For the past seven years, the Dartmouth Outing Club's sophomore trips have been an integral part of the sophomore summer experience, giving students the chance to wander the outdoors and relive freshman year DOC trips. Yet with only a little over 50 participants this year, STRIPs fell well below past years' numbers.
According to STRIPs co-director Luke Antal '07, a combination of last-minute cancellations and poor weather resulted in the unusually low turnout.
"The poor weather hurt us badly. About one-third of the people who originally signed up for STRIPs actually showed up on Friday," Antal said.
The trips were coordinated by Antal and Danielle Bird '07. Eleven different trips were offered, ranging from yoga to kayaking to organic farming; the whitewater kayaking trip enjoyed the largest turnout.
A number of students who opted to remain on campus rather than take part in STRIPs cited academic commitments coupled with the weather as the major deterrents to attending the outings.
"I was signed up for road biking, and was actually really excited to go because I thought it would be a fun way to meet some other '07s whom I might not have known otherwise," Paul DuPuy '07 said, "[but] in spite of my attempts to work ahead, I hadn't gotten far enough on a paper that I have due on Monday, so I decided that I would have to drop out."
Most were disappointed about their inability to participate, as they believed the STRIPs would have been reminiscent of freshman year DOC trips.
"I was very disappointed that I couldn't go because DOC trips were definitely a highlight of last year and I was looking forward to spending some time exploring the New Hampshire wilderness," Dave Stanek '07 said.
Eric Bourne '07 felt similarly.
"I had an amazing time on my DOC trip and met some very good friends, so I signed up for a sophomore trip with the hopes of having a similar experience," he said.
However, others were less sentimental about their last-minute cancellations. Timothy Bakke '07 said he decided to drop out of his trip because with work due for classes, this weekend proved to be "inconvenient."
"Next weekend I plan to go to Montreal with some friends," he said, "I'm not really interested in making many more new friends at this point and would much prefer spending a weekend with people whose company I know I enjoy rather than being placed in a random group of sophomores, some of whom I frankly wasn't even fond of."
"Although I'm sure it would have been a good time, I just couldn't afford to lose another weekend in the term," he added.
Organizers were forced to cancel or alter a number of trips as a result of the conditions.
"Two trips had to be cancelled," Antal said, "No one showed up for leisurely hiking and the trip leaders were particularly disappointed."
Another letdown involved the rock climbing section, which had to be moved to an indoor climbing gym due to the rain.
"I went on rock climbing [which] was more or less cancelled because of the rain," Samuel Beattie '07 said.
Nevertheless, Beattie said he made the best of the situation and the trip was enjoyable in spite of the changes.
"Going to the climbing gym was kind of neat, I'd never done that before," he said, "My leader and I were kind of the only two left, [on Saturday], we drove up to Moosilauke around five and climbed around Moosilauke."
Despite the inauspicious climate, organizers were pleased with the outcome of the trips.
"I think the weekend went incredibly well despite the huge number of dropouts and crummy weather," Bird said. "The trip leaders we had did an amazing job of keeping morale high despite the rain, mosquitoes and intensity of some of the trips."
There were also no reports of serious injuries.
"One girl slightly sprained her ankle but was able to continue on with her trip and [we are grateful to] Al Ingemar for his help with dealing with some dehydration issues," Antal said. "Other than that everyone stayed healthy and safe [and] all of the tripees who ended up going on their trips had a great time."
One sophomore agreed, citing the trip as a chance to bond with sophomores she had not met.
"It was a really good time, and it was nice to have the opportunity to meet all of my 'strippees'," Alison Riep '07 said.
"Our group ended up staying the first night, canoed all of Saturday in the rain, and then came home last night to eat Ramuntos, watch the Big Lebowski, and keep dry."
The Office of Residential Life, Student Assembly, Office of Student Life, Office of Pluralism and Leadership and the 2007 Class Council co-sponsored the trips.
