Students who enjoy the outdoors might find their niche at the Outing Centre.

The center, located behind the Student Recreation Center, offers activities such as rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, spelunking, mountain hiking and backpacking.

These activities aren’t only for the experienced outdoorsmen, however.

“These trips are for everyone,” said Karen Rosenbloom, a senior art education major. “Whether they have gone before or not, experienced or inexperienced, we try to keep them at a moderate level,” she said.

If someone experienced participates in one of the center’s activities, the center will try to accommodate him or her.

“There are modifications for people who are experienced; they can do some of the harder tasks that the inexperienced can’t do,” Rosenbloom said.

Joel Brown, a freshman undecided major who is a trip leader for the Outing Centre, said that while students don’t need to have experience in the various activities, the team leaders do, in order to teach the skills to others.

“All of our trip leaders have come from pretty good leadership and outdoor skills,” said Tim Faust, a graduate assistant at the Outing Centre. “By the end of the trip, the trip leader is sitting back and seeing how successful they did teaching the people how to do their own thing.”

The center does research to see what type of trips would be most popular among students.

The Outing Centre handed out surveys at the beginning of the fall semester, and the results showed that, in addition to rock climbing – which is the most popular activity at the center – students enjoy canoeing and camping, Faust said. The Outing Centre plans to schedule more camping and canoeing trips for the spring.

Students interested in the center’s extended trips must attend a meeting about the trip before signing up.

“We don’t want someone to pay for it and then find out that they don’t want to spend a week camping outside,” Faust said.

To find out more about the Outing Centre and its activities, visit the center or go to www.outingcentre.niu.edu.