Is there life after death?

Besides its existential meaning, I feel it’s an excellent question and timely one too, as we’re smack on Halloween night, All Saint day and a bunch of celebration of death and the thereafter. Recently, I watched a documentary about folks who are visited by dead people they once knew. 

While I’m highly skeptical of these revelations, they perked up my interest and made me wonder once more about what’s waiting for us once we get to “the other side”. When confronted with that question, I think: “Why should there be anything?” and calm myself by saying that there’s no good reason for it. This promise of after-life was cleverly packaged by organized religions to make them more attractive, like furniture retailers offer “free delivery” or tire shops offer “free installation”. 

At least, with furniture, it’s been proven, time and time again, that a truck eventually shows up to your residence with a table or a bed! Sure, in the middle-ages, it was a bonus offered to all these serfs that had to build cathedrals and castles without pay so they’d keep going waiting to cash-in when they’d fall from the scaffolding or die of exhaustion. 

I also don’t buy the separation between mind (or soul) and body, so it makes it hard for me to believe that as my body is destroyed, my mind has the ability to float around for a while and then go on its merry way. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to die and would love to have the option of life after death, but I have found out that there’s no free lunch and that if an offer is too good to be true, it probably isn’t. 

What’s amazing to me though, is that so-called religious people are as spooked by death as we all are. They should instead be delighted to go on an all-expense paid vacation forever without having to worry about taxes, inflation or a second death! There’s there a huge contradiction between what they feel and what they say the believe; no one is a natural candidate for dying. 

As for me, I’m in no rush to die either, and when that moment comes, my chances for after-life are in every way as good as the most religious person on this planet. Isn’t that a healthy sign of healthy and positive self-image?

In the 80s, Big Oil knew all about global warming

If we had paid more attention to the news, back in 2018, Benjamin Fanta, from the Guardian newspaper had a story telling us how, in the 1980s, Big Oil companies like Exxon and Shell studied how carbon dioxide released by fossil fuels might impact the planet in the future. 

For instance, Exxon predicted in 1982 that by about 2060, CO2 levels would reach around 560 parts per million, doubling the preindustrial level, and that it would push the planet’s average temperatures up by about 2°C over then-current levels (and even more so, compared to pre-industrial levels). 

Exxon also noted that doubling carbon dioxide levels would cause a global warming of 3°C. A few years later, in 1988, Shell projected similar effects, yet claimed that CO2 levels could double earlier, by 2030 and that sea-level might rise by one meter. 

Its report added that if global warming caused a total melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, sea level could rise by five to six meters and flood low-lying parts of the world. 

Both companies also predicted that entire ecosystems and habitat might disappear, desertification intensify and other potentially catastrophic events might be considered. The report from Shell was disclosed by a Dutch news organization earlier in 2018. Exxon’s study was not supposed to be made public either, but was leaked in 2015. 

At that time, these companies never took responsibility for the danger of their enterprises (even though they’d later deny it), but that it was the responsibility of governments and consumers; yet, Big Oil was able to successfully control governments with its money. 

Now you know which entities control Earth’s destruction and even though I dislike Musk a lot, go and buy yourself a Tesla...

Does an early winter signals a great ski season?

Winter has now been with us since October 23, with snow on the ground, wintry windy weather and a rough transition after a colorful, beautiful and warm Fall season. 

Hard to get used to that brutal downshifting, even the aspen leaves still try to hang on desperately! The local ski area has begun making snow and more of the white-fluffy stuff in the upcoming forecast. 

So the logical questions now are “Will it last?” and “Will it be a great, snowy winter?” Of course no one knows for sure, we can only hope and like the saying goes “One bird in the hand is better than two in the bush”. 

I am cautiously optimistic thinking we deserve it when in fact we never deserve anything. 

For the moment, my dearest hope is for the Democrats to win the upcoming mid-term elections, thanks to the retrograde Supreme Court decision to roll-back the right to abortion. 

If one can sink the ultra-conservative, this one will!

Never too careful…

Dangers of all kinds are lurking from everywhere… 

On Tuesday afternoon as it was snowing hard, I went out to get the mail, so on my way to the mailbox, I took my snow shovel and moved the snow in front of my path.

At some point, there was so much snow in the shovel that it literally stopped me in my tracks and since I had put on sneakers with a dangerously smooth sole, I slid back and fell head first on the handle of my snow removing tool.

My forehead clearly showed the mark. I could have died, but as they say “It wasn’t my time yet…”

Current events’ anxieties and then, hindsight...

These times are generating plenty of anxieties, everywhere and for everyone. From Covid, to Trump (here in America) or other fascist head of states, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there’s been, and still is, plenty to worry about. In spite of the fact that some of us seem less concerned about these events that we don’t control, we’re all affected by them at all kinds of levels, even if we don’t want to show our concern for them. 

The problem is indeed that we generally have absolutely no control, no solution and no strategy to change the course of these events and that’s what is killing us. The feeling it’s just like being a passenger on a bus, plane or train wreck and seeing no tangible way to save ourselves. 

Yet, for those of us who are old enough to look at former catastrophic events, like 9/11, school shootings, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can see what strategies or best practices could have quelled these developments and stopped them at their inception, but when the event is on-going, panic sorts of sets in and we are feeling totally helpless.

We say hindsight is always 20/20, and that is so true. We need to navigate into chaos and feel every bit of pain possible after going through it, in order to be able to reflect and see what solutions might have worked or could have alleviated the whole situation, but these always appear clearly only after the fact, after the train has left the station, which tells a lot about our problem-solving capabilities when faced with the unforeseen or the unknown. 

The answer to all of that would be to keep these facts in mind, stay super-cool, do whatever we are capable of to help, even a tiny bit, but never lose our minds, lose sleep or go insane over whatever we cannot control.

Dealing with disruptors, bullies and iconoclasts...

As I was watching a documentary about Yves Mourousi, a former famous French TV anchorman, I realized that he wasn’t much different from his countryman Tapie, the Italian Berlusconi, Trump obviously, or other folks who are gutsy enough to break all rules in order to force themselves into and dominate an exchange with others. 

For them, the name of the game is inserting themselves into a strata of society, in the hope that others will be out of resources to call their action and will acquiesce to the most outrageous breach of etiquette. 

In that particular situation, Mourousi who tasked himself into interviewing former French President Mitterand, sat square on his guest’s desk to begin their conversation, while the head of state couldn’t think of what to say. 

That’s right, actions from these daring individuals are often so unexpected, weird and shocking that no one is ready for them and has trained themselves to counter them, which explains why they work in 99% of the situations. 

It would take someone who’s been caught many times by such manipulators to have developed and also recall a lightning-quick response to put such bullies back in their rightful place. 

Over the years, I’ve dealt with my share of obnoxious characters playing that game and must admit that while I’m not bad at it, I still need to think on my feet and not get intimidated in order to fire the proper response at the right time!

Are conservatives backward-thinking?

It’s pretty obvious that “conservative” sounds like the opposite of “progressive” and to me, conservative conjures backward ideas and ideology. 

Literally, conservative means “averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values”, which is not quite my cup of tea. I think that humanity is destined to progressing, moving forward and improving whatever can be ameliorated. 

I’m not saying that progress is always perfect, but it has largely contributed to the betterment of the human condition and this is why I can’t espouse conservative values, and especially political ones. 

In fact in order to hide the essential dysfunction of their philosophy, modern conservatives – at least in America, where I live – have to resort to “crutches” like lies and hypocrisy to make them palatable to their followers. 

Their views are old, stinky and go counter-current to modernity and this is why I both despise them and avoid them.

Ski World Cup schedule reality check

The scheduling problems encountered with late Fall Alpine ski world cup events that have be canceled because of bad weather, lack of snow or excessive temperatures on race day, show that the International Ski Federation (FIS) keeps on losing touch with reality.

If there were more common sens within the FIS decision makers, they’d realize that global warming is not a figment of some dreamers’ imagination but is a terrible and unfortunate reality that’s likely to worsen as time goes on. 

The recent plans unveiled about Trojena in Saudi Arabia are another example of the prevailing thinking. What is a sensible person aware of it does when tasked with scheduling races? Make sure they happen during the core winter season, that is December, January and February. Never play with shoulder season. Perhaps schedule the World Cup Finals in March while winter still lasts that long. 

Then make sure to plan events so they follow logical and cost-effective itineraries so Federations don’t spend all their monies with athletes, coaches and official zig-zagging back and forth throughout the entire planet. 

To me, sensible thinking and smart management should be no more complicated than that.

Some very expensive wheels

As snow was in the weekend forecast, this past Friday I went to buy a set of tires to properly handle winter conditions. 

Unlike in several European countries, snow tires aren’t mandatory in the US, but after driving for 45 winters in America with “All Seasons”, I have finally decided that it was time for me to get more serious about my winter traction and purchase the real things. 

When I went to the store and asked for a set of Michelin CrossClimate2, I learned that it was back-ordered all the way to next spring, so I had to get myself a real set of Michelin X-Ice Snow, plus the wheels to go. When all was said and done, and after adding the required valve sensors, the total I owed was simply astounding! 

I paid for tires that I won’t have for another two weeks, because the ones I needed are being shipped from North Carolina, where they’re made, while I might get the rims and sensors before that. It seems to me that just five years ago, with my previous car, the same transaction might have cost me less than half that amount, so I’m asking myself the question, why does it now costs twice as much? 

Supply-chain factor is the most obvious and cited reason, just like for certain home appliances or building materials. Then there are new technologies, like electric cars that are heavier and require much special tires and stronger wheels. 

Then manufacturers will mention that their new tires are more durable, hold the road better and adapt to more weather conditions, which frankly is harder to believe. 

Try to get a set of cheap wheels? You won’t find them as they might void the car manufacturer’s warranty, so you’ll need the fancy ones. In the end, my sense tells me that we are all taken for a good ride by Michelin, Continental and the rest of the wheel manufacturers and I think I’m right. 

Where I’m dead wrong though is that I shouldn’t wait the end of October for shopping for winter tires. While this wouldn’t change much in what I have to pay, it would make a world of difference as far as availability is concerned!

On the foothills of Nirvana?

Many of us, in different ways and for a variety of reasons seem attracted by Nirvana and proceed along its path, not quite knowing where they’re going to or what they’re going to get once there.

I suspect there’s a search for Nirvana in each one of us. But first, what is Nirvana, Moksha or whatever you want to call that state? Its definition seems to still be the extinction of desire, hatred, and ignorance and, ultimately, of suffering and rebirth. 

Literally, it means “blowing out” or “becoming extinguished,” as when a flame is blown out or a fire burns out. Sounds good to me. I’d like to think I’m embarked on that quest. 

Where am I now on its path? Somewhere on the foothills where I can see but still feel far from the top, I think, but the good news is that I’ve got good traction and I may not have to be reincarnated into a monkey or a rattlesnake...

Park City’s horrendous ranking

Since I began writing this blog, I’ve been a constant critic of Ski Magazine’s annual North American ski resorts ranking. Well, there a lot to be criticized about standings that are reflecting its dwindling readership. 

For one thing, our Ski Magazine, now owned by Outside magazine, is on the verge of disappearing and the way the weight various components that make their rankings is highly objectionable. Well to make a long story short, our namesake ski resort, Park City Mountain, came in 30th, thus dead last, on that 2022 ranking (it still ranked 13th last year). 

Why was this? Because it’s been mismanaged ever since Vail Resorts took it over in 2015, and that state of affairs culminated last winter under the horrible management of Mike Goar, who like a misbehaving priest has been transferred by Vail Resorts to run (should I write ruin?) Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland, and give the locals there a sampling of his "talents". 

This said, Park City Mountain remains the largest resort in the US, has great skiing, mediocre lifts yet a slim chance from raisin from its ashes, assuming that Vail Resorts has learned anything from last season’s debacle.

Annual ski redemption

In less than a month, Park City Mountain is scheduled to open for skiing. It is therefore time to get our equipment back in shape and ready for another ski season. 

I’m in charge of the family skis and their conditions vary vastly by user. My wife’s boards are gently utilized and a pleasure to work on, while mine are absolutely the worst and reflect my general carelessness and quantitative excess when I’m out skiing. 

My daughter and grandson’s skis could be as bad, because they follow me wherever I go, but they’re on the hill only a fraction of the time I spend there. 

So my work begins with plugging the gauges, holes and scratches on the bases, file the edges back to an acceptable level of sharpness and when all that work will be accomplished, wax every pair. 

A lot of work for sure, but always a labor of love that rings another fun ski season. Now, let’s pray, dance or call for now!

How patriotic am I?

During my life, travel has played an important in opening my eyes on the fact that we, humans, are all sharing a wonderful blue planet. I’ve never had the privilege to got to space, but from an airplane window, I’ve never seen any border, and except for the obvious division between land and sea, everything else was beautifully seamless. 

As I moved to other places, I discovered the universality of problems, struggles and beauty in all of them, and in spite of differences in culture, languages and races, we were all sharing the same planet and issues dividing us were small, and often totally unjustified, compared to the universality of points that we had in common and that were uniting us. 

We just needed to solve an ocean of problems mostly created by us, humans. Gradually, I felt less French, I blended more with my culture of proximity, and discovered that just like many animals, we were egoistically territorial and blindsided by the few elements that divide us so well. All of that is why I do not particularly feel patriotic.

The planet is my nation, and we better share it fairly with all people and other species while we try to heal it and restore it to its original conditions (good luck with that!). Patriotism, just like sectarianism, is passé, borders are arbitrary and artificial, and it’s time to accept a flow of populations as a way to equalize living conditions between brothers and sisters of the human race. 

In my view, and more than ever, globalization is here to stay as it constitutes the glue that will eventually diminish and extinguish terrible conflicts like wars, and if humanity can survive the damage it has inflicted on Mother Earth, a global governance is what we should all be aiming for...

Surprising self-envy…

My nights are no longer the uninterrupted river of sleep they used to be. More often than not, my dreams, regardless of their quality or fear-inducing intensity, wake me up and getting back to sleep can be a long process. 

 Thankfully, when this happens, the following night is a far better one, so I’m not complaining about chronic sleeplessness yet. 

This said, as I couldn’t sleep the other night, I decided to go into an exploration of my past by laying out the most intense moments of my life one after the other, and after a while, and before I was providentially about to go back to sleep, I got thinking: “This is a surprisingly good life. I envy that guy!” 

That startling revelation coming from my own thinking gave me a strong reason to stay awake for another little while!

 

Drinking from one hell of a long ski!

This past Saturday, I convinced to my wife that we go downtown Park City to watch the local Rotary’s 6th annual Shot Ski after two years of Covid related hiatus. The weather was fabulous and the crowd roaring in what should be a dead time in our shoulder season. 

On our historic Main Street, Parkites and visitors came together to set a new record in the town's back-and-forth shot-taking rivalry with Breckenridge in Colorado. This year, 1,340 people tipped back High West Whiskey shots using 515 skis linked together. 

The group effort surpassed the previous “unofficial” record of 1,333 shot-takers in Breckenridge in 2021, and we defeated the Coloradans as it should, in a sweet revenge victory. 

Everyone including both of us were delighted by the show. We showed up too late to enter the event but heard that the Rotary might have raised well over $35,000! 

Now, it will be Breckenridge’s turn to try to reclaim the top spot this December at their own Ullr Fest...

Remembering to feel alive

There's nothing we take more than granted than living. Why, because as long as that state of living isn’t threatened, we totally forget about it. Obviously we’re dead wrong in thinking this way, because we miss the main point why we’re there toiling, struggling, searching and using up time in a wasteful manner. 

It’s about time we realize that we’re living, that we breathe and that every single second is privilege bestowed up us, for no special reason other than the fact that we were so lucky to be chosen to participate in that game of life. 

A few days ago, I was reading that a way to appreciate any moment of your life is to pretend that this simple act of living is already over. One could pretend that we were born and lived a long time ago, had died and suddenly, were returning making the morning coffee or taking the garbage bin out.

The reasons for that unexpected return to the land of the living wouldn’t be clearly explained to us, but we would be back – the only thing that would count - and ready to rediscover life and finally appreciate it’s most mundane moments and capable to see the beauty in the most insignificant gestures, images or feelings. 

I like this idea and plan to practice it a bit. If it works and I can stay with it, I'll report to you!

Waiting to watch Trump's last act

Like a large number of Americans, I wish to see Trump incarcerated. Maybe I’m kidding myself, but if I had done half of what he’s done, I certainly would be jail and most of my countrymen would too.

So what’s the hold up? Decorum, mostly and secondarily, fear from the beast. Can you imagine, jailing an ex-president. It’s never been done before! Americans are slaves from their own concocted etiquette, they also respect authority figures unlike anyone on the planet, except for the British and their monarchy perhaps.

They're also a bit too credulous as too much religiosity will do that to most people. Americans should remember that before become a politician, Trump already was a criminal, so he know one things or two about breaking the law, to the point that it’s become second nature to him. 

As for the decision by the House Jan. 6 committee to subpoena Donald Trump, this could if be a trap set for him to force the hands of Merrick Garland and speed up and indictment, should the disgraced president decide not to accept Congress’ invitation. 

I can’t wait to watch the beginning of Trump’s soap opera last installment where he’ll star this time… behind bars!

Operation Boomerang…

The other day I was thinking, why don’t we hack the Russian military and more specifically its guided missile, nuclear warhead, get them under our control and send them back to the folks who launched them or to a strategic city in Russia? 

This would of course be a seriously bad surprise for the perpetrator and would bring a stop to any attempt to use its nuclear arsenal to one unfortunate and self-flagellating try. Obviously the question that we should ask ourselves is whether a guided missile be hacked? It would seem possible in theory depending how the weapon is guided. 

If it’s “wire guided”, and the communication link between the firer and the missile is a long, thin wire that unspools behind the missile. That makes the launch hard to take over. Many missiles are designed to lock on their target and once they’re fired, there is no communication going on between the missile and its source and it would have to be destroyed externally. 

To make things more difficult, most missile flight duration is very short, and would make it that much harder to “hack” between the moment it’s fired and the time it reaches its target. If there is more time available or its a cruise missile and if there’s a way to electronically hijack the missile this might work. Instead, what’s more frequent is to try to decoy the target with an alternate heat signature or jam it with radio frequency interference. 

As far as nuclear missiles are concerned, defense systems that have nukes try to reduce the risk of hacking by relying on manual inputs since any computer connection could be vulnerable to a compromised network. This is why Russia and the US make sure that targeting data is manually uploaded via a floppy disk or thumb drive and avoid using any kind network or at the very least work with closed network. 

This said, I’m certain that some good thinking from smart and astute people could potentially create a “boomerang effect” and send the nuke back to its sender or to prioritized target in its neighborhood. The Ukrainians would love it!

Images seared in the brain…

Often, my sharpest memories are a succession of special or vivid images and moments that I can see as if they just had happened today. Many of these them are tied to a certain music or to some powerful feelings that have contributed to my remembering them so realistically. 

One of these images goes back to 1972 or 73, when I was driving between my home village of Montriond to visit my friend Michel Duret who was living in the village of Habère-Lullin, about 45 minutes away, just over a bunch of passes and through winding roads in the Haute-Savoie mountains. 

It was before I would be smart enough to call in advance and make sure the person I was visiting was indeed at home. Sure enough, as I cleared the “Col de Terramont” a small pass leading to the “Green Valley” where Michel’s ski factory was located, his brand new blue Porsche 914 came into view and here we both stopped.

My brother Gaston was accompanying me, Michel was with his young wife, Nadine, and both were on their way to Châtel, another ski resort, home to Nadine’s. 

I recall the fancy license plate he got for that convertible that said “914 NM 74”, In which 914 was his model car, NM stood for Nadine and Michel, and 74 the Haute-Savoie department number. France never had and still has no vanity license plate available, so my friend or his family might have had some pretty strong connections at the Annecy Prefecture!

Feeling life’s vibrations…

As I have continued to meditate daily without missing one day for nearly 3 years now, I have experienced some pleasurable sensations that strongly validate my practice. 

These sensations are somewhat hard to put into words, so please try to feel and imagine what I’ll be attempting to explain. It is in fact a most pleasurable sensation that run through my whole body, quite similar to sexual climax but that can last as long as manage to keep it going, as it is quite fleeting a sensation. 

It’s quite tricky to get into that kind of groove and requires some breathing and other bodily adaptations, it’s also pretty hard to keep going, but much pleasurable. Is it Chi or Prana, the energy of life itself, that flows through everything in creation? I’m not sure, but I would be tempted to say yes. 

I have discovered it randomly as I began to meditate and what I can say is that if feel like a subtle, special electrical current that invade the entire body from what I would think is the wide, huge universe or cosmic space. I brings body and mind together and both become one. 

When I decide to let it seep into my whole body, I feel that it mental as well as physical strength flows into me to fully replenish my energy, and is just out of this world enough to keep me hooked on it for good!

The gift of human communication

I see communication as the greatest gift that was given to us, humans, and this is the reason I value it so much and try to use it positively and constructively as much as I can. 

Some go as far as preaching that communication was an invention from God. Since I’m not into religion, I think that like the rest of what makes us human today, communication has over the millennia developed into us and luckily evolved to our benefit giving us that “glue” that brings us together and often time make us really “tight” with one another.

Sure, there’s good and bad or positive and negative communication. I’m interested in the communication that’s helpful to one another, not the one of the “fake news” type or that is calumnious or is meant to manipulate people and drive wedges between them. 

Just like breathing or muscle power, communication is a live matter that needs to be sought for, nurtured and used as frequently and as kindly as possible. It’s also the gift that keeps on giving. As we communicate, we learn more, we become more creative and we positively influence the folks we come in contact with. 

Not using communication enough isolates us from our human brethren, bringing and keeping all the focus we’re capable of on ourselves and pushing us into a narcissistic spiral. By using it just like we use our other bodily functions, it can get better, more adapted, stronger and much more effective. 

As long as it remains benevolent and if we let it grow, our ability to communicate, will become more powerful, influence more people, may even change society and move mountains. It’s never to late to embark on the communication spaceship; let’s have a conversation!

Alternative to snow for skiers

It’s amazing what kind of options trees offer to skiers. 

Starting for the wood that was used to make most of the skis and still in many cases, are used to make the core of modern boards, forest bring a natural environment of trees that I love skiing into, but there’s more to it. 

I had heard about Pine needle skiing that was introduced in the 1930s in the US and in France, not far from Bordeaux in the Arcachon region. in an attempt to make skiing a year-round activity. They were annual races including French Ski Team members, like Annie Famose or Isabelle Mir, and it survived through the 60s. 

What I had not seen, nor never heard of, was the possibility to ski on leaves (right, from fallen pine needles to leaves this was just a logical evolution!) I just stumbled on this video posted in November of 2016 that was shot at Le Lioran, a French ski resort located in the French volcanoes region smack in the middle of the country. 

Between pine needles and dead leaves, we seem to have found an alternative to snow if we ever need it in a near future. 

The resort that boast 2,260 ft of vertical has what appears to be some good tree skiing in the lower section of its slopes, and with it, plenty of dead leaves to allow for great autumn skiing as attested by this video, in which edge support seems to be fleeting, but where the name of the game remains tree-avoidance! 

Vail Resorts financial performance in a video

On September 28, Vail Resorts (VR) reported that for its fiscal 2022 year, ended July 31, 2022, overall revenues were up 34 percent and EBITDA rose 54 percent, thanks to fewer Covid restrictions in 2022 than in the prior year. 

The same story held true for individual departments, with major increases in revenue from its ski school (55 percent) food (77 percent), and retail/rental activities (36 percent). Following a major 42 percent increase in Epic Pass unit sales in fiscal 2022, sales for the upcoming 2022-23 season have grown significantly less as they’re up only 6-7 percent compared to the prior year to date. 

This information was cleverly summarized through PeakRankings’ YouTube video that can be found just below. Aside from the impressive numbers and the information contained in that video, it is quite clear that VR’s success is achieved at the expense of customer satisfaction, against the wishes and best interests of the communities it operates in, and is also hugely and precariously exposed to what global warming has up its sleeves. 

Even though this is my own belief, it should always be emphasized that VR doesn't understand skiing and doesn't show any desire to learn more about it. In summary and beyond its glowing financial numbers, VR seems to prefer ignoring all of the crucial elements stated above, a bit as if it knew that the future of skiing is doomed anyway, and what counts is to press the fruit as fast and as completely as possible in order to extract everything it possibly can now. 

The only good news are the image in the video; enjoy them! 

Fall color festival…

Park City and its region definitely lack the majesty or sheer beauty of places like Chamonix, Banff or even Jackson Hole. 

Yet, at times, our outdoors can be stunningly beautiful. Not so much when they’re snow covered; many places and mountain settings look very similar under new snow, but if there is a time of the year when our surroundings become an irresistible attraction for the eyes, it just now when leaves change color. 

Early this week we took a road trip around our mountain passes closer to home and were stunned by the beauty and richness we discovered at each corner of the road. 

It is frequent that we miss this spectacular show because late September or early October is the generally the time when we travel to Europe or at least out of town, and miss these precious and fleeting moments when our mountains let their natural beauty explode to our heart content!

After all, who made me who I am?

Obviously, I should start with, and thank my parents, for doing the hardest work in having me, but then, besides their diligent work, and my feeble, inconsistent and often times lacking efforts in working on myself, I should thank all the people, the environment and the experiences that have made me who am I. 

Just like a stream that over years, cuts, modifies and changes again its path down a mountain valley, my various geographic surroundings have helped shape me the way I’m here today. 

In many way, I feel I’m the sum of all these elements and more personally the result of all the people that I have encountered, observed, admired, have worked with, have loved, have disliked or fought against, and in the end have succeeded at molding me the way I am today. 

Heartfelt thanks to all and everything!

Trojena: Saudi’s dream, mirage or delusion?

It was recently announced that Saudi Arabia will host the Asian Winter Games in 2029 on mountains located in the north part of that country, near the $500 billion futuristic city project called Neom. For some strange reasons, the Olympic Council of Asia (OAC), last week, picked the Saudi candidacy that centers on Trojena, a yet-to-be-built mountain resort that’s planned to become a year-round (?) ski area by 2026. 

“The deserts & mountains of Saudi Arabia will soon be a playground for Winter sports!” the OCA said in a statement announcing its decision. Saudi sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal said the kingdom’s winter sports project “challenges perception” in a presentation of the plan to OCA members. 

He added: “Trojena is the future of mountain living, it’s as an area of about 60 square kilometers, at altitude ranging from 1,500 (4,921 ft) to 2,600 m (8530 feet)”. Immediately, top athletes like Kilian Jordan and French skier Johan Clarey have severely criticized the decision, while FIS official Michel Vion was just “somewhat surprised”. 

This choice is unsettling if not downright crazy, as the altitude seems awfully low for the kind of latitude Trojena is under. That future “ski resort” is at the same 28° latitude and as close to the equator, as exotic Afriski in Lesotho, but the latter boasts a base elevation of 2,917 m (9,570 ft) and a top one of 3,222 m (10,571 ft), and even with that altitude advantage it’s barely able to make snow when natural powder isn’t there. 

Trojena promotional video shows skiers gliding uphill, so who knows  which innovative surpises the Saudis might have up their sleeves? 

Further, since it appears now that it's fully acceptable to steal land from neighbors, like Putin has shown with Ukraine, the big Saudi tribal chief, Mohammed bin Salman a.k.a. MBS, certainly could do the same by pushing north, annexing Lebanon and with it, the mountain resort of the Cedars, better know as “Les Cèdres” ski resort, located between 2 066 and 2 600 m above sea level, and at a safer 34° latitude. 

If BSM wants an even more secure snow cover and can afford it (he probably does), he could even score better by invading the rest of the Middle East, all the way to Iran, and then settle his ski resort in Dizin, just north of Tehran as his ski resort of choice. 

With a latitude of 36°, a base at 2650 m (8694 ft) and a top reaching to 3600 m (11800 ft) he should be in perfect shape, especially when climate warming is no longer hypothetical!

 

My dreams vs. my reality

I'm lucky to have plenty of dreams, and most of the time I remember them or at least they make sure I remember them well. Overall, I can only lament about their quality. In fact most of them are so bad that they keep on waking me up, night after night (the main reason I remember them). 

I would say that considering my lighter sleep, that I assume is attributable to age, my nightmares or just bad dreams keep on rolling it, almost to the point that I have mixed feelings of apprehension when I go to bed. 

Without getting into the minute details of each one of my dreams, they’re all about “old business” and seem to settle scores that could have happened during my active, professional life, even though, too me at least, they’re totally unjustified, unwarranted and undeserved. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that when these mental, nasty intruders kick me out of my sleep, I wake up to my reality and to my relief, it’s good. Always good and in fact my reality has never been so good as it is now. So, here I am, having terrible dreams that inevitably bring me awake to a very good reality. 

How many would envy this situation and would be ready to switch their dreams and reality combo with mine?

Rebuilding after hurricane Ian?

I just heard that it might take $60 billion to rebuild the Florida area just stricken by hurricane Ian and was wondering how the rebuilding will be done and who ultimately will pay for it (I know, all of us taxpayers and insurance policy holders). 

In my view, any plan that addresses reconstruction should be done with having an eye on the future and should at least target year 2100 if not later. This means that in the current, moderate scenario offered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), next century’s seal level might rise by at around 2.5 feet if the current trend continues and by more than 6.5 feet in their highest hypothesis.

This doesn’t factor in water surge during hurricanes that would significantly amplify the catastrophe. 

So, based on only that, shouldn’t public policies be concerned about rebuilding too close to the shore or right on the ocean front, heightening home by means of stilts, replacing asphalt and concrete areas by greenery as well as raising vehicles and other users roadways? 

That wouldn’t be popular, might cost a lot of money upfront, but not in the long run, could save lives and would be a much smarter to manage recurring weather events like hurricanes in a fast changing climate…

Skeleton crew?

As we were walking in our neighborhood last night, my eyes locked on one roof, filled with a colony of skeletons seemingly trying to climb or hang tight on the incline. I wondered what they were doing there.

 

Perhaps had they not got nearly enough to eat or had fallen victim of supply chain problems and had been waiting there since the beginning of Covid-19 for some badly needed roofing materials. 

 

That when my wife reminded me that we were now in October and that Halloween would be sneaking upon us in less than one month. 

 

Thank God my questions were answered, but I still was all shook up!

Very, very last turns at Mt. Buller

This grainy and blurry photograph that I took on the dwindling Australian snow, shows Gérard Bouvier, Roland Raphoz, Nicolas Bauer and Philippe Couttaz basking in the late September sun (was it the 20th?) and not worried about what kind of reality would fall upon our respective heads 50 years later. 

We didn’t know either whether or not we’d ever return to Australia. We had no clue how we’d make a living, where we’d end up living and all the things we’d be learning along the way and the experiences we’d end up having. 

There’s a lot of truth in the fact that ignorance is bliss! I would end up my stay by traveling with Gerard via Hong-Kong to Japan, and then return home via the then Soviet Union… 

I’m sure Roland made the trip between France and Australia many time as he married an Aussie, but for me, I’d have to wait till 1994 to return to Kangaroo land! While I have lost track of Roland after seeing in France around 1977 and talking to him some 10 years ago, I’ve never ever seen Nicolas Bauer again. 

Nicolas, where are you hiding?

Ready to fly electric?

I was pleasantly surprised to hear about “Alice”, the electric plane that took off earlier this week from a small airport in Washington State. 

The 9 passenger aircraft flew at an altitude of 3,500 feet for eight minutes. With batteries similar to those of an electric car and after charging it for thirty minutes, Alice would have been able to fly for about one hour. 

Based on today’s battery technology, the new plane is targeting a range of 250 nautical miles and a top cruising speed of 250 knots, or 287 miles per hour. It would be used for short flights when it enters service by 2027 as its developers are hoping for. 

Alice’s progress between now and this target date will be fun to watch…