It’s a sunny winter’s day, and you’re out climbing with a group of fellow McGill outdoors enthusiasts at a regional park a few hours outside of Montreal. As you make your way higher, you realize that it would be pointless to look for the next rock to hold onto, because there is none; there’s only ice. So you raise your ice axe, your heart racing as you pull yourself up a once-rushing waterfall.
What are you doing here?
You managed to snag a coveted spot on one of the McGill Outdoors Club’s most popular daytrips: ice climbing.
“People are really stoked that they’re able to get out and go ice climbing,” said MOC’s president, Connor Kane-Devlin (BEd ’28). “We had over 200 applicants for last year’s trip.”
The club and a similar one at Macdonald Campus offer students gear rentals and outdoors trips at heavily discounted prices, giving them the opportunity to connect with nature year-round. Popular activities include hiking, camping and dog sledding. The clubs serve their respective campuses and have no formal connection with each other.
“Last year we ran a via ferrata, which is a little bit like climbing and hiking on cables on a cliff,” said Marguerite Deseau (B. Eng.’27), Finance Executive at the Macdonald McGill Outdoors Club (MacMOC). “That was a pretty cool trip!”
A community for everyone
For Kane-Devlin, central to MOC’s raison d’être is accessibility – and not just financial.
“The trips are really catered to beginners. Almost every trip that goes out is teaching students the basic skills for it,” he explained. “We know who our members are, and we try to serve them.”
While Kane-Devlin himself is from Montreal, much of the MOC’s membership is made up of international students. To help members foster a stronger sense of community, the Club’s VP External organizes weekly activities like open mic nights, jive dances and tie-dye sessions. Students looking for a longer commune with nature can also rent a space at the club’s house in Prévost, in the Laurentians. The club has been in operation for almost 100 years.
“I think for a lot of people, what they really come out with is a sense of community,” said Kane-Devlin. “We get a lot of members who took part in the Outdoors FROSH, and they generally participate in our activities throughout the year. They’re looking for people who share their values and their desire to have experiences, and the outdoors is a great place to have experiences with other people.”
Creating bonds from common interests
Reflecting on when she first joined MacMOC, Deseau also remembers she was searching for a community after moving from Vancouver to study at McGill.
“I originally joined the club because I wanted to meet more people whose interests were similar to mine,” she said.
Having initially participated in some club activities in the fall semester of her first year, Deseau quickly decided to join the executive team that winter.
“I really feel like I have found a community at MacMOC. There’s a large variety of people from different backgrounds who participate on our trips.”
For one of the first trips she organized, Deseau planned a hike near Montreal last December, coinciding with the year’s first snowfall. Some of the members who participated had limited experience with snow.
“There were a lot of students from the U.S., Europe, Asia,” explained Deseau. “We had the right gear and didn’t feel too cold, so they thought the snow was really pretty!”
For more information on the McGill Outdoors Club, visit their website.
For more information on MacMOC, find them on Instagram.