WORK STARTS BEFORE COLLEGE
Outing Club work in Hanover began before College officially opened. Cabin and Trailers were on hand before the freshmen arrived in town, in order to start the membership drive, which was directed by Von Oehmig '36, of Chattanooga, Tenn. A change in the past system now offers the freshman a four-year membership for a reduced price. Although this form of membership is more or less experimental, if we are to judge from its present demand, it will probably be continued.
Enrolling the freshmen is one job. Instructing them is another. This instruction takes place every Thursday evening in Silsby Hall. Thus far, it has consisted of familiarizing the freshman with the organization of the D. O. C. and with its leading members; also how to prepare for hiking and camping trips, what equipment to use and how to use it. One evening was devoted to amateur photography when Doc Griggs, of the Zoology Department, gave an entertaining lecture accompanied by slides. Now a campus-wide photography contest is being held, and prize-winning snapshots and printed articles on photography have been on exhibit in the Tower Room of Baker Library.
The most popular Outing Club activity of the fall season is naturally the trips which are run every week-end. Some have been overnight, some merely Sunday trips. Before the opening of College, a special trip was run for the entering freshmen. Sixteen freshmen participated. Using the Moosilauke Summit Camp as its base, the trip covered the northernmost D. O. C. cabins and visited the 1200-acre Alumni reservation on the east slope of Mt. Moosilauke. It lasted for six days, ending in time for registration. Other freshman acquaintance trips have gone to Moosilauke, Dartmouth's own mountain, which has become the frequent retreat of many students and alumni. Aside from the Summit Camp, the Club now has four cabins and four shelters on the mountain.
Among the most attractive trips of the fall were those held with Vassar and Bennington Outing Clubs. The former took place in Vassar territory in the Catskills and lasted three days. Five members of each club were present, and, from all reports, "a good time was had by all." The Bennington girls were the guests of the D. O. C. in our home territory, visiting Hanover for the William and Mary game and staying at Glencliff and Great Bear cabins on Moosilauke.
The amount of outdoor work done this fall has been impressive enough to settle conclusively any doubt which may arise as to whether the Outing Clubbers have forgotten how to swing their axes. A new shelter has been constructed on the top of Moosilauke, where Hell's Highway joins the Carriage Road. It is built of logs hewn on the spot. Axe work under the supervision of A. A. Titcomb '36, of Farmington, Me., has resulted in a new two and one half-mile ski trail through the thick timber on the south shoulder of the mountain, from Great Bear Cabin to Misery Shelter. A portion of the foot trail from Cube Cabin to the summit of Cube Mountain has been widened and cleared, making an ideal ski slope. Undergraduates, under the direction of Ted Hunter '37, of Hanover, have helped clear off the west slope of Oak Hill in Hanover, the future site of our first large-scale ski tow.
