Outing Club

Outing Club. Except for a year during World War II, the Princeton Outing Club has been in continuous existence since 1941. With a donated cabin in Vermont and a vehicle purchased with annual dues, the Club's original raison d'�tre was to promote skiing. In fact it began as a ski club and was a member of the Eastern Ski Association. More recently its program has broadened ``to facilitate and promote the participation in and enjoyment of outdoor activities.''

Since its inception, the Outing Club (and for a brief period of time a spin-off Mountaineering Club) has specialized in outdoor activities: climbing, deep sea fishing, skiing, canoeing, hiking and cruising. For a fifteen-year period (until the early sixties) it was the second largest organization on campus with 125 members. In the mid-1970s it experienced a revival, partly due to the influence of a more recent development, the Outdoor Action program.

Under the aegis of the dean of student affairs office, Outdoor Action began in 1973. So far, over 1,000 students, staff, and faculty have participated in its programs. Essentially, it is a student-staffed and operated program designed to enable diverse members of the university community to share experiences in the outdoors. As in the case of Outward Bound, its groups became involved in canoeing, hiking, backpacking, climbing, caving, and orienteering. Most of the trips are taken in the Delaware Water Gap or in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. It is increasingly being used as a teaching resource by academic departments.

John Andrew Brown

From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).