Breaking Into the Outing Club
There's a college professor somewhere or other who advocates a well-dressed, attitude on the fart of college men,if newspaper reports are to be believed, but Hanoverhasn't yet climbed into the "smoothie" (as the boys say)class, despite the protests of some of our graduates thatstudents of this day and age dress too well. Discountingthe havoc which the safely razor has raised in this generation, it is comforting to know that corduroys may be orderedfrom mail order houses and Dartmouth manages to dress as itpleases despite all pressure from the outside. Men'sclothes are due for a grand reform some of these days,women have already read the Declaration, and the OutingClubber who dresses for comfort may be one of the reformers. But comfortable dress isn't the only attraction of theOuting Club as the readers of this article may judge.
MEN come to Dartmouth for many reasons; few come here because of any one characteristic. Dartmouth is more of a panorama, embodying a number of ideals. One of the most prominent of these is certainly that outdoor life which the unusual situation of Hanover makes available. Probably three quarters of the freshman class use this as one of their considerations in making their final choice. The next step is up to the Outing Club, that of providing these men with opportunities of taking advantage of this unusual outdoor terrain.
Although the report of Dean E. Gordon Bill on the '33 statistics stated that few candidates mentioned outdoor life as a prime reason for choosing Dartmouth, still it is hard to connect this with the fact that over 125 freshmen reported as heelers for the Outing Club this fall, which as far as the author knows is the largest turn-out any organization has ever received on this campus. The aim of this article is to outline the general policy of the Outing Club toward its freshmen.
The first step is to acquaint the freshman with D. O. C. activities. During the second week of college, Outing Club Night is held at which the various directors of the Outing Club and a faculty member of the council describe the work and programs. Those who wish to heel actively for the club, that is for Cabin and Trail, are signed up and assigned to whichever department they prefer. These departments consist of cabins and trails, membership and instruction, carnival, trips, winter sports, and the secretariate. The men meet every Tuesday night or oftener to receive instructions for the week from the junior members of Cabin and Trail who have charge of the freshmen work.
To the freshman the most interesting part, of course, is the program of trips. This fall although the D. 0. C. chain of cabins accommodates nearly 100 students they have been more than filled nearly every week-end. The author has seen notices of trips posted for seven or eight men which have been filled and given a waiting list within half an hour. These hikes to the cabins are called work trips, but in reality they are more to get the men out-of doors, to teach them the lore of the woods, and to let them forget the word curriculum for two days. People who decry the over-emphasis of football might notice that every week-end about a hundred young men hike away from Hanover into the mountains, not because they lack college spirit, but because they feel that the trails are theirs for only four years, whereas football games will always come.
Of still greater interest to the first year men are the special trips to noted points of attraction in New Hampshire and Vermont. One trip this fall led up to the Con- necticut Lakes, far up in the northern part of the state and one of the wildest districts in New England. A second group went through the underground passages of Lost River (near Franconia Notch) whose tortuous windings are long remembered by tourists. Another party climbed and descended the Franconia Ridge trail, considered one of the finest hikes in the country.
Four men journeyed to Mount Mansfield and there with the aid of 125 feet of rope and regular winter equipment worked their way down into the Cave of the Winds. This cave which is filled with ice the year around has been explored by only three or four parties in its history. Mt. Chocorua was the scene of another visit. This peak, located in the heart of the lake region, is one of the prettiest for views that can be found anywhere.
Mount Washington is known to all Dartmouth men. The hikers never know just what to expect in weather conditions. A calm, sunshiny day may become a raging, biting blizzard in a short time. The Outing Club realizing these dangers eliminates them by careful planning and leadership and special equipment. The men making the fall Mt. Washington trip, for example, were all given a medical examination and were required to have been on several conditioning trips. Before starting, the two leaders made certain that each man was provided with mittens, headgear, a windproof parka and plenty of extra clothing.
This fall's Mt. Washington trip met with almost perfect weather. The party consisting of nine men (as many as accommodations would permit) climbed the Ammonoosuc Trail by flashlight and made their head quarters at the Lakes of the Clouds shelter. Then for the next two days they hiked around and over New England's highest with just enough snow on the ground to make the distant peaks stand out in their glistening splendor.
To return to the actual heeling work, if work it may be called. The freshmen have their own bulletin board on which they find their assignments posted daily with work such as helping build the new toboggan slide, grading around the new Outing Club House on Occom Pond, selling memberships to the Outing Club and various bits of office work.
A form of trip that is steadily growing more popular is the logging bee. Here the atmosphere of a regular logging camp is produced with the men divided into sawyers, choppers, twitchers, cookees, section bosses, etc. The men are eager for any approximation of rough work such as this and the club has had a surprising amount of its firewood supplied as a result of these bees.
The freshman soon finds that whether or not he is making much headway toward the executive end of the Outing Club, he is gaining a wealth of experiences and memories that will be of the greatest pleasure to him in later years.
LOOKING DOWN 2,000 FEET Outing Club hikers on Lion's Head on Slopes of Mt. Washington, Annual Fall Trip, November, 1929.
ICE FORMATION—MT. MOOSILAUKE Any D. O. C. man can tell you the direction of the cold winds.
