Outdoor Programs Office
MUD SEASON! Please try to stay off hiking trails until they dry up from mud season. Typically May 15th has been the general standard for the opening of trails for the snowless seasons. Although, as we all know, some years the landscape dries quickly and in others we have rainy periods that keep the trails looking like sloppy pudding. When heading out to enjoy a trail, please use your judgement.
Dartmouth College has a long history of involvement with the out-of-doors. In 1909 the Dartmouth Outing Club was formed to encourage and support Dartmouth students in winter sports — primarily skiing, snowshoeing, and ice skating. The club grew quickly and hosted Dartmouth’s first Winter Carnival in 1911. During the 1910s and ’20s it divided itself into special interest divisions, teams, and affiliated outdoor groups. Ski coaches were hired in the ’20s, club managers and woodcraft advisors in the ’30s. By the 1960s, the club was very complex financially and programmatically. It was also managing many outdoor facilities and using other facilities owned by the college but managed by other offices. Clearly the club needed greater administrative support.
In 1970 Dartmouth College created the Department of Outdoor Affairs in order to relieve the Dartmouth Outing Club of many of its administrative burdens, to meet the burgeoning awareness of environmental issues, and to manage the Second College Grant and Moosilauke properties. In 1984 the office was renamed the Outdoor Programs Office as part of an effort to re-emphasize student activities over the management of college properties.
The Outdoor Programs Office has administrative responsibilities covering: the Dartmouth Outing Club, competitive skiing programs including the Dartmouth Skiway, outdoor education seminars, workshops, and courses, the Connecticut River waterfront and the Ledyard Canoe Club, Mount Moosilauke and the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, recreational and educational uses of the Second College Grant and Oak Hill, the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center, the Climbing Gym, the Dartmouth Organic Farm, the Dartmouth Outdoor Rentals program, and the Andrew W. Mellon Grant distribution.
The Outdoor Programs Office is a part of the Campus Life Division of the Dean of the College area. It exists to further the educational objectives of Dartmouth College by facilitating outdoor opportunities for the Dartmouth community.
For more information on the Outdoor Programs Office, stop by our offices in Robinson Hall. Meet the staff, visit with students, and get to know us! Or, if you can’t visit our offices, give us a call at (603) 646-2428 or email us at opo@dartmouth.edu.
