The sign reads, “John Young Trail: no beginners.”

Ten Syracuse University Outing Club members, many of whom had never cross-country skied before, discuss the sign. Despite the warning, they bravely agree to push forward.

“If I die, guys, the car keys are in my pocket,” said Allie Burhans, president of SUOC, jokingly.

Burhans, shadowed by Laura Sowalskie, the public relations representative for the club, led outdoors enthusiasts to Barnes Corners for a day of skiing, bonding and a lot of falling. The trip was one of 11 trips the outdoors club went on last week. It hosts a similar number of trips every week, each available to its more than 100 active members.

The cross-country ski trail starts flat, but it isn’t long before the skiers approach a steep incline. One by one, with skis wedged into the snow, tips flaring out to the sides, they silently scale the hill. A few slip, but most reach the top unscathed.

The descent is a different story.

After a few peaceful minutes of level terrain, the skiers reach the first significant decline. Burhans leads and makes it down safely, followed by two more successful skiers. But the next few to breach the edge of the hill aren’t as lucky.

Three skiers fall, one after the other. Onlookers laugh and cheer from a distance, encouraging the fallen to get back up. By the end of the trip, all 10 SUOC members would meet similar fates.

“Gear doesn’t look right if it’s not all scratched up,” said Nate Roser, a caving leader for SUOC. “The same goes for people.”

Back on campus, the gear hanging from the walls of the equipment room – known as the E-room – in the basement of Skybarn exemplifies the all-or-nothing attitude Roser and other members share.

The walls are lined with memorabilia from past trips. To the right are the canoes, dented and scratched from years of use. To the left are some worn-out couches. In a back room hang skis and boots old enough to have belonged to some members’ grandparents.

Across from the front door is a counter where more often than not, a trip leader waits to answer questions.

“What do you think about a contest to see who can build the best wigwam?” asked Joey O’Reilly, a sophomore at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

O’Reilly is one of the students responsible for planning SUOC social events. Though leaders don’t often deal with these questions, O’Reilly was excited about the idea and wanted to get some feedback. Burhans, who answers various questions such as ones about rental guidelines and SUOC parties, fully supported of the idea.

Whether camping out under the stars or hiking to the nearest diner, SUOC members seem to stick together. It was no different on the group’s cross-country ski trip to the trails at Tug Hill Plateau.

The trek began just before noon. The snow, falling steadily through the trees, stuck to group member Sowalskie’s wool hat as she quickly coached a few students on the basics of balance. Shortly after, the skiers formed a single-file line behind Burhans, whose bright pink hat made her an easy beacon to follow.

A couple of miles later, the skiers recounted memories from past trips as they glided to a stop at the ledge of a roughly 700-foot-wide gorge. For these skiers, there was one primary reason for an outing club: respect for the great outdoors.

“When people think of New York, they think of New York City. But that’s wrong. This is it,” Sowalskie said, pointing toward an ice wall forming across the gorge. “Central New York is the real New York.”

Seldom does everything go as planned, said Joe Sullivan, a junior at ESF. His second ski pole went missing sometime between loading the cars back at SU and unloading them at Barnes Corners.

With broken and sometimes missing gear, leading a trip often calls for improvisation. Before embarking on the slippery trails, Sullivan waded knee-deep in the snow, looking for a replacement to his missing ski pole. He finally deemed a shoulder-high branch worthy of the job.

But after four miles, and just as many hours, Sullivan said he regretted dragging the stick along.

“It was so much easier skiing with one pole,” he said. “I should have ditched the twig miles ago.”

At the end of the trip, when all skiers were accounted for, the group members surveyed their equipment for damage. Two ski poles were snapped in half and two were bent beyond recognition.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a trip with so much broken gear,” said Burhans. “But not to worry, we’ll just add it to the trophy.”

The trophy is a SUOC tradition in which members of a trip present their damaged gear to the rest of the club.

To its members, SUOC is far more than an afterschool club. For many of them, it is their main social group. They often spend their weekends together. In a week, more than 20 members will drive to West Virginia to spend Spring Break in caves, on boulders and in rivers.

“Everything we do is outdoors,” Roser said. “You wake up, maybe hike, then eat, go caving, eat again, drink, sleep and do it again the next day.”

Published on February 26, 2013 at 1:07 am

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino