Greetings, accounting lovers of all things extreme!

This month’s theme of snow sports has coincided nicely with the recent precipitation of our first white stuff for quite some time, and it got us thinking at Extreme Towers about our winter sporting intentions.

Now is the time to make plans for the pending season, and if in your mind balance is only linked to sheet, 180 is only attributed to your recent financial strategies, and backside is simply what you use to sit on at work, then think again, dear friends. We have lined up some really special extreme winter sports for you to consider, and in many cases they are so niche that you could well be the very first to participate in them whilst wearing pinstripes – but in the interests of avoiding frostbite, you might want to fleece line them first!

Talking about accountants and cold weather, the general public doesn’t often associate accountancy with being cool (apart from in these hallowed chapters of course!), yet how wrong they are, according to an article in Management Today.

www.managementtoday.co.uk/newsalerts/article/857179

It’s only telling us what we already knew, namely that we are a much maligned industry and no-one understands us. You can do your bit to change opinion though by promoting extreme accounting at every given opportunity, and by encouraging your accounting friends to sign up too.

Enjoy the newsletter!

Heliskiing

Heliskiing is off-trail, downhill skiing that is accessed by a helicopter, not a ski lift.

The benefit includes unrivalled access to untouched, pristine powder, the thrill of being the first to ski or board a particular area, along with the splendid isolation that comes from going way, way off-piste. As accountants are no strangers to isolation, spending hours alone at work with no human contact, we think it’s a perfect extreme sport for us number crunchers.

No helicopter? Check this out on Ebay…

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gazelle-Helicopter

 

Snowboard BASE Jumping

It doesn’t get anymore extreme than this.

The basic idea is to snowboard off a suitable cliff edge (in Pinstripes of course, though you might have to swap your bowler for a crash helment), then deploy your parachute to finish the move by floating gently down to earth. In our mind, managing to pull this off whilst wearing a suit and tie would look like something from a James Bond film, and would cement accounting and extreme sports as the most natural of bedfellows.

Looking for inspiration? If this doesn’t fire you up for extreme accounting, then nothing will!!

http://www.skydive.tv/snowboardjump2.mov

 

Luge

Luge is the French word for sled, and historical findings point to the existence of sleds with the Vikings in the Slagen countryside near the Oslo Fjord as early as AD 800.

The first international sled race occurred in 1883 in Davos, Switzerland, and the first World Championships occurred on an artificial track in Oslo in 1955. Two years later, the International Luge Federation (FIL) was founded in Davos and remains the governing body of luge today. Luge made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Games, and now comprises of men and women racing in high-tech streamlined suits at ridiculously high speeds on little more than metal trays. All you need to do now is swap high-tech for pinstripe, put a couple of runners under your desk calculator, and announce extreme accounting Luge to the unsuspecting winter sports community.

Find out more at http://www.gbla.org.uk/

 

Ice Climbing

If you automatically link balance to sheet and risk with assessment, then this might not be for you.

Ice climbing is all about both of these elements, plus the use of strength and guile to help you scale a series of winter climbing routes, varying from snow to overhanging ice. Surprisingly addictive and utterly absorbing (a bit like cashflow analysis) it is a great way to keep fit and experience an adrenalin rush like no other. Don’t just rush out and buy the gear then head off to the mountains though, it is a serious sport that needs some training first. Why not hook up with a winter guide, and find out whether it is for you, then you can really start adding up some serious numbers. Grade IV, 200m ascents, 12 point crampons, the sport is littered with numerical references, perfect for us accounting bods.

Start off by taking a look at http://westcoast-mountainguides.co.uk