LONG TRAILS
To return again to the hiking program. Special trips are run about every other week-end to points of interest in the White Mountains and around Hanover. The Outing Club trail leads past the famous Old Man of theMountain in Franconia Notch, that natural stone head of solid rock made famous by Hawthorne. Over ridges and along cliffs and then deep into the woods these parties swing, in winter on skis and snowshoes, in summer in hiking boots.
At Thanksgiving time, for instance, a four-course turkey dinner served in the woods is offered those students whose homes are too far away and those who prefer to spend their Thanksgiving vacation in this way. About a dozen trips are sent out for this purpose under experienced Outing Club leaders. Far from the conventional drawbacks of civilization these men enjoy Thanksgiving as only our Pilgrim forefathers did three hundred years ago. As a grand climax to the winter trips, however, come the two Mount Washington expeditions early in March.
Mount Washington rising in the middle of the Presidential Range and loftiest of New England's peaks has an approach accessible from Hanover by railway. Therefore, we find the Outing Club each winter selecting its most trustworthy men to lead a four-day jaunt into some of the best skiing territory in the United States. The parties, averaging about twenty, make their headquarters at the Appalachian Mountain Club Base Station at Pinkham Notch and from there make ski and snowshoe runs over the surrounding terrain. Both the scenery and the skiing are comparable to the best that Europe offers, and the severe weather conditions often encountered necessitate the usage of regular Alpine equipment such as ice-crampons, parka suits, special headgear and snow goggles. The deep and soft snow reduce spills to a matter of merely getting wet and occasionally a broken ski. It was a group of Outing Club men who several years ago first successfully reached the summit of Mount Washington on skis. Students making these trips are first required to pass a careful physical examination in order to alleviate any danger of exhaustion. Every possible precaution is taken. Moving pictures are taken of the trips and often magazine writers accompany the party taking advangage of an opportunity to gain some first-hand material for winter sports articles.
The second of these two trips has for the last three years been limited to seniors, many of whom regard it as a fitting climax to their college days. The party this year included such campus celebrities as last season's football captain, the football manager, the manager of basketball, the managing editor of "The Dartmouth" (the college daily), the president of the Outing Club and the director of this year's winter carnival. The "Big Green" football leader described this experience as one of the best "peerades" he had ever had.
A new form of trip much less severe in nature was inaugurated last fall in the "logging bee." At several of the nearer cabins the atmosphere of a modern lumbering camp was produced with the students assigned to certain tasks such as wood boss, cookee, field clerk, twitchers, sawyers, and choppers. The men entered into it with enthusiasm and a surprising amount of wood was lumbered for the Club's use.
