“Northwood’s Outing Club is about more than just giving students great opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. More importantly, the program provides experience with new cultures and ways of looking at the world,” says program Director, Bobby O’Connor who just returned from leading students on a rock-climbing expedition in Red Rocks, Nevada, and is now preparing for the program’s spring expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 19,341 ft.
Northwood School’s Outing Club, informally known as NOC, has provided generations of Northwood students introduction to outdoor recreation opportunities they likely would have never been exposed to. For many, the experiences have been transformational, and have, in the words of assistant instructor, Don Mellor '71, produced “changed adults” who have developed a lifelong passion for the outdoors. And, due to the school’s location in the Adirondack’s, some of the finest canoeing, kayaking, backcountry skiing and mountaineering occurs just minutes from campus. Importantly, NOC is not just an additional faculty duty. Bobby’s resume includes a Master’s in Adventure Sports Coaching/Expeditionary Studies, and expeditions throughout mountainous regions of the United States, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Tanzania. Don Mellor is a 40-year Northwood faculty member, graduate of the Class of '71, and legendary rock climbing guide whose experiences are well documented in the many best-selling climbing guides he's authored. In addition to providing the school with exceptional programming, Northwood’s NOC offers the greater Lake Placid community with lecture series which include presenters such as famed climber Chris Davenport, a Red Bull-sponsored athlete and internationally renowned big mountain skier.