Contents
Annual Report 2006
General Manager
Once again I’m pleased to report that the Outing Club had a stellar and enjoyable year in 2005-06. I had three great Presidents to work with – Shara Feld ’07 in the spring, Whitney MacFadyen ’07 in the summer, and Anne O’Hagen ’06 in the fall and winter. The Schlitz Fund continues to be more well known and more in demand all the time, as students propose creative, adventurous trip to all parts of the globe (and our own backyard). We are starting to post trip applications and reports on line at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~doc/getmoney/schlitzfund/. If you have a chance to visit, prepare to be inspired. That is, after all, the idea!
All the clubs continue to get Dartmouth students outside, learning in vigorous environments, and pushing their own personal boundaries. It’s also, as alums and undergrads continue to report, great training for future leadership and just plain real life. You can learn a lot from planning a day trip for twelve – not to mention a five-day trip for 1,000 – as the Trips Directors learn every year.
I know that’s what keeps me coming back!
Only three more years until our big 100th Anniversary year – we’re looking forward to it!
YITOOD,
Julie Clemons
Bait and Bullet
Bait and Bullet continues to progress toward becoming a functional club, albeit intermittently and slowly.
Last spring saw our annual skeet shooting PE class taught by advisor Don Cutter ’73. At the end of spring term Don stepped down as the club advisor, though he continues to be active on occasion. Mark Lancaster of Safety and Security and Andy Harvard ’71 have jointly filled that role for the time being.
Summer term the club purchased six new spincasting rods which did not see much use because they arrived after the end of the term. Also a new cleaning supplies kit for the gunroom was purchased. Another attempt to overhaul the gunroom rules with Safety and Security was made, and a process for getting onto the club guns list was formalized. Some progress occured, but grey areas and difficulties with rules continue.
Fall term saw a major shooting range cleanup and trips to the range most Fridays which split time between working on clearing the range and making new backstops, and shooting. We are still having problems with broken glass and clays being thrown outside the designated area, as well as vehicles driving up the road. Signage and barriers to prevent these problems are in the works. Mark Lancaster taught a hunter safety course, which unfortunately got flooded with non-Dartmouth affilated people due to course posting rules from the state, excluding nearly all of the dozen or so students interested in taking the course. Only half of the signups showed up, but there was no way to contact those who did not make the signup in time. With Safety and Security rules now requiring a hunter safety or gun safety certification to store even one’s own weapons this inability to service the students may become a serious problem. Duck hunting was spotty on the river due to an unusually warm and wet fall, and only a few new people made it out. Eben Sargent ’05 harvested a beautiful eight-point buck in the Grant during rifle season.
Winter term saw an ice fishing PE taught by Ray Crosby of Collis Cafe. Ray has since become certified by the state to run introduction to fishing programs without a state monitor, which hopefully will open up the possibility for more trips in open water as well as lowering the barrier of an expensive out of state license. The shooting range continued to be used through the winter due to nearly nonexistent snowcover, though I led no trips. Goals for the spring will include cleaning it and installing new signs and barriers, as well as certifying new shooting range leaders.
Chris Polashenski ’07, President
Eben Sargent ’05, Vice-President
Cabin and Trail
This has been an absolutely action-packed year for Cabin and Trail! It all began with the absolutely terrific Spring Break trip to go snowshoeing in Colorado and backpacking in Canyonlands National Park in Utah, and included highlights such as the annual canoe portage up Mt. Washington, breaking ground for Harris Cabin, section-hiking our stretch of the Appalachian Trail, and having a terrific time on the winter trip to the Grant. We ascended thirteen new Council members and have begun re-examining our leadership structure so that we can better fulfill our mission: getting people outside, having fun, and maintaining our trails and cabins.
At the beginning of Winter ’05, CnT Council decided to conduct a one-term review process to address three specific issues: the ability of Council to provide strategic leadership to the club, social divisions between Heelers and Council, and continuing leadership development beyond ascension. Jonah Kolb ’06, Brendan Willis ’07, John Paul Lewicke ’07, and Vicki Allen ’06 were elected to be the “Review Board” that would guide the process, solicit input from others, sort through all the discussion and input, and come up with a few proposals for Council to decide on at the end of the term. We spent the first few weeks deciding how to go about this process, the middle few weeks holding Feedback sessions and getting feedback on a website from alumni and current and past-active chubbers (for which requests to individuals asking them for their valuable input were most successful), and an “ideas” session with current Council. We have synthesized this input and created a number of proposals and recommendations that Council will be voting by the end of this term.
This spring, we completed a section hike of our part of the A.T., went on lots of dayhikes and sunset hikes, held a Heeler Skills overnight to pass on expertise, burnt the old Moose Mountain shelter and the remains of the old Harris cabin, and held a series of “Class Wars” Feeds in which students of different years competed to cook the most delicious food. This summer we moved Pentaprivy at Hexacuba shelter, carried Schlitz (the canoe) up Mount Washington as usual, went on a lot of dayhikes to area mountains, peeled all the logs for Harris Cabin, and in general had a terrific summer. This fall we held a ton of orientation events, which went really well. Having a representative sample of our trips happen was terrific for initial recruitment. Fall also saw the advent of a number of hikes around the Hanover area, primarily pioneered as coleads by Will Henderson-Frost ’08 and Tom Glazer ’08. As Forestry captain, Chris Farmer ’08 put forth an enormous amount of effort to run a practice almost every day. Winter has been strange, due to unseasonably warm weather. Although we couldn’t run our accustomed sledding, snowshoeing, and skiing trips, we still were able to do a number of dayhikes, introductions to XC skiing, pond hockey games, trips to cabins, and the notably successful trip to the Grant, which took place during the two weeks where we actually had snow. Also, Council member Carolyn Treacy ’06 went to the Olympics for biathlon!
A number of trends have taken place throughout the year. Feeds have taken place almost every week, usually on Wednesdays. This works well to reduce conflicts with other DOC clubs’ meeting times. There has been some drop in attendance with this increase in regularity. We’ve run many successful trips to the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge for dinner during its open season. The termly excursion with naturalist Alcott Smith is invariably extremely educational and fascinating. A number of people have become chainsaw certified through the USFS chainsaw class, although we’re looking into developing an internal program. Chris Farmer ’08 and Tom Glazer ’08 have created a DOC workshop in the basement of Robinson Hall that incorporates a number of tools that were formerly located at Oak Hill. Sunrise and sunset hikes have been extremely popular due to their low time commitment.
Some trips have had persistent issues with finding enough people to go out. The termly Grant Trip did not happen this spring, summer, or fall due to lack of signups. In the winter, when Meg Paradise ’08 and Brendan Willis ’07 actively promoted it and were excited about it, they had nearly an entire busload go on it. Backpacks or weekend-long trips are notorious for not getting enough signups due to academic pressures. Also, dayhikes lacking in leader passion, an interesting destination, or other hooks are much less likely to actually happen. Attendance on work trips to Harris Cabin has been rather low, necessitating the creation of a paid crew for the coming summer. One possible remedy to some of these problems would be to work with OPO to lower the minimum number of people required for a trip to happen – it’s rather ridiculous that we let a lack of one or two people stop us from getting other people outside. It could also be interesting to run a one or two week experiment in which CnT pays for all trip costs to see what effect that has on trip attendance.
There are also some trips that are perpetually good ideas. The success of sunrise and sunset hikes has shown that there is a huge demand for trips that are shorter in times and trips that follow a recurring model or theme. The Hanover area “walkabouts” that Tom Glazer ’08 has begun show great potential for becoming a regular feature each week. Burning stuff is always a good idea. People like fire, and I think a large conflagration every week could be terrific for everyone involved. The ropes course that happened in the spring of ’04 was awesome and should be brought back. Heeler events such as spoonmaking, signmaking, etc. take a minimum amount of time and create a maximum amount of fun. The Heeler Skills Overnights have been somewhat successful, but I think that holding some day-long event to specifically teach practical leadership skills in a workshop fashion could be really useful. Although we’ve only had a few trips that were run at the request of an individual or group, this type of trip has lots of promise for expanding our impact and should be actively pursued. Finally, truly distinctive trips such as the annual portage up Mt. Washington should be fostered whenever possible.
As Cabin and Trail moves into a period of possibly drastic change in response to the Review Board’s findings, it’s critical to remain true to the core of the club, to the absolutely priceless experiences that we have to offer. Whatever CnT’s structure and whoever the leaders are, it remains critical to offer the broadest and deepest possible assortment of activities each and every week. We need to reclaim an active role in trailwork and the management of our cabins. Inertia and the lull of considering the requirements of the club one week at a time have led us to where we are now; it is now up to us to lead the club as far as it is capable of going. We need to remain mindful of the results of the DOC diversity survey: the reasons people don’t do stuff with us is because we’re too cliquey and they don’t have enough time. It’s time to show everyone the best that this club can do.
John Paul Lewicke ’07
Cabins
Winter ’05
Nothing too out of the ordinary with cabins this winter. Changed propane tanks at Nunnemacher, and had to cut and split more wood for Hinman after what appears to have been a two-cord bonfire outside, delivered supplies to Hinman, Armington, and Billings at least once each. Larry took at least one round of the cabins resupplying as well, and investigated a leak around the chimney at Billing which will need repair next summer. Vandalism has been high. Several complaints of messy cabins with lots of alcohol containers and vomit have been recieved, renters at Hinman broke four windows over New Years, and several mature spruce were chopped down with the cabin axe near Nunnemacher. It would be nice to improve accountability for these types of damages, perhaps even to make it so that the volunteers or employees who go to fix things up could have compensation which was financed by the offending renters.
Chris Polashenski ’07
Harris Cabin
Shortly after writing the report last year, Harris site was settled on as the site for the new cabin. Logs for the new Harris Cabin arrived from the grant in the end of March, but due to permitting issues with the town of Hanover could not be moved to the site. They were moved to the fields across Route 10 from the Organic Farm for peeling, which took roughly 600 person-hours and was completed by the first week in July. The logs were then transported to a landing at the site by forester John O’Brien.
Meanwhile due to concerns about getting permission to access the site from neighboring properties, efforts to make a drivable access to bring materials to the site entirely on DOC property were underway. Trips through the early summer brushed, installed rock in wet areas, and built a 58-foot double span bridge to accommodate ATV traffic. This work included a week of work by Cabin Crew in which they planked the bridge span, and cleaned up the bark shavings at the farm. Under contract with the club John O’Brien later secured permission and built a road across the neighboring property from Wolfboro road into the site, the bridge and ATV trail will be useful for resupplying the cabin with firewood and the like in future years, after the close of the access road. John O’Brien also moved three hitches of logs into the site for preliminary work, leveled the site using his bulldozer, and buried the remaining metal in the front lawn of the cabin.
Tool purchasing for the project continued through the summer, including eight bark spuds, two cross haulers, a peavey, a Husqvarna 345 chainsaw, two log scribes, two Barr drawknives, three chisels, wooden mallets, an adze, and a $400 trip to the hardware store for hammers, tape measures, levels, and other standard construction tools which had come into short supply at Oak Hill. Log scribing began in August with the start of the “toolshed/sauna” as a practice structure since this was the first scribing any of us had done. We received instruction from Bob Peters of Granby, Vermont, and Mike Frenette of upstate New York. The structure was approximately half-completed before shifting focus to getting the foundation in before frost. CnT hired a small excavator without operator for a day to dig all the holes for a Sonotube foundation, install a French drain, and level the enlarged parking area on Three Mile Road. Cabin Crew again gave a week of their time to set the Sonotubes in the muddy quagmire which the rain made of the new excavation. The tubes were poured during the first week in September, in a single day thanks to a monumental effort by John Paul Lewicke ’07. The compact excavator was returned to the site again to bury the tubes and level the remaining piles of dirt, which frequent rain had packed hard.
We also recieved several freebies in the form of several hundred feet of water pipe for the new cabin (courtesy of Don Cutter ’73), six-foot sections of 38-inch red oak (from Matt Perry, the college tree climber) to saw into tables, and over $3,000 in lumber and plywood courtesy of Tubestock litter being left on the shores of the Connecticut. Richard Trierweiler ’05 and I spent most of a week collecting everything we could find out of the river. The oak sawing was done with a chainsaw mill and completed by mid-November. The wood is now stacked to dry. Theft of the oak has been a problem.
In the fall ridiculous and incessant rain plagued the planned schedule of trips every Thursday and Saturday. Road access to the site was restricted and only three work trips made it out all term. Those trips seeded the site, laid the first sill logs, and brought the tools in for the season.
Fall and winter term have focused on preparing a hired crew for work out there next summer, and gathering the remaining logs we will need from the grant. Applications are out for the crew, which will hire five members, and purlin logs are expected from the grant in the next few weeks.
Richard Trierweiler ’05, Allie Hunter ’07 (Spring ’05)
Chris Polashenski ’07 (Summer ’05, Fall ’05, Winter ’06)
Trails and Shelters
Summer ’05
Our main success this summer was moving the infamous Pentaprivy at Hexacuba shelter. A crew of dedicated regulars (Alison Crocker ’06, Heather Lisle ’07, John Paul Lewicke ’07) and numerous other volunteers carried timber in, prepared the site, constructed a crib and steps, and finally moved Pentaprivy to its new home. During DOC Trips, the trailwork trips did some brushing, addressed drainage issues, and built bog bridges on Smarts Mountain.
John Paul Lewicke ’07
Fall ’05
The priority for the term was putting some finishing touches on Moose Mountain shelter. These were:
1) Making both the privy and shelter accessible without stepping up more than 18" to comply with ADA and be more inviting to folks with limited mobility (one must admit that the privy was a bit of a climb to mount). An earthen ramp was constructed to the front of the shelter, and a wooden step built for the privy.
2) Preventing an alleged roof-leak. Foam weather-proofing material was put under the metal roof cap to prevent weather from blowing in through the gap.
3) Provide a comfortable seat for through-hikers’ tired bottoms. There was an attempt made to install triangle benches at the front corners of the shelter. The result represents a nice thought, and everyone has sleeping pads anyway.
Anne Raymond ’06
On the trail end, I led a trip that cleared the AT from Three Mile Road to Moose Mountain Shelter. I also cleared the trail from Hanover over Velvet Rocks to Trescott Road. And yep, that’s about it. Took a lot of trips to the shelter – because of the decreasing daylight, often times we only had two hours to work when we got up there, so that made things difficult. But we got’er done.
Josh Hurd ’08
Winter ’06
Not much to report on the shelters front. A few work trips went out this winter to clear blowdowns from the trails near Happy Hill and Velvet Rocks Shelter. This coming spring break, a crew of five chubbers will be timberframing two or three privies, including one for the Smarts Mountain Shelter. These privies will make use of mouldering cribs as well as completely biodegradable materials to eliminate packing out material at the end of the privy life.
Brendan Willis ’07
Due to the season, not much happened with trails. A few blow-downs were removed, and Julie Clemons gave a very informative presentation on the history of CnT’s involvement with trailwork.
John Paul Lewicke ’07
Heelers
Spring ’05
Joe Hanlon ’05 and Laura Yasaitis ’05 took charge of Heelers this Spring, with Laura continuing the role from the past two terms. Vicki Allen ’06 apprenticed the position to learn for the future. Communicating among the three was pointless for every detail, but it gave Vicki a good idea and some initial practice with the position. Two of them led their Heeler overnights in winter term, and we generally tried to avoid last minute overnights, etc. as has been a goal in the past.
Victoria Allen ’06
Fall ’05 – Winter ’06
Vicki Allen ’06 (all year) and Brendan Willis ’07 ushered four new leaders onto Council. We could not reach a majority regarding the ascenion of another ’08 who had rushed to complete the requirements in the second half of the term and has a casual trip preparation style that left some of council in doubt. We found fault in our own methods from this situation. First of all, we need to actually be critical and not just say "colead was good" – what was good about it, and what wasn’t. Also, we need to communicate with the Heeler how they can improve directly, rather than just trying to pull them blindly towards becoming a better leader.
This winter, the ’09s seem to be coming more slowly than the ’08s did, but that’s okay, and its not spring yet. Even with potential changes coming up next term, the leader body decided that there was still good reason to hold ascensions this term. This was partially due to the fact that we do not have a huge ascension pool this term. Laura Kamfonik ’08 is the only heeler currently up for ascension. Next term we hope to better track our skills seminars and make sure we offer them consistently and thoroughly. There will also be inevitable changes associated with the Review Board process.
Victoria Allen ’06
New Council Members:
Spring ’05: Marianne Epstein ’08, Chris Farmer ’08, Ada Graham ’08, Josh Hurd ’08, Blaine Morriss ’08, Megan Paradise ’08, Erika Sogge ’08
Summer ’05: Vic Solbert ’07, Katie Amato ’07
Fall ’05: Tom Glazer ’08, Ruth Hupart ’08, Emily Winkler ’08, Karl Yando ’08
Forestry
Spring ’05 – Summer ’05
It has been a splendiferous year in the world of Forestry (ugh!). Our 2005 competition season began at the Annual Colby Mud Meet. We practically needed a trophy case for all of our booty, which included 1st places in Men’s and Women’s Obstacle Course by Joe “the rigorous” Hanlon ’05 and Ali Crocker ’06, in Men’s Ax throw (finally!) by Ben Honig ’05, in Women’s Single Buck by Laura Yasaitis ’05, in Women’s Log Roll, and last but certainly not least Men’s, Women’s, and Jack ’n Jill Chainthrow (practice makes perfect!).
After a whirlwind round of expert coaching by Dave Hooke ’84 and Put “Canoe God” Blodgett ’53, we were ready to take on the piratical competition at the 59th Annual Spring Meet hosted by Finger Lakes Community College. Men’s team: Ben Honig ’05 (captain), Rory Gawler ’05, Joe Hanlon ’05, Scott Andrews ’07, Blaine Morriss ’08, and Chris Farmer ’08. Women’s team: Laura Yasaitis ’05, Ali Crocker ’06, Heather Lisle ’07, Meg Paradise ’08, Carrie Burns ’08, and Marianne Epstein ’08. Jack ’n Jill team: John McCall-Taylor ’03, Vicki Allen ’06, Ashley Hetrick ’07, and Josh Hurd ’08. Our Fantabulous Coach: Dave Hooke. Rory Gawler and Scott Andrews won Doubles Canoeing, Laura Yasaitis and Ali Crocker got 2nd place in Women’s Vertical Chop, and Meg unofficially won Fly-Casting. In other news, our boys made a valiant effort in the Men’s Log Roll, but unfortunately they have turned into hunchbacks in trying to move a log the size of a pregnant blue whale. In our free time, we tried out new things and all made a big splash in the burling tank. And to top it all off, we won the fashion contest by getting the most camera time on ESPN-U.
This summer we made our first-ever appearance at the North Haverhill Fair to try out our skills alongside the pros. Our team included some of our most seasoned woodsmen who don’t want to leave Hanover and some who had never even picked up an ax. Ali Crocker got 4th place in the Women’s Horizontal Chop. We had a great time showing off our skills, eating sno-cones, and riding the Gravitron. Can’t wait to come back next year!
Heather Lisle ’07
Fall ’05
This fall, we rocked two meets: Unity in middle September and UNH in early November. Chris Farmer ’08 was assiduous about holding tons of practices every week and was spread the joy of destroying wood as captain. In attendance at Unity were Ashley Hetrick ’07, Alicia Krzton ’06, Caroline Burns ’08, Alison Crocker ’06, Joshua Hurd ’08, Karl Yando ’08, Thomas Glazer ’08, John Paul Lewicke ’07, Benjamin Honig ’05, and Christopher Farmer ’08. In attendance at UNH were Ashley Hetrick ’07, Alicia Krzton ’06, Laura Kamfonik ’08, Susan Dunklee ’08, Joshua Hurd ’08, John Paul Lewicke ’07, Scott Andrews ’07, Elliot Mattingly ’09, Nat Grainger ’08, Christopher Farmer ’08, Benjamin Honig ’05, Eric Benson ’05, and Nikita Chernov. Highlights included a few individual wins and the team relay at UNH: the alumni team was nearly sunk, while the Men’s Team went on to claim victory.
John Paul Lewicke ’07
Publicity
Spring ’05 – Summer ’05
Wrote the “Come to CnT” and “This week” blitzes every week. We began using a standardized form to allow better comprehension of what was actually involved in each activity.
Pam Collins ’06
Winter ’06
I sent out the weekly “Come to CnT Blitz”, gathered from Council members the details of what trips were going out, and compiled that information into the weekly “This Week in CnT” blitz.
Ada Graham ’08
IM Sports
Summer ’05
In the summer we tried to have a sand volleyball team, but due to delays and confusion from IM sports everyone pretty much forgot about it and so when our game time was announced only a day in advance late in august, it led to low attendence.
Brett Carr ’07
Winter ’06
Tried to coordinate some events, but the deadlines always came too soon, and there was very little interest. I would recommend we trash IM sports as a directorship, and simply allow people to form their own teams if there is interest.
Pam Collins ’07
Feeds and Fun
Winter ’06
I cooked or coordinated a feed every Wednesday evening. Also, I organized the termly contradance, which I do every term anyway, regardless of whether I’m in this directorship or not. The contradance was the most heavily attended one we’ve hosted so far.
Pam Collins ’07
Leadership
Spring ’05
Chair: Alison Crocker ’06
Heelers: Laura Yasaitis ’05, Joe Hanlon ’05, Vicki Allen ’06
Feeds and Fun: Helen Wilbur ’05, Ruth Jones ’06
Trails: Matt Richardson ’07, Anthony Bramante ’06
Shelters: Vicki Allen ’06, Norah Lake ’06
Cabins: Allie Hunter ’07
Harris Cabin: Richard Trierweiler ’05
Forestry: Ben Honig ’05, Heather Lisle ’07
Publicity: Pam Collins ’07
Dinertoure: Sarah Hackney ’06, Joel Dahl ’05
IM Sports: Pam Collins ’07
Summer ’05
Chair: Brendan Willis ’07, John Paul Lewicke ’07
Feeds and Fun: Shara Feld ’07, Jean Polfus ’06
Dinertoure: Tom Bonamici ’07
Cabins: Chris Polashenski ’07
Trails: Matt Richardson ’07
Shelters: Tom Bonamici ’07
Heelers: Sarah Hackney ’06
Publicity: Pam Collins ’07
IM Sports: Brett Carr ’07
Forestry: Heather Lisle ’07
Fall ’05
Chair: Alison Crocker ’06, John Paul Lewicke ’07
Cabins: Tom Bonamici ’07, Whitney MacFadyen ’07
Trails: Anne Raymond ’06
Shelters: Josh Hurd ’08
Harris: Chris Polashenski ’07
Feeds and Fun: Norah Lake ’06
Heelers: Vicki Allen ’06, Brendan Willis ’07
Forestry: Chris Farmer ’08, Ashley Hetrick ’07
IM Sports: Christine Mandell ’07
Dinertoure: Sarah Hackney ’06
Publicity: Jeff Wagner ’06, Vicki Allen ’06
Winter ’06
Chair: John Paul Lewicke ’07
Cabins: Chris Polashenski ’07
Trails: John Paul Lewicke ’07
Shelters: Brendan Willis ’07
IM Sports: Brett Carr ’07
Forestry: Chris Farmer ’07
Dinertoure: Sarah Hackney ’06, Tom Bonamici ’07
Publicity: Ada Graham ’08
Heelers: Vicki Allen ’06, Sarah Uhl ’07
Feeds and Fun: Pam Collins ’06
Farm and Field
Spring ’05
Co-chairs: Norah Lake ’06 and Lissa Goldstein ’06
Part-time Interns: Deana Wojcik ’06, Nick Williams ’08
Full-time Intern: Erin Bingham ’05
Spring Event: Great music, good food, yoga, flower pot painting, field work.
P.E. Class: Designed as a preparatory class specifically for people going into the Peace Corps. The class was to help participants gain a better understanding of the land and it’s importance and function for developing nations.
Yale student farm gathering- Students from colleges with farms gathered at Yale to exchange different school farm philosophies and strategies. Dartmouth students were able to contribute ideas about the mechanics of farming (our farm was the most established among those who attended) and learn more about Yale’s sustainable dining hall.
All-DOC Day: Soil block demo.
Plant sale on Collis porch: This event was a great way to get people psyched for the upcoming growing season, make a little money, and spread plants to the student, faculty, and Hanover community.
Class visits to the farm: Different ENVS, Geography, and writing classes used the farm as a source for further enhancing their curriculum.
Parents Weekend: Visits and tours to the farm as part of the Parent’s Weekend agenda.
Summer ’05
Chair: Deana Wojcik ’07
Full-time Interns: Jessie Doyle ’05, Sarah Messner ’05
Summer Event: The Fogey Mtn boys played, great food and people. Sarah Hackney made delicious pizzas with fresh from the garden ingredients. Yet another successful event.
STRIPS (Sophomore Trips) sent a group of farmers new and old down the river to camp out and do field work for a couple days.
Several Outward Bound groups visited.
David Holmgren visit: The co-founder of the Permaculture concept and movement came to share his knowledge as well as see what Dartmouth’s Organic Farm is all about.
Weekly potlucks: A great way to celebrate a good week of field work.
Three DOC First-Year Trips to the farm.
CSA: First term of trial. We began with 6 faculty members, who were satisfied with the results. We hope to continue this next summer and expand it into a bigger business venture and teaching tool.
Fall ’05
Interns: Not sufficient funding.
Co-chairs: Norah Lake ’06 and Hannah Rossman ’08
Farm and Field becomes an official DOC club!
Fall Event: Over 60 people show up for the potluck dinner. We combined this event with Al-nur to make it a combined celebration of Ramadan and the fall harvest. Activities included harvesting, pumpkin carving, eating, socializing, and drumming by Hafiz Shabazz.
Weekly/bi-weekly morning harvests: The morning harvests worked very well as a way for people to get outside before the rush of the day really began.
Fall weekend trip: 15 people, many of them new to the farm, came out for some composting and harvesting.
Winter ’06
Co-chairs: Norah Lake ’06 and Hannah Rossman ’08
Winter Event: Activities included candle making, winter botany workshop, potluck, and an awesome music jam with students and alums lasting about 2 hours.
10th Anniversary planning: We began planning for our 10th anniversary events that will take place in April and August of 2006. The first alumni database was started and new additions were made to our website. Alex Robertson ’08, Norah Lake ’06, and Hannah Rossman ’08 made up this planning committee.
Leadership at the Farm: Two dinners were held to discuss and design leadership requirements at the farm. These new requirements are to be implemented in the spring to encourage students to take leadership positions at the farm. Lissa Lynch ’06, Sean Mann ’05, and Deana Wojcik ’07 wrote a rough draft that was discussed and refined for next term. We decided to start the tradition of an end of term dinner to honor new leaders.
Post-Graduate Farm Manager position: Norah Lake ’06 and Daniel Stulac ’01 presented the idea of a new position at the farm. This position would give recent graduates a chance to learn about farm management and would also relieve Scott of some of his duties as the current farm manager. Scott would then be able to focus more on education at the farm.
NOFA conference: Eight students accompanied Scott up to Randolph for another conference of the Northern Organic Farmer’s Association.
Workshops- Held almost every other week in conjunction with potlucks. Topics included worm composting, seed order, and crop rotation.
New Greenhouse: We were presented with the opportunity to obtain a used greenhouse from CRELL, which they were planning to dispose of. There are lots of great ideas inspired by this news, including hopes for a solar greenhouse that could operate year round, a model of aquaculture, and banana plants.
Problems we encountered
Spring Break: We began planning our first spring break ever at the farm. Due to lack of interest, perhaps because of lack of advertising, the spring break trip fell through. In the future, plan ahead! This was our first attempt at a spring break trip and we had a lot of great ideas- sugaring, visits to surrounding area farms, seeding, and greenhouse work. The interim is a great time to get lots of farm work done as long as a group gets organized.
Involvement with the DOC: We had some trouble figuring out where our place was as a newly formed DOC club. It will be important to continue communication between the club and Outdoor Programs Office to make sure that we aren’t missing anything. Most difficult for the past year was figuring out how to make our budget work and maximize use with our two different accounts (one for Farm and Field, the other for Dartmouth Organic Farm).
Spring and Summer Interim: These are always really busy times at the farm and it is just when everyone is leaving! Maybe work on some interim position that would take care of this need.
Interns: In the fall we did not have the funding for interns. There was an obvious strain on the farm without these great student resources. Interns mean that more people are out at the farm to facilitate work getting done, which relieves stress for Scott and for the co-chairs. Being an intern is also a great way to learn about the farm and give back to it in the future with the knowledge gained while working.
Unfinished Projects
Things to look forward to in the future: chicken tractor, self-guided tour of the fields, permaculture focus, farm task manual.
Involvement
| Spring | Summer | Fall | Winter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Members | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Meetings | 100 hrs | 100 hrs | 100 hrs | 100 hrs |
| Field Work | 500 hrs | 700 hrs | 500 hrs | 75 hrs |
| Farm Stand | — | 100 hrs | 95 hrs | — |
| Workshops | — | — | — | 30 hrs |
| Miscellanous | 20 hrs | 20 hrs | 20 hrs | 15 hrs |
| Total Hours | 620 hrs | 920 hrs | 715 hrs | 220 hrs |
Mountaineering Club
Yosemite was graced early in summer term of 2005 by the arrival of a mass of Dartmouth climbers, chiefly but not exclusively from the recently graduated and jubilant class of 2005. Back in the east, the club’s trad trip to the Shawangunks was hot. Daaaamn hot. Fortunately, this did not preclude an ascent of Shockley’s Ceiling in the most traditional style. Jeff Woodward ’06 and Robin Batha ’06 travelled to the Wind River Range in Wyoming, while Barry Hashimoto ’06 flew to the big mountains of Alaska.
Without question (at least in the minds of some) the greatest thing to happen over the winter of 2006 was the creation of a new locker for ice gear and the acquisition of several screws, forming the foundation of an ice rack. While all ice trips offered by the club this term met with tremendous enthusiasm and overflowing signup lists, warm weather and poor ice conditions kept the number of trips tragically low. The success of Learn-to-Climb nights in the gym, however, continued through the winter term, and Dartmouth climber Lizzy Asher ’09 won the Women’s Professional division at Mammut’s Metro/Rock competition in Boston.
Climbers kicked off the 05/06 Outdoor Year with a spring break trip somewhere other than Red Rocks, in something other than vans! Spring breakers boarded airplanes for the first time in the trip’s history and flew to Bishop and Joshua Tree, California for some epic bouldering, sport climbing, and trad climbing. Unseasonably cold and windy weather made for a chilly trip, but the undimmed spirit of the DMC stood strong. Some basked in the multitude of bouldering opportunities on the sharp granite and volcanic rocks of Bishop, while others feasted on the fabulous bolted tuff of Owens’ River Gorge. At J-Tree, everyone got to experience the excellent crack climbs and fun bouldering on some of California’s golden granite.
Ski Patrol
The 2005-2006 DSP board started Spring ’05 with a meeting of all the graduating seniors to define a goal for the future of patrol. We identified intra-patrol cohesiveness, higher-level medical certifications, and building an alumni base as areas that had room for growth. We thought that these three main goals would serve to fulfill our responsibility for patient care as well as ensure the continuity of the organization by focusing on the aspects that make Dartmouth students love Patrol. While working on reflection and goal setting during the spring, we also certified all fifteen members of our 2008 class in a rigorous 100-hour Outdoor Emergency Care class.
Over the summer the board put together the first Alumni Newsletter, compiling a mailing list and collecting articles. We sent the newsletter out when we returned to campus in the Fall and also organized a pro-deal Patagonia Jacket order to replace the ad-hoc sweatshirt order that usually occurs once a season. We hoped that professional looking jackets could be used as uniforms while working in the first aid room or the lodge at the Skiway but would also look good worn around campus.
During the fall, 31 members of the class of 2009 in our apprentice program were trained in CPR by Training Officer and certified CPR instructor [Formerly Blue] Ben Schiffman ’07. The apprentices also played a key role in acting as patients for our annual fall refresher. In order to ensure that everybody on patrol fulfilled the exact requirements of the refresher, we experimented with a system with instructors as group members and no permanent station leaders. It will be up to the next season’s board to examine how next season’s refresher could be improved. It is the recommendation of this board that professional instruction is a crucial element to teaching and every effort should be made to have professional instructors provide feedback and recommendations during all training activities.
All fifteen candidates along with an impressive twelve instructors returned to campus on December 28 for a three-day training extravaganza of unparalleled intensity. Candidate training also brought four dedicated DSP alumni back to the Skiway. These individuals made a valuable contribution to candidate training and Ski Patrol leadership should continue to encourage alumni to return to candidate training to help with instruction and maintain their National Ski Patrol certifications. With students as lead instructors, candidates spent a full day at each station: Outdoor Emergency Care, Ski and Toboggan training, and Mountain Operations. Students who missed either Winter ’05 of Fall ’05 were required to attend candidate training in order to be eligible to patrol in Winter ’06. These students were assigned as team leaders and rotated through with the candidates. This requirement serves as a very helpful skills refresher for the returning students, but is only useful if the team leaders are encouraged to participate in the stations along with the candidates.
When winter term finally began, a dearth of snow, an abundance of rain, and limited open terrain undeniably plagued the Skiway throughout the season. Ski Patrol, however, was undeterred and continued to operate at the level to which it had been working towards for the past nine months. Although the season was shorter than usual, patrol ran calls with the same frequency of seasons past. Patrollers professionally dealt with everything from lost children and broken thumbs to critical patients with multi-traumatic injuries requiring helicopter transport. Patrollers showed up to their shifts at the Skiway rain or shine and participated in the weekly training topics showing their dedication to the organization and their love of patrolling. The Dartmouth Ski Patrol received encouragement from many directions during the course of the season, including praising articles in the Valley News, gratitude from Skiway General Manager Doug Holler, and a consistent flow of cards and notes from the various patients that passed through the First Aid Room.
Leading Patrol is no easy task; every position from being a Shift Supervisor to Patrol Director or Assistant Director requires a lengthy time commitment and offers little in tangible rewards. I would not have been able to continue to work with Patrol at the level I did throughout this past year with out the encouragement and help of Assistant Director Laurel Clark ’06. Laurel tirelessly devoted herself to every task and issue that came up throughout the season. All of Patrol also owes a heartfelt thanks to Patrol Director Matthew H. T. Fulton ’96. His dedication and constant work, mostly volunteer, makes patrol the valuable learning experience that it is for so many Dartmouth students.
There are two primary areas to focus on when leading Patrol: accomplishing the standard level of play, and striving for further success and achievement. Improving Patrol is a very difficult task to accomplish, but the importance of trying cannot be overstated. In fact, in order to truly operate Patrol at the same level of year’s past, it is now necessary to at least attempt improvement. Next year’s board should focus on identifying and delegating the minimal amount of work necessary for Patrol to operate at its current level. Once that work is delegated to the officers on the board, Patrol leadership must then identify areas in need of improvement.
There is much work to be done in training and in alumni development. The OEC class will require professional instructors and constant practice; this can always be extended and improved. As our OEC class comes closer and closer to resembling a state certified National Registry EMT-Basic class, our level of patient care will continue to progress. As we continue to connect alumni through newsletters and mailings we can better build a consistent base and start to add to our existing Peter Brundage ’45 Patrol endowment. An endowment can be used to build the cohesiveness and professionalism of patrol with separate Top Shack facilities, propane grills, extra sleds, ski-tuning equipment, hot tubs, snowmobiles and private helicopters for remote skiing trips to Northern New England.
It is with a heavy heart that I hand the keys (and the blitz account password) of the most memorable aspect of my college education over to Elan Guterman ’07 Director for the 2006-2007 season. I hope that she and Assistant Director Conor Frantzen ’08, Secretary Erin Windauer ’08, Training Officer Ben Schiffman ’07, Treasurer Jon Scherr ’08, and Equipment Officer Eric Trautmann ’07 find patrol to be as educationally valuable and personally fulfilling as I have over the past four years.
Sentimentally,
Paul “PFEIN” Feingold ’06
Ledyard Canoe Club
Ledyard started Spring 2005 with the annual Spring Trip to Asheville, North Carolina. Led by Alexa Speilhagen ’06, the trip was a great opportunity for about thirty students to spend nine days either learning to kayak for the first time or brushing up on their skills for a fun-filled spring. Back on campus, Ledyardites had the pleasure of diversifying their kayaking experiences. The annual Mascoma Slalom provided the chance to look back to the early days of our sport, and the Wells River Rumble and Downtown Smackdown were prime examples of the new wave of extreme downriver racing. While a quick snowmelt due to a weekend of pouring rain put creeking on hold, it sent the White River into massive flood resulting in the bigwater playboating New Hampshire usually lacks. As the water got warmer PE classes began and the business opened for the year. Near the end of the term the class of 2005 canoed the Connecticut river from Hanover to Old Saybrook, Connecticut in the annual Trip to the Sea.
Summer 2005 was full of weekend trips to the Ottawa, Gatineau, Kennebec, and Penobscot Rivers. The annual Sophomores from the Source trip also occurred, although it might better be titled “Sophomores from some random dam in northern Vermont”. Despite many bugs and some issues with campsites which cannot be reserved, the trip was overall a success. There were also five PE classes held over the summer, one of them whitewater canoeing. Over the course of the spring, summer, and fall, over a hundred students participated in whitewater kayaking PE, and ten in whitewater canoeing.
The summer ran right into DOC Trips, and four Ledyard members on Grant Croo assisted all of the trips in the Second College Grant. Trips in the area included whitewater kayaking, canoeing, nature writing and nature watercolor. In their free time croo members found time to kayak the Magalloway River and the Dead Diamond Gorge.
As trips ended, Grant Croo and about eight others headed north on Fall Trip. After two days on the Ottawa River, the group headed south towards the Racquette and Beaver Rivers in New York. An unfortunate barrage of rain forced an early end to the trip, but a good fall of boating more than made up for early failures. The biggest trip of the fall was to the Bottom Moose and the Independent for Moosefest. Ledyardites paddled countless other rivers in the fall, among them Halls Brook, the Upper Baker, and Middlebury Gorge.
While everyone else was dreading the cold of the Hanover winter, Spencer Lawley ’06, Austin Lashley ’07, Bennet Meyers ’08, Paul Durkee ’06, and Liz Allen ’06 planned a trip to Chile. Thanks to the generosity of the Davis Kirby Adventure Fund, they were able to kayak the Futalefu River among others. Other DKAF trips for the year included Esther Perman ’07’s sea kayaking trip in New Zealand.
The rest of the club was stuck here for the winter, although many made the most of it. There was at least one creeking trip in each January and February. Pool sessions were held three times a week to teach rolling and practice flatwater rodeo maneuvers. Weekly feeds also continued throughout the winter, at which we watched kayaking videos in anticipation of the upcoming journey back to North Carolina.
The year 2005 was overall very successful for Ledyard. The club leadership is very strong, with around ten current whitewater kayaking leaders and many more flatwater leaders. Meetings and feeds were held weekly with anywhere from ten to thirty people attending. In addition to several beginner and intermediate trips per term, private trips went out almost daily throughout the year. There were two ACA courses held with eighteen participants, boosting the teaching ability of club members. We have also started looking more closely at our leadership policies, making some needed changes to the requirements for flatwater leadership. Looking ahead, we anticipate more work surrounding the leadership structure of the club and more interaction with the other member clubs of the DOC. Hopefully the year 2006-07 will be just as good as the past one has been.
