Ben Scandella, MinWah Leung
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Trip Participants MUST attend the FIRST TWO lectures (Jan 7 & 9)
Prereq: None.
Winter School is MIT Outing Club's crash course in cold weather wilderness activities. Taught over IAP since 1971, the goal of Winter School is to teach the skills one needs to enjoy outdoor sports safely in the winter. Participants attend lectures every Tuesday and Thursday evening and spend time outdoors during the weekends. Trips are offered at various levels of intensity and include hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, back-country skiing, ice climbing, winter camping, orienteering, and mountaineering. Specifically, lecture topics cover essential food and clothing selection as well as the use of technical gear for hiking (snowshoes+crampons), cross country and backcountry skiing, ice climbing and more.
All levels of experience are welcome! Many smaller (10 people max) trips are run to the White Mountains every weekend by our experienced winter trip leaders. Weekend trips are optional, but by far the best part of Winter School! Equipment is available for rent from MITOC; participants will need to provide appropriate clothing (to be discussed in lectures). Those going on trips will need to share cost of gas & upkeep with drivers, as well as a nominal trip fee (covers trail fee for National Forest use). Attendance at the first two lectures (Jan 7th and 9th) is REQUIRED to participate in any of the weekend trips! The first two lectures will be in room 34-101. All subsequent lectures (Jan 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, and 30) will be in room 35-225.
Sponsor(s): Outing Club
Contact: Benjamin Scandella, 48-208, 206-267-2699, BSCAND@MIT.EDU
| Jan/07 | Tue | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 34-101 |
| Jan/09 | Thu | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 34-101 |
Mandatory Winter School Participant Lectures. Topics including Clothing, Food, Water, Personal Issues, Basic Hiking, Driving in Winter Conditions, MITOC Procedures/Gear Rentals will be covered.
| Jan/14 | Tue | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 35-225 |
| Jan/16 | Thu | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 35-225 |
| Jan/21 | Tue | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 35-225 |
| Jan/23 | Thu | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 35-225 |
| Jan/28 | Tue | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 35-225 |
| Jan/30 | Thu | 07:00PM-09:00PM | 35-225 |
Lectures the second week will cover a variety of technical topics such winter overnight camping (gear + food), ice climbing, backcountry skiing, avalanches, weather, & mountaineering. The third and fourth week will feature guest lecturers (TBA) that specialize in winter-related activities, academics, and/or outdoors adventures.