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…