Wander into 火博体育户外俱乐部

是6a.m. and minus 3 degrees outside. I am standing in the Case Campus Center parking lot with a backpack, thermal layers, chocolate and snowshoes. 对一些人来说，似乎是这样 就像一幅奇怪的图画. But for me, it’s a normal Saturday with 火博体育户外俱乐部.

This particular Saturday, eight other Outing Club devotees and I were up early for a trek into the 阿迪朗达克公园. Our destination: more than 4,000 feet up to Wright Peak’s summit, where we’d learn it was about minus 20 degrees with 75-mph wind gusts.  

Add some frost to my eyelashes and subtract one chocolate bar, and it was one of the best outdoor experiences, with some of the best people, I have ever had. 

Join The biggest club, the biggest family 

My day on Wright Peak is both one of a kind and one of many. 我已经上过几十次了 adventures so far with Outing Club. Each one is something to cherish. 

You see, Outing Club has been my family since the moment I arrived at Skidmore. 就像 any family, we’re united by our commitment to supporting each other (something that backpacking and rock-climbing adventures force you to do). The more adventures you have, the tighter you become.  

We’re so tight that we willingly spend every Sunday night together, meeting to swap outdoor stories from the weekend and plan what’s next, like part of a family. 

享受俱乐部的好处 

Outing Club is the biggest club at Skidmore, with over 800 members. 我们的目的是 to make the outdoors accessible to students with all levels of experience.

Every weekend, our Wilderness First 援助-certified Outing Club leaders host unique 远近旅行. So, if having icicles form on your eyelashes as you pull that balaclava over your nose isn’t your thing, I assure you the club leads other kinds 活动也是如此.  

Another cool aspect of Outing Club is our gear shed. Whether it’s rock climbing, ice hiking or anything between, specific gear is often needed for comfort and safety. Luckily, we have it all! For personal use or an organized trip, club members can stop by the gear shed and sign out whatever they need, wherever they’re going.  

See the (natural) world With Skidmore 

Yes, being at the top of Wright Peak with my best friends in the middle of winter 非常酷. But what’s even cooler is the sheer variety of experiences I’ve had at Skidmore because of Outing Club.  

To capture the places we go, we’ve begun archiving each of our trips in an interactive map. Curious where you might travel with us? 来看看. Each marked location is a recent trip with a description, difficulty 评分和照片. 

Last year, I went to Joshua Tree National Park for a week, spent many weekends on all levels of hikes in the Adirondacks and walked on a slackline next to Lake George 在我生日那天.  

So far this year, I have rock climbed multiple times a week, gone ice skating on a frozen quarry in Vermont, skied in our own North Woods and down the slopes of Gore 山. 

And that’s only the beginning.

Outing Club has given me priceless experiences and the friends to share them with. It’s an essential part of my Life at Skidmore.  

I’ll see you on the mountain!