Dan Brian and I are talking about organizing a skiing YAPC in January of 2003. Actually, I talked to Dan, and he's going to take a stab at the organizing.
I'm picturing a low-key event. We turn up on Thu night or Friday morning and stay in condos crammed to maximum occupancy to reduce cost. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings we can ski in the mornings (at least, those who want to ski can ski--the rest of us can sleep in).
The conference part starts at 3pm and goes until 10pm, with a meal break. I can get a projector free of cost, I think, so all we need is to find a hotel or condo block with room for 20-50 people. One track only.
We could even have fun with it--have a chili cookoff one night, for example. I really picture it as more like the talk.bizarre gatherings I've been to than a conference. But it'd still have enough technical content that it'd be tax-deductible or you could make a good case for your boss to pay for it.
The big constraint is cost. But because of its small size (I can't imagine more than 30 people really being interested and available) we could do without "real" badges and offer electronic proceedings only. The meals would be simplified: you're on your own for lunch when you're on the ski slopes, and dinners are a cooperative deal like the YAPC pizza lunch was. The main cost will be accomodation.
I have two tentative dates in mind: the weekend of January 18, which will be my 30th birthday; and the weekend of the 25th, which is nothing in particular other than a week before the bioinformatics conference.
Let me know what you think! Good idea or bad? Preferred skiing locations? (I was figuring something like Breckenridge in Colorado, where there are shuttles from the Denver International Airport to the towns) Any advice on penny-pinching?
--Nat
Surely a Skiing YAPC sohuld be in the Alps.
Re:Skiing is dangerous
darobin on 2002-07-02T00:40:28
This isn't really on topic (but then, unless this event takes place in the Alps -- preferably close to my place of birth, Grenoble -- I won't be able to attend anyway) but collarbone is normally typical of mishandling the "sticks" (not sure it's the right word, I only skied in French so to say). So if you ever find yourself skiing again, you might want to hold them farther away from your body and throw them out of the way when you fall.
Re:Skiing is dangerous
autarch on 2002-07-02T01:49:45
Well, in the first case the problem was sheer stupidity (on my part).
I had gone down the same trail several times that day and there was a small mogul I had gotten a little jump out of several times.
But this last time, the mogule had changed shape from so many people go over it so that it's slope had become steeper. I hit it and did a jump followed by a half flip with a quarter twist (;) which ended with me basically landing on my right shoulder.
Ouch!
The second time was not a poles problem either. I simply fell forward and apparently landed in just the right way. I'm a very tall guy (197 cm or so) so I probably generated a good amount of force on the way down, and I was going reasonably fast at the time.
I'll meet you all in the lodge.
Either way, it should be a nice intimate gathering of < 100. Especially when the "meetings" linger on past 10pm.
