Sign-up will open Friday, January 24th at 4pm.

What: A combined Outing/Mountaineering trip to go ice climbing and cross-country skiing!

Who: 2 leaders, 4 Mountaineering members, 4 Outing members (10 people total). No experience necessary! Please let the leaders know if you have a car we could use! 

Where: Winona, MN. We’ll be climbing at the Winona Ice Park, with gear and instruction provided! This is a man-made ice park with incredible access and even some mixed routes! All climbing will be on top-rope with professional instruction on ice climbing technique. We’ll also be cross-country skiing around the 15 km network at Saint Mary’s University. We’ll be staying overnight in a super cool (heated!) yurt!

When: Saturday: Drive over from Madison, go ice climbing, hang out at the yurt. Sunday: Go cross-country skiing, pack up and drive home. (If you don't get a spot here, have no fear! There is another trip the previous weekend, with 3 spots for Mountaineering members.)

Why: Don’t deny it, you’ve always been curious to try ice climbing. And cross-country skiing is an awesome Winter sport too. You’ll get to hang out with some cool people from another Hoofer club. And we’re staying in a YURT!

Cost: $60-70 (depends on transportation). This is a great deal in part due to a generous Hoofer Council Grant. Cost includes transportation, lodging, ice climbing gear rental and instruction. The ice climbing itself usually costs $60 per person, so think of this as an amazing $teal! The Outing club will have cross-country skis for everyone to use. Food is not included. Pack yourself some lunch and snacks for both days. We’ll go somewhere in town for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast (although you are welcome to pack your own food for these as well).

We recognize that this amount of money can be prohibitive to some individuals, especially on college budgets. If you have concerns about this, please reach out to the leaders, or apply directly to the Hoofer Ambassador Grants here: https://www.hoofers.org/hoofer-grants. We want everyone to enjoy the outdoors unimpeded by financial strain if possible!