Thirty students completed the Dartmouth Outing Club Fifty on July 27, hiking 54 miles from Moosilauke Lodge to Hanover in an iconic and celebrated College tradition. The outdoor event is a complicated logistical feat organized entirely by students. Over 150 students, selected via applications, run support stations along the hike, offering hikers snacks, water and medical aid, according to Carter Bartel ’27, the Fifty’s logistics director.
Earning a spot to hike the Fifty is also challenging. This summer, more than 200 students applied for 32 spots on the hike, according to Eliza Gould ’27, who was the hiker coordinator of the program this summer. Students are selected for the coveted hiker spots through a lottery selection and can earn points to make them more likely to be selected by supporting iterations of the hike in previous terms.
“Teams with more points get more entries,” Bartel said. “But there really is an opportunity for any Dartmouth student. We had a team this year with zero points that got in off the lottery … All four of them finished and had a great time.”
Hiker Nicholas Nikcevic ’27 said he joined the Fifty because he “liked the idea of doing something challenging” and wanted to “form closer connections” with his three teammates. In preparation, Nikcevic completed a 21-mile hike with his teammates in addition to some solo hikes. He and his teammates strategically packed food, water and changes of clothes, according to Nikcevic.
“You get food aversion,” Nikcevic said. “You are consuming a lot of calories and everything is in your stomach. I really crashed at some point because I had no nutrients. So we bought food we would want to eat, like Nerd [Gummy Clusters], Sour Patch Kids and chocolate, as opposed to healthy bars that taste disgusting.”
Nikcevic’s team, named “the seven bloody nipples,” left Moosilauke at 9:45 a.m., with the philosophy of “going fast” and “not taking breaks” because “lactic acid builds up in your legs if you wait too long,” according to Nikcevic. Fueled by sweets, caffeine, Advil and cooked food at each of the five support stations along the trail, Nikcevic’s team was the first to complete the hike, finishing in around 24 hours and 5 minutes.
Nikcevic said that he was “delirious” during the last nine miles of the hike, but “very happy” that he completed it.
The Fifty is a demanding hike, and not every hiker is able to complete it. Hiker Gracie Bartos ’27 was injured during the Fifty and driven back to campus. According to Bartos, between the second and third support station, she “heard a noise in [her] left knee” when going downhill, and was forced to advance slowly.
“I was very angry, very annoyed,” Bartos said. “The pain is one thing, but the disappointment in not finishing is really a huge deal. I was really looking forward to finishing the hike and checking it off my bucket list.”
Bartos was later diagnosed with a medial collateral ligament injury. She said that she will attempt the Fifty again in her senior year, vowing that she “will not graduate without doing the Fifty.”
Both Nickcevic and Bartos highlighted the importance of the Fifty as a College tradition.
“The beauty of being in Hanover is being so well connected to the nature of the Upper Valley,” Bartos said. “There’s a whole culture surrounding the Appalachian Trail, and it’s super special that Dartmouth maintains 54 miles of it.”
Nikcevic said that he is appreciative of the supporters and of people “rallying around hiking.”
“It’s so much more fun when you have people cheering for you,” Nikcevic said. “It feels like the embodiment of sophomore summer.”
