never pleasurable.

Whether you’re a guy or a gal, an individual on the heavy side, an expert or a ranked beginner, entering and exiting a four-buckle boot is work, especially on a very cold day.

This is something Georges Salomon had discovered back in the late seventies when he launch Salomon’s ski boot project, and had built his success upon offering all-out convenience to his clientele.

Salomon’s SX 92 was getting there too in terms of performance, and it’s obvious that had the industry been more patient, imaginative and self-confident, it could have brought the rear-entry design up to par with today’s best racing four-buckle boots.

Well, after a 25 year hiatus, the rear-entry design is rearing its head again at both Atomic and Nordica.

The Atomic Savor design, is clearly an “unsavory” waste of time, as it resurrect the cheapest DalBello or Hierling made in the 1990s. This is very strange, because at the very least, Atomic should have “copied” the excellent SX 80. This, if anything, speaks volume about the lack of good communication between Atomic and Salomon under the Amer flag.

Nordica, on the other hand, which came a strong second after Salomon back in the rear-entry product days, might have a product with potential in its HF (Hand Free) model. We’ll see if today’s brick-and-mortar ski shop employees get smarter this time. If they still frown at the product, this will be the perfect ski boot for their competitors, the internet ski merchants!

Who killed the rear-entry boot?

I left the ski boot business when a convenient footwear, called the rear-entry boot made its unceremonious exit, “helped” by a cadre of male ski shop employees (most of them of dubious ski abilities) that had decided that it was time to put that particular boot design on the chopping block, because it was too “girly”, not macho enough, and looked like a beginner product.

Yet, ever since Hanson invented the rear-entry, Salomon had worked relentlessly at perfecting the skiability of its rear-entry boots as evidenced by its latest and last SX 92 model, complete with good rear support, adjustable flex and decent instep adjustment. In these days (early 90s)

I was selling a rear-entry boot too, called the Koflach Intec, a good concept on paper, but poorly tested, terribly designed and put together by the Austrian company that would be taken over by Atomic.

The four-buckle made a huge comeback, even though three-piece shells were a better alternative. By 1995, the rear-entry boot was deceased and buried by the retail trade, that in the process denied a major convenience feature to a huge market skiers, many of whom dropped out from the sport as a result at a huge cost to the ski industry.

Would it ever resurrect? (To be continued...)

Park City’s “constipated” opening

It’s been years, since we haven’t had so much snow at the end of November, and still, Park City Mountain seems to be having a terrible time opening more of its mountain.

During the Holiday weekend, just the bare minimum of lifts were running, enough to pack far too many people on dangerous, narrow, short runs and claim that Park City, the largest ski area in the entire United States, was open early.

Epic Pass holders deserve much more than that, and their hearts aren’t going to grow fonder towards the kind of product Vail Resort is offering them. There were also plenty of visitors that came to town for Thanksgiving weekend and would have loved to ski too, but the value offered for a $144 day ticket just wasn’t there.

I wonder what makes Vail Resorts forget the elements that motivate skiers, but it sure isn't its measly offering at some outrageous price.

Lessons I’ve learned as an investor...

It’s been almost 30 years since I bought my first stocks and began investing, but I had no idea, what I was doing.

It’s only since the early 2000s that I have have become a more serious and steady investor; let’s say 15 years. I’ve made mistakes, made some good moves and in general, been quite lucky.

I have learned that no one knows anything about what the market will do, no matter what their credentials. I have also tried to live by Warren Buffet famous quote: “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful”.

I also have discovered that I shouldn’t stress so much when the market goes down or when I’m missing out on a market going up without my participation.

In summary, I’ve learned to be very diversified, more calm, quiet, patient and not worry too much.

Is the stock market ready for the plunge?

After breaking all records lately, the U.S. stock market shows no sign of weakening in spite of all the trade uncertainty and the recession rumor-mill. So my question is the following?

Is the Market overvalued and, as an investor, should I be mindful of it. Morningstar, my usual benchmark says that it’s only overvalued by 2%, while the CAPE ratio (cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio) is a valuation measure that applies to the US S&P 500 equity market and that is defined as price divided by the average of ten years of earnings (moving average), adjusted for inflation.

It is also used to measure if a stock is undervalued or overvalued by comparing its current market price to its inflation adjusted historical earnings record. It is like the more popular price to earning ratio but it is calculated by dividing the current price of a stock by its average inflation adjusted earning over the last 10 years. It’s he brainchild of the American economist Robert Shiller.

While it’s not intended as an indicator of impending market crashes, high CAPE values have been associated with similar events. It’s not as bad as it was in 1999, but it’s still pretty high… Time to watch out?

Happy Thanksgiving !

If you are not American, Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and even in Liberia.

It’s a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year, but has turned into a big commercial event that culminates the following day (Black Friday). It’s celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and around the same part of the year in other places.

Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well and today, many question its place as it relates to the treatment of natives by European colonists.

The power of a (good) story

Last week, I attended (briefly) the 14th Annual Filmmaker Showcase at Park City, an evening of short film from Utah filmmakers and artists. I went there in quest for inspiration, but didn’t find much of it.

They were more use of drone, image manipulation and technical tricks, but it mostly was a confirmation of what I already knew: At the base of any great film is a compelling story that is well told, and that the shorter the movie, the more difficult it is to tell the story well.

I love to produce family videos and I’ll keep producing them as long as I can, by giving it my very best and adding a zest of my personality to it!

When gastronomy doesn’t meet expectations

This past Sunday night we decided to have dinner at the Montage, this “famous”, luxury Deer Valley Hotel.

The Apex is their best restaurant, and when we entered the dining room it was all but empty, something quite predictable in that period of off-season when everything looks dead. The room sure was impressive, the menu as pricey as we had expected it, but pretty confusing too.

As for the wine-list, it was as extensive as the bottles were expensive! We ordered, sat for a while and pretty soon, the cold coming from the exterior glass door was as noticeable as it was biting.

The quality of the food was not able to make up for that little inconvenience and the whole experience left us quite disappointed. Main Street, Park City, is a hell of a lot closer, tastier and much more affordable.

The worst news is that we already had lunch there in 2011 and that I had totally forgotten about it! Our take away is that, from this point forward, we’ll leave the Montage for those who get too easily confused between pompous setting, as well as obsequious service on one hand, and fine tasting food in a convivial atmosphere on the other.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!

Back on skis for another season!

After toiling on tuning up the family skis, installing my ski rack on the car and checking on my other important gear, I was fully ready to begin my 67th ski season, one day after the official Park City’s opening date and less than six month after hanging up my boards for the summer.

This past Saturday, the sun was up, and while the air was cold, I had a nice couple of hours skiing, without any line, the only work I had to do was dodging other skiers and finding a path on a narrow band of icy, man-made snow.

With new snow in the forecast for today and the rest of the week, I feel ready and mentally prepared to embrace another fun-filled ski season…

“Chin up!”

Many decades ago, while I still lived in France, I once happened to feel very sad and depressed about an outcome that was eluding me and was told “chin up!”, perhaps as a way to cope with my state of mind and help me draw the capacity to move on.

At the time, my English was quite limited and I failed to fully understand the meaning of the two words. I’ve since learned that “chin up” is something said to someone facing a difficult situation, to encourage them to be brave, not to be sad and “face the music” as it were.

Of course, “chin up” is ambiguous in and of itself and was handwritten on a note from a non-native English speaker, so all parties involved might have missed a lot – or not - out of an entanglement of ambiguities...

Can John Bolton be the whistle-blower?

Even though he wasn’t in the infamous July 25 phone call, that on the American side included Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, Robert Blair, Mick Mulvaney, Keith Kellogg, Jennifer Williams, Charles Kupperman, Timothy Morrison and Alexander Vindman, John Bolton may have heard plenty about it and could have been – in my humble opinion – the mysterious whistle-blower who filed his complaint on August 12.

He sure had an ax to grind as far as this rigged Trump-Guiliani transaction was concerned. He resigned from his National Security adviser post on September 10, one day before the funds earmarked for Ukraine were released.

Bolton had probably no desire or incentive to testify, which could cause his cover to be blown, and is probably eager to continue being a good soldier for the GOP. This, however, doesn’t preclude my question. I’m not that much into conspiracy theories, but this one makes a lot of sense to me…

Not getting any clearer!

This is what I thought after watching Wednesday night 5th Democratic Debate.

One would expect that as that form of selection process goes along, it sorts itself out and I was utterly disappointed when I realized that the cards had been reshuffled and that I was still confused about who I should vote for during the primary elections.

For reasons of age and vulnerability to Trump, I still don’t think Biden is a good choice. Sanders did much better than usual in that debate, but is still old, stodgy and continues to call himself a “socialist”.

Warren, with her subversive anger, her unrealistic plan and her wealth tax has lost much of her appeal to me. There’s now something in Buttigieg that doesn’t quite click with me and I have no longer faith in Harris.

Klobuchar would now be my favorite, but based on my recent experience, I might as well wait until the next debate to update my disorientation!

Ski redemption

This week, I’ve been “working” on the family skis. Including my “rock skis”, this amount to five pairs in various state of disrepair, the rock skis being the worst.

This is the moment of the year when it’s time to pay for the bad encounters made with stumps, rocks and pieces of gravel as they made their marks on the bases during an entire season.

Actually, I should be grateful that last season was as well covered in snow as it was, and only the first weeks of winter did most of the damage I could see.

Well, nothing that some P-tex and energetic hand-filing couldn’t solve…

All this to say that all this handy work should serve as a good reminder that I need to think twice before I engage my boards into unknown and unfriendly territory during the upcoming ski season!

Legalized lying

Our president has introduced the United States of America into a world of widespread lying and had showed that – up to a point – it does work.

Not only has he popularized falsehood, but he has also made incivility mainstream, and more and more acceptable, this includes insults and name-calling which says a lot about his pedagogical skills and his remarkable creativit6.

Of course, the results are terrifying and don’t stand as the kind of example we’d like to impart on a new generation. Makes me regret a more “politically correct” style.

I guess this is what happens when the pendulum swings to far into the wrong direction...

Steve Bannon’s technique

A few weeks ago, I offered an extensive analysis of Steve Bannon and last night, I just saw a recent interview of the man on the channel Vice, conducted by Liz Landers, a very capable millennial journalist (watch it below).

In it, I observed once more that Mr. Bannon use a few tools that are essential with “B.S. Artists”; namely, that they speaks very, very fast so no one has time to analyze what is actually said and at the end, this endless juxtaposition of string of words, that make not much sense, are also devoid of any hard-hitting and convincing facts.

Furthermore, Bannon doesn’t live much room for interruption, interaction or just dialog, as it is essential that he blabbers all the time, without discontinuing. Finally, his unique presentation (slob style, bad teeth, unshaven, dirty looking) is a further distraction from the content – or lack thereof – of what is says.

Bullshiters the world over, follow his modus operandi if you want to make a strong impression upon the mentally under-served!

Seasonal anxiety disorder

When I decided on pursuing a career (?) as a ski instructor, just 50 years ago, I knew that I would need another gainful occupation for the other seven or eight months of the year.

From the get go, I had already developed a built-in “seasonal anxiety” that would stick to me obsessively for the next five years. From my family working experiences, I had little attraction to becoming an innkeeper, a restaurateur or a souvenir merchant.

At first, I set my goal on becoming a land surveyor. This attempt to what I thought would be an honorable career took me, in the spring of 1970, to the Saint-Gervais ski resort, right below the Mt. Blanc, where I worked for about three months before throwing the towel.

The following fall, I tried my hand at being a Quantity Surveyor, a rather odd activity in home-building which didn’t turn me on enough to compel me to pursue it.

Then, during the two following summers my seasonal anxieties took a well-deserved break when I taught skiing in Australia during the Austral winter season. This activity, while being super fun and making sense on paper, failed to pay the bills and wasn’t sustainable in the long run.

The following year, I focused on acquiring more language skills (German and Italian). In addition, I spent the month of May of 1973 in Paris, selling and prospecting for Skis Duret, at my friend Michel Duret’s demand; at that point, I had no idea this exercise would be crucial in preparation for a career that I had not envisioned yet!

Finally, in January of 1974, my friend J.P. Chatellard suggested that I might try my hand at a job in the ski industry and more specifically in the realm of racing services.

I heeded his advice, followed several of his leads, landed a job with Look bindings and put a final end to my recurrent seasonal anxieties!

Trump’s deep nature

To our surprise, we watched the entire impeachment hearing involving Marie Yovanovitch, the deposed U.S. Ambassadress of Ukraine. I guess, the entire show was simply mesmerizing to us.

Of course, Trump couldn’t resist twitting disparaging comments about her, right in the middle of her deposition, which came down to shoot himself in the foot.

This reminded me of the Russian tale of the frog and the scorpion, in which – you guessed it – Donald Trump is the scorpion:

A scorpion, that can’t swim, asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung by the scorpion, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. 

The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion stings the frog, dooming them both. 

The dying frog asks the scorpion why it had acted in this manner, to which the scorpion replies: "It's in my nature, I couldn't help it."

OK, Boomer

I must have been living under some rock, because it’s only recently that I became aware of the generation-splitting interjection called “OK, Boomer!”

That slang expression isn’t actually that old as it took off early this year, and is traced to millennials and Generation Z, as a reply or reaction to older users, conveniently identified as “baby boomers”, that are posting material judged to be condescending by these younger generations or can in some cases, exacerbate their sensibilities.

Call it a knee-jerk response, if you want, to a generational war of words. Some will see it as a predictable answer from teens and young adults to grumpy videos, resistance to technological change, climate change deniers, Trump’s tweets, and basically any comments dismissive about the upcoming generations, originating from individuals over 40.

From what I’ve read or heard, a large number of baby-boomers haven’t responded too well to “OK, boomer”. Some time ago, Bob Lonsberry, a radio host caused quite a stir by tweeting that “’Boomer’ is the N-word of ageism.” That comment didn’t go over well, with some responding that the “N-word” is one of the most offensive words in the English language.

While this duel that may go on for a long time, I do not feel too concerned because I continue to think that I remain very young in spirit, I'm still super progressive, and I do not feel concerned at all if I happen to hear "OK, Boomer", I'll remain convinced that this call isn’t really intended for me!

Going Solar !

This past Wednesday, we finally went solar.

It’s true that with an average of 229 days of sunshine per year, we’d be foolish not to tap into that power. It’s also probable that our next vehicle will be electric vehicle and that we can recharge it while the sun is shinning.

There’s also global warming and the likelihood we’ll need more air-conditioning in years to come. Finally, it could be to atone for my excessive air travel of years past, even though my past carbon footprint can’t be erased and forgiven so easily.

Even if we don’t consume much electricity at the moment, these are plenty of good reasons to step forward and do a tiny bit to preserving our ailing planet!

Of course, just as my wife did, I’m sure you’ll ask “but how does a photo-voltaic panel turns sun rays into electricity?”

I’ll answer, “Excellent question. It’s in fact a combination of sun and sand, and you can watch this story in more details in the video below!”

From running to walking...

For decades we’ve been dedicated runners and it’s only a few years ago that we slowed down and switched from running into walking.

I had a tough time climbing up a steep hill on our regular course and my wife was concerned about her knees.

Today, our running isn’t just leisurely ambling around, but walking fairly fast. Researchers tell us that a 160-pound person, walking at a brisk, 3.5-mph pace for 30 minutes will burn about 156 calories. On the other hand, running at a 6-mph pace for that same 30 minutes will burn more than double the calories (about 356).

Another way to look at it, is that it will take a bit more than twice the time to accomplish the same amount of exercise and burn as many calories.

The main difference is that running is less efficient and more strenuous than simply walking, so it burns more calories per minute.

The good news is that we now have much more time available to us and can comfortably afford to walk our 6 miles a day (10 km) instead of running!

The Emperor of Insult

The only Trump talent is to insult others, and particularly his opponents. We’ve all heard him calling Biden “Sleepy Joe”, Sanders “Crazy Bernie”, Clinton “Crooked Hillary”, Pelosi “Nervous Nancy”, etc.

If I were the victim of his name-calling mania, my gut reaction would be to find one that fits the man and his crime, but most smart people say not to give energy to the other side by responding to the author of the insult as it’s not worth to expand energy into a style of communication we don’t believe in.

Being insulted is certainly not pleasant, but it quickly become dependent on how we react. If the person attacked takes the bait, Trump wins.

Under other circumstances, and insult style, there might be an an opening, exemplified by former Defense Secretary James Mattis who was qualified as “overrated” by Trump: "I’m not just an overrated general. I am the greatest, the world's most overrated general," Mattis said during a speech at the white-tie Al Smith Dinner. "I'm honored to be considered that by Donald Trump because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress. So I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly, that sounds pretty good to me. And you do have to admit that, between me and Meryl, at least we’ve had some victories.”

Mattis doesn’t have to defend his record because it speaks for itself and this enabled him to ridicule Trump’s nasty attack...

Selling “Population Control”

Little Greta Thunberg was extremely effective in making people discover that flying was bad for the environment by crossing over to America and returning to Europe by boat.

Now, “cool” folks also believe that commercial flying should be banned or at least curtailed. Forbidding certain behavior like smoking or forcing Chinese couples into having only one child never works. The change in behavior has to come from within.

In the 70s, when it became clear that tobacco use was killing people, America was able to paint smoking as “uncool” and rather quickly, the habit dropped at a fascinating rate. Our planet deterioration (warming, pollution, etc.) is the direct result of overpopulation.

In 1800, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the planet’s population had just reached the 1 billion mark. Today, it’s at 7.7 billion and still growing. Stopping that growth would be fabulous before we can begin to think of reversing it to more sustainable levels, but to accomplish this, we need to convince most of the world that it would indeed be a very cool idea.

Concepts like “kids are expensive to raise”, “better have one well-educated child than many that will struggle to find a good spot in society”, “robots are killing jobs, why add to the jobless ranks”, etc. The idea is to make having no more than one kid cool, that’s all.

Sure, there will be plenty of push-back from economist and politicians that like or want continued growth, but by now, we should all know that growth for the sake of it, is killing the planet and all of us at the same time.

Greta, it’s now time to show the world how to use a condom!

Back to the 60s?

Last night, we ran into the re-incarnation of the iconic VW bus of the hippie era.

This time, it took the appearance of a mostly recent Toyota minivan, complete with the right paint-job and earth and peace loving symbols.

I fell transported into my not-so-distant youth and, for a long moment, thought it might be good to step into it and commence a road trip through a much transformed America!

Fences, walls and humanity

Yesterday, at the ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Angela Merkel said that the event “proves that no wall is so high and so strong that we could not break it.”

In spite of her words, we still have too many walls, like those between Israel and Palestine and between the United States and Mexico. Just like walls, fences or hedges around homes are forbidding and send a sign of fear, not human brotherhood.

If they are not in place to contain mean dogs or protect small kids they should all go. The planet wasn’t built to be fenced in, and the best use for a wall is to turn it into tourist attraction like the Great Wall of China or the token piece of Berlin wall that is just meant to frame selfies!

SKI resurrects its resort rankings

Last year, SKI magazine announced that it was discontinuing its ranking of American ski resorts, but just like a relapsing alcoholic, it decided to reinstate them this year. The result isn’t pretty, at least from my own personal opinion.

While the issue of SKI devoted to the survey doesn’t explain its methodology, I suspect that the magazine polled its readers.

Of course, we don’t know how many folks read SKI these days. The publisher’s advertising rate card claims a circulation of 300,000 copies (which always is a bit exaggerated), of which less than half is paid circulation, which might leave between 100,000 and 125,000 paid copies.

This season, Deer Valley ceased to offer a free SKI subscription with its season passes, which reduced the number of voters and explains in part why the Utah resort moved from its usual top 3 position down to 5.

What’s clear is that one resort offering a free subscription to its pass-holders and aggressively campaigning for them to vote for the place where they ski, may dramatically skew the results, and since we have no idea how many readers did cast their vote, this might explain the rather surprising results.

We all should beware of that kind of ranking “resurrection” as it will invariably spawn its own “zombies”. This said, I strongly feel that this poll should be based on the destination (i.e. Park City for both Deer Valley and Park City Mountain, or the Vail Valley for Vail and Beaver Creek, etc.) and not just the ski hill.

This would be far more indicative of what a mountain destination has to offer, from its skiing to its complete array of amenities and entertainment.

Will someone listen to me out of the white expanse of wilderness? I doubt it seriously!

What are my values?

Recently, I read a book that asked for my “core values”, in other words, those personal values that are important to me, like the specific traits and behaviors motivating and guiding my own decisions.

I must admit that I found myself put on the spot, incapable of thinking of anything in particular. This prompted me to pick up a pen and a sheet of paper and begin brainstorming in an effort to answer the question.
I came up with a few ideas that, I believe, reflect closely who I am:

• Adventure, enjoyment, risk taking 
• Effectiveness, perfectionism, focus on quality 
• Creativity, simplicity and determination 
• Love for people, for life and for healthy living Competitiveness, ambition and success 

As you can read, my values are probably not the same as yours, as we’re all different, and what makes one person happy may leave another feeling uncomfortable or disengaged.

Yet, taking the time to define our personal values and being able to live by them, is an important step towards feeling more fulfilled and making choices that will bring us happiness, even if others can’t fully share them or understand them.