New old friends

I have stood on top of a podium listening to the national anthem in front of international competitors. I have earned awards for community involvement in front of a room full of CEO's. I have dipped a paddle into a river and taken the first satisfying strokes on a SUP that I spent years dreaming about and months building. All of those memories bring me an extreme amount of pride, but none can compare to how proud I am to say that I have been involved with Outdoor Nation. Not the feeling of brushing the last bit of sawdust off of another creation or even the adrenaline that comes from pushing out of the gate at a Telemark World Cup race can compare to knowing that I stand in the middle of a for youth by youth movement that WILL get kids re-engaged in the outdoors.

Outdoor Nation brings together kids from across the nation every year at its summits to create projects that will break down the barriers preventing youth in the US from connecting to the outdoors. At the end of each summit, the top voted projects are sent home with grant funding to pursue their project and tools to raise more money and awareness.

Just this weekend, I went down for another ON summit in NYC. It has been a year (and a jam packed year at that) since my last summit. I sat down and immediately knew that I was at the right table. Most of the kids were from New Jersey, and we immediately started talking about Ramapo Reserve, a favorite NJ recreation spot. We named our team Soul Rock, close to the backwards spelling of one team member's name (extra points if you can guess the name!), and a tight knit group was formed. With such great chemistry, we had an intense think tank, and our project is sure to go far. I am leaving you hanging on details on purpose because we are planning on launching shortly - stay tuned!

Golf!

Since my parents were up and the weather was nice, I thought, that a round of golf sounded perfect. That was until I got to the first tee. I had a nice backswing, let it rip and, and ... missed. Yup, missed. Thankfully, by my fifth shot, I made contact and hit a good drive. Here is to more scrambles!

family time

With my first Outdoor Nation summit of the summer in NYC, I came down a few days early for a show, haircut and some laughs. I would highly recommend the play 4000 Miles - a great show in a great city!

SUP travel smarts

Hanover, NH to Wayne, NJ is quite a drive and my wooden SUP was brand new. I didn't want to take any chances with it on the top of my car, so I used my Thule rack and SUP carrier. Some straps and a swim noodle are good, but when you don't want to take any chances - go Thule - trust me!

Working for a the day off!

Usually when the kids come home for a weekend off from work while in college the parents have food ready, and the kids sleep in till noon, right? Not with my family! Instead we got to work cooking for a barbecue party and even changing outdoor lights.

You see, my parents caught wind that my friend Hannah climbs, so they sent her up the ladder! It was all worth it when we got to do some great lake paddling and even a little archery!

My new pad

Like in Switzerland, I figured I would give you a tour! Pretty cool, right?!

Beds for the pebble

Let me describe how to get to the pebble, the off campus house that I am renting for my remaining years at dartmouth. It is not HARD to get to per say and neither is it far from campus, but the route is pretty entertaining, so here it goes. To get to the pebble, you can get there easiest from the engineering school. From there, you continue down the road, cross the highway and go onto west street. Turn right on the second driveway and go back past their barn. You have now reached the commando route. The commando route is a legal public passageway, because people have been walking up the trail, which resembles a cliff for years. From there go past the rock, which is not a rock at all, but an off campus house which is full of hiking club people and you will see the pebble next to grandma's house. As you can guess, juxtaposed with the rock, the pebble is a pretty tiny place.

Since the house has two room and has the potential to be big enough for three people, I decided to design some beds that way. The beds I had in mind were fold away murphy beds, but not just any fold away murphy beds - ones that would bring up a desk when you folded it away. I spent the next two weeks learning a computer design program solidworks well enough to design them and the next two weeks after that building them. The first rush is finally over and once I machine the side pieces and install the counter weights, I will post a final video.

Already crushing

Yesterday was Hannah's first day back on rock after dislocating her foot the night before term started. We got up early, and the entire way up, she was just about ready to jump out of the car and run to the crag. Once we got there, the walk to the cliff was pretty entertaining, but she wasn't going to let anything keep her from her favorite sport. The warm up climb was pretty slow, but by then end she was back looking like a pro.

The Ultimate DIY!!

Two years ago in high school started an obsession. I loved stand up paddle boarding (SUPing) and wanted to get into longer distance paddles, but really didn't want to buy a board per say. I discovered hollow wood SUPs on an online discussion panel and I just about jumped with excitement. THIS was something that I could definitely do. I downloaded all the necessary design tools and got to work making my tourboard. Before long though, I realized that I just didn't have the space to do such a big project. The project then went on the back burner, but as soon as I saw the shop here at school, I knew that it needed to be rekindled. Finally, here I am with a final project. I took lots of pictures along the way and even made a how to pamphlet for future SUPers! Video to come!

SUP on!

hardware!

With the board all shiny, it took a lot of nerve, but I finally sucked it up and drilled into the fiberglass. What I got was a pretty smooth process of putting in the hardware - check out the smooth lines!

designer

I know. I can't believe it either! From ski bum to lighting designer in one term.  For my Lighting Design final, I had the chance to light a show - the Baltimore Waltz and I must say, it didn't come out half bad!

Feeling adventurous

This term as the Chair for Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) outreach, I had a goal in mind - setting up the infrastructure for an event that would be appealing to all students. The idea for the race was loosely based on Toughmudder, Adventure Racing and The Amazing Race. It would include elements of teamwork, endurace and, of course a bit of Dartmouth flair.

When I first brought up the idea to the DOC board, they may have thought my idea would peter out. Trust me, it almost did, but I wrote all the proposals, received funding and  made some cool event posters, thanks to a friend's great artwork. Race day rolled around and as a first time event, I was expecting about 5 teams of four; instead 14 teams showed up. Here is a breakdown of the first Dartmouth adventure race:

The start itself was the first team challenge. With a low volunteer to racer ratio (10 more teams than expected signed up), the teams ended up running around setting up their own canoes while registering and putting on sunscreen.

Each team of four launched into the water, and I anxiously waited for the first telltale scream of capsize. Paddling three miles would have been a challenge, but I intended more than a challenge. The race needed to be adventurous. So, on top of the paddling, each four person team needed to paddle in a two person canoe. Riding low in the water, the result was definitely a bonding experience for the groups.

On arrival at the Dartmouth Organic Farm, an organic farmer greeted the racers with a wild story about how the farm recently sprouted a new breed of fruit - the Canadian ground fruit. The racer's task was to harvest one of these new anomalies. For a little background - almost all Dartmouth students go on a freshman outdoor trip before they start school. Those wonderful four days are the time for freshmen to figure out who they want to be during their Dartmouth career. Anything is possible - and many kids come out of trips redefined. To play off of this theme trip leaders sometimes play a joke on their group by burying a pineapple and convincing the group of freshman that it is a rare Canadian groundfruit. Many believe their leaders until they get back to campus and brag about this unique discovery. I don't know which is weirder, going to the organic farm to bury pineapples or knowing that 56 kids would know exactly what to look for when they were told to find a Canadian groundfruit.

With  pineapple in hand the teams ran to Oak Hill - the stomping ground of the Forestry Team. There they pulped wood as a team until they racked up a certain number of points. Wood pulping is similar to horseshoes, but with giant wood logs. After tossing wood logs until they worked up a little sweat, the teams were given a riddle that led them to the medical school parking lot for my favorite challenge. Can you guess what it was?

Archery, of course!! Each racer took three shots Katniss Everdean style until the team popped three balloons. They received yet another riddle - "two roads diverges in a yellow wood".

Robert Frost came to Dartmouth for two years, so of course we built a statue where the teams congregated for their next adventure.  Four challenges awaited them - one for each team member. The first challenge involved the Robert Frost statue - a member of the team needed to memorize and perform one of his famous poems, Fire and Ice. If they got it wrong they had to start over and repeat the process. Following poetry, a member completed part one of the Climbing Club's challenge - bouldering around a stone tower. The second part of the climbing challenge was slacklining with some added Dartmouth flair. Cabot Cheese is made in Cabot Vermont and is the main source of food for the DOC. Thus, each team needed to retrieve and eat a bar of Cabot Cheese on the slackline; everyone dug in with fervor.



To wrap up a Dartmouth-tastic event, the last adventure was for team members to dance the Salty Dog - the official school dance. Upon completion the teams returned to Ledyard to grab food and a goodie bag with a Chaos Hat. After organizing and running this whirlwind event, I think Chaos exactly described my day!