ACCU 2013 Shirts

Today is the last day to order your ACCU 2013 T-shirt. Only £15 each!!

If you wish to order a limited edition ACCU 2013 T-shirt, then you can do so by logging back into your registration (you’ll need your email address and confirmation number).  Once logged in just click the modify button, and this will take you back into your registration where you can add your T-shirt.

Please note that t-shirts are only available on pre-order and all orders must be placed TODAY.

T-shirts cost £15, and must be paid for on collection, we accept cash or cheque (made payable to ACCU).

T-shirts will be available for collection from the Wednesday afternoon onwards, from the registration desk.

Look forward to seeing you at the Bristol Marriot Hotel City Centre. 

Stop the Presses

Still no project lined up so I have taken the decision to cancel next month's trek and eat the cost. I just can't imagine securing a new client and them then being thrilled that I'm going to go off gallivanting in the Himalaya for three weeks right after my start date. Business just doesn't work that way.

Realistically of course I still have my flights so if I'm NOT working then I can certainly still go ahead and fly to Kathmandu and then I'll have 3 weeks to do any trek I like. I can call Sushila and ask her to find me a porter to do a bit of trekking in the Khumbu or try my hand at Island Peak or do something else like Mustang or a bit of the Annapurna Circuit. Anything really. I'm actually leaning towards going back to the Khumbu but doing it via walking in from Jiri.

If I do find a contract then the cost of cancelling is utterly negated by what I can earn and then I'll have time to establish myself and rearrange things to go back in the latter half of August (as I did in 2011) toward the end of the monsoon to do a "solo".

So to my sponsors  I'm not abandoning things altogether, I just have to ensure that I can do this while keeping the wolf from the door.

In the meantime, I'm off to New Orleans on Monday to speak at the AIIM Conference. I'll be speaking next Friday so I'll have a few days to network and build up an audience for my talk. I'll also, of course, be bringing my business cards and my CV on a memory stick to hopefully drum up some work. And managing the end-game of my project remotely.

In other news, when I get back from the states I'll be dashing off to do a few days in the Isle of Skye for the Easter weekend. It's looking like it might still be crampon weather when I get there! There's still plenty of snow on the mountains...

The bright side of all of this upheaval is that there is now even more time to donate to TNMOC!

New Role New Schedule?

Well, while on the one hand I've been busily buying new supplies and tech for the next trip, I've also been frantically job hunting because my project ends at the end of this month.

New supplies have consisted of more base layers from Icebreaker (damn you Sport Pursuit and your awesome sales!!!) plus a new MIFI (portable 3G-> WIFI converter) as well as a powered 10 port USB hub and the inevitable stacks of wet-wipes.

The problem is finding a new client who is sympathetic to my schedule. It's one thing managing a project from the Himalaya once trust and communication have been established but I just don't see where I will have the opportunity to do that in the 3 weeks between my current project ending and leaving for Nepal.

Honestly, I need to have a word with Really Wild about when my deadline is to reschedule. I may have to go at the end of August again rather than in April.  OTOH, if I haven't found something to start at the beginning of April then I may as well just say "Fuck it" and do the trip and just look for projects to kick off mid-May. ::shrug::