While many students’ spring break packing lists included sunscreen and bathing suits, some stocked up on heavy wool mittens, sweaters and other cold-weather gear. Those students would be the participants in the Kinesiology Department’s annual Spring Break Winter Camping trip, which offers a way to experience the “great outdoors” and test survival abilities in extreme conditions.
For instructor Randy Drake and co-leader Tim Ramsey, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, this trip was a recreational and educational culmination of the one-credit Winter Camping course. Drake has been involved with Winter Camping at the College since 1996 and took over as head instructor in the late 1990s.
The leaders and a group of about twenty Kinesiology students braved a 13-hour bus ride to Camp Huntington in Cortland, New York (about an hour south of Syracuse), for their Winter Camping experience. Camp Huntington is part of State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland’s Outdoor Education Curriculum. The facility includes a challenge course with both high and low ropes courses, a rock climbing wall, a repelling tower, hiking trails and water activities on Raquette Lake.
“We spent the week of spring break…cross country skiing, climbing a mountain on snowshoes, constructing and sleeping in snow shelters (“quincies”) and jumping into the frozen lake via a hole in the ice which the director of the camp had cut specifically for us (polar bearing),” said camper Sarah Fowkes (’08). The group also participated in a 24-hour winter camping experience during which they “cooked out, stayed in wooden, three-walled lean-tos and… [took] advantage of the winter environment.”
As the long waitlists for courses like Yoga and Adventure Games in the Kinesiology Department often bar interested students, students like Fowkes choose Winter Camping as an alternative for needed credits. “I would recommend the experience to anyone, even those weary of the elements,” she said. “I'm definitely not the most outdoor-oriented person, and I think I faired pretty well.”
According to Drake, this trip is designed to be “primarily instructional in nature, so the students show up with expectations of learning a particular skill set… and means of thriving in a cold, snowy, icy environment.” However, he also sees an increase in students’ opinion of the great outdoors. “They have learned to respect and appreciate what can be simultaneously a challenging, beautiful, remote, unforgiving and fun setting,” he said.
Not every part of the experience was enjoyable, though the less pleasant parts were few and far between. “I will admit that there were times that were just plain miserable, [like] slushing across a semi-frozen lake in cross country skis and getting our feet soaked,” said Fowkes.
Overall, a sense of accomplishment, companionship and adventure seem to be the lasting feelings from the trip. “My favorite part of the trip was climbing Blue Mountain on snowshoes…the feeling when you got to the top was as if you just did the impossible in conquering that mountain, and it was an amazing feeling,” Fowkes said. “I also really enjoyed just hanging out with the other students on the trip… it was a great opportunity to get to know some really cool people that I would never have met otherwise.”