About one hundred "trippees," 20 leaders, a climbing crew of four, a boating crew of three, two safety helpers, two student coordinators and others participated in Sophomore Trips, or STRIPs, this past weekend.
Students left Hanover late Friday afternoon, spent Saturday in the outdoors, and reconvened with the entire group for a barbecue at Moosilauke Lodge on Sunday afternoon.
Coordinated by Mike Liroff '05 and Kate Huyett '05, STRIPs offered sophomores a choice of 11 different trips. The most popular trips were the water options -- canoeing and white-water kayaking -- largely because of this past week's unseasonably warm weather.
Though they bore some resemblance to freshman orientation trips, STRIPs took a more laid-back approach, in which students were led by their peers and didn't experience the general feeling of disorientation they had as new students.
"I felt more like we were just a random group of people going on a trip, and not trippees and leaders," Betsy Hart '05 said.
"The whole point is to meet people and get outside," Liroff said of the fifth annual STRIPs.
In case of an accident or injury, "Safety Dorks" Taylor Duvall '05 and Sarah Mead '05 set up camp in Robinson Hall for the weekend, staying by the phones and sleeping in the Dartmouth Outing Club office. Fortunately, no one had to be evacuated this year, Liroff said yesterday.
Hart and Nicole Mansfield '05 co-led a canoeing trip of 10 tripees. "Nobody there was out to do any serious canoeing. We just wanted to swim and take it pretty easy," Hart said.
"We were supposed to canoe from North Haverhill to Orford, but it's 22 miles, so we ended up stopping in Bradford," she added. "It was a totally random group of people, but everybody worked well together, so it was a lot of fun."
Although STRIPs lacked the "crazy crews, "as Liroff described them, of freshman year, the trips did recall a memorable aspect of Outing Club trips -- that of surprising trip participants at night.
Liroff and Huyett said that one sophomore was intent on "raiding" all 11 trips, but failed to find some of the groups. Others managed to round up troops and supplies with which to raid all the trips, missing only the mountain bikers. Many groups were raided multiple times in the same night, Huyett said.
Merrick Johnston '05, this term's Outing Club president, raided the Organic Farming trip with some friends. They brought the farming students home-cooked pies and banana bread, along with citronella candles to alleviate incessant mosquito biting.
"We came carrying candles, and we sang the Backstreet Boys' 'You are My Fire,'" Johnston said. "They liked it."
One snafu arose in the cancellation of a fly-fishing trip, to be led by Nate Gorence '05. Gorence planned to lead twelve students on a trout-fishing trip in the Second College Grant. However, the Grant's distance from Hanover posed a safety concern. No site within local distance could be found to accommodate the students' size and safety needs, so the trip was canceled a week before it was to begin.
"There are two rivers that we could have potentially fished, but it would have been difficult to take out twelve people because there's limited access to the rivers, they are relatively popular, and there are no camping spots around them," Gorence said.
Mixed into the batch of sophomores were a few non-'05s. DOC Vice President Joe Hanlon '05, who co-led strenuous hiking with Alana Hanks '05, had an '04 as one of his trippees. He said it was not a problem if one wasn't a sophomore but wanted to participate. Despite a lack of Greek representation -- in particular, by members of fraternities -- Liroff and Huyett were pleased with the number of trippees who signed up for STRIPs with minimal prior Outing Club experience.
"A lot of the trippees were psyched that people had set up the opportunity for them and had publicized it so well," Huyett said. "Going on STRIPs is less scary than blitzing [the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club] and asking about a climbing trip."
"It was a big success," Liroff added. "Everyone had a good time, and no one got hurt."
Funding for STRIPs came from the Outing Club; ORL; '05 Class Council; Programming Board; Bigger, Better, and Later; the Dean of Student Life's office and Ledyard Canoe Club. In addition, the Outdoor Programs Office and DOC Trips provided invaluable support before and during the weekend, Liroff and Huyett said.
