Ohio University Outdoor Pursuits, located in Ping Recreation Center, offers a variety of activities for students to enjoy. Such activities include the rock climbing wall located in the center of Ping, the high and low ropes course at The Ridges, New Adventures trips, equipment rentals and skills clinics.
Carolyn Vieland, the challenge program and climbing wall graduate assistant, said Outdoor Pursuits was founded by Tom Tesar and Steve Sammons, who are no longer with the program. It was founded in order to provide students “quality, inclusive recreation experiences designed to positively impact the intellectual and personal development of OHIO students and the vitality of the OHIO community.”
Outdoor Pursuits started to build on that mission statement by offering New Adventures Boundary Waters trip in 1998. That was the first New Adventures trip in the New Adventures program. Today, the New Adventures trips include one trip to Boundary Waters in Minnesota and one to Long Trail in Vermont.
“There have been other versions of it in the past, but the boundary waters one is the one that is long-standing and then from that, other programs have developed,” Vieland said.
Vieland said participants in the New Adventures trips tend to go because they want to make new friends, a friend signed up, or they want to challenge themselves.
“The New Adventures one is a really good opportunity for students to meet other students coming into the university, so a lot of the time, that trip creates really strong bonds between people because it’s a longer trip, and you’re out in the wilderness so you really get to know the people you’re in that group with,” she said. “So people come out of it with friends right from the start of the year, which is really cool. It’s really powerful to have those friends throughout the whole time that you’re in school.”
Lou Duloisy, a senior studying environmental biology and outdoor recreation and education, got involved in Outdoor Pursuits when she went on her first New Adventures trip as an incoming freshman.
“The first time I was a participant, we went to the boundary waters in Minnesota,” Duloisy said. “At that point, I had little to no backcountry experience, so that was a completely new experience for me.
Duloisy said because of her fantastic experience on that trip, she applied for a job there and now leads the New Adventure trips.
“I’m still friends with everyone from the trip three years ago,” she said, “That was, for me, the most positive outcome.”
Jane Dresing, an undecided freshman, also went on a New Adventures trip because of a postcard she received in the mail.
“Going on this trip helped me adjust to life at OU well, and made me realize how capable I am of anything if I set my mind to it,” she said in an email. “No matter how hard the climb up or down is, I will always reach my end point eventually.”
In addition to the New Adventures trips, Adventure trips to Virginia, Florida and Kentucky are offered, as well as trips around southeastern Ohio, including to Hocking Hills State Park and various other locations around Athens. If venturing outside of Athens seems daunting, Outdoor Pursuits offers bouldering, stand-up paddleboarding, and canoeing.
From fall of 2017 running to spring of 2018, there were 447 participants for the various trips offered by Outdoor Pursuits. Outdoor Pursuits also offers the Challenge Program at The Ridges, which includes the zipline and high ropes course and the team building low course initiative program.
“Just this fall we had 1,751 people just within a couple of months,” Vieland said. “So, we have a lot of people participating in that part of Outdoor Pursuits.”
Whether students want to go on a New Adventures trip or just want to climb the rock wall — Vieland, Duloisy and Dresing all recommend stopping by the rock wall in Ping to check out each of the programs offered by Outdoor Pursuits.
