Summer classes are not always full of the “Baywatch” oriented beach fun the name implies.
With advanced research labs and hospitals, dedicated teaching staff and abundance of college departments available to summer students, the U is more easily likened to a scholastic beehive than a tropical oasis.
But the Utes are not all work and no play. With hot summer days wearing people down, even the hardest-working student can squeeze in some fun between summer sessions of chemistry and calculus.
Founded in 1976 as a student club called the Ute Alpine Club, the Outdoor Recreation Program may be the answer to the summer dilemmas of some U students. A part of Campus Recreation Services, the program offers cooperative adventure trips, equipment rental, books, maps, videos and anything in between.
“[The program] gives students a way to connect to the U beyond math class. If all [students] do is academics, they miss the social interaction. They miss the glue that holds their college experience together,” said Rob Jones, manager of the program.
The program, which is the outdoor excursion center for the U, provides students, faculty, staff and alumni who have purchased a Campus Recreation membership the opportunity to participate in all types of outdoor adventure activities, including backpacking, river running, canoeing, mountain biking and skiing.
The program also offers “how to” clinics and workshops for a variety of outdoor skills and activities. They are designed to introduce participants to new outdoor activities, and stress basic skills, safety and environment awareness.
Each year many events, speakers and presentations are scheduled to provide information and entertainment for those involved.
Presentations have included the annual Banff Festival of Mountain Films, and slide shows from climber Lynn Hill, mountaineer Reinhold Messner and Utah local, Conrad Anker.
“In about 1979, the U realized that students were acquiring fair amounts of equipment and doing crazy outdoor trips,” Jones said. “Then [the U] decided to make it a part of the Campus Recreation Services with professional management.”
The program is geared toward students who may be curious about the abundance of outdoor activities native to Utah.
“The reason we are here is to help students and faculty to enjoy everything Utah has to offer,” Jones said. “People in Utah are so lucky. We have every imaginable outdoor environment to explore-some of the best of everything.”
U students seem to agree.
Will Harris, a U sophomore who recently went on an Outdoor Recreation kayaking expedition to Utah’s Green River, says the program is invaluable to U students who want to get outdoors and active.
“Going down the river was really cool,” Harris said. “It was great to be able to do something like that and have it be organized by the school.”
Harris also said the center is a great place to get ideas to cure summer boredom.
“There is so much to do, so many activities to choose from,” he said. “You can rent your gear, get advice and get out of there.”
Matt Aune, a U senior, agrees with Harris the program is an asset, and goes further to say its existence is a necessity.
“Utah doesn’t have much else to offer except for outdoor life,” Aune said.
Aune also said the program is vital to incoming Utahns who may not be familiar with the landscape, though it needs to exert more effort into advertising its existence.
“For people who have never been to Utah, it’s really important to have [the Outdoor Recreation Center] around,” he said. “But I think it needs to be advertised much better.”
Ballooning interest in the program is not a recent phenomenon, according to Jones.
“In the almost 13 years I’ve been here, we’ve seen the program quadruple in size in terms of the number of students using it. There are 10,000 students a year [using the program] in all services, rentals [and] trips,” Jones said.
Some of the most exciting excursions offered by the program are the Cooperative Adventure trips. There is no paid guide and the costs are shared equally by all participants. All group planning, leadership and risks are shared by all participants equally.
“The student that participates will get out of it what they put in. [Students should] contribute to a safe learning environment, keep the participants safe and create an environment that’s fun,” Jones said.
Some of the trips coming up include paragliding, canyon rafting, backpacking, hiking and camping. The Snake River rafting trip is taking place the weekend of June 27-29. The participants will raft down the Alpine section of the Snake River. In August, participants will be camping and hiking through the Great Basin National Park. They will climb the Wheeler Peak and explore the Lehman Caves. Both of the trips include food, transportation and equipment for $75 per person.
One of the interesting byproducts of these adventure trips is the possibility of educating students about preserving Utah’s nature.
“If people go out and see how wonderful it is in the mountains, they’ll want to protect it,” Jones said. “[The program tries] to help instill in people ownership of public lands so that they will want to preserve it for their children and grandchildren.”
Jones says he hopes the program “helps students develop skills they can carry during their lifetime.” Through these adventures, the program also hopes to give students a sense of community, where they will become friends with the people they WUotemeet and maintain the bond throughout their college experience.
The program is looking for students, faculty and staff who are interested in working with their programs as volunteer trip coordinators.
Those interested can contact the center at 581-8516.