So you’ve been to the pub and given some random person some money to join the club, what now?

This page aims to answer some questions about our weekly meets...

What is a meet!

Meets are what the club is all about; the club gets us to a location, you are then free to quench your outdoor thirst (be that walk, climb, ski, snowboard, surf, bike, go to the pub, whatever).

Meets take place most weekends during term time (in the holidays; you’re in charge - get onto our Facebook page to arrange getting out and about!)

Meets can be either day meets or full-weekend meets. See the meets list to check out where we are going and when.

Getting to/returning from the hill

Day meets can be held on Saturday or Sunday leaving at 7am and returning, approximately, 9pm.

Weekend meets leave on Friday at 6pm and return Sunday, very approximately, at 9pm.

What to pack

Check out the kit list for all the gear you’ll need.

On top of that/some little reminders:

For weekend meets; you will need plenty of evening clothing as the huts are not hotels (assume everything you wear during the day might get soaking wet and that the hut will be cold and bring enough spare clothes!). 

For day meets; you will require lunch and maybe something for the evening. Weekend meets; you’ll need two breakfasts, two lunches and one dinner (Saturday). We sometimes have communal meals (keep an eye open on the Facebook page). We will typically stop at a chip shop for food somewhere on the way on the Friday evening.

The buses sometime have auxiliary audio ports for mp3 devices, sometimes it’s just CDs; bring something along for the journey as a lot of the time we don’t get any radio signal.

Activities

As we keep going on about - on a trip you are responsible for yourself. Here are a few things to have a think about regarding on-meet-activities:

• You can do any activity you like on a trip as long as you are not alone. Things that have been done in the past include walking, climbing, running, skiing, ski-mountaineering, snowboarding, biking, surfing, windsurfing, paragliding, slacklining, shopping, sight-seeing, coffee drinking etc. etc.
• If you are alone you just need to find at least one other person who wishes to do the same activity as you.
• Members with more experience will be happy to share their knowledge if you are unsure e.g. about route choice.
• When choosing your activities make sure you are:
• • not interfering with someone's plans (climbing is considerably slower with 3 as opposed to 2 for example)
  • physically capable of doing what is planned and have sufficient experience
  • properly equipped to do the activity (e.g. if you have forgotten your helmet maybe you should leave the climbing for another day. If it's winter and you don't have an ice axe and crampons with you, staying lower down below the snowline is probably a good idea)
• DURC is one of the best places around to get into new activities however advancing in mountaineering is progressive; if you wish to winter climb, for example, it would be a good idea to be familiar with climbing and with winter walking before diving straight in.

Huts

We stay in mountain huts for our full-weekend meets; these are generally fairly basic but more luxurious than camping, especially in cold, wet or windy weather!

Hut facilities vary but are typically:

• Alpine bunks (raised flat area with or without mattresses) - sleeping bags always needed, camping mats sometimes needed
• Reasonably well-stocked kitchen - cooking facilities vary: minimum is a gas cooker, sometimes also a microwave, toaster and fridge
• Toilet - usually a normal flushing toilet (sometimes more rustic!)
• Running water - there's always a kitchen sink, often the water should be boiled for drinking. Occasionally water has to be carried from a nearby stream.
• Fire - typically open fire / coal fire / woodburning stove. Some huts also have gas / electric heaters.