Apocalyptic lines…

When we took our daughter back to the airport, early in the morning, we were stunned to see the line ofn the Interstate I-80 off ramp to Park City. 

Miles of cars were patiently crawling along to go skiing to either Park City or Deer Valley. This was a sight we had never seen as we seldom drive so early to get to the Salt Lake valley. 

Without a doubt, this was there a direct effect of all the Epic passes Vail Resorts had sold this year at 20% off. Everyone, it seems, is going skiing. 

On the slope it wasn’t better. Parking lots are overflowing, beginner to intermediate runs are tightly packed and its only on double-diamond black that there’s room to breathe and no lines. 

At night, it’s as much awful if one has to take a lift to get over to the base or to the parking lot. Long lines everywhere and what seems to me terrible terrain management by the resort. 

Skiing as we know it seems definitely headed to the dogs!

Bringing Thonon water to America?

While cleaning and re-organizing our pantry, my wife just found this tiny water bottle branded Thonon. Quite meaningful as I was born in the town where that water was produced and bears the exact same name and also about the fact that it ended up in America 5,313 miles away. 

Mineral and other type of water are the kind of crazy manifestation of humanity’s out-of-control consumption. It used to be know as “Source de la Versoie” and St. Francis de Sales, a 16th century local saint, thought it tasted good. 

We can’t tell you how that tiny bottle ended up inside our home, but suffices to say that bringing a commodity like water, so far, is insane and symptomatic of some of the most foolish aspects of globalization. 

Evian water owned by the powerful Danone agribusiness, that comes out of the ground just a few miles from Thonon has enjoyed an amazing reputation, while the Thonon brand has struggled by comparison. The global bottled water market size is huge and is now valued at about $220 billion. 

Just as an indication, we drink 15 billion gallon of bottled water in the United States each year ! We’re not just talking about spring water, but all kind of water, including the suspect “purified” one. 

We are talking about big business and a kind of activity that’s capitalizing on fear, global drought, poor infrastructure and unbridled global population growth, that’s holding the world population hostage of these tiny plastic bottles...

Letting the faster skier go

This past weekend, my daughter and I were skiing on the steeper part of the 9990 lift (following the towers, i.e. the fall line) and we were passed by one very good skier, followed, as well as he could, by a visibly struggling companion. 

This was the first time I had this experience. I didn’t feel too bad and rationalized it as follows: 

• There was only one challenging lift open in all of Park City Mountain at that moment, and it was 9990, so it wasn’t surprising that the few good skiers skiing that resort this very day would congregate there. 
• Next, my daughter thought the men were in their 20 or 30, which explain their bloated stamina and heightened risk tolerance. 
• Also, I was skiing with my child, so I wasn’t pressing the pedal to the metal as I didn’t want to get her into a ski accident. 
• Finally, I’ll turn 74 in a few days and I now better than hurting myself for the sake of staying ahead of some reckless skier!

The best Christmas Gift

Very early, this past Christmas morning I was thinking how lucky I was to experience no pain and no major problem in my entire body. 

I did my very best to feel my whole aging body and as I couldn’t sense any outstanding pain. 

I then took the time to fully appreciated my luck of feeling so good for my age, as it begins to become quite respectable and scary at the same time. 

I felt so lucky as I thought of all the people my age and younger that have already passed, and the many that are currently not feeling one-hundred-percent well or are in the throes of recovery from serious illnesses or recent operations. 

Didn’t I received the very best Christmas gift?

Appreciating the ski-life we still have

On Thursday, Park City Mountain finally opened some challenging terrain at 9990. 

My daughter and I jumped on the occasion to finally have some good fun and get more exercise in the process. 

What was amazing is that I was the only old guy skiing among the few serious skiers that were there. I’d guess the average age was 25 at the very most. 

This said, I still held my own, skied fast enough for the circumstances and the conditions and wondered how long this could last. 

Since I couldn’t get a precise answer back, I assumed I didn’t need one and decided to continue skiing the way as always do as if nothing had happened and no big number of years had past…

Twenty-five years ago

December 1996 was a time when I was desperately looking for a job and after a whole year looking, I was holding on two solid options following a pair of successful interviews (as always, getting my foot in the door for an interview was always the hardest part). 

One job was about selling high-quality wood windows to architects, contractors and homeowners and the other was a marketing manager position at a local property management company. 

I took the later, because I didn’t have to commute to Salt Lake and be forced on the road the whole time selling building supplies, and I also knew the company’s owner a colorful, local guy. 

The guy who decided though wasn’t that man but his general manager, Mike Philips, a nice fellow who had spent most of his career in the hospitality business. The pay wasn’t great and I didn’t know much about the job or the industry, but decided to take a swing at it.

It ended being a good choice that helped me pay for our children’s college education, open my eyes to a business area I didn’t know, let me discover Colorado and meet some interesting people. 

A great move for rounding off and ending my working career!

The art of purchasing ski boots

My daughter recently purchased a new pair of ski boots to replace the hand-me-down pair from her mom that were first worn in… 1993! 

Anecdotally, her ski boot size is 24.5 mondo. So, she went to the ski shop and after being measured and explained her skiing style a skills (she’s a very good, smooth skier who, just like her dad, avoids groomers and skis the whole mountain), she asked to be put in a size 24.4 mondopoint. 

The young man insisted however that she tries first a 23 shell on the basis that her “performance” would be much better. He attempted to “force” her into 3 different models of that shell size to no avail. 

She just couldn’t get in, period! Even though I told the guy I know a “few things” about boot fitting (my life-long ski industry career) he couldn’t listen and was dead set on “performance”. 

The reality being that for most skiers, like my daughter or myself it’s simply “comfort” to the point that we ought to forget we have ski boots on, and yet, get all the support and leverage we need, but comfortably. 

We finally found a good pair of Tecnica, size 24.5, that were plenty tight, but fit her fine. 

Morale of the story: Don’t let people tell you fishy stories next time you’re in the market for a new pair of ski boot.

Glory’s ransom

For years, I’ve been hoping for Park City to become a more famous ski resort as it deserved, but this holiday seasons, its popularity has taken a turn to the worst with even more visitors than last ski season. 

Always be careful of what you wish for! 

When I go skiing, parking is becoming a true nightmare and while the slopes opened are still in short supply, the skiers density is becoming a true nightmare as dodging them has evolved into being the main focus of my skiing.

This doesn’t bode well for the future and will severely impact my total quantity of skiing produced in a season. 

Well, this certainly will force me to become more astute and more skilled on my two boards. In addition, it will also perfectly accompany my graduating into old age...

Past the winter solstice

It feels great to go through the winter solstice and suddenly rejoice at the prospect of longer, brighter days. The Winter Solstice also has some important historical and cultural significance. 

Many groups hold festivals or celebrations around the world such as the Dongzhi Festival in China, Yaldā Night in Iran, and Yule in the Northern Hemisphere. 

For me too, this transition is cause for celebration. It’s where I find the full sense of the Christmas message, a form of rebirth, or starting over if you wish. It’s a good time to end the negative thoughts that are still lingering or expel the few that have managed to enter and settle into our minds. 

Look at it as an advanced “spring clean-up”. This for us in Park City isn’t that bad as days decline less than up north. We are at New York’s latitude, and yesterday we got 9 hours and 14 minutes of daylight. Far less were available in Vancouver and even less in Fairbanks, Alaska!

The sad part is that the same can be said the other way around as far as my fellow human friends from the Southern Hemisphere are concerned. True, they’re still enjoying summer!

My way of saying “Happy Holidays”…

After I retired, and with the help of Adobe Photoshop, I began to make my own electronic holiday cards. 

I felt that I could bring some more personable inspiration and influence into my season’s greetings, that way. 

Then, more than ten years ago, I played the “big” Hollywood film producers, and turn to video and have continued ever since. In spite of all the time it takes (35 hours this year), this has become a holiday tradition. 

We’ll see how long it lasts… 

Death of a pair of ski boots

A month or so ago, I was making a big deal out of my old pair of Nordica that served me so well and for so long. 

Well, that longevity came to a very sad end, when I tore the worn-out fabric of my liner, just above the heel pocket on the left boot, making the pair unusable. That’s right, even the best things come to an end, and I should have known better! 

So, on Saturday, instead of going skiing, I drove down to Salt Lake City to get an heir to the throne, so to speak, in the form of its successor model the Nordica Sportmachine 100. The foot fits me just the same, is much easier to get in and out of and, soon, 

I’ll let you know how it performs when I have a few days of good skiing on them...

Daily trip into pure happiness

Recently I seem to take that trip to happiness once daily, each morning when I take just over 30 minutes to meditate. 

I don’t need to take LSD, marijuana or any other mind-altering drug. It’s clean, simple, fast, harmless and free! I have practicing it for almost 2 years, everyday, without missing a single one. 

It took me roughly 18 months to get where I am now. Since I’m so excited about it, I suggest you do it, if you haven’t adopted that form of mindfulness already. So, if you’re been “thinking about it”, research it and figure how to do it and get going. 

If you have, but it’s not been working that great for you (that my case, I tackled it since 1966, but it’s only in 2020 that my practice “stuck!”), just persist, change your method if you have to, and give it another serious try. It only take a little dose of discipline and persistence.

Good luck!

Thinking about my Dad

I regret to say that I don’t know that much about my Dad who passed away in 1989. He was born in 1902 at the beginning of the past century. 

I know that he was, like the rest of his peers, raised in poverty in the remote corner of the Alps that was my hometown. When he was a little kid he once almost grabbed a viper with his hands, as he mistook it for a treasure. 

Like all the kids back in these days, he help his family in work around and out of the house, went to Chamonix to learn how to become a carpenter and ended up being a dairy farmer and cheese maker; I don’t know the reason for that change in vocation. 

He performed his military service near Mainz, Germany, returned home, married in his mid-thirties, managed to buy quite a bit of real estate and built our family home. He was drafted to go the World War II, but was released when France capitulated and served as our town mayor during the very difficult years of war. 

One fantastic quality he had was to be a very hard worker and a very honest person! 

In the mid 50’s he built the restaurant that pulled my family out of need. He and my Mom had a girl in 1938, then shortly thereafter a boy and it took an accident and seven years later for me to show up. 

My Dad smiled rarely, had a short fuse, didn’t trust anyone and had contempt towards many. He never, ever, took me on his laps, played with me, addressed any kind word to me or tried to teach me anything. I feared him, yet he seems to be mostly indifferent to me. 

My Dad took care of me economically, but couldn’t do it emotionally, I still love him and forgive him fully, yet by today’s standards, it’s almost like as if I didn’t have a father...

Vail Resorts, too much of a good thing ?

While Park City, owned by Vail Resorts is struggling to open its terrain and making snow like never before, I just heard that the company sold 2.1 million Epic Passes for 2021-22 season after cutting its prices by 20%. 

That’s right, the company reports a 76% increase in pass sales from 2019-20, which is about 900,000 more tickets and passes purchased in advance. This is an increase of 47% or 700,000 more passes than in 2020-21. 

What this means is that Park City, as well as all of Vail Resorts destinations will be awfully crowded this season, and this might be the end of the good skiing that we once knew. 

Vail Resorts better to work at improving its large and out-of-date lift infrastructure at Park City and cutting all the obstacles that make its good slopes unskiable at times, and very dangerous the entire season. 

A tall order indeed and knowing Vail Resorts’ avaricious behavior, an improbable one as well.

Good morning mood

I rarely wake up in a bad mood and from the wrong foot, no matter how my night or my sleep were. 

I love that I have this trait and it makes all the difference for me in the world. 

It enables to see me each new day as a resurrection or a renaissance of sort, a blank page that will be filled with great accomplishments and an opportunity to fully appreciate a new day on earth and make it so that I won’t take it for granted. 

I am very grateful to be always in a good morning mood and I hope it will continue until my very last morning!

The magic of compromise!

There is an endangered specie on earth that's called compromise. 

This art used to be embraced by all and has led to the civilized society we’ve enjoyed most of lives. Today, extremists think that life is too short for negotiating and compromising. They prefer one-size fits all. This is why compromise is the essential fuel to democracy, harmonious and constructive living. 

The art of compromise is to agree on something between different parties, in which each participant gives up a portion of their demands. Often agreement is found through communication and a mutual acceptance of terms that can be drastically different from the starting point. 

This doesn't take into consideration the "friction" or parts of the compromise that couldn't be used by either party and are left on the table.

Of course, like anywhere else there are good and bad compromises. Frequently, one party feels it has given too much away, received too little or was taken advantage of by the nature of the compromise. While balance and tolerance are fertile grounds for compromise, extremism is not a good place for it to flourish. 

Bad compromises are often seen as the result of negotiators unable to see the compatible interests they have with the opposite party and settle for less than an optimal agreement for them. 

Better outcomes are found when parties carefully research what the true participants interests are and take ample time to arrive at a compromised solution. 

Yet, with all of its problems, compromise is better than pursuing divergent routes that help no ones by tearing them apart...

Exceptionalism begins with adversity

A few nights ago I was watching the interview of a French popular singer that was asked, among other things, to reminisce about some of the adversity that plagued him during his youth. 

That’s when he said that he always found adversity to be a catalyst for achievement and that without it, nothing great could be achieved. 

His thoughts brought me back to my own young years and made me realized that by not being able to give me everything I needed, my parents instilled in me these many grains of sand that, like for the oyster, let a host of pearls blossom. 

Adversity is the oxygen of high achievement and we all should be delighted when we see it around!

How we became who we are...

Some people attribute becoming who they are through their smarts, their willpower, some special mentors, an extraordinary experience or some special decisions that they’ve been making at some points along their existence, but the reality might be more complicated than that. 

For example, most psychologists agree that we’re a mixture of how we look, behave and think. At the same time, we’re constantly changing as we get influenced by our surroundings. The thing we tend to forget is that much has been decided for us before we were even born. 

Our parents, of course, made the key decision in having us and made many more on our behalf as we grew up. If I were born in Tanzania, I’d probably wouldn’t be writing this blog today if I were lucky to be alive. 

Where I lived in the Alps and where I spent the summers had so much impact on me to that I wanted a totally different life regardless of the place natural beauty. 

Then, we keep on being influenced by our family, school, friends, mentors, our general environment plus a bunch of things we’ve got absolutely no control upon. So there are more than a few mentors, a great school or a life-changing experience that we believe have molded us. 

Who we are is more like the steady, invisible and grinding work of a glacier creeping down a valley and

Happy aging!

From time to time my wife and I are talking about how distressful aging can be and how our slow but steady decline creeps in, without any good solution against it. 

I believe this kind of thinking is nefarious and can only lead to both an accelerated and unpleasant aging process, so I have decided to fight back and inventory what ammunition are available to turn this kind of thinking and attitude around. 

Well, I now that aging is part of life, is inexorable and unavoidable. I simply would like to make it fun and, hopefully, enjoy more of my old days, plus last a little bit longer while I live much better. Anywhere you turn, there’s plenty of advice about what to eat, drink and what kind of exercise can fight aging, but none of these tips are any guarantee for happier old days.

What I’m looking at is more psychological in nature, affect our mental state and define our general attitude towards life as well as our emotions. This are listed in no particular order, but are, in my opinion, the foundation of happiness as we age: 

• Make quality time for meditation 
• Don’t take anything personally, give idiots a break and don’t let the stupidity of others make yourself angry. 
• Always make an effort to see humor in everything, be self-deprecating and laugh as much as possible. 
• Also make a concerted effort to remain optimist, hopeful and positive. 
• Built that into a lifelong habit. Keep a thirst for adventure, remain curious all the time, get out of the house and one's comfort zone, finally renounce mediocrity. 
• Turn every adversity into new challenges, always challenge others and remain competitive. 
• Stop thinking incessantly about one's age, the mind is the same as the day maturity was attained (that number may vary wildly!)

Edmond Denis, 1941-2021

Edmond Denis passed away on December 4, 2021 at age 90. He was part of a French expedition that premiered the south face of Aconcagua in Chile in 1954 and had suffered the loss of his toes as a result of frostbites contracted during that ascent. 

He also was among a group of climbers that were found hovering around the Hotel de Paris in Chamonix, purchased by Louis Janin in 1958, that place literally became a “refuge” for out-of-towners mountain "bums" and even some show-business celebrities. 

In 1960, Edmond met Jean Vuarnet following his Olympic victory in Squaw Valley, and since he was gravitating towards the documentary film industry, he arranged for a flick to be produced about Vuarnet’s gold medal. 

Together, they toured France to showcase their production and that’s when Jean Vuarnet suggested that Edmond Denis got involved with him in the development of the Avoriaz ski resort. 

Shortly thereafter Edmond moved to Morzine to join the local ski school and bought an old house there in 1963, in which lived until his death with his wife Kathy, a German speaking Swiss he had met in England while he was attending a language course there. 

In 1966, the Avoriaz ski resort was created an Edmond Denis became its ski school director. A great communicator with a gift of gab, he made a strong impression all the ski instructors like me, who didn’t have his speech skills, his urban upbringing and world experience. 

I started working at the Avoriaz ski school in 1969 and Edmond Denis impressed me with his iconoclastic behavior, his vision that consisted of peppering his young ski school staff with  members speaking foreign languages, a strong female contingent and even one black instructor! 

Later, our relationship took a turn for the worst as half of the school challenged Edmond’s leadership, which led to his leaving the ski school and working at the ENSA, the National Ski Instructor school in Chamonix. 

I saw him a few more times in recent years, as I was jogging by his home when I happened to visit my family. I always stopped and we shot the breeze for a while about skiing and life in general. When all is said and done, Edmond  left a mark on my personal life and my professional career that I will never forget...

Henri Guibelin, 1946-2021

I remember Henri from the ENH (watchmaking school) in Cluses. I’m not sure if he ever was in my class, but we were the same age and ended up together on the same French Air Force base of Salon de Provence during our 16 month mandatory military service. 

His dad was a custom agent and had been based for a while in Montriond, the village I was raised, before being stationed in nearby Samoëns, also in Haute-Savoie. During my service, I would ride a night train to return to the base and hitchhike to return home. I covered more than 6,000 miles this way. 

One day, I happened to hitchhike with Henri. We probably got a first lift and then a second. It was a young guy driving a white Peugeot 403 sedan. We were driving north on Route Nationale 7 (RN 7), a busy two-lane highway that was the only road from Paris to the Riviera. I was in the front seat and my buddy in the back; in 1968 cars weren’t even equipped with seat-belts. 

We were between Avignon and Orange, when my buddy got a sudden urge to smoke and after putting a cigarette in his mouth, tapped the driver on his right shoulder to offer him one too. Surprised, the driver turned around and, in so doing, lost control of the car that immediately swerved, rolled over and began spinning in the center of the road. 

By the grace of God, no car came across in these few seconds and we ended up in the ditch, my head bloodied because the sun roof was open and I hit the road as the car roof was scratching the road. Except for that, none of us was injured, so we said goodbye to the driver and resumed our trip hitch-hiking for the remaining 250 miles. 

I kept a mark on my skull to this date as a reminder of RN 7’s abrasive asphalt and life kept going on until I heard about Henri’s passing. 

Henri was 74. 

Heartfelt condolences to his wife Colette and his family.

Death of a ski guru

I’ve never met Ron LeMaster, but have read many of his ski technique articles on ski magazines and even picked up on the many book he wrote on the subject. 

On November 30, the ski coach, instructor, guidebook author and ski racing photographer from Boulder, was killed Tuesday in a collision with a snowboarder at nearby Eldora Mountain Resort on Windmill an intermediate run. His death sent chills to my spine. 

Ron was 72, very close to me in age, was renowned for his work in ski education. He wrote many guidebooks, including “The Skier’s Edge” and “Ultimate Skiing.” 

He was also gifted photographer, picking up the famous “photo-montages” invented by Georges Joubert and keeping them alive in making his points about ski technique. 

While I feel very sorry about his tragic death and send my heartfelt condolences to Ron’s family, I take as a lesson that skiing is dangerous, collisions can be terrible, concentration is key and speed must be used with the greatest caution possible.

Fifty years ago, on skis

This past weekend I was skiing on whatever run Park City Mountain was able to create from scratch given our terrible lack of natural snow and the path was narrow, bumpy and crowded. 

Yet, that day, I did 8 runs non-stop on Payday and was thinking: “Didn’t I ski as well and as comfortably as I had done 50 years ago, when I returned from Australia and began another ski season in Avoriaz?” 

The answer was a resounding “Yes!” and it got me thinking that I was incredibly lucky to feel as if nothing had happened to me in that half-century that elapsed so fast before my eyes. I felt just at ease on snow as I had back in December of 1971. 

Still my VO2max was a shadow of itself, my natural flexibility was gone and my my muscle mass dwindling. 

Why wasn’t I feeling my age? I certainly was much more efficient on my skis, still quick and nimble, I perfectly remembered what to do, my equipment was much, much better, and the chairlift had done the “heavy lifting” by bringing me on top of that slope. 

There’s one thing I forgot: My thinking was crystal clear and much improved over what was going on inside my head in those days. Is this what make the big difference? This could very well be the case...

If I were the new Deer Valley director (continued…)

This always is a fun and creative kind of exercise. What would I do if I were the next Deer Valley general manager? 

I could do anything I want, yet, I would basically confronted with two fundamental choices: Do almost nothing and act as another caretaker for the resort, riding its fabulous reputation and image while the planet warms up fast, the snow dwindles and skiing disappears. 

If it’s not to the taste of Alterra and its shareholders I’d blame global warming and the baby boomers like me that will be accused of creating the whole mess. A safe, easy and simple choice, but definitely not my favorite. 

Then, on the other hand, I could improve things as I see and picture them to make Deer Valley last longer and provide a much better experience to its future visitors. Isn’t it what visionary management is all about? 

I’d finally get on with modern times and bring a bit of snowboard by opening certain areas of the mountain to riding, and that way, keep “diverse” families happy. In the same spirit, I’d also open up Terrain Parks in a natural, wonderful tree setting, that would make the place unique in its category. 

I’ll totally rethink the Snow Park parking development project to make the entire access of the resort more user friendly, easy and surprisingly seamless by installing fast people movers directly to the lifts and channeling skiers back to their transportation. 

I would also think long and very hard on how to integrate (or not) the Extell's Mayflower Mountain Resort into the Deer Valley experience (by the way, what a folly to envision a new ski resort in the midst of global warming!). 

I would also take a zero-base approach and re-invent the resort’s food experience and bring it into the 21st century. While I’m at it, I would also focus on rejuvenate Deer Valley’s overall culture, get rid of the Cadillacs, and make it “young and fresh again”. 

More importantly, I’d bring unbridled fun to replace the “stiff upper lip” class that is slowly choking Deer Valley, and finally, I would drastically “filter” the Ikon passholders access, wouldn’t care at all about what Alterra thinks and do everything for the good of Deer Valley, and then, just like God at the end of my new re-creation, would enjoy an ice-cold IPA...

If I were Deer Valley’s new boss…

Like any other ski resort, Deer Valley has its indisputable assets as well as it looming challenges, among them global warming and the onslaught of the Ikon Pass upon its once pristine and exclusive slopes. 

Edgard Stern, the founder of both WDSU Television in New Orleans and the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco was also a director of Sears Roebuck and Co. and the man who founded Deer Valley in 1981. 

He got involved with the ski industry in 1968 when he moved to Aspen. That same year he purchased Treasure Mountains Resort in Park City and offered some ambitious improvement and expansion plans for it. Still, he sold Park City Resort in 1975 but retained 1,700 adjacent acres of land that eventually became Deer Valley. 

He was a true visionary and understood what was missing in terms of service and food at American ski resorts and molded Deer Valley to address that. He passed away in 2008, and since then the resort continued to run on its reputation and the business model Stern had originally created. 

Ten years later, Deer Valley was sold to Alterra and at the same time, Bob Wheaton its general manager and caretaker was replaced by Todd Shallan, a hotel management guy. Two years later Jeremy Levitt replaced Shallan and lasted until last week. 

So, in this short amount of time someone is now expected to take the helm of this iconic ski resort and do something with it, but frankly what can still be done at this point in time? Well, the resort has gathered to some old dust and most of its appeal seems to go to older ski families. 

By forbidding the practice of snowboarding on its slopes, it caters to those afraid of the young and iconoclastic riders and is now, along with Alta and Mad River Glen, the only resorts in the world that remain for skiers only. 

Further, Deer Valley keeps going against the (young) grain by not offering a Terrain Park, an amenity increasingly popular with the youth. Finally, other ski resorts are catching up with Deer Valley’s once better-than-mediocre food offering and the advantage the resort had in that category is now eroding. 

There are other issues that hamper its access, like the long distance between its parking lots and its base, too many steeps to climb, icy, steep runs and a general congestion on its slopes made worse by the influx of Ikon pass-holders. 

So, as you can see, the next general will have his/her job cut out with no easy choices. So, what would I do if I were named general manager? You’ll read my answers in an upcoming blog… 

(to be continued…)

IOC: Incredibly, Olympically Corrupt

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), based in Florida, not Switzerland, had the courage to suspend all tournaments in the Asian nation out of concern for the well-being of star player Peng Shuai and the safety of other players. 

In the meantime, the IOC, much too aware of the financial implication of upsetting the Chinese has labored very hard to try to hide the truth in an unconvincing attempt to tell the world that all was good for her.

Once more, this show were Thomas Bach’s priorities are: running the games at any cost, human or otherwise. 

It also suggests that it seems unlikely that the Olympic Committees, at least among OECD nations, and all athletes, would have the courage to forgo their traveling perks and their chances to participate and win by boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics (no, the 2022 Winter Hypocrite Games). 

If human rights were more important than money, this should, in essence, be the right thing to do and the best way to teach a very profound lesson to the Chinese totalitarian regime...

Deer Valley’s musical chairs

Early this week, Jeremy Levitt president and COO of Deer Valley Resort, left his position after a little more than one year on the job. No reason was given for his departure. 

Things are moving fast, these days at Deer Valley! Seems like he was either let go as failed to meet Alterra’s expectations, his overseeing of the CMH division or the fact that he might have not fully blended with the arcane Deer Valley culture. 

It could also be that our lack of snow made him feel terrible to the point that he simply couldn’t stand being deprived of this critical raw material. 

Of course Whatever the reason, his departure happened just days before the resort was scheduled to open and as it is now engaged in talks with City Hall about building condos and commercial space on its Snow Park parking lots. 

Ever since Alterra took control over Deer Valley, changes in leadership have become a regular occurrence. Now, what would really be cool is see Alterra finding a replacement for Levitt within that resort’s own personnel, but that probably is asking a bit too much!

Petra Vlhova, the tall skier

From her first appearance on the World Cup, I had noticed how tall (5’11) Petra Vlhova was and wondered how she could manage to do so well in technical ski events, and particularly in slalom. 

These “turny” races had heretofore been more favorable to shorter, stockier racers. Mikaela Shiffrin is just 5’7 and weighs 141 lbs vs. 160 for her Slovak competitor. 

So, what does that all means? Taller slalom skiers have to work hard to stay in the middle of their skis like shorter ones, but it’s a lot more difficult because the main, most powerful and faster hinge point is in the ankle. 

Staying neutral is desirable as a taller individual will have to travel more to stay in balance, with always the underlying fear of “going over the handlebar”. Yet, a quiet fore-aft balance seems to be what Vlhova successfully achieved as she has reached the level of her American rival. 

That said, she gets another bonus that also makes a big difference. She’s 15% heavier than Shiffrin and on flat sections this can play a decisive role as long as she can stay well balanced on her skis. 

Now, you know everything there’s is to know about that tall skier and can appreciate how being well balanced on a pair of skis can earn a skier some tremendous dividends...

Managing emotions

Few folks from my generation had the good fortune of learning about the existence of emotional intelligence and the importance of emotions. This often made our life very difficult and most of us had to develop coping mechanisms to survive the upheaval emotions caused on us throughout our lives. Yet, this sad reality doesn’t mean that there’s no remedial help available. 

Of course we all know what feelings are, but are often taken by surprise when emotions invade us and don’t always know how to manage them. The first order of business is to learn how to identify our feeling as they show up. Doing this helps us know what’s going on with our minds and help us chose a way to respond, especially when it involves other people. 

We’re not talking about easy and positive feelings, but tough ones, like anger, jealousy or sadness among many others. So the big job is to learn how to pay attention to these feelings, and this takes some practice; here are a few tips: 

First, we must pay attention and notice our feelings when they erupt and name them. To start, just notice how we feel as emotions start to bubble. We should name them to ourselves. For instance, we might say, "I feel proud" after I have tuned up all the family skis or "I feel disappointed" when my grandson can’t ski with me because his equipment isn’t ready yet, or "I feel happy" when the family got together for Thanksgiving dinner. 

A good idea would be to track one emotion during an entire day, any emotion, like joy, for instance and notice how often we feel it. Each time, make a mental note or write it down grading the feeling as mild, medium, or strong. Let’s also identify all emotions that come to us, find a fitting name for them and be on the look-out for new ones. 

Also, let’s ask ourselves, how many meanings we have for "angry" for example? We might feel annoyed, mad, irate, or fuming... Ideally, we should take a few minutes each day to write about how we feel and why; this would bring us even closer to our emotions. 

Another path to explore would be to start looking for emotions in art, songs, or movies. How did the artists express these feelings. How did they make us feel? The more we become aware of our emotions, the deeper we’ll begin to know ourselves better and understand the people around us. 

Noticing and talking about feelings is a healthy way to express them and release them, instead of letting them building up inside us…

First day on skis…

This season, the opening day at Park City was scheduled for November 19 but was delayed until this Sunday, the 28th. As anyone would expect, I joined the crazies who packed up a narrow ribbon of man-made snow at the Canyons and began sliding.

At my age, this seasonal ritual becomes important as I take it as a measure of my keeping up with the requirements of skiing and measuring any form of decline that could threaten my future on boards. Some say that after 70, each single year counts for two. 

First, putting on the ski boots was a bit of an ordeal, but soon my feet made peace with the liners stiffened up by a long resting summer, then when I began to slide on a snow that felt more like spring slush than early winter powder, I felt fine and just the very same as I remember being more than seven month ago.

I avoided colliding with anyone, went over a bunch of monster moguls quite gracefully (I thought), and had passed this opening test with flying colors. While conditions could be rated at super-mediocre, the experience was vastly superior than not skiing at all. 

In fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I took eight short runs and resurrected into skiing for my 69th winter season!

Leveraging new year’s resolutions

Well used, new year’s resolutions can add a lot to a person’s capital and, over time, have the power of being incredibly transformational. 

Too often, new year’s resolutions are not really planned, but made up hastily, at the very last minute, as the new year gets underway. This might be one reason why these hurried pledges have a hard time “sticking”, and end up “vaporizing” almost as fast as they got formulated. 

Like for any important endeavor, a little bit of planning can make a huge difference in strengthening a resolution. When conceived early enough, resolutions will greatly benefit from an appropriate selection, ample planning and proper mental preparation, making them more likely to succeed.

In the past, all of my new year’s resolutions have never benefited from this kind of attention and too few of them have come through. 

This year though will be different, because I want to turn this popular tradition into a useful and lasting outcome...

Getting back up on skis as we get old

As skiers grow older, getting back up after a fall can just be an ordeal, if it's even possible. This is due to the fact that our muscle power, general flexibility and a bunch of other factors make what once was a piece of cake, both very difficult and embarrassing.

For an older adult to get up, the rules that we used previously remain the same, that is place both skis across the fall line and this time take all the time needed to get prepared to stand up again. Of course, the steeper and the more packed the slope is, the easier it will be, as opposed to getting up from a flat level ground or some bottomless powder or head first into a tree well. 

For instance, some helicopter skiing outfits discourage older folks, like those over 70-75 to participate. Of course and regardless of age, there should never be any rush or panic to get up, as saving energy becomes of utmost importance! 

So just think well before doing anything and have a method in mind for the many circumstances you can find yourself into. Obviously, make sure first you’re not hurt before trying to get back up. 

Then there are a bunch of methods available, including the one I always taught my students that require spreading the feet apart and placing the weight on the uphill one, and simultaneously getting some support from the poles if that’s possible. 

Whatever method you chose, it has to be sturdy enough to support your weight as you try to get up. Of course, there is always the option of taking off one binding, if it can be reached easily, of course. 

Finally, I found that REI video shown below, that shows several original techniques I’d never seen before, with #2 being in my view the easier for older folks, unless they want to default to #3 and remove one of their skis before attempting to stand back up. 

A more credible way to endorse

We’ve all seen celebrities from all fields endorse brands and tout the virtues of products or services in a blatant, yet not always credible manner. It’s hard not see the crass mercantile intention of the support these famous folks attempt to bring the brand they support and often times, the stratagem backfires. 

Recently, I was watching a documentary about Catherine Deneuve, the famous French actress in which some political endorsement was discussed. I can’t remember who the candidate was, it might have been Ségolène Royal, a recent presidential candidate. 

Yet, instead of just saying “Vote for so-and-so”, she went: “Here’s what I think, now think about it…” That short sentence, I thought was much more powerful than some “In your face” admonition to vote for that particular individual. Instead, it was giving full control to the viewer and appealing to his or her judgment. 

A much more clever way to endorse anyone or anything...

Bringing some order to my music files

Between my computers and my phones, I had lots of music files that used to be floating around and as a result, were very difficult to control and enjoy. 

To give you a sense of their number, they range between 10,000 and 14,000 depending on the way I use them. 

We’re talking about digital audio files, mostly under the mp3 format. Some are just music I like to listen to, ranging from songs in all genres and many languages, some instrumental tracks including pop, jazz and classical, and finally some soundtracks that I use for producing my videos.

Last week, I spent most of my free time organizing these various files to the point that it drove me almost crazy. Today, I’m almost done except for some fine tuning that remains to be done and some additions that still have to be made. 

Now, I’m almost ready to relax and listen to some good tunes!

Heads of state that can’t manage

As I have often lamented, politicians who end up leading nations have to be political animals, or better yet, sleazy salesmen who promise the moon or something of the sort to be elected and end up delivering very little. 

Having charisma can help a lot too, the end goal being to get elected at any cost. Aside from years of experience and a few educational failures along the way, no specific skills are required from our national leaders. 

So they generally prove to be terrible managers because that’s a skill they simply don’t have and have never attempted to learn.

Often times, I have been tempted to think that CEO would make good head of states, but more often than not, famous CEO are not good managers either. 

Neither are celebrities (Ronald Reagan), peanut farmers (Jimmy Carter) or billionaires (Donald Trump). What I’d love to see at the helm of my country is just a good, no-nonsense manager!

Picking the future we like best

As we move forward into our senior years, we often have a little voice that asks: “What do you plan to do with your remaining time on earth?” Many of us ignore that voice and carry one with the usual way of doing things. 

A few though, can’t dare to ignore it; they face it and look at three compelling options: Stay just the same, following the exact, usual ruts, Give a shot at improving or creating new ideas, or projects, and, of course, just do strictly nothing, letting nature take its course and riding the erosive power of time into full decrepitude. 

For me, this is a question impossible to ignore, perhaps because of my guilt-ridden nature or my devastating perfectionism, so I always aim for the big prize, whatever it happens to be inside my mind at the time. If that project can get traction, great.

If it threads water, it might keep me level. I still prefer having a solid margin of safety. I know for sure that if I want things to say the same, this might not quite work, and I’ll slide backwards, riding my own decline. 

Not an appealing option for me!

Revolt at the ski school

As I explained eight years ago under the “Avoriaz ski school saga”, an ugly conflict developed over the summer when I was in Australia. 

It eventually came to a head, at the annual pre-season gathering of my instructor colleagues, and I was chosen as the spokesperson to voice half of the ski school grivances to our director Edmond Denis. While 

I was able to speak in front of a group, my communication style could have been much, much better, and once I had said my piece, my fate was set for the remainder of my career in Avoriaz. 

From there, I'd learn a bunch of things from my new vantage point, including the fact that I had been instrumentalized by Francois Baud, an honorary member of the ski school who couldn’t stand Edmond Denis.

Also, I learned right here and there that it’s not just WHAT we say in life, but rather HOW we say it and while some modicum of IQ helps, the most important gift in life is Emotional Intelligence, a domain I had yet to discover... https://go-11.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-avoriaz-ski-school-saga.html

A quiet early fall of 1971

Just fifty years ago, I had returned from Australia and was busy building my new home with the help of my brother Gaston and my Dad. I wasn’t quite sure I wanted a house and wanted to grow roots in my hometown, just next door to my folks. 

I had bigger plans, but they were so fuzzy I couldn’t even see them. The six previous months, my travels around the world had opened up my eyes and I couldn’t see myself growing older in Montriond, even though it was a wonderful place promised to a prosperous future. 

I was now hooked on seeing even more of the world and just couldn’t settle forever in that one place. On weekends we celebrated my return in the company of my friends, all instructors at Avoriaz and our lives were light, easy and without large responsibilities. 

I had a lot of stories to tell and was proud of each one of them. One night, we went out in JF Rosset’s parents car, a Simca 1500 station wagon, along with Anselme Baud, JC Page and François Chauplannaz, had quite a few drinks and Rosset crashed the car in a curve, but we all survived, laughing.

JF Rosset was the only one who didn’t has he had to face his father’s fury. This mishap was just a precautionary warning. In a few weeks darker clouds would come over my head and suddenly change my blissful experience for a much more challenging one…

Covid’s astonishing tactics

Ever since the pandemic arrived on the scene, I couldn’t help but think, that it was Nature’s way of saying: “There are too many goddamned humans on this planet, time to do some mass-scaled thinning out!” 

Of course, humanity responded to the threatening virus with its formidable array of technology medicine and drugs. Yet, it seems to me that the virus, just like a school of fish or flock of birds, has an intelligence of its own and appears determined to leave no stone unturned or no subject left behind. 

As an example, Vermont the most vaccinated State of the Union is now undergoing a major attack by the virus. Can someone explain it to me? This kind of collective behavior is both fascinating and baffling. Is there a separate or overriding group intelligence that tell every single element (fish, bird or virus) what to do? 

Why does this happen? How is it choreographed? Is it a form of telepathy? All these questions beg for a response that we don’t seem to have, but I suspect there’s some truth in my observations. What do you think?

Temperatures and man-made snow

For the first time in many years, Park City wasn’t able to make any snow until November 17. And it’s not the only resort. 

All across the country a number of resorts have pushed back opening dates: Mt. Snow, Stowe, and Okemo in New England; Solitude, Alta, Snowbasin, and Brian Head in Utah; Steamboat and Telluride in Colorado; Heavenly and Northstar in California; and, Arizona Snowbowl. 

Mammoth Mountain, thanks to an October providential snowfall has been open for some time with 43 trails open and seven lifts running. 

This brings a new element to early season snow coverage and of course, skiing. Up until now, November has been a usually very cold month and ski areas took advantage of that to build their base and most trafficked runs. 

This year was quite different and might be a harbinger of things to come as our planet keeps on warming up, eventually rendering the most sophisticated snow-making infrastructure and equipment totally useless in a few years from now...

What percentage of the population is happy?

“Good question”, as the saying goes these days, but what do we mean by happiness? According to some “experts”, happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. 

More generally, happiness is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction and is discernible when we experience more positive feelings than negative. Add to that a topic that is incredibly subjective to the point that you might no feel happy if you were me and vice-versa. 

This said, yesterday, I heard on French radio that 80% of that citizens of that country were “happy”. This is good. 

Yet when I look at the OECD table summarizing our respective level of happiness, I see that France is ranked behind the USA and that Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway.

The latter being the number! What’s the OECD country trailing them all? South Africa. 

So now, you’ve got it. When I have a great day I feel like a Norwegian and when things are bad, or after I got my Covid booster shot, I fell worst than a South African!

Citizen of the world

Ever since I was a kid and began traveling the world over, I have gradually felt myself a home most anywhere I happened to be and this feeling has blossomed into considering myself a true citizen of the world. I don’t feel more American than French or Australian if I ever chose to live there. 

My home is the blue planet, the small bluish ball seen from space, without visible borders, nationalism and ideological conflicts. 

Just like geese fly freely from Canada to Mexico, fish swim freely the great oceans, fleas jump inside containers bound for all corners of the world, or Covid-19 knows no boundaries on the planet, I feel just like them and love the freedom to move around and claim my home just where I spend the night. 

I simply adapt to my new environment and to the prevailing rules where I happen to be. I believe world citizenship this is the way of the future and the only key to world peace. 

With modern technology, it could be implemented simply, gradually and with a small set of rules, at least to get the whole thing started. 

Of course, politicians don’t like the idea because it dilutes their importance, their impact and stifles their ambitions, but when the dust settles, aren’t we all citizen of the same world?

The FIS parallel slalom puts me asleep

Last weekend, I did my very best to watch a few athletes fighting side by side during the men and women parallel slalom in Lech-Zürs, but was bored to tears as I couldn’t find much entertainment value in that evening show. 

The lack of jumps took the only spice that made that event digestible, as well as the lack of top competitors. 

Why is FIS prolonging the torture it’s imposing it on both the racers and the public? 

Does it even try to understand what spectators want to see or what their likes and dislikes are?

What went amiss at Glasgow?

I’m sure all participants had a wonderful trip, some delicious food to eat and fun moments. That what makes these conventions memorable and all are looking forward to the next venue. Producing tangible results is a totally different issue altogether!

We are in deep trouble, yet don’t expect governments that are hostages of the fossil fuel lobby and work only for the short-term to act freely and decisively! We, American, are just starting to realize that we’ve got a “weather problem” (our political right excepted, of course). 

We, the greatest and most advanced nation on earth with only 5% of the world’s population still manage to boast the second largest carbon footprint of any country and still spews out twice the greenhouse gasses of India’s 1.3 Billion people with just 330 millions… 

Of course, we believe that putting a few solar panels on our roofs and at least one Tesla inside the garage, will go a long way towards solving the problem. As usual, we believe we can all get out of this rut without making any sacrifice! It will take more than cutting greenhouse gas to solve our planetary decay. 

Some scientists like Dr. David Keith, Professor of Physics at Harvard, says that even if countries hit all of their climate reduction targets by 2050 the earth won’t cool down due to all of the CO2 stuck in the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution. It will take centuries for it to slowly dissipate after emissions reach zero and while sea levels will continue to rise. 

Some studies also show many places in the world where warming has already increased by 2 degrees Celsius or more… These Glasgow talks have been consumed with carbon issues and renewable energies and diluted by a reprieve on coal on India’s insistence. 

Clearly, the world’s biggest polluters, including China, India and the USA, aren’t willing and ready yet to take the bull by the horns, lead by example and begin to take the drastic measure that are past due. In the midst of all this, Kerry puts on a good face, but his hampered by a powerful fossil fuel lobby, this final agreement is not binding and its highly unlikely that that American pledge will be enshrined by Congress. 

This said, the rise in planetary temperatures is caused by overcrowding. The earth wasn’t created to work sustainably with today close to 8 billion humans and 11 billion by the end of the century. Cause and effects are rarely occurring at the same time and we still don’t know, nor have we experienced the damage that 8 billion humans may have caused to the planet several years from now. We are not even talking about about 9 or 10 billion! 

The elephant in the room at all these COP meetings remains overpopulation, but the subject remains totally taboo and not just because of a strong capitalistic system. It goes against the grain of quantitative growth and religious expansion. 

Cutting our carbon footprint alone won’t suffice and it seems past time already for implementing additional measures aimed at reducing, better yet stopping, or reversing altogether, a runaway global population growth!

The unbelievable things I read...

Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems. It’s a project of a registered charity from the UK founded by Max Roser, a social historian and development economist and gets its data from a research team based at the University of Oxford. 

Recently, I came across a study from that organization claiming that:  

Two centuries of rapid global population growth will come to an end. The article claims that population explosions are temporary. Before 1700, the global population grew only very slowly – only 0.04% per year. 

This was explained by very high children mortality counteracted with high fertility. Once health improved and mortality declined, things changed quickly. Over the last 100 years global population more than quadrupled. 

This increase has amplified humanity’s impact on the natural environment. To provide space, food, and resources for a large world population in a sustainable way into the distant future is and remains one the largest challenges for our generation. 

Population growth is still fast: Every year 140 million are born and 58 million die, adding 82 million to the world population. The chart herein also suggests a slow ending of global demographic growth. As it declines, the curve representing the world population is no longer as steep. 

By the end of the century – when global population growth has fallen to 0.1% according to UN projections, it’ll get better. Yet, it is hard to know the population dynamics beyond 2100; it will depend on a falling fertility rate as development increases, and doesn’t rise above an average of 2 children per woman. 

In this projection the world population will reach almost 11 billion in 2100. 

In my view, this is an observation made in a vacuum. It doesn’t take into consideration global warming (a symptom of overpopulation) and its consequences in terms of maintaining a livable planet beyond 2100. It also ignores the planet social tensions rising from inequity that are likely to produce revolts, mass-invasion and other instability. 

It also hopes that the United Nations’ data and projections are correct. No one knows for sure. It sounds more like wishful thinking than anything else. My sense tells me that everything possible should be undertaking to further reduce and stop – if not reverse – population growth now.

Picabo Street’s biography

I just finished reading Picabo’s bio that stops in 2001. 

I had seen the book for a long time at our public library and finally decided to read it. I found the book interesting, honest and it showed me that some fantastic skiers can emerge from poor and sometimes dysfunctional families. 

In fact, Picabo Street’s path and character are very similar to Bode Miller’s. Then you have the well-to-do kids like Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shifrin, that had a big advantage of capitalizing on their god-given talents thank to a relentless parental support. 

The rest of the athletes muddle through and generally can’t get much of a foothold in a sport that isn’t nearly as well organized in the United States than it is in Europe through well-run ski federations. 

Street who has lived in Park City for a long time has had her share of problems. Her bio stops in 2001, on the eve of the 2002 Salt Lake City winter Olympics in which she only placed 16 and decided to retire. 

In 2005, she was inducted into the US Ski Hall of Fame, and in 2015, she was charged with domestic violence and assault relating to an incident when she allegedly pushed her elderly father down the stairs of her Park City home, but was later exonerated. 

More recently, she co-founded the Picabo Street Academy in Park City, with Michelle Demschar and Dan Kemp, that provides individualized schooling to students training in sports and the arts.

Stopover on the way south

For a few days, the US border has been reopened to Canadian visitors and we’ve noticed that Canadian geese have taken full advantage of the new measures as they are using our local golf courses as a convenient way to take a well-deserve break from their long return trip to Mexico.

With plenty of ponds available to them for some good fishing and relaxed swimming, we’ve observed hundreds of geese feasting on fish and drying up or relaxing on the green before resuming their Fall voyage.

However, we haven’t seen any of the white pelicans that stopped in the spring on their way north. They either used a different itinerary for their return travel or are still having fun in Canada’s Northern Territories. 

What’s clear is while we’ve seen the usual flocks of geese returning, we still have to see one single pelican. This mystery may never be resolved, so we certainly won’t lose sleep over it!