The Tufts Mountain Club (TMC), an organization involving over 120 active members, plans to step up their programs during the spring semester with the creation of several new positions.
Junior Ed Warren will be the new "Trips Guru" and will be responsible for planning the group's excursions.
"Up 'til now there hasn't really been a trips program," Warren said. Although the group has planned hikes in the Presidential Range, he said there has "not been too much winter mountaineering."
To remedy the problem, the group created a Trips Board. Warren will lead it with the help of four assistants.
"The big change is in the sheer number of trips we're doing. We're also doing a wider range of skill levels," sophomore Jed Palmer, one of the four assistants, said.
For this semester, the club has planned two to three excursions per weekend so that students will be able to spend time outdoors on a regular basis. This weekend, one of the trips will be a winter hike through Mount Osceola in New Hampshire, led by Warren.
"It's over 4,000 feet in the White Mountains. We're going to go up [and] build snow walls, and practice weathering 60 mile an hour winds," Warren said.
The board is focusing not only on future expeditions, but on organization as well. "TMC has a laidback attitude about organizing things," Warren said.
But this semester, the excursions have been organized farther in advance and will now be led by designated trip leaders. The TMC Web site has also been revamped to include links to registration forms and to allow students to rent free gear.
In addition to regular TMC meetings, there will also be bi-monthly TMC "Know-How Nights." Freshman Rena Deitz, another one of the four assistants, emphasized that the goal of the informational evenings is "to teach [students] the basics [they] need to learn to lead a trip or feel comfortable going on a trip."
Participants will "learn everything about hiking and outdoorsmanship," Palmer said. "[We teach] simple things, from what to wear, to more complicated things, like how to build a snow cave."
The club is also working to include a wider range of people than in the past. "It was kind of exclusive, which is not really what the Mountain Club is about," Palmer said.
Deitz agreed. "It wasn't that easy to come in as a newcomer. I want to help make trips that are available to everyone," she said.
To accomplish this goal, the board has planned events for a wider range of skill levels. Deitz hopes the future of the program will include "trips that run the gamut from very beginner to very advanced."
There will also be more opportunities to become involved in leadership roles. "There wasn't any training at all prior to this year. We're going to have a leadership training weekend targeted mainly at freshmen and sophomores," Deitz said.
The leaders of the Trips Board also hope to allow students to receive wilderness emergency medical training and are working to add a class through the Experimental College next semester.
