[at-l] Fw: Gathering Questions

[hudsom at us.ibm.com (Mark Hudson)]

From: Mark Hudson <mvhudson@gmail.com>
To: at-l < at-l@backcountry.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:06:46 -0400
Subject: Gathering Questions
Well, Jim knows as much about ALDHA as anyone, and he's usually not shy
about sharing his opinion <g>, so if he'd like to put his two pennies in
I'd be interested. What follows is only my own opinions and impressions...

First, there aren't any plans for a move to have all future Gatherings in
Pipestem, barring the situation that we don't lose Dartmouth. And I believe
that would force a search for a new northern site.

1) Does this reflect some difficulty in ALDHA's relationship with Dartmouth
or with the DOC?
     As I heard someone say at the Gathering, ALDHA is a very small fish in
Dartmouth's growing pond. We also pay very little for the services we  get,
so I think that moves us down in the list of priorities. That said I'm not
aware of any difficulties with Dartmouth that would be a show-stopper, but
I'll also need to hear the Gathering Coordinator's report.
2) Is there a problem arranging camping with Storr's Pond?
    This could be the show-stopper. Storr's Pond is no longer run as a
campground, it spends the summer in use as a daycamp. We're very lucky to
have the use of it for the Gathering weekend. If this status changes it
would be very difficult to have the Gathering in Hanover.
3) Is weather a factor?
    Despite a weekend where the discussion of "How big is a cubit?" should
have came up, I don't think it's a factor. The one time we happened to get
snowed on was at Pipestem, so there's no buying the weather.
4) Is there a problem with the town of Hanover?
    The on-going constuction at the college and in town limited parking,
but I don't see that as a big problem.
5) Are there difficulties in terms of arranging facillity access?
    Construction in progress on the campus surely limited what we had
access to. And being low on the priority list puts certain constraints on
us, anything college related will get first dibs. The construction will
eventually be completed. The second would apply to any location that we
would be lucky enough to find at a reasonable price.

So the hook as I see it is Storr's Pond. That doesn't mean that there might
not be other surprises out there.

Why look at other locations? Insurance, insurance, insurance. Right now at
both Concord and Dartmouth we're dealing with people that know who we are,
what we need, and all the planning aspects. Finding a new site north or
south will require a lot of additional planning and legwork, but gives us
insurance options. It would also still be nice to find another mid-Atlantic
location. Carlisle was our biggest Gathering and makes transportation
easier for a lot of people.

skeeter