D.O.C. REPORTS MANY SUMMER ACTIVITIES
WIDESPREAD alumni interest in camps and cabins of the Outing Club was shown this summer in a heavy demand for reservation of the various D.O.C. cabins. In several cases alumni sojourned with their families or friends through substantially the entire cabin chain. Others picked their favorite cabin for a visit of a few days to a week. It is hoped that this alumni use of the Outing Club facilities during the summer season can be extended further in future years. Particularly for members of the most recent classes whose pocketbooks dictate economy in their vacation plans, the D.O.C. cabin chain may prove an ideal solution. It is contemplated to prepare during the coming college year a simplified guide to the cabin chain.
The summer season at the new Moosilauke Ravine Camp has been a busy one. A student crew, which varied in size from ten to nearly twenty enthusiasts, has lived at the Ravine most of the summer extending and improving the so-called Go-Back Trail connecting Natt Emerson Cabin, the dormitory log building, with Camp Three which is located higher up in Jobildunk Ravine. They have also put in a large amount of work cutting a new ski trail to replace Hell's Highway where hurricane damage and rock slides in the steepest sections have damaged it beyond repair.
The wonderful skiing which existed in and around Jobildunk Ravine in the spring months of 1939 made it imperative to make the Ravine Camp available for alumni use for a short period even though the construction work was not quite completed. Now a more formal opening is planned for the week-end of the Lafayette football game at Hanover, on October 21. There will be a buffet supper on Saturday evening after the football game to which undergraduates and visiting alumni alike are invited. On the following day, Sunday, October 22, the formal dedication exercises will be held. For this occasion a buffet lunch will be served at noon.
SUMMIT CAMP HAS 20TH SEASON
The Moosilauke Summit Camp has completed its 20th season under D.O.C. management and, unless our memories are too short, it looks as though this was the most successful summit season of them all. Certainly it was financially, because Herb Porter '40, the hutmaster, and his fine crew had made good preparations and systematically planned for their summer camp visitors, who constitute the bulk of the patrons at the Summit. The showing at the Summit deserves special commendation because it was somewhat in contrast with the experience of other resorts here abouts during this hot summer of 1939.
FRESHMAN WEEK
In the undergraduate field the 1939-40 season starts with a five-day pre-college Freshman Trip. This excursion constitutes the first contact of the freshman class with the College and is now being run in its fourth year. The trip includes a day's canoe journey on the Connecticut River and takes the youngest generation of Dartmouth men to the Summit and Ravine Camps. It acquaints them generally with the fundamentals of woodcraft and outdoor lore in our Moosilauke country. For sheer lack of additional sleeping and other facilities, this year's party had to be limited to 75 participants.
This fall the D.O.C. membership activities promise to be very lively and to offer more tangible introduction to the Outing Club and its activities and properties. The undergraduate Executive Committee has decided to break with old tradition and eliminate a membership campaign or solicitation. Instead, they plan to draw the prospects among the undergraduates into a varied program of activities first, and let membership take care of itself later as a voluntary matter. Only distance forbids the same approach in interesting alumni to keep up their memberships in the Outing Club. However, those who desire to be enrolled as members can send us checks and receive their membership badge for one of the following forms of membership: Associate Membership at $2.00 a year, Contributing Membership at $5.00 a year, and Life Membership through one payment of $50.00.
In submitting the first brief report of what is going on in the D.O.C since taking over the position as General Manager this July, a word of gratitude and appreciation to J. Willcox Brown '37, the preceding incumbent of No. 21 Robinson Hall, is in order. He has been thoughtful and most unselfish in helping his successor to get a good start. Mrs. Sally Bishop and John Rand '38, the Assistant Manager, who complete the D.O.C. staff at Robinson Hall, both continue to know the ropes much better than their General Manager. They have been on a sort of regency counsel which has saved many a day.
