MIT Outing Club

Camelot Bunkhouse Fundraising

A core part of the MITOC community, and in particular our access to the mountains, continues to be our well-loved "Camelot" cabin, located in central New Hampshire. As you may know, Camelot was built in the 1970s (on a shoestring budget), and it is nearing the end of its useful life. Since 2013, the Outing Club has been working to build new, safe and modern sleeping quarters on the Camelot property, which will ensure that MITOC can fulfill our mission for decades to come.

MITOC partnered with Maclay Architects to design a new bunkhouse for Camelot which will be located approximately 100m from the existing cabin. The new bunkhouse will contain five bedrooms (sleeping ten persons each), a large central hallway, and a covered deck. We anticipate the cost of the new bunkhouse to be approximately $500,000.

With the design now complete, we are actively seeking donations. If you are able, please consider donating to help us hit our fundraising target in 2025. We broke ground on site preparation in 2024, and fundraising permitting, we will complete the new bunkhouse in 2025. This project will ensure we can fulfill our mission for the next generation of MITOCers.

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Overview

2026 School of Rock

The MIT Outing Club regularly runs School of Rock, a program dedicated to getting climbers outside on real rock. SoR currently runs in two tracks, sport climbing and trad climbing. The sport track is for climbers to learn how to lead bolted sport climbs outside, and the trad track is for those who want to follow and lead trad (traditional gear protected) climbs. Both tracks focus on developing technical competencies and mentor-mentee relationships through a series of weeknight technical review sessions and weekend trips.

Open to MIT Outing Club members - join.

Article about School of Rock Fall 2021: https://news.mit.edu/2021/climbing-new-heights-school-of-rock-mit-outing-club-1208

Application

2026 applications are now live here!
We will give preference to MIT students, those that can commit to all (or most) weekends and TRSs (this is important as the skills build on each other), and our desire to create a diverse climbing community and climbing leader pipeline within MITOC.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept everyone that applies. We do our very best to accommodate as many folks as possible, but we typically receive 4-5x the number of applications as we have spots.
If you are accepted, you will need to have an active MITOC membership and to sign the MITOC trips waiver.

Important dates:

Application closes: Wednesday, April 29 @ 11:59pm
Responses of acceptance by: Tuesday May 5
Confirmation of participation and fees paid: Sunday May 10

2026 Schedule

Weekend trip dates are final, and will involve camping Saturday night. Each week there will be two local sessions on Tuesday/Thursday from 7-9pm - generally “Technical Review Sessions”, with a mix of classroom-style learning, hands-on practice, gym climbing, and social activities.

Week 1

Tues May 26: TRS, 7-9pm
Thurs May 28: TRS, 7-9pm
Weekend Trip: May 30 - 31

Week 2

Tues June 2: TRS, 7-9pm
Thurs June 4: TRS, 7-9pm
Weekend Trip: June 7-8

Week 3

Tues June 9: TRS, 7-9pm
Thurs June 11: TRS, 7-9pm
Weekend Trip: June 13-14

Week 4 (trad track only)

Weekend Trip to the Gunks: June 19-21 (Friday optional)

Week 5

Tuesday June 23: Trip reports / social, 7-9pm (optional)
Backup weekend for sport track: June 27-28
- For the sport track, this will be a full weekend of instruction only if we have to cancel 2+ days of climbing on previous weekends because of weather.

Cost

The cost of the program is $200, which includes:

Cabin / tent stays
Saturday dinners + Sunday breakfast for weekend trips
Group gear (ropes, quickdraws, cams, etc.)
School of Rock shirt

It not include transportation, required personal gear (helmet, shoes, harness, etc), or Gunks passes for trad participants. If the fee is prohibitive, please indicate it on your application. The program fees help cover the above costs. All leaders are volunteers and are not paid for their time.

Application FAQs

How should I decide which track to apply for?

Sport track: You’re looking to learn to climb on real rocks. You are comfortable top-rope belaying and climbing 5.9 in the gym, and might have started lead belaying or lead climbing. Participants in this track will gain the technical skills to safely choose, lead and clean sport routes independently.
Trad Track: you have been sport climbing outside for multiple seasons. You know how to lead climb and lead belay confidently. You are likely climbing outdoor sport routes in the 10s or harder. You will get the most out of this track if you have enough endurance to comfortably hang out on a 5.8 pitch for an extended time while placing gear. Participants in this track will gain the technical skills to safely choose, follow, and lead multipitch traditional routes independently.

In short, we encourage applications from folks of all levels of experience! We’re most interested in your stoke and building a wide community of climbers. If you have questions about which track better suits you, please reach out to the climbing chairs at climbing-chair@mit.edu.

What if I don’t have enough experience or just want to try rock climbing outside for the first time?

Come to a Circus! A circus is a weekend of hiking and climbing trips in New Hampshire. It’s a great way to meet fellow outdoorsy folks and check out the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We typically run these once a month, May through October. They will be announced on the main MITOC mailing lists at least two weeks in advance.

You can also keep an eye out for ad hoc climbing gym nights or outdoor trips run by climbing leaders on mitoc-trips.mit.edu, also usually announced on the mailing lists.

Disclaimer

Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport, and no amount of instruction or precaution can fully eliminate the associated risks. MITOC is not a guiding service, and this program will not be led by AMGA certified instructors. Mentors in this program are members of the MITOC community who are volunteering to share their experience and knowledge with the rest of the community.