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Who We Are

We are a group of Cornell and Ithaca outdoors enthusiasts who believe that our public spaces are too precious a resource to be exploited for profit. We share our knowledge and lead trips together with others who are themselves committed to sharing the outdoors -- rather than selling it.

We are the Free Outing Club for the Cornell / Ithaca area.

What We Do

Simply put, we explore together, sharing costs, sharing skills, and sometimes sharing gear. We climb, backpack, ski, explore waterfalls, sleep under the stars, tie knots, attack ice with axes, and otherwise find ways of reaching the most unexpected nooks in the most interesting ways -- all while taking care with our steps to preserve these spots for the next adventurer. We expect that those who join us echo our core values and promotion of outdoors exploration by sharing, rather than commercial exploitation.

Our History

Some of us were formerly the more active trip leaders within the Cornell Outing Club. A takeover of that club by members of and apologists for Cornell's commercial guide service, "Cornell Outdoor Education", left that club with a leadership who do not actually lead trips, preferring instead to redefine that club's role as a semi-colonial appendage of the business enterprise.

Under these circumstances, we chose to disassociate and continue to share our love of outdoor adventure under a banner that highlights our commitment to noncommercial exploration of the outdoors, and to consideration for the ethics of outdoors exploration that we consider a part of our shared stewardship responsibilities.

We continue a century of distinguished Outing Club history at Cornell, carrying on the original banner of Outing Clubs in sharing, rather than selling the outdoors.

Our Activism

Outing clubs, and the philosophy that they represent, have been under attack for years through the growth of industrial outdoors tourism, sold through both commercial guide services and their new "non-profit" commercial cousin, the university enterprise unit. On these pages are not just our adventures, but also a repository of historical information on the continued assaults against the tradition of outing clubbing as the outdoors is increasingly monetized.

We welcome dialogue from other outing clubs, and can provide resources on this wiki to outing clubs finding themselves under attack.

Our legacy is a century of shared outdoor exploration at Cornell -- our future is its preservation!