Back on the Trail with the Dartmouth Outing Club

Windows to the Wild airs November 13 at 7:30pm on NHPBS

(Durham - November 5, 2019) Established in 1909, the Dartmouth Outing Club is the oldest collegiate outing club in the country. On a beautiful summer day recently, host Willem Lange met the current crop of Dartmouth Outing Club members at the base of Mount Moosilauke as they prepared to embark on a 50-mile hike.

“The 50,” as it’s known to the Outing Club, “is actually 54 miles,” says student Jaquelin Hager. The hike is so popular that there is a waiting list to be a part of the well-known Dartmouth tradition. This tradition began as a way to introduce Dartmouth students to the outdoors. Today, the students will hike in teams of four and will attempt to complete the trek within 24 hours. The goal is to develop camaraderie and leadership skills for incoming students at the college.

“This hike is not a race. It’s not a test of strength, endurance, or anything else really,” says Lange. “It’s about bringing new students together outdoors before classes begin.”

Checkpoints give students a break from the physically and mentally exhausting trek while also keeping them fed and giving enough moral support to send them right back onto the trail.

After 54 miles, many hikers admit to thinking it was one of the hardest things they’ve ever done. But these students have built a sense of community step by step and gained knowledge that simply cannot be learned in any classroom.

The story also takes a look back at the 110 year history of the Dartmouth Outing Club. One chapter in the history happened more than fifty years ago when two Dartmouth physicians flying North in response to a medical call in Berlin, NH crashed their plane in a snow storm. After word got out that a plane went down, the community scrambled to put together a search and rescue team that included members of the Dartmouth Outing Club.

Learn more about the past and present of the Dartmouth Outing Club on the next episode of WINDOWS TO THE WILD, airing Wednesday, November 13, at 7:30 pm or go online to see all the episodes at nhpbs.org/windows.