Dartmouth Outing Club

The Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) is the oldest and largest collegiate outing club in the United States. Proposed in 1909 by Dartmouth College student Fred Harris to "stimulate interest in out-of-door winter sports", the club soon grew to encompass the College's year-round outdoor recreation and has had a major role in defining Dartmouth College.

Today the club has over 1500 student members (and almost as many non-student members) and acts as an umbrella organization for about a dozen member clubs which each specialize in an aspect of outdoor recreation. The DOC and its member clubs are student-run clubs for students, but many alums, faculty, staff, and community members participate in and contribute to the clubs. Anyone can become a member and non-members can participate in most activities.

Fred Harris, a member of the Dartmouth College class of 1911, proposed in 1909 an outing club which would stimulate outdoor interest during the cold, winter months through skiing and snowshoeing. The club's first "formal" meeting took place on December 14, 1909 in the South Fayerweather dormitory. In 1910, a "Field Day" was established, which was a simple gathering time for groups to participate in outdoor activities. By 1911, the club had decided to enhance the Field Day by inviting women, holding further social festivities, and renaming it the "Winter Carnival", an event which has been carried out every year since, excepting 1918 (due to lack of coal and wood).

Outing Club membership increased steadily, until by 1920, two-thirds of the student body were members. In February of that year, Fred Harris wrote an article in National Geographic Magazine entitled "Skiing over the New Hampshire Hills" primarily about the Dartmouth Outing Club. The spring after this article was published, the number of applicants to the College increased from 825 to 2625, forcing the College to become selective in admission for the first time.

In 1929, the Club built the Dartmouth Outing Club House on Occom Pond in Hanover. 1935 saw the introduction of Freshman Trips to encourage participation in the Club, a tradition which is now among the largest pre-orientation programs in the country. By 1956, the Dartmouth Skiway was built at Holt's Ledge, replacing Oak Hill as the primary downhill skiing facility for the College. That same year, President Eisenhower joined the DOC.

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