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Welcome to the Outing Club!

What follows is a brief rundown on what the club does and how we do it. If you have general questions, contact one of the HOC officers:

What we are:

The Outing Club exists to get Harvard students, faculty, and staff outside. It is both a gear cooperative and a network. For $10 per semester, members get free access to all HOC gear. Backpacks, canoes, kayaks, stoves, fuel, ice axes, crampons, snowshoes, x-c skis, sleeping bags, tents, you name it. This makes it easier and cheaper to have the proper equipment to get outside. The network helps you get there: the HOC works to connect those going on trips with those who would like to go on trips, distributing broadly the scarce resource of transportation. Many trips are organized at the Monday meetings at 7:00pm; others are advertised over the email list. At the HOC, you meet other people interested in the outdoors, you hear about and help organize trips, and you get the gear to go outside.

Trips:

Tramping, trekking, tromping, trudging, traipsing, whatever you wish to call it, we like to walk in the woods. Hiking and backpacking are our primary focuses. We also cycle, canoe, kayak, and spend time in our very own cabin. Hell, if you want you can even head down to the Charles, and, weather and E. coli tolerance permitting, try out one of our club's windsurfing boards.*

Trips are typically organised and announced over the email list, both by the officers and enthusiast club members (in conjunction with a senior leader). The club has several guide books and maps and the officers have been in the area for a while, so feel free to stop by our office hours to get ideas and start planning trips. The scope of the trips covers everything from day-hikes to mutli-day odysses, typically in New England. One exception is spring break, for which we have started offering trips to more exotic locales, including wilderness areas out west.

Gear Policy

Although HOC members can check out HOC gear for free, a check for the full replacement cost of the gear borrowed is required. This we keep until you bring the gear back the next week, happy and undamaged and feeling loved after being outside. Upon the return of the gear we rip the check up; alternatively, we keep the checks of frequent gear-users on file. Finally, if you borrow HOC gear for a trip, we ask that you open up the trip to HOC members. This is sometimes waived if you're going on a trip with your Significant Other or if you're going to China.

For info on gear and gear rental, click here.

Financial Aid:

The HOC does offer financial aid to any trip participants who need assistance paying for trip related costs such as gas, food, or non-HOC gear rental. Contact one of the HOC Officers for more information.

Meetings:

Interested? Come meet the HOC officers, discuss upcoming trips, and learn about the logistics of running the club at our weekly meeting on Mondays, 7:00 - 8:00 PM at the HOC at 15 Linden St, in the side of Claverly Hall. Linden Street is a one-way street running between Mass Ave and Mt. Auburn; look for Ferrante-Dege on Mass Ave and you'll have found the street.

Office Hours:

During the school year, office hours are held twice per week.  Currently, they are on Monday and Thursday nights from 8:00 to 9:00 PM.  Stop by to borrow gear, return gear, discus trip ideas, get advice from an HOC officer, learn about the club or just say hi!  We love company!  If you want to borrow gear, you must bring a deposit check.  (We promise you won't cash it unless you abscond with our gear.)

During the summer, Office Hours are more fluid so watch the list (and see below for information about our Summer Session list).

Email List:

To hear about trips and other Outing Club activites, subscribe to our email list by visiting our mailman webpage. (Scroll down to the "Subscribing to outing-list" heading and submit your email address.)

We will not spam you. Only list members are able to post messages, and list members who abuse this privilege by sending out spam or unrelated advertisements will be removed. So it can't hurt to sign up!

If you're in Cambridge during the summer, email HOCsummer@gmail.com to be added to the Summer Session email list.  We'll be announcing summer trips and office hours over that list during the summer, so sign up if you're around.

Membership

Membership is open to all Harvard students (undergraduate and graduate), faculty, and staff. Membership is $10 per semester (Fall, Spring, and Summer terms). You must be a member to check out gear. Members also get preference for slots on HOC trips. Plus you get a 10% discount at Mass Army/Navy and a 20% discount at EMS (...pending renewal!). And all for far less than what you pay for 10 minutes of that Core class you're taking.

*NB: The Harvard Outing Club does not advocate participation in trips involving any sort of contact with the Charles River and will not be held responsible for any complications arising from such activities.