The Big One

By

Hello Beautiful People!

This is the big email. You want information? I gotchu.
...
I think
...
Yeah I think I have the information, it's right over...

AH! There it is, okay, so:

This is the outdoors club! Hello! What do we do? Well, we do most things outdoors! Hiking, backpacking, camping, climbing, caving, kayaking, mountain biking, XC skiing, trailrunning, bikepacking? Paddleboarding? SKY DIVING???

We haven't done the question mark ones in a while if at all, but we have officers who are interested in these fields and looking into the feasibility of making these new trips!

Now, what does a 'trip' mean exactly? It can mean so so much. The one and only trip I've been on was a day trip down to lost crag for outdoors climbing in Late February. It was cold, I butchered my fingers, and I hope dearly that we offer that trip again. Other trips can be full weekend trips, we offer a few week-long trips and we are aiming to have a ton of mini-trips this year: trips where we dip out for a morning, meet up at Frick Fine Arts, walk around. Keep it lowkey, keep it accessible (thank you anonymous person for that suggestion, the officers loved it).

Of course, you are now itching to get on one of these trips, of course you are! Everyone is. The biggest limiting factor for lots of these is going to be transport. For this reason, extremely popular trips may be competitive, but don't be dissuaded, you will go on trips if you want to. The best way of ensuring this is showing up to the meetings, we want to put faces to names, we want to meet you guys and we want to provide information to you straight to your lovely faces! The first meeting is THIS Tuesday, September 7th (AKA TOMORROW) at 9 PM, outside WPU. We will be covering info on trip sign-ups, including sign ups for some of the early trips. However, to attend on trips, you need to be an official member. We will go over the process of joining at the meeting, but the biggest piece of info you need to know is to bring money for dues.

$20 (cash) to join the outdoors club, and we will make sure that that fee is a fraction of the actual cost of items you will be attending. Pretty much without fail, those $20 will pay for themselves after one trip. I paid dues the one year I only went on one trip, and it was worth every penny. We're also looking into using some of that $20 to bulk buy MERCH- you heard it here first people! We're looking into it. Frantically. So dues really are an investment because you'll be hearing about top-notch PODC merch coming out soon. (Probably t-shirts and maybe some small stuff, like carabiners, and we may offer hoodies/water bottles/other stuff at a small extra fee! We're running the numbers, y'all. It's gonna be great.) Bring the $20 to the first meeting or arrange to meet with an officer to pay dues and we'll get it where it's going! 

Side note - PODC is our new acronym! We didn't feel that the acronym "POC" should be used for the club. Wasn't the best choice. so PODC = Pitt OutDoors Club. Got it? Good. Great.

We will also be vetting people for vaccination. Many would not be comfortable going on a weekend trip with someone unvaccinated and we want to respect people's wishes and it adds a whole nother level of difficulty into trip logistics and safety if those on trips are all vaccinated. Only fully vaccinated members will be allowed to go on trips. If you can bring vaccination cards when you sign up, that will streamline the process. If you are unvaccinated, we would love to open a discussion with you to ensure we are representing you well. We understand that there are reasons people aren't getting vaccinated, we just want to make this as inclusive a place as possible, which includes making people feel safe. So please reach out (especially to the President, Kira) if you have concerns! And unvaccinated folx can still come to local events and such, although we prefer if you mask up, but for big trips where you're getting in other people's cars and sharing tight spaces- gotta be fully vaxxed. 

The first trip is to Ohiopyle, (9/17-9/19) this will be mainly led by Lupin Conway (contact info provided later), but Lupin is being assisted by Kira Klein, Gus Spencer, and Jason Graham (again contact info below). This trip is a weekend trip to Ohiopyle state park which will include hiking and outdoor climbing. Multiple cars will be traveling to and from at varying times. The longest trip will be leaving Friday afternoon, arriving that evening, and leaving Ohiopyle on Sunday evening. Other cars will be traveling out Saturday, coming home earlier on Sunday. We will work with everyone to facilitate your needs. We are looking for drivers for Ohiopyle - you WILL get reimbursed for gas - so let us know at the signup if you can supply a car and/or drive for the trip!

Please join the groupme: REDACTED (top secret, join the email list for the link!)
We also have interest-specific groupmes, just reach out to the chairs to get added to those!
Our instagram: @pittoutdoorsclub

Last but not least, our officers:

Kira Klein, President, Social Media Manager

kmk224 "at" pitt.edu
Manages @pittoutdoorsclub on insta


Jason Graham, Vice President

jag320 "at" pitt.edu


Kellen Zemanski, Vice President
kez29 "at" pitt.edu

Evan Weaver, Business Manager
elw90 "at" pitt.edu

Aidan Bell (ME!), Secretary
atb50 "at" pitt.edu
(two-six-seven)-245-4318 (I'll prolly reply faster to phone)

Alex Wang, Gear Master
alex.wang "at" pitt.edu
IG: alexwng

Lupin Conway, Climbing Chair
aec115 "at" pitt.edu
For emergencies/quick responses: (four-one-two)-430-2619

Gus Spencer, Climbing Chair
acs195 "at" pitt.edu

Jackie Matson, Hiking Chair
jmf66 "at" pitt.edu
(six-zero-nine)-977-4985

Emma Horning, Hiking Chair
emma.horning "at" pitt.edu
(four-one-zero)-507-3089

Roey Beniluz, Hiking Chair
rdb51 "at" pitt.edu

Faith Ruck, Hiking Chair
fmr4 "at" pitt.edu

Kira Stathis, Caving Chair
kms365 "at" pitt.edu

Misha Barth, Biking Chair
mjb299 "at" pitt.edu

Thank you so much for making it this far through the email, this one was gruelling I know, please review the information and swing by our first meeting tomorrow!!

If you have any lingering questions that just can't wait, please contact me,

May the outdoors nymphs and wood elves be with you,
Aidan Bell
Outdoors Club Secretary

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