diff --git a/examples/cascade_examples/mars.cpp b/examples/cascade_examples/mars.cpp
index d41b6f562301d95dd442796751ba74e5b96ea160..128163bad41f19e1219c7adf136db697df5069b8 100644
--- a/examples/cascade_examples/mars.cpp
+++ b/examples/cascade_examples/mars.cpp
@@ -185,20 +185,22 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
   // parse the command line options into the variables
   CLI11_PARSE(app, argc, argv);
 
-  string const loglevel =
-      (app.count("--verbosity") ? app["verbosity"]->as<string>() : "info");
-  if (loglevel == "warn") {
-    logging::set_level(logging::level::warn);
-  } else if (loglevel == "info") {
-    logging::set_level(logging::level::info);
-  } else if (loglevel == "debug") {
-    logging::set_level(logging::level::debug);
-  } else if (loglevel == "trace") {
-#ifndef _C8_DEBUG_
-    CORSIKA_LOG_ERROR("trace log level requires a Debug build.");
-    return 1;
+  if (app.count("--verbosity")) {
+    auto const loglevel = app["--verbosity"]->as<std::string>();
+    if (loglevel == "warn") {
+      logging::set_level(logging::level::warn);
+    } else if (loglevel == "info") {
+      logging::set_level(logging::level::info);
+    } else if (loglevel == "debug") {
+      logging::set_level(logging::level::debug);
+    } else if (loglevel == "trace") {
+
+#ifndef C8_DEBUG
+      CORSIKA_LOG_ERROR("trace log level requires a Debug build.");
+      return 1;
 #endif
-    logging::set_level(logging::level::trace);
+      logging::set_level(logging::level::trace);
+    }
   }
 
   // check that we got either PDG or A/Z