Year forty-one in Park City

We just quietly celebrated our 41st year living full time in Park City. 

Our experience has been great and continues to be to this day, even if we clearly are not as young anymore, we have witnessed an exponential growth all around us, even the planet population has almost doubled from 4.87 billion in 1985 to about 8.31 billion today!

But our little neighborhood has remained as calm and peaceful as it used to be, the access to town and skiing super easy, the weather continues to be terrific even if it now feels a little bit warmer (we have absolutely no doubt that climate change is real and is here, not just to stay, but will get much worse). 

We used to say: “We don’t need air-conditioning in Park City!” Today, this has become a debatable subject. On the plus side, we now have many more tall trees (our town has turned into an urban forest) with more wildlife keeping us company whether we’re enjoying it or not and, finally, the deepening feeling that we made the absolutely right choice the day we decided to move here.

Leveraging memories for growth (Part Two)

As we look back into our memories, a failed business venture, a badly chosen relationship, an opportunity we missed, a foolish argument, an impulsive decision, a misplaced trust and a career choice we later regretted, are so many “arrows” we can label: “Don't you repeat it again!” 

So, the ideal tool is the one that enables us a way to spot these bad situations earlier next time in order to turn regret into preparedness. Sure, as I mentioned yesterday, that exercise should not get us into a nostalgia trap. Maybe instead of “nostalgia” we should call it “rumination”. Nostalgia says, those were wonderful times. “I wish I could go back...” while rumination suggests “Why in the world did I do that? If only I had…”

Neither of the two necessarily make us learn from past experiences. What I’m proposing instead is a third relationship with the past by revisiting it, extracting the lesson, and leaving it there. In other words, our memory should be treated more as a laboratory than a museum. 

I’ve never thought about it this way, but I like it! I also see an intriguing asymmetry as we usually assume that experience makes us wiser because we lived through things, but perhaps wisdom can also be accumulated through deliberate retrospective learning. 

Imagine someone my age (78) looking back over his life and identifying 30 or 40 consequential mistakes. He might discover that five or six basic tendencies account for a surprisingly large proportion of them. Things like: 

• Acting too quickly 
• Being overly trusting 
• Avoiding difficult conversations 
• Caring too much about what others thought 
• Failing to recognize when circumstances had changed 
• Confusing confidence with competence 

The resulting insight could be far more valuable than remembering 40 individual incidents. At that point the summary shows us something like a personal history of errors and it raises a wonderful question. Could we deliberately become wiser by studying not only what happened to us, but how we repeatedly managed to get things wrong? 

As far as I am concerned, what I found were two recurring patterns. Acting too fast, indicating a need for enhanced patience, and lacking self-confidence or being shy. Call this excessive fear or timidity at times. The other, positive side of the coin is worth remembering too. In my case it was intuition and persistence that were my “best arrows…” 

Now I know and you can too if you go through the exercise!

Leveraging memories for growth (Part One)

Most of us will agree that we learn from our biggest mistakes and part of the wisdom we gain from them is to make sure not to repeat them again. This said, if we take the time and effort to “scan” our memories for all of our misguided moves or other errors we still remember, we should be able to inure the same benefits and add them to our quiver, without being sucked into the nostalgia trap, right?

I happen to believe that this basic proposition is quite sound. If a painful mistake can teach us something, we should be smart enough in learning from it so we won’t ever have to repeat the mistake again. Since we have decades of accumulated experience sitting in our memories, why not deliberately mine it? 

Sure, we need to remember an important caveat in that our memory isn't a video archive and its contents are not always totally objective recordings. They are reconstructions as with time, we tend to soften some things, exaggerate others, forget our own motivations, and sometimes rewrite ourselves as the hero—or the victim—of the story. 

As a result of that consideration, a useful "memory scan" shouldn't ask simply “What did I do wrong?” but should go deeper and more specifically, 

• What decisions did I make that turned out badly? 
• What did I fail to see at the time? 
• What warning signs did I ignore? 
• What assumption proved to be wrong? 
• What did I do repeatedly despite already knowing better? 
• What did I not do that I should have? 
• What did I learn from the experience that I subsequently forgot? 

Plus I leave one last question at the very end, “Are there patterns connecting several apparently unrelated mistakes?” That last question may be the most valuable as it can be the most actionable. One mistake is an anecdote but a recurring pattern of what leads to mistakes constitutes some serious information. 

As I mentioned above, in my "quiver" metaphor, life gives us a quiver of arrows, but we tend to think of the arrows as our successes—skills, accomplishments, good decisions or experiences. Yet, it’s fair to say that our mistakes belong in that same quiver too! 

So in the next blog we’ll take a look at these bad arrows and see how we can turn them into positive experiences that will add to our wisdom…

A slower learning pace

Over two years ago, I decided to learn Spanish from scratch and thanks to new tools tapping into modern technology, including now AI, I thought it would be a cake-walk compared to the horrible methods I used in the past and during all my youth when I set to learn English, German and Italian. 

Since my return to language learning, I found out the hard way that some “kinks” got in the way of my “gift for learning foreign languages”. 

Now, my progress is more slower and no later than yesterday, I stumbled when I was ask by my AI tutor what flowers were in my garden, I could name two or three species like daisies and columbines, but stumbled lamentably when I was looking for the equivalent names in Spanish for lavender and lupine, but couldn’t even remember them in English or French. 

I thought something might be going wrong with my memory. Sure, there’s a difference between forgetting and having trouble retrieving a word. What reassured me, however, was that this was not really a failure of knowledge. I knew perfectly well what lavender and lupine looked like; what failed me was the retrieval of their names. And that distinction may become increasingly important as we grow older. 

Perhaps learning a language later in life is less about how much we can absorb than about how quickly we can retrieve what we have already learned. The vocabulary may still be there, somewhere in the crowded attic of the brain, but finding just the right box can take a little longer. 

So I should stop blaming my “gift for languages” and start making allowances for the rather more crowded filing cabinet in my head. The good news is that curiosity is still working perfectly well—and as long as that’s the case, I intend to keep opening new drawers, even if I sometimes have to wait a little longer to find what I put in them...

Using AI as a purchasing tool (Part Three)

The sketchy details I garnered from the contractors and the guidance received through the AI estimate motivated me to go and visit the fence manufacturer located in Provo, one hour drive from Park City. '

I finally understood what the fence contractors were unable to explain about the product, not because they were ignorant, but because that smartly engineered product was precisely marketed by engineers who had no idea how to tell the full story of their wonderful product in ways that fully explained their product working potential.

Then, I realized what the “Park City curse” is, as seen by people who don’t live in our town, but work there all the time and deal with many affluent folks who don’t seem to care about what they’re asked to pay. 

So these contractors are trained by our environment never to hesitate to charge as much as the market will bear. In the process they’re blindsided by the fact that not all of their potential clients are millionaires. They should instead be sensitive to that reality, namely the potential for “real folks” that live among the überrich, and somehow leave the door ajar to invite a request for a discount. 

Let me be clear, by just asking for instance: “What don’t you like about my quote?” or “Is it a cost problem that prevents you from moving forward with the project I presented to you?” If they can easily take advantage of the super rich, good for them, but they clearly end up losing business by scaring the rest of normal people like me and the rest of us...

Using AI as a purchasing tool (Part Two)

In going on line, I identified three or four contractors that I felt could do the job and had reasonably good ratings. I drafted a Request for Quote (RFQ) and sent it to them. The first company that responded sent me an estimator who quickly and erroneously measured the job, showed me some samples and a couple days later sent me his quote. 

It was as high as I expected, maybe even higher, outrageous as most construction bills are these days. I could have bought the material and built the goddamn fence myself, but I felt that I had passed the age for this kind of punishment. 

So I went to some of my favorite AI sources and asked the robot to take the quote apart by describing it in detail and feeding it the PDF file containing the estimate and the company’s conditions. 

It returned a result that pulled apart the cost of that exact type of fence, shortcomings in the offer and the complete labor cost estimate based on an expensive place like Park City at the current working rates. 

It showed me step by step how to negotiate, including what to say and not say, and suggested I aim for a 25% reduction, noting that I would be quite happy if I only could obtain a lesser, 20% discount. 

That’s what I did with the best bid I had received, and after quite a bit of wrangling got to my ultimate target. Thank you AI! Tomorrow I’ll share with you my take away from that first in-depth experience with AI as a negotiator...

Using AI as a purchasing tool (Part One)

Making a large and complicated purchase that includes a chain of components is never clear-cut and often involves various price structures independent of one another. Home building, projects and renovations are such perfect examples that incorporate a multitude of elements and the variability of each one of them.

If not properly handled, they can end up having a huge impact on the final cost of the project especially considering the job uniqueness and its infrequent occurrence. Early this month, I decided to build a 262’ long fence in my backyard. There was a short 45 year-old 89’ wooden fence in the south end of my garden that was totally rotten and ready to fall that I felt needed to be dealt with. 

I didn’t like it that much but was a convenient 3’ tall fence separating my property to that of the neighbor to the south. As always, one thought led to another and “while I was at it” I decided to look for a more encompassing fence, 6’ tall, that would free me of the deer invasion that we’ve suffered since 2020. This is the thought process that initiated the project. 

Tomorrow we’ll see how I turned to AI for the cost estimate….

My trick for falling asleep (Part Two)

My trick for falling asleep sounds so simple that you might say, “It can’t be true!” I’ve challenged it myself by researching deeper into the subject and found that my description of the “hyperactive brain” was spot‑on. Calling it this way is just what clinicians describe as cognitive arousal — the mind generating thoughts, associations, and narratives that keep the nervous system alert. It doesn’t require insomnia; it’s simply a mind that doesn’t downshift easily. 

The way I describe it — thoughts that grow, get loud, and become hurdles — seems to be a very accurate depiction of how mental activity can block the transition into sleep. In fact my breathing technique is not just intuitive, it’s grounded in solid science. The idea of focusing intensely on one’s breathing is essentially a form of attention anchoring, a core mechanism in meditation and in many clinical sleep interventions. 

In fact by giving my mind a single, simple task, I prevent it from spinning up new thoughts and that’s exactly what mindfulness‑based therapies aim for. By moving to slow, attentive breathing I tell my body to shift into a “rest and digest” mode. It makes my heart rate drop, decreases muscle tension, and transitions my brain toward sleep‑friendly rhythms. It also interrupts rumination loops by becoming my sole and unique focus. 

This is precisely the mechanism that breaks the chain of escalating thoughts. It’s certainly true that your years of meditation help. People who meditate regularly show faster sleep onset, lower nighttime anxiety, better emotional regulation, improved ability to redirect attention. Still that very simple technique is accessible to anyone, even without meditation experience. 

I’m not presenting this approach as a magic cure or a rigid rule. I’m just describing my experience, my struggle, my discovery and my encouragement to others. Finally, I’m not trying to force sleep, I’m just creating the conditions in which sleep can arrive on its own. Of course, much easier said than done!

My trick for falling asleep (Part One)

I’ve always struggled with falling asleep, sometimes in my bed at home, but mostly while flying overnight in planes. It’s not that I suffer from insomnia, but rather a hyperactive brain that doesn’t give me much break except when I meditate, but that’s the result of many years of practice.

No matter what kind of thoughts occupy my little mind, positive, negative, fun, scary or whatever category it falls in, it always grows, gets loud and becomes the big hurdle to my wanting to sleep. 

Still, I believe that I’m finally holding the key to quieting it down and that has to do with intensely observing my breathing to the point that it becomes my sole and unique focus. And it works. I’m sure my meditation practice comes as a great help in making me succeed, but there is no reason for anyone not to try it! 

In the next blog, I will attempt to check if my assumption holds water… or not!

More heat, less Aiguille du Midi...

Mountain erosion is not something new, but it seems to be happening much more frequently as the planet heats up and the permafrost that used to hold together high altitude peaks in the Alps and elsewhere in the world is no longer able to hold massive rock formations together. 

On Wednesday, August 12, 2026, a major rockfall occurred on the north face of the Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif above Chamonix, France. Over 500,000 cubic feet of rock broke away at an altitude above 11,800 feet (3,600 meters) in the Mallory area, sending a massive plume of dust and debris down the mountain. 

This summer’s extreme heat waves destabilized high-altitude permafrost and rock walls, triggered safety checks by the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc and followed the closure of the peak's famous ice tunnel due to melting. Other iconic peaks are failing structurally too. 

On the Matterhorn, intense summer heat waves have triggered frequent, erratic rock falls. Mountain guide associations in Switzerland and Italy have repeatedly been forced to suspend guided tours on major routes (like the Hörnligrat ridge) as the traditional frost holding the pathways together is simply liquefying. 

Also, right now, scientists and residents are anxiously monitoring the Spitze Stei rock formation looming over the village of Kandersteg, Switzerland. Through decaying permafrost, the mountainside has been actively losing height and parts of it have been shifting by up to 70 centimeters (2.3 feet) per day during peak summer melt. Geologists estimate that if the unstable formation collapses all at once, it could unleash 500 to 700 million cubic feet of rock, creating a landslide that could dwarf the Blatten disaster of May 2025. 

I guess that in the end, what goes up must always go down! 

The power of curiosity (Part Three)

Of course developing curiosity is good and well but there’s also such a thing as unhealthy curiosity. Seeking answers is not automatically wisdom and can become: 

• A compulsive consumption of information 
• An intrusion into other people's lives 
• A fascination with sensationalism 
• An endless trip into internet rabbit holes 
• Collecting facts without understanding them 
• Constantly looking for novelty and being unable to concentrate 

There’s therefore novelty-seeking and genuine curiosity. Novelty says: “What's new?” Curiosity says: “What's interesting here that I don't yet understand?” The second is much more profound. Finally here might be the greatest benefit to healthy curiosity, it’s one of the best antidotes to certainty.

When we are certain we already know, the investigation stops, but when we say “I wonder…”, the door opens again. That is why I think curiosity and humility are closely related. The curious person implicitly acknowledges: “My picture of reality is incomplete,” and that realization can become increasingly valuable with age. 

If I could reduce the whole idea to one sentence, I might put it this way: Knowledge tells us what we know; curiosity keeps us aware of how much remains to be discovered. This might be one of the reasons why a genuinely curious person can remain young in mind long after seemingly becoming old.

The power of curiosity (Part Two)

For those of us who don’t leverage curiosity as we should or don’t use much of it at all, the question becomes whether curiosity can be developed throughout life? 

I personally don't think curiosity is a fixed personality trait. Sure, some of us start life naturally inquisitive. Others become curious because something awakens their interest. And curiosity can also be deliberately cultivated. In fact, there is a wonderful paradox. We don't necessarily become curious by finding interesting things, but just like the professional interviewer, we become curious by learning to look for interesting questions.

I find a useful way to cultivate it by developing a habit of asking one more question. It works like this, when we run into something interesting, don't immediately move on, instead, ask one additional question. For example: We read that unusually hot summers can influence elections, we ask ourselves how come? We discover that one political party responds differently, we ask ourselves why? 

We discover that voters don't necessarily respond to temperature rationally, we wonder what psychological mechanism is involved? Suddenly, a casual observation has become a highly informative journey. From a practical standpoint, I like nurturing and using a small habit that begins with “ I wonder…” Then, whenever something catches your attention, I formulate it as: 

• I wonder why… 
• I wonder how… 
• I wonder whether… 
• I wonder what would happen if… 

We don't have to investigate every question. That's important. Curiosity should be playful, not another stiff and stilted obligation! Let’s start developing this habit by choosing, once a day, one question and spend 10–20 minutes following it. Over several months, this can have a remarkable result. We begin to notice questions everywhere. 

Next time we’ll see that there could be some slippery slope involved with curiosity and how to stay away from it...

The power of curiosity (Part One)

Can we learn well without curiosity and what is a life without this important trait? Also can curiosity be developed along a lifetime and how can we learn how to develop a healthy dose of that trait? 

All these questions have always been part of my quest for improving my way of life and I would go even further: curiosity is not just an aid to learning; it might be the most potent of all engines of learning. A person can certainly acquire knowledge without much curiosity—through discipline, schooling, obligation, repetition, or necessity—but the quality and depth of that learning are usually different. 

Curiosity changes the way we learn. There is an important difference between: “I have to learn this.” and “I wonder why this is so?” We can say that if the first produces competence, the second can bring understanding. It’s a fact that curiosity makes us ask the questions that take us beyond the obvious: 

• Why does this happen? 
• Is that really true? 
• What would happen if…? 
• How did we come to believe this? 
• What am I missing? 
• Could there be another explanation? 
• What would convince me that I am wrong? 

That last question is particularly valuable. Healthy curiosity includes wondering about our own assumptions. Without it, learning can become largely a process in which we collect facts, opinions and experiences without continually reorganizing them into a deeper understanding. This leaves us with a pretty logical question as to what life can be without curiosity? It certainly doesn’t need to be an unhappy life. 

Some people can live a perfectly comfortable, loving and meaningful life while being relatively uncurious, but in that case something big is lost. Curiosity gives life a kind of mental freshness. It allows familiar things to become interesting again. A tree isn't simply "a tree"; it becomes a question: Why does it grow this way? Why are its leaves shaped like that? How old might it be? What is happening underground? 

Same thing with people. Instead of thinking “I know what he is like,” curiosity says: “I wonder what I don't know about him.” Even most importantly, curiosity keeps the future open. It says: “There might still be something wonderful that I haven't discovered.” That’s a particularly powerful attitude as we grow older. Aging inevitably reduces some possibilities, but curiosity continually creates new ones. 

In the next blog we’ll see how we can cultivate or re-awaken our own curiosity, so please, stay with me...

Is Alterra feeling the heat yet?

After years of unbridled growth and blind optimism in spite of a warming planet, Alterra Mountain Company is now facing mounting corporate, legal, and operational headwinds that reflect longer-running structural challenges in the ski industry, culminating in recent executive departures and workforce layoffs. Denver based Alterra is another ski resort conglomerate that followed the model of Vail Resorts and that now owns and operates nearly 20 mountain destinations (such as Steamboat, Deer Valley, and Mammoth Mountain) and manages the multi-destination Ikon Pass.

It’s notable to mention that Park City is the only ski town where both companies operate. In contrast, Vail owns and operates roughly 42 mountains globally, leaning into a massive, highly standardized network. Alterra’s collection about half the size of Vail Resorts is supplemented heavily by Ikon Pass external partners.

Likewise, Vail optimizes a broad network access and regional feeder loops via its Epic Pass while applying a centralized, corporate-standardized guest and digital model across its network, while Alterra tends to preserve more independent, place-specific character and autonomy at its individual flagship resorts, but less efficiently. Jared Smith stepped down as CEO after a three-and-a-half-year run, leaving the executive committee—including former CEO Rusty Gregory and major stakeholders like KSL Capital Partners—to steer the company. 

Alterra just implemented corporate layoffs affecting year-round, full-time staff across Denver headquarters, remote roles, and various destinations, driven by an unaligned cost structure and slowed post-pandemic growth. In addition, the company alongside competitor Vail Resorts, Boyne, Powdr, and industry research firm RRC Associates, was hit with a federal class-action antitrust lawsuit in August 2026 alleging an overarching conspiracy to inflate season pass and lift ticket prices by coordinating and sharing confidential pricing metrics via dynamic-pricing platforms. 

This follows another federal antitrust complaint filed earlier in 2026 targeting anticompetitive bundling practices that forced skiers into high-cost multi-mountain bundles like the Ikon Pass by artificially hiking single-day window rates. Heavy reliance on mega-passes has frequently outstripped the physical carrying capacity of popular resort regions. These strains were worsened by historically poor western snowfall cycles during recent winter seasons, raising questions over the return on massive terrain expansions at flagship locations like Deer Valley, here in Park City. 

I’m not even mentioning the Elephant in the Room. It's simply global warming, a looming threat to Alterra and Vail Resorts business model. I suspect their management and shareholders are fast becoming spooked by this impending developing problem...

Warmer climate and American politics

Will this record-breaking warm summer influence politics in the USA? The unusually hot summer of 2026 could have a political effect in the US, although probably not in the simple sense of “hot weather will get more Democratic votes.” The interesting part is that the political consequences may come through people's electricity bills, health, insurance, water, agriculture, wildfires and everyday inconvenience, rather than through climate ideology. 

July 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded for the contiguous United States, with every one of the lower 48 states at least 1°F above its 20th-century average. And the current August heat wave is affecting roughly 97 million Americans. The biggest effect may be psychological as there’s an important difference between “Scientists say the climate is getting warmer.” and “I can't sleep because my bedroom is 85°F, my electricity bill is $300, and my children can't play outside.” The second experience is politically much more powerful.

An AP-NORC survey conducted in late July found that 90% of Americans said extreme heat had affected their lives at least somewhat. About 80% said it affected their electricity bills, while roughly 70% said it disrupted outdoor family activities. That turns climate change from an abstract environmental question into a cost-of-living question. Let's make America more resilient.” 

Republicans face a particularly interesting political problem, as Trump has moved aggressively to roll back federal climate policies. Pew's March survey found that 87% of Democrats thought the federal government was doing too little on climate change, compared with only 31% of Republicans, but extreme heat creates a problem for Republicans if their voters are personally experiencing its consequences. Imagine a Republican voter in Arizona, Texas, Utah or Florida who says: “I don't want Washington telling me how to live. But I do want affordable electricity, reliable water, protection from wildfires and somebody to do something about these 110-degree days.” 

That voter doesn't necessarily need to become a climate-change voter, but could become an adaptation-and-cost voter. If politicians respond to heat primarily with higher energy prices, restrictions on gasoline cars, restrictions on natural gas, expensive regulations, taxes and bans, then voters may react negatively—even if they accept that the climate is warming. This is why I think energy affordability may be the key political variable. The most interesting possibility, in my view, is not a Democratic electoral landslide. It is the emergence of a new bipartisan politics of climate adaptation. 

And that could be more consequential in the long run than simply increasing the number of people who say they are worried about global warming. In other words: 2026 may be the summer when climate change becomes less a question of “Do you believe in it?” and more a question of “What are you going to do about what is happening to us?” That is a much more politically dangerous question for both parties.

How long will my Tesla last? (Part Two)

While as we’ve seen yesterday that the core motor and battery pack hold up well, specific secondary components exhibit recurring wear patterns as Teslas age. Due to the heavy weight of high-voltage battery packs, Tesla suspension bushings, control arms, and ball joints experience accelerated wear compared to lighter gas cars. 

On Model S and X, the upper and lower control arms, as well as front half-shafts tend to develop squeaks or shuddering under hard acceleration and often require replacement every 60,000 to 100,000 miles. On Model 3 and Y: Front upper control arm ball joints (housed in composite/metal arms) are known to dry out and creak over time, often needing replacement or regreasing around 50,000–80,000 miles. 

Legacy Model S, X, 3, and Y models used conventional lead-acid 12V starter batteries to power cabin electronics, door locks, and computers. These lead-acid batteries typically failed quite soon due to constant cycling from the high-voltage pack. In recent production years, Tesla transitioned across all models to a 16V Lithium-ion auxiliary battery, effectively eliminating short-life 12V battery failures.

For air conditioning and heating, modern Model 3 and Model Y vehicles use a complex heat pump and fluid manifold system that manages cabin climate and battery cooling simultaneously. While highly efficient in cold weather, thermal heat pump valves, coolant pumps, and sensors represent a common failure point as vehicles exceed 100,000 miles. 

Because regenerative braking handles up to 90% of daily deceleration, standard brake pads and rotors wear at an exceptionally slow rate (often lasting 100,000+ miles). However, in regions with heavy winter road salt, rust and slide-pin seizure can occur due to lack of use if the brakes are not periodically cleaned and lubricated. As you can see, if battery, motor and transmission work surprisingly well, the rest of the car is merely average—or occasionally worse than average. 

Many uses have found problems involving things such as, body hardware, windows and doors, electronics, suspension and steering, charging systems, trim and problem with fit or finish and noises or leaks. Now you know everything, but we should give it another 10 years to grab the full picture!

How long will my Tesla last? (Part One)

That’s a pretty fair question! With the Tesla model S out since 2012 or so, I sometime wonder what kind of reliable history has been compiled on the millions of Tesla sold in the world. The good news is that over more than a decade of deployment—starting with the Model S in 2012 and followed by the Models 3, X, and Y—much of real-world reliability, component aging, and longevity data has been compiled by automotive research firms, consumer advocacy groups, and fleet telemetry studies. 

I found a comprehensive breakdown of what long-term studies, reliability tracking, and real-world owner data reveal about Tesla's reliability, durability, and primary aging trends. When evaluating Tesla reliability, industry analysts draw a sharp line between build quality/electronics fitment and powertrain durability. In terms of fit and finish, consumer agencies frequently score Tesla lower in initial quality due to non-mechanical issues—such as panel gaps, paint defects, weather stripping leaks, trim rattling, and infotainment glitches. 

However, mechanically, the core EV propulsion system performs far more consistently over high mileage than traditional internal combustion engines (ICE). It’s simply because an EV lacks complex transmissions, spark plugs, timing belts, fuel injectors, exhaust systems, and turbos. This means routine maintenance costs over 100,000+ miles average 40% to 50% lower than comparable luxury ICE vehicles. Battery health is the most closely studied aspect of long-term EV durability. 

Battery capacity loss is non-linear. The average Tesla battery experiences its fastest degradation during the first 20,000 to 30,000 miles (losing roughly 3% to 5% of original capacity). After this initial drop, the degradation curve flattens significantly, settling into a slow loss of about 1% capacity per 15,000–20,000 miles. Tesla’s aggregated fleet data indicates that after 200,000 miles (approx. 320,000 km) of driving, 

Model S and Model X packs retain an average of 88% to 90% of their original capacity. First-generation Model S vehicles suffered higher-than-average failure rates in their drive units, Most were replaced under Tesla's 8-year/unlimited-mile warranty. In Model 3, Y, and modern S/X) with permanent magnet reluctance motors have proven exceptionally durable. Tesla engineers designed these drive units with a target lifespan of 1,000,000 miles, and real-world high-mileage teardowns show minimal gear teeth wear or rotor degradation well past 200,000 miles. 

Tomorrow, we’ll see how the rest of the car survives over the years…

False alert!

Last Sunday, around 4pm a loud buzz from my phone got my full attention. The large message said: “Your residence has been placed in a GO Status. EVACUATE NOW!” As anyone should, we took that very seriously and switched into a panic mode, but there was no fire in view, no sirens and nothing, so we went out of our house, looked around, saw our next door neighbor on his e-bike going around to see where the fire was.

Then we talked to more neighbors and came to the conclusion that no matter how ominous the message was, this was a false alert, an option we unanimously preferred! Plenty of strong emotions to wrap up the weekend. That “Go” evacuation notice sent to cell phones across Park City and the South Summit Fire District was issued in error according to Skyler Talbot with the Summit County Sheriff’s office. 

The alert applies only to residents on West Henefer Road and East Canyon Road, some 28 miles (50 km) distant from Park City, as the crow flies. Obviously no one bother to dismiss it in the same manner. “There are no pre-evacuation or evacuation notices for South Summit Fire District,” the South Summit Fire District said, noting Summit County sent the alert by mistake. Park City residents also received the erroneous notification. 

Now we know how an evacuation notice feels like, but we still have to develop a pragmatic household plan for it!

Are Infantino days at Fifa counted?

I’m not into professional football and as a result don’t know much about that big-money sport. Yet, from the time Gianni Infantino concocted a FIFA Peace Prize for Trump, considered and acted on Trump’s request, during this summer’s World Cup, to utilized Article 27 of its disciplinary code and put the automatic one-match suspension on hold, placing Balogun, that US player that got a red card, on a one-year probation instead and making him immediately eligible to face Belgium. 

Then, there was the controversial, now-shelved proposal to sell a 20% commercial stake in the World Cup to private investors, including Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kuschner. All this series of unprofessional moves make me think that Infantino's days as FIFA president could be considered "numbered" (or counted) due to a severe political and governance crisis triggered by less than transparent moves. 

There’s no question that Infantion job is a cushy one as is total annual compensation package amount to approximately $6 million! 

Infantino’s position is now in jeopardy mostly because of the $20 billion plan called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) that aimed to create a commercial subsidiary backed by private investors (including Joshua Kushner’s fund). 

This audacious move was reinforced by a 53-day ultimatum he had given FIFA’s 211 member associations to sign up for the plan under a financial incentive structure, which critics and confederations labeled as coercive and a "sell-off" of the game. 

Europe's UEFA and its 55 member nations unanimously rejected the plan, threatening a total boycott of all FIFA tournaments—including the World Cups—if he proceeded. CONCACAF and the AFC also formally opposed the scheme. Key allies of Infantino and senior staff have distanced themselves or resigned, and UEFA lawyers have demanded the preservation of documents while weighing legal action and regulatory complaints. 

Additional damaging reports regarding past governance (such as historic departure payments from his time at UEFA) have compounded the pressure, leading prominent figures and confederations to openly call for an independent review and his resignation ahead of the March 2027 presidential election. I guess time will tell...

Innovative phone dial pad

Another recent dream that I wanted to share today was also the most bizarre. Of course, it also woke me up. 

I was attempting to dial up using an old rotary phone. As I dialed one number and the wheel returned to its original position, I couldn’t remember which number was next (again, it was just a dream), so after some frustrating attempts I was presented with another phone, not the touch-tone phone device we all know, but a bizarre contraption that only had three keys.

Perhaps, I just couldn’t remember what a touch-tone dial looked like, which might say a lot about the quality of my old memory… As a result I seemed to have no choice but to create a new one with only three keys to make things simple. 

This said, during my dream I still couldn’t comprehend how it worked, but suffice to say that it looked like the rendition pictured here. Now, go figure (if you can)!

Dreams: Riding bikes in reverse

When it comes to my dreams, my ability to remember them varies a whole lot. The ones that wake me up brutally and for good, I vividly remember them. The others that I kind of recall in a figment of consciousness, if I live them almost consciously when they occur, I can guarantee you that, the next morning, I still remember having had some dreams, but I’m woefully unable to tell what they were about! 

This is pretty much the essence of dream memory, and these are the few conclusions I’ve drawn about them: 

• Abrupt awakenings preserve dreams, 
• Smooth transitions erase them, 
• Awareness doesn’t guarantee recall, 
• REM is vivid but poorly stored. 

So just to illustrate my above stream of consciousness, here is a recent dream of mine. I believe it was inspired by what I see all along the winter season on the slopes with skiers going backwards.

I just saw in my dream three cyclists deciding to ride backwards, against traffic on a steep road, something I would never attempt in my wildest dream (I guess I’m wrong on that account!) I thought to myself “This is crazy, this practice should be forbidden!” I just hope you won’t disagree with me, as it will largely compensate me for waking up…

Update Portillo

 

After being closed for 25 days, as of Sunday, August 9, 2026, the Chilean side of the road to Portillo has been cleared. Authorities have established controlled traffic specifically for people with reservations at the Portillo ski resort for the weekend. 

The Paso Los Libertadores and the international Route 60-CH to Mendoza, Argentina, is still officially closed. While the Chilean side has been cleared, the Argentine side remains the bottleneck, with snow-clearing work still underway. Today’s report says that the international crossing could open during the coming week, but there is still no official reopening date.

The resort hotel had planned its 2026 winter season from June 27 through September 27, but had to delay its partial opening to July 4. If we add to it more than 3 weeks of forced closure, the operators have lost a tremendous portion of its earning potential. This sadly illustrates too well the challenges of the ski business. 

On Saturday, I pieced together the video that’s available below, from Portillo’s outstanding network of webcams, to give a good sense of what’s happening on the slopes. The video is best viewed on a tablet or a computer screen as visible skiers are tiny creatures! 

Preparing for the big 8.0.! (Part Two)

Most 80‑year‑olds I have observed or spoken to describe reaching that milestone as a mixed physical and psychological transition — not a sudden cliff, but a shift in identity, priorities, and bodily realities. And yes, there is solid research on how people typically think and feel at 80. What follows is a clear, structured summary of what I found, grounded in my observations and in studies from gerontology, psychology, and aging research. 

Turning 80 tends to sharpen awareness of physical limits, deepen emotional resilience, and shift priorities toward meaning, relationships, and simplicity. Research consistently shows that many 80‑year‑olds are mentally stronger than stereotypes suggest, even as physical decline becomes more noticeable. 

Typically, what 80‑year‑olds commonly think and feel are thoughts like “My body is changing faster now” and they mention slower mobility, reduced strength, sometimes more fatigue and more time spent on making and keeping medical appointments. There’s also the fear of falls, the subtle awareness of cognitive slowing (but not necessarily dementia) that’s not usually framed as panic, but more as acceptance mixed with frustration. 

Other will say: “I’m still me — just older”, that psychologists call identity continuity. Even with some physical decline, many 80‑year‑olds feel mentally intact, stable, and emotionally mature. When it comes to time, “It feels more precious” as the octogenarians shift their focus toward the present‑moment, appreciating small pleasures with less interest in long-term planning but more focus on legacy, family, and meaning. 

The good news is that older people “Don’t worry about the same things anymore” as there’s less anxiety, less social comparison, more emotional stability, gratitude and far less tolerance for superficial relationships. It’s also true that most 80‑year‑olds think about death more often, but their fear decreases as their acceptance increases and what really counts becomes dignity, autonomy, and relationships. 

In fact, many octogenarians experience a psychological renaissance with less pressure, more authenticity, more emotional stability, and a clearer sense of what matters. This is perhaps one of the most consistent findings in aging research — and it contradicts cultural stereotypes, so please, keep smiling!

Preparing for the big 8.0.! (Part One)

In a little over one year, god willing, I’ll be reaching the ripe old age of 80 and like many people my age, I see this as a significant milestone in my life. 

Finally getting there brings mixed thoughts about our own physical decline, mental reflection, and daily limits. From what I’ve been able to see from folks I know, I am liable to experience accelerated change in my physical body, mental outlook, and social ties. Maybe small things initially when everything else is fine like feeling slower, having less energy, and dealing with joint pain or weak muscles. 

Then there will be all the unavoidable health care developments with simple things like managing more daily medicines and frequent doctor visits to stay reassured, safe and healthy. Mobility issues might also rear their not-so-kind heads, like having to use much more prudence when walking on snow or slippery ground, or down the road resorting to the use of canes or walkers, and worrying about falling down. 

On the mental and emotional side of the valley of being 80 something, there will be plenty of opportunities to review a lifetime of past choices, including career high points and struggles, as well as family milestones with hopefully deep pride and satisfaction. At the same time, acceptance will become a welcome quantity when we’re forced to find peace with aging while facing the loss of close friends or family members. 

The key is to value each present day and moment while focusing more on peaceful views and good news than over future worries. Tomorrow we’ll explore ways to support a soon to be 80-year-old’s mental health with plenty of tips for safe physical activity and keeping an optimistic outlook past that monumental milestone!

A smoother path to eternity…

As the regular readers of this blog know, the Park City cemetery is an important section that we cross everyday during our morning walk. 

For years, the asphalted pathway have been showing its age, being summarily but poorly repaired, and it’s only last week that a new, thick and smooth coat of asphalt was finally laid down to rest, yes, to make our crossing much more enjoyable. 

Not only has the walking sensation greatly enhanced as it’s become like walking on carpet, but it’s also far less noisy for the residents that can now enjoy a hushed silence when someone (human or wildlife) ambles around. 

In many ways it now look like a pathway to eternity and offers a much more encouraging perspective to anyone whether planning a very long stay or just stroll...

A rare full month of vacation!

Fifty years ago, I was still working for Look ski bindings in France and for the second and last time in my working life, I would enjoy my second and last full month of annual vacation I would earn during my professional life. This is a perk French people find quite normal and cherish so much. 

I also remember that time because of that summer’s severe heatwave, particularly in August. I remember working in July at Look, with the our US distributor visiting staff on a technical manual for ski mechanics in a sweltering heat. Just like me, both Peter Juen and Ted Travis were sweating bullets and couldn’t not quite understand why there was no air conditioning in the brand new facility just built by Look’s owners. 

Still the 1976 heat wave couldn’t even come close to this summer’s. Even though it’s not quite over yet, the 2026 heatwave has been significantly more intense, hotter, more widespread, and more exceptional than the 1976 event—even though the latter remains memorable in the public consciousness due to its extreme drought and socioeconomic impact.

In terms of thermal intensity, 2026 holds a massive lead with a national peak intensity of 30°C against 25.5°C in 1976 (24-hour thermal index). In terms of geographic coverage, 1976 intense heat was primarily in the North, West, and Center of France while the South was less affected. In contrast 2026: extreme heat was felt across more than 40% of the country, with all-time records exceeding 40°C in many regions (Strasbourg 40.4°C, Noirmoutier 40.1°C). 

The nights are much hotter than in 1976, while 2026 has commonly seen nights above 20°C across 75% of the territory; up to 10 consecutive warm nights in Paris. These tropical nights significantly exacerbated the health of my countrymen. 

Finally, the 1976 drought was exceptional with dried-up rivers, a rainfall deficit of 50–70% and a major agricultural crisis that amplified tensions between President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and his Prime Minister, Jacques Chirac. The handling of the 1976 crisis exacerbated disagreements over economic policy, on how to manage the agricultural crisis plus growing personal and political rivalry. The heatwave was not the sole cause, but it brought a latent conflict to a head that materialized into Chirac’s resignation. 

We don’t know yet the 2026’s political aftermath, but expect something to hear it in the coming months. There was some drought still present this summer but perhaps less extreme, the dominant factor being heat, not water scarcity even though the Dranse creek in my hometown has been running dry in some sections, something never seen before. 

In conclusion, the 1976 heatwave was a major event, primarily due to its drought conditions and political impact. The good news was that 1976 was generally considered a banner year for French wines, depending on the region—despite (or thanks to) the extreme summer drought. 

However, the 2026 heatwave is clearly more severe in terms of temperature, featuring all-time records, unprecedented tropical nights, and an intensity unmatched by 20th-century episodes, not to mention a record breaking and violent wildfire season.

Fighting climate change (Part Two)

Yesterday, we open our toolbox and looked at the tool we could use to “significantly“ more the needle and see which methods are most effective. Today, we’ll try to rank them by their long-term impact. So let’s get started. 

1. Education and scientific literacy, even though their impact is in the long-term, are a necessary step that must become the backdrop to our effort to rein in climate change. 
2. Economic incentives that reward cleaner choices, like tax credit, rebates for renewable energies or devices using them. Technological innovation that can range from cold fusion, thermal energies all the way to turning dangerous materials into new sources of energy. 
3. Government policies and international cooperation. This is super important as individual countries’ action are meaningless and ineffective when the entire world must play from the same sheet of music. Short of a unanimous movement, nothing will ever work. 
4. Leading by example works very well for families and it should also work at the planetary level. Shaming bad actors should be part of the toolkit too. 
5. Consumer pressure and boycotts can work if they are well explained, fully understood and well followed. Continued peaceful public activism instead of violent revolt, that has little evidence of producing durable environmental progress and often causes additional social harm. 

Climate change presents a classic collective-action problem. Every nation benefits if everyone acts, but each has either a temptation or an incentive to let others bear more of the cost. Overcoming that dilemma requires making climate action not merely a moral obligation but also an economic and political advantage. 

History suggests that societies change most rapidly when environmental responsibility aligns with prosperity, security, and technological progress rather than relying on moral persuasion alone. Ultimately this issue is about human nature as much as climate science: How do we persuade billions of people and hundreds of governments to cooperate for the common good? 

There is no single answer, but the evidence suggests that the greatest progress occurs when education, innovation, sound economic policy, and effective leadership reinforce one another rather than acting in isolation.

Fighting climate change (Part One)

There is only one planet, yet more than 200 nations share responsibility for its future. Although nearly all governments acknowledge the importance of protecting the environment, they differ greatly in their willingness and ability to act. Some place economic growth, national security, or political considerations ahead of climate policies, while others simply lack the financial resources to make the necessary transition. 

The challenge is therefore not only scientific but also political, economic, and moral. So the question is, what actually can move the needle? History tells us that no single approach is sufficient. Progress usually comes from a combination of forces.

On paper, education is probably the most powerful long-term tool. It changes how future generations think, vote, consume, and innovate, unfortunately, it works very slowly. Leading by example can be surprisingly influential. When one country, city, or company demonstrates that reducing emissions can coincide with economic prosperity, others are more likely to follow. 

The dramatic fall in the cost of solar panels and wind power is partly the result of countries investing early and proving these new technologies can surprisingly work well at scale. This said, economic incentives are often more effective than moral appeals. Businesses and consumers respond to prices. Carbon taxes, emissions trading systems, tax credits for clean technologies, and subsidies for renewable energy have generally produced measurable changes because they align environmental goals with financial interests. 

It’s true that consumer pressure and boycotts can influence corporate behavior, especially when large numbers of people participate. Companies often react faster to changing customer preferences than governments do. However, boycotts are usually effective only when they are sustained and widely supported which need to be well explained and perfectly understood. 

In theory, international agreements like the Paris Agreement help establish common goals and encourage transparency, but they rely largely on voluntary commitments and peer pressure rather than enforcement. One big hope, held as a “Hail Mary”, is technological innovation that should ultimately be one of the strongest drivers. New technologies become attractive when they are cleaner and cheaper. 

The rapid adoption of electric vehicles, improved batteries, and renewable energy illustrates how innovation can change markets without requiring everyone to make sacrifices. Finally to end that list of tools, there’s always public protest and civil disobedience have historically drawn attention to important issues and sometimes accelerated policy changes. 

Their effectiveness depends on maintaining public support. Peaceful movements tend to have a stronger long-term record than violent revolts, which often polarize societies and distract from the underlying issue. 

Tomorrow, we’ll try to see, which of tools seem the most potent...

Altitude and temperature

Being both a mountain dweller and a skier, I’ve always thought that the rule for temperature change in relation to altitude was 3° Fahrenheit per 1,000 feet (or 6°C per 1,000 meters), but I wasn’t too sure and decided to dig a little deeper into a subject that’s becoming more important as we get into full global warming. 

Here’s what I’ve found, starting with what causes that change. Temperatures drop as we gain elevation simply simply because atmospheric pressure decreases and the air expands and cools. Now, let’s talk numbers for what’s called the Standard Lapse Rate.

In Fahrenheit, temperature drops approximately 3.5°F per 1,000 feet of elevation gain (or roughly 5°F per 1,000 meters). In Celsius, temperature drops approximately 6.5°C per 1,000 meters of elevation gain (or roughly 2°C per 1,000 feet). For example, if we climb a mountain 2,000 feet higher up, we can generally expect the temperature to be around 7°F cooler at the top than at the base.) Of course, while 3.5°F per 1,000 feet is the standard average, real-world conditions frequently break this rule. 

Let’s start with humidity and moisture. If the air is dry, it cools faster as it rises, at a rate that’s about 5.4°F per 1,000 feet (9.8°C per 1,000 meters). If, on the other hand, the air cools to its dew point and moisture condenses into clouds or fog, latent heat is released into the surrounding air. This slows the cooling rate down to roughly 3.0°F per 1,000 feet (5°C per 1,000 meters). 

Then we’ve got the temperature inversions, in which if temperature always decreases with height, during an inversion, the opposite happens as warmer air sits over a pool of cold air. This is very common in mountain valleys (Salt Lake City) during winter or clear, windless nights, where cold heavy air sinks into the valley floor while Park City’s higher elevation stays significantly warmer. 

Finally the terrain topography and wind also influence the system. Dark rock faces and exposed alpine terrain can heat up significantly under direct sunlight, creating warm microclimates high up that defy the surrounding free-air lapse rate. Conversely, strong alpine winds can pull down cold air masses (these are called katabatic winds) or enhance wind chill, making it feel far colder than the ambient lapse rate suggests. 

Now you know all the details about the whole altitude and temperature relationship!

Mistakes are the bricks that build wisdom

A friend recently reminded me of this when I shared a cartoon about getting older and wiser. He said, “I still make lots of mistakes,” and it struck me that wisdom isn’t what happens after mistakes — it’s what happens through them. 

Without mistakes, wisdom has nothing to grow from. Every misstep gives us another piece of insight, another angle on ourselves, another chance to understand the world a little better. 

Wisdom isn’t a fixed quantity or a final destination; it’s a structure we’re always building, one imperfect brick at a time. So rather than fearing mistakes, we can welcome them as part of the ongoing work of becoming wiser. 

Not because mistakes are fun, but because they’re fertile. They keep us learning, adjusting, and alive to the world. In that sense, wisdom is never finished — and that’s exactly what makes life interesting.

The hardest fear to overcome?

We all fear different things. What frightens one person may hardly concern another because each of us has a different tolerance for uncertainty and risk. Some people—even professional risk-takers—become so accustomed to danger that what once seemed intimidating eventually feels routine. 

As we grow older, experience often teaches us to accept that many events lie beyond our control. Yet logic alone does not erase fear, and many anxieties remain with us throughout life. Among these fears, one stands out as particularly powerful. It’s not the fear of dying, but the fear of being wrong.

Admitting that we have made a mistake, exercised poor judgment, or held a false belief can be extraordinarily difficult because doing so challenges our pride, our self-image, and sometimes even our identity. Perhaps this is one of the greatest psychological hurdles we face. 

While some people learn to acknowledge their mistakes with humility, many spend a lifetime defending opinions they know, deep down, may no longer be true. 

Ironically, the willingness to admit we are wrong is not a sign of weakness but one of the clearest marks of wisdom and personal growth.