Students looking for an active, outdoorsy weekend adventure were sure to find it at the annual Alpine Club Moab trip this past weekend.
For the past 10 years, Alpine Club has ventured to Moab, Utah—a tourist hot spot where the ultimate outdoor lover can visit one of two national parks, Canyonlands or Arches, and enjoy nature and the scenery. This year, they camped in a large group site right outside of the town and they hiked, climbed and biked in Arches National Park.
Alpine Club president Tess Santangelo, a junior biology and neuroscience major from Fort Collins, has enjoyed this trip since she became a member of Alpine Club her freshman year in 2010.
“Moab has been a tradition for Alpine for more than ten years. It allows students to camp, be together in an awesome location and either hike, rock climb or mountain bike,” said Santangelo.
The 24 students who went on the trip left Friday May 17 and returned Sunday. Alpine Club officers and members who were 21 were responsible for renting the trucks and gear to drive the six hours to Moab. Students were not required to have any gear themselves besides the essentials of clothes, snacks, hiking shoes and a bike if they wanted to mountain bike.
The trip, available to any student, cost $55 for Alpine Club members and $70 for non-members. Sign-ups for the trip were on May 8, according to Santangelo.
The $55 covers part of the food, gas, rentals and campsite reservations, but all the trips are subsidized by the school so students get the most reasonable price possible.
“Our trips are never run or organized with a goal to earn money, just to be able to provide the opportunity for students to get outside at the lowest price,” said Santangelo.
Moab is a tradition for Alpine Club; they go either spring or fall quarter and sometimes both, according to Santangelo.
“Moab is one of our most popular trips of the year,” said Santangelo. “I’ve been multiple times and it is so fun.”
Once they arrived in Moab, students set up camp for Friday night and on Saturday everyone chose whether to climb, hike or bike. Alpine Club provided tents, sleeping bags, ground pads, climbing gear, backpacks, helmets and cookware. Once they chose their activities, people divided up into their groups for the day’s activities.
“The trip is designed to allow anyone to be able to come whether you’re an experienced climber with all your own gear or have never tried it before,” said Santangelo.
Senior marketing major from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Hunter Swanson, has been on this Moab trip five times.
“Camping in gorgeous landscapes, world class mountain biking and hiking and lots of laughs and good conversations around the fire … as a senior this was my fifth and final Moab, and I couldn’t be happier with how it went,” said Swanson.
Alpine cooked dinner for everyone at the campsite Saturday night right outside of town after a dip in a nearby swimming hole to cool off.
Sunday, everyone either switched activities or experienced the same one at a new location.
After a full day of activities everyone packed up and headed back to Denver.
“To be able to camp and be in the national park and town all weekend with the people on the trip is so great. The weather is hot … and to be able to climb, hike and bike in the landscape then relax in a swimming hole or hammock afterwards is the best feeling,” said Santangelo.
Alpine Club is one of the larger student clubs on campus and they are constantly working on ways to expand.
“As such a large club, the officers and I are working on being more present on campus by offering students movies, talks and presentations from others in the outdoor and alpine industry,” said Santangelo.
Although Alpine Club’s trip list is coming to a close, they will have their annual volleyball tournament hosted with Club Volleyball on May 24 at 1 p.m. in Washington Park.
They are also already planning new trips for the fall.
“We are looking into an awesome list with backpacking, a multi sport in New Mexico, climbing, day hikes, a wilderness first aid course and Woodward indoor training facility at Copper,” said Santangelo.
