Forget the President's Marathon Challenge: Try climbing 48 mountains in three days. That's what students in the Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) did the weekend of Sept. 28 during an event known as Peak Weekend.
During the annual event, which began in March 2006, at least one TMC member climbs each of New Hampshire's 48 4,000-foot peaks, with some students climbing multiple peaks. The event kicked off TMC's busy schedule of outdoor opportunities for students and welcomed new members to the club.
According to sophomore Katie Bond, an event coordinator for Peak Weekend, the event was a way to help freshmen become a part of TMC.
"The number of freshmen groups was really cool, because [Peak Weekend] is a really good gateway to get involved," she said. "It was a really good time to hang out with the rest of the club and get to know each other."
TMC, a large force on campus, holds a variety of events each year. Besides just the famous pumpkins-around-campus prank, senior and TMC President Jimmy Hughes said that the club has a number of interesting events planned for the coming months.
The Presidential Ridge Relay Race (PRRR), an annual intercollegiate race across New Hampshire's Presidential Mountains, is one such event. PRRR is scheduled for Oct. 12-13, spans 21 miles and brings in students from colleges in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
In the spring, TMC plans to hold its annual Mountain Day, where members use the Academic Quad as a stage to showcase all that the club does. This year, Hughes says TMC is preparing an "Iron Chef"-style competition using the food and equipment typical of camping trips. A fall version of the same event may also be in the works.
Many TMC events center around the "Loj," a lodge in New Hampshire first acquired by Tufts in 1942 for a cost of about $15,000. Since then, the Loj has gone through several incarnations as the building has been rebuilt several times.
Sophomore Gabe Frumkin said that TMC "promotes a good bond" between students. The nature of the Loj may facilitate this bond: It exists as a place where, for $20 a weekend (or $15 for TMC members), Tufts students can stay while they explore northern New Hampshire.
In honor of the current Loj's 10th anniversary, the Mountain Club is hosting a community event for citizens of Woodstock, the town in New Hampshire where the Loj is located.
The event will provide TMC with an opportunity to give back to the community surrounding the Loj, according to Hughes. He has always been impressed that, with its initial purchase of the building, "the university entrusted us with the responsibility to run a place like [the Loj]," he said.
Throughout its long history, TMC has long been one of Tufts' more popular clubs; it currently boasts roughly 250 members, Hughes said. And as a result, alumni participation is high.
"We still have alumni come up to the Loj and borrow gear. We're working on getting a great database, and an active alumni membership, especially among recent grads, helps," Hughes said.
Conversely, the club also takes in high numbers of freshmen, many of whom learn about the trip through the wilderness pre-orientation program. Freshman Hanson Gong appreciates the services offered, which include canoeing, hiking and rock climbing trips in the fall and spring and ski trips in the winter.
"We're pretty tight; we all know each other. It's definitely a really great club to be in, because we've done so many different things," he said.
For students who want to participate, but don't have time to travel very often, the club currently holds regular excursions to MetroRock, an indoor climbing center in Everett.
"People are always doing climbing locally, and we're working on getting regular [outdoor] trips going," Hughes said
More than anything, though, TMC members appreciate the ease with which they can continue their regular outdoor activities through the club. Among the services TMC provides is gear rental; the club's Web site lists a number of items, all of which may be borrowed at a low cost.
"We try to be really accessible," Bond said.
According to Frumkin, it is this accessibility that keeps TMC members coming back for more.
"I love the outdoors, and I think it's a pretty defining feature of who I am," Frumkin said. "If TMC weren't here, I'd still find the time, but [the club] really affords people the time to find other people who are into the outdoors."
Bond said that, overall, TMC is about expanding students' experiences.
"[TMC] gives you the opportunity to do things you wouldn't otherwise," she said "I definitely think Mountain Club has given me a better college experience."
