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!