Gear Rooms and Other Bits | ODC Newsletter 2/4/24

Yoo-hoo,

Good evening ODC! Y’all ready for another week of tramping around in the woods? I know I am. Keeping this intro short and sweet so you can sink your teeth into this juicy email. Toodaloo!

Bon appetit,

Sarah

 

NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Gear Time Change

• Renee’s Friday gear room will now be at 10am!

We Have A Foraging Advisor!

• We are tickled merry to introduce Brian Alewine as ODC’s first ever FORAGING ADVISOR!!!! That’s right, folks…instead of watch out, world, now we’re gonna watch WITH the world as we pillate and chillate through the wonders this natural world has to offer!!!! Stay tuned for foraging related trips n shenanigans coming this spring. 

Officer Meeting Notes

• Linked here are the notes from this week’s officer meeting.

 

OLD (BUT STILL IMPORTANT) ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Incident Reporting Form

• Anything wild or crazy happened on your trips recently, but not in a good way? Fill out this form to let the officers know about incidents or near misses on your ODC trips. Incidents can include but are not limited to: major injuries, extreme/ dangerous weather, or getting lost. We’ll keep it for our records/learning and follow-up if necessary!
• Here’s the template.

Prevent/Address Trip Incidents with this Cheatsheet!

• Check out this swanky new guide, aptly entitled “Incident Reporting Form Cheatsheet,” to a how-to on handling common incidents in the woods, and make sure you’re prepared for your next trip!

Ooh La La… Donations!

• Did you know that you or your parents who want to know what you’ve been up to at UVA or your grandparents who were around when backpacking was invented can DONATE to ODC at any time ?? Donate here!

Gear Requests!!!!!

• Tell us what you want the gear room to buy by filling out this form!

Trip Leader Emails

• If you are a trip leader and have NOT been getting emails from us (about TL potlucks, TL updates) – please request to join the trip leader list serv with this link! We want to keep you in the loop!

As Always, BRING BACK YOUR GEAR!

• Did you borrow something and forget to bring it back? Well, here’s your friendly reminder to return your club gear to a gear room or email the officers (outdoors-officers@virginia.edu) to schedule a return time.

WOOOAAAHHH ODC Member DISCOUNTS?!

• You read it right! Anyone who is a member of this lovely club can now get 10% off at High Tor Gear Exchange & Endeavor Cycles here in Charlottesville!
• Super cool mountain-wear brand HIMALI has reached out to us with a sick discount code for 40% off all their stuff!! Check them out and use code UVASendIt40.

Are YOU in the GroupMe?

• Join it here!

 

 

GEAR RESOURCES AND POLICY

This Week’s Gear Room Schedule:

Monday @ 10am — Max (617-780-1129)
Tuesday @ 5pm — Ed (434-326-8868)
Wednesday @ 1:30pm — Mitch (804-955-8990)
Thursday @ 4pm — Cam (703-488-8892)
Friday @ 10am — Renee (703-850-9725)

If none of these times work for you, please email the officers outdoors-officers@virginia.edu at least 24 hours in advance to schedule a separate time to be let into the gear room. Please only do this if you really can’t make the gear room times, not just because you don’t feel like it or didn’t plan ahead.

You can stop by the gear room to check out or return gear and be reimbursed at any of the times listed above! Officers remain at the gear room only for as long as people are checking in/out gear (usually about 20-25 minutes). You may also purchase ODC t-shirts, hoo rags, patches, stickers, and more at the gear room!

MISC. GEAR INFO:

• Before returning gear, refer to the GEAR CLEANING DOC!
  • If you return damaged, dirty, or incomplete gear, you will jeopardize your ability to check out gear in the future. It is your responsibility to return your gear in the condition you received it.
• Please refer to our reimbursement policy here.
• You can check our gear inventory here.
• Want to check out water sports gear or a mountain bike?
  • Please email the officers at outdoors-officers@virginia.edu. They are stored at separate locations. We ask that you give at least 24 hours notice.
• Gear is due one week from when it is checked out unless renewed by an officer at a gear room. Keeping gear past its due date is a UVA Honor Offense. Club trips have priority access to gear.

Directions to the Gear Room:

• Start at Echols Dorm → go right on McCormick → turn right on Alderman Rd → take a left on Leake Drive → walk to the end of the road (there are several buildings and parking on either side) → pass a picnic table on the right → keep going! → walk straight to the first big maintenance building directly ahead → walk behind the building on the left side (if it feels like you maybe shouldn’t be there, you’re in the right place) → walk up the stairs → End: knock on the door!
• Map to Gear Room

 

 

TRIP RESOURCES AND REMINDERS

Leading Trips:

To become a trip leader, thoroughly read the Trip Leader Manual (resources page of the website) and send the officers an email (outdoors-officers@virginia.edu) letting them you know you have done so. They will then activate you on the website! Alternatively, come to a Trip Leader Workshop, lead by the officers several times each semester and posted on the website.

As a reminder, climbing, caving, mountain biking, and whitewater trips have special rules to lead! To learn more about types of trips and to become an approved trip leader for the sports listed above, feel free to contact the club’s Sport Advisors (emails can soon!).

• Climbing:
  • Melu (alt7yjh@virginia.edu)
  • Abby (als6qm@virginia.edu)
• Caving
  • Renee (rle6juc@virginia.edu)
  • Aidan (ajw3ttr@virginia.edu)
• Biking
  • Max Titov (uhg2nv@virginia.edu)
• Hiking/Backpacking
  • Grace (gag4jaz@virginia.edu)
  • Ed (eba4ksx@virginia.edu)
• Water Sports
  • Mitch – All (mcl2hxw@virginia.edu)
    Marion – Kayaking & Rafting (mtd6tx@virginia.edu)
• Trail Running
  • Carson (mxz2fc@virginia.edu)
  • Grace (gag4jaz@virginia.edu)
• Foraging
  • Brian (rpt2fx@virginia.edu)

If you have questions about how to lead trips, refer to the Leading Trips pages under Resources on the club website.

Want to lead a trip for an under-represented group in the outdoors? Lead an Affinity Trip! See the link for details and guidelines.

Absences:

• Please be aware that if you are joined on a trip, and you do not show up, or you drop out at the last minute, you are depriving another member of a spot on that trip.
• No-shows and last-minute absences not only hurt trip attendance, but they also make logistics more complicated.
• If a member is reported for two absences, trip leaders are permitted to take this into account when moving people off wait lists.

Sexual Harassment and Equity Reporting:

• Outdoors at UVA is committed to providing a safe and welcoming space for everyone to enjoy the outdoors. If you feel you or another have experienced misconduct at the hands of another club member, please report it here. This is including but not limited to misconduct regarding sexuality (including sexual harassment), gender, race, ethnicity, ability, etc.
• Outdoors at UVA’s Sexual Misconduct policy can be found here. Our policy for harassment and discrimination is here.

 

 

ADVENTURE OF THE WEEK!!!

DOUBLE ADVENTURE OF THE WEEK ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE SKY

1. Cam and Brian’s Rock Snake Trip!

• From Brian: “I would like to submit some pictures of a trip that Cam and I led to paint some rocks and add them to the JPA rock snake. We found a place in one of the gardens to sit and we painted rocks, and then we went over to JPA and added them to the rock snake.”

2. Allie, Jack, and Lillie’s Paxton’s Cave Trip!

• From Allie: “Hey lovely outdoorsy people! Today a group of savvy cavers ventured into the depths of Paxtons to find the ghost of Floyd Collins. We wandered high and low, traversing through muddy climbs and belly crawling through boulders. We met some fellow cave dwellers (cute little Indiana bats having their winter nap) as well as beautiful cave formations! We were running out of time and right when we were about to turn around we caught the ghost out of the corner of our eye! We made it! Although it will be hard to top Lowmoor cave yesterday this trip was hella epic and everyone did so great! See you all caving soon!”

 

• How to be featured:
  • Each week we’ll feature a different adventure that happened within the previous 7 days. To be featured, send us (outdoors-officers@virginia.edu) a couple of pictures of you and your pals adventurin’ and a little blurb about what you did!
  • We’re stoked to see what y’all get up to, but PLEASE (please!) do not take pictures of people without their consent (and don’t submit them to us without their consent).
  • Try and submit pictures as .jpeg files if possible! (not .heic live photos!)

Who will be the next ADVENTURE OF THE WEEK???

 

 

ET CETERA.

Social Media:

FB: (https://www.facebook.com/groups/OutdoorsAtUVA/)

Insta: (https://www.instagram.com/uvaoutdoors/)

GroupMe: (https://groupme.com/join_group/68250538/0HmzE2tL)

 

Peace, Love, & Dirt,

Sarah and the Officers