Outing Club
Several members of Outing Club join in stashing a large pile of snow onto the Academy lawn, which they then tramp down with snowshoes. After letting it harden, the students cut the ice with a saw, and block-by-block, spiral them all the way to the top of the igloo. In one climactic moment, the group installs the keystone at the top, completing the winter structure. The final culmination of all these efforts was an igloo on the Academy lawn.
In one of Outing Club’s winter survival projects, the members worked with several faculty members. For example, mathematics instructor Szczesny Kaminski, who was interested in the geometry of the structure, assisted in the building of the igloo. After some Wednesdays and Saturdays in the below freezing Exeter weather, the igloo was, at last, finished. However, this spectacular structure was only one of the many projects Outing Club completed this past year.
Just last term, on Oct. 5, 30 members of Outing Club took a trip to Franconia Ridge in northern New Hampshire. “We hiked Franconia Ridge, which is this beautiful range in northern New Hampshire, where it’s all above the tree line,” co-head and senior Will Steere said. “We climbed up a couple waterfalls and had to brace the strong winds as we were near the clouds. That was a long hike, but it was an awesome reward to get to the top and see the view.”
Coincidentally, the Harvard Outing Club was climbing the same ridge on the same day, and with Exeter’s competitive nature, Big Red’s Outing Club was able to beat them up the mountain.
Although it might seem that Outing Club, due to its strenuous hikes such as the one to Franconia Ridge, requires prior experience, faculty adviser and science instructor Townley Chisholm explained otherwise. “[Past hiking experience is] not at all [needed],” Chisholm said. “[You] just [need] a willingness to pay attention to the gear list and to let us know what you need to borrow in order to hike safely.”
Due to the accessibility of the club, all students and faculty are encouraged to join the members on the club’s projects. Recently, there has been a massive increase in interest for these adventures. “Club involvement has skyrocketed since I first joined. Because of the increased interest, we’ve been able send out two trips a term as opposed to one,” senior and co-head Michael Tuchler said.
Steere echoed Tuchler’s comments, contrasting the club’s passive nature when it first started four years ago to now. “When I joined the Outing Club as a prep, it was a much less active organization; there was only one trip per term, and I don’t think that many students had heard of it.”
For the increasing amount of students who go on these trips, Outing Club not only helps them enjoy their weekends but also helps to serve as an outlet for their interests in environmental issues and connect them with the outdoors. As an environmentally-conscious student, Steere explained that physical interactions with the natural world are often more effective than announcements or posters. “In Outing Club, when we go out on a hike and we’re near a mountain somewhere, Mr. Chisholm is able to stop us and give us a lecture on the fact that forests produce most of our freshwater in the world,” Steere said. “I think that this is very powerful and much more physical than seeing some poster in the dining hall.”
In addition to simply discussing environmental issues, Outing Club is able to go out in nature, whether it is Franconia Ridge or the Exeter woods, to help clean and care for the environment. Recently, in a collaboration with the Exeter Wildlife Conservation Club, a group of Outing Club members headed out to the Exeter forests to help eradicate the Japanese knotweed which was infesting the woods. “We managed to clear a whole area that was infested by the knotweed,” Streere said.
In addition to learning about environmental issues and enjoying a day out in the woods, club members also grow personal relationships with each other, even in just one trip or hike. “The club has this magical quality where any group can go on a trip and, regardless of how well they knew each other beforehand, they will emerge as friends,” Tuchler said. “I’ve learned how easily people come together when presented with a challenging hike.”
Having seen Outing Club’s increase in membership these past couple years, Chisholm hopes that this fast rate will continue. In his point of view, there isn’t anything that should hold students back from joining. “Natural beauty, good exercise and great company,” he explained. “What’s not to love?”