Carnegie Mellon Explorer’s Club recruits new members for climbing

Rock climbing is hardly a mainstream sport, but like most alternative sports, there is a well-established community and culture among the participants. Carnegie Mellon is home to a small but developing group of climbers. Even within the small club, there is a diverse array of climbing interests and abilities.
The Carnegie Mellon Explorers Club organizes climbing expeditions ranging from trips to the gym to outdoor climbing to full-weekend trips to premier climbing spots on the East Coast. The current climbing chair, junior Ned Fox, an accomplished outdoor climber, leads most of the climbing trips.
Fox organizes trips in and around Pittsburgh. This semester, there has been a club-sponsored trip to The Climbing Wall, a local climbing gym. According to Fox, these trips are a way to generate interest among novice climbers before the season starts. It is also a way for the advanced climbers to stay in shape between more intense trips.
Fox’s goal this spring is to develop a larger base of climbers by recruiting more students by advertising more and giving notice of trips well in advance. Strong leadership and proper preparation are two key ingredients to success that he plans on implementing this semester.
The Explorers Club hopes to raise the amount of interest in climbing among Carnegie Mellon students so that more elaborate trips will be possible. During the fall semester, Fox co-led a two-night trip to the Red River Gorge. “The Red,” as it is commonly called, is one of the largest and most dramatic climbing sites on the East Coast. The trip consisted of camping out and climbing during the day.
Tentative upcoming trips, which usually last a full day, include day trips to McConnell’s Mill, a popular beginners climbing destination and also to Cooper’s Rocks, another climbing spot two hours from campus.
For more information about the Explorers Club, visit www.cmuexplorers.org/explorers.