OPC went on another weekend trip last weekend to Brandon in Co. Kerry! It was a class trip with lots of good memories made. Between hiking Mount Brandon which was covered in snow, live music in the local pub and a refreshing dip in the sea the morning after, it was a classic OPC weekend.

20 UL climbers went to climbing intervarsities in Belfast. We travelled up on Friday evening and did some team bonding to get know each other better. The next day was the bouldering part of the competition where there were 50 routes and your best 20 were logged for points. The following day was top rope climbing or lead climbing depending on whether you were a beginner, intermediate or advanced climber. Everyone had a great time and it was a hugely successful weekend. Several of our climbers made it to the finals including Áine, Christina, Peter and Róisín. Áine came third in the intermediate women's final crushing the lead climbing. Overall it was a great weekend that was beginner - advanced climber friendly. Looking forward to intervarsities already!

Ladies night is back on Monday 22nd November 7-10pm! (Week 10) We will have a group warm up, snacks and of course climb! 

Whether you are a regular climber or giving it a go for the first time we would love to have you!

Make sure to book your spot on UL Wolves :)

Some of our cavers made the trip to the Burren Friday evening! They explored Cullaun 2 where they saw features like streamways, caverns, chambers, tubes, stalagmites/stalactites/helictites. Not bad for a Friday evening!

OPC screened Brit Rock 2023 in Kemmy Business building Friday night of week 9. It was two hours of epic climbing films that took our breath away and had everyone on the edge of their seats (well I was anyway). 

It was very aesthetic and motivating to see different climbers, their backgrounds and their drive to climb.

We went to stables after for international night where we all got to know each other a bit more!

Hope to see you all again at climbing in the next few weeks!  

Lettercraic was back once again, and as usual it has been an unbelievable weekend! 

It was the first weekend trip of the year. Two days of tough hiking, staying in an amazing hostel, and getting to know everyone!

The 30th Anniversary Ball for the Outdoor Pursuits Club was a huge success. It was incredible to see current and past members of the club, including a speech from the founder of OPC - Paul Butler! With plenty of food and dancing, it's safe to say we are all looking forward to the next anniversary ball that takes place!

OPC are having our 30th Reunion on the 21st of October - only 3 Weeks away now!

This is a great opportunity to meet up with old friends, make new ones, regale one another with great memories and have the craic! This is a massive event, and there'll likely not be another one for 10 years so make sure to come along!

It promises to be a great night – with a band, DJ, 4 course meal. EVEN IF YOU CAN’T GO there is a Google doc - we are looking for old photos and any historical info on the Club as we would like to present the club with a "History of the OPC"... your chance to be immortalised ?

We had a great night for the 25th Anniversary, when 150 former members met up. I’m sure they’d all agree that a great night was had. Now with 6 more generations of OPC members the craic can only get better!

We are really looking forward to meeting up with old friends - see you in the Radisson Hotel Saturday 21^st of Oct 2023

Here is the link should you wish to purchase tickets: https://eventmaster.ie/event/5doKSQvsEz

There are so many reasons to join our wonderful club, here are just a few:

Get Active, Get Fit, Get Outdoors!

Joining an outdoor club is a great way to get out in nature - It helps to maintain your motivation to get outside and is an accessible way to explore different landscapes and activities. With OPC, routes are planned out, lifts are organised and there’s gear to avail of - all making it easier to have fun in the great outdoors!  

Meet Like-Minded People.

OPC will allow you to find a community! Meeting people with shared interests and values can be hard, but luckily there are plenty of friendly faces in OPC just as keen to get out in nature. It’s a great way to find adventuring partners and life-long friends!

Explore Ireland (And the World!)

Getting out on OPC hikes and trips is a fantastic way to see many different parts of the country! Whether you’re an international student, or you’ve never left Ireland, you’ll be sure to see places you never have before.

Our trips abroad bring our members to amazing places and leave them with some mega stories to tell, with El Churro in Spain, the French Alps, Camino de Santiago, and many more epic spots around the globe being visited by our members. Add in the fact that these trips are subsidised by the club, and it’s hard to imagine why you wouldn’t want to join OPC!

Access to Gear

Outdoor gear is expensive :( . Joining OPC allows you to get out into nature - safely and on a student budget. The club allows members to try out types of gear they otherwise wouldn’t use and get to places they wouldn’t be able to access without it.

Access to the UL Climbing Wall

We’re very lucky to have both the only full length speed wall and the tallest roped climbing wall in the country right on our campus. OPC members get free access to this amazing facility three times a week to climb, train and have the craic!

Build on Your Skills & Learn New Ones

Whether you’re a total beginner, or have spent years in outdoor sports, there’s always more to learn. OPC offers safety in numbers – there are so many experienced members with various qualifications and a lot of enthusiasm to pass on their knowledge.

On top of this, loads of training courses are run through OPC in collaboration with Mountaineering Ireland and other organisations, with plenty of qualifications being awarded to members throughout the years in various training, safety and coaching courses.

Push Yourself!

OPC allows you to step out of your comfort zone in a supportive and safe environment. Getting outside can be intimidating when you’re unsure of what you’re doing, but with the wealth of knowledge in the club, access to gear, and the amazing and encouraging friends you’ll make as a member of OPC, it’s hard not to get psyched and test yourself!

It has been another amazing year with OPC - from weekly sessions to weekend trips, trips abroad to competitions and a record number of members- we've had it all this year! Here are some of the highlights:

Foreign Trips

With one foreign trip down and two to go, we're having a great year exploring the globe!

Some of our lucky members took a trip to El Churro in Spain during the Easter break this year. It was a great trip filled with learning, climbing and craic, and everyone came back wanting more. With the trip focus mainly being to build rope skills and get some sport climbing in - it was a challenging yet very, very fun experience for the lovely people that went out (and you can see the highlights on the UL Wolves Instagram!)

Coming up are our Summer trips - El Camino and Alps!

Our Camino trips is going to be the club's first trip focused solely on hiking. It will be pretty intense with an average of 30km covered a day on the famous route - but promises great views and good company.

Our annual Alps trip to Chamonix is coming up in June and is expected to be an amazing time (as it always is). The trip will allow members to push themselves on a range of different activities like sport climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering and hiking!

Weekend Trips

This year we had four incredibly fun weekend trips - with Letterfrack making its comeback for the first time since it was rudely interrupted by a certain pandemic, a Fairhead trip and of course the classics Brandon and Glendalough!

These trips provided our members with lifelong friendships, great stories and amazing memories - from fancy dress at Bandon to camping alongside sheep at Fairhead, the only downside to these trips is that there's not more of them! 

Competitions

We got in some great comp practice this year - sending teams out to both orienteering and climbing intervarsity competitions. And getting in some bigger national comps like G-Force!

Training

We've been able to provide our members with plenty of training and gained lots of new supervisors and leaders in the club with qualifications in first aid, instructing and mountain skills being handed out by Mountaineering Ireland to many of our members.

Themed Events & Social Nights

We've had plenty of great events and social nights this semester with Women's Nights at the wall, Valenclimbs, our Hallowe'en climbing sessions and our UV Night standing out among the many fun events that we hosted this year.

Thanks to everyone who came to our 2023 AGM on Wednesday, April 12th! We hosted our AGM/Info night to give members a chance to vote in next year's committee and find out more about what OPC has planned for the coming weeks and months.

Our activities were explained, our plans for the upcoming semester were shown, and finally, after a tense wait for some, our new committee members were able to battle it out for positions and were voted in, 

We then headed to Scholars for some finger food and the chats after the elections. This gave everyone a chance to catch up and even meet some new people. It was great to see some older members who've now left the college stop by to say hello. 

Again, thank you everyone for coming along and making it a great night and congrats to all of our new committee!

Hi guys, it would be great if you could spare 10 minutes of your time to let C&S know about the experiences you've had this academic year as a member of OPC and the C&S community. Your feedback is really valuable to the Clubs & Societies Department to try to understand how to improve the quality of service and support that can be offered to your Clubs & Societies.

In return for completing this survey you can enter the draw for some amazing prizes:

 ·         1 x Xiaomi 3 Lite Electric Scooter OR €500 voucher of your choice

·         2 x BOSE Sport Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds OR €200 voucher of your choice

·         7 x €150 voucher of your choice

This survey should provide really rich feedback, which will assist in improving experiences for you, the member. 

We would be very grateful if you could please fill out the survey below. Once completed you can enter the draw for the prizes or vouchers – there are ten chances to win!

Take the survey now!

There are so many reasons to join our wonderful club, here are just a few:

Get Active, Get Fit, Get Outdoors!

Of course, joining an outdoor club is a great way to get out in nature - It helps to maintain your motivation to get outside, and is an accessible way to explore different types of outdoor activities. But there are also so many not-so-obvious benefits to joining the club that make it easier to get outdoors – routes are planned out, lifts are organised (this has the added benefit of reducing environmental impact with less cars having to travel to hiking, climbing and caving spots), and there’s gear to avail of!  

Meet Like-Minded People.

OPC will allow you to find a community! Meeting people with shared interests and values can be hard, but luckily there are plenty of friendly faces in OPC just as keen to get out in the outdoors. It’s a great way to find adventuring partners – and life-long friends!

Explore Ireland (And the World!)

Getting out on OPC hikes and trips is a fantastic way to see so many different parts of the country! Whether you’re an international student, or you’ve never left the country, you’ll be sure to see parts of Ireland you never have before.

Our trips abroad bring our members to amazing places and leave them with some mega stories to tell. With trips to El Churro in Spain, the French Alps, Scotland, and many more epic spots around the globe being visited by our members (and subsidised by the club) it’s hard to imagine why you wouldn’t want to join OPC!

Access to Gear

Outdoor gear is expensive (?), joining OPC allows you to get out into nature - safely and on a student budget. This also allows members to try and test new types of gear they otherwise wouldn’t use and get to places they wouldn’t be able to access without it.

Access to the UL Climbing Wall

We’re very lucky to have both the only speed wall in the country, and the tallest roped climbing wall in the country right on our campus. OPC members get free access to this amazing facility three times a week to climb, train and have the craic!

Build on Your Skills & Learn New Ones

Whether you’re a total beginner or have spent years in outdoor sports there’s always more to learn. OPC offers safety in numbers – there are so many experienced members with various qualifications and a lot of enthusiasm to pass on their knowledge. On top of this, loads of training courses are run through OPC in collaboration with Mountaineering Ireland, with plenty of qualifications being awarded to members throughout the years in various training, safety and coaching courses.

Push Yourself!

OPC allows you to step out of your comfort zone in a supportive and safe environment. Getting outside can be intimidating when you’re unsure what you’re doing, but with the wealth of knowledge in the club, access to gear, and the amazing and encouraging friends you’ll make as a member of OPC it’s hard not to get psyched and test yourself!

Wednesday, March 8th, was International Women's Day, and at OPC we decided to celebrate with our second women's climbing night of the year!

It was an epic night with good music, even better vibes, snacks, craic and over 40 women in attendance. We had a team of amazing women instructing throughout the evening - leading group warm-ups, coaching technique, teaching rope skills, belaying and much more. After climbing there was a group yoga session led by one of our multi-talented instructors to help everyone cool down and stretch out tired muscles. 

After an evening of trying hard on the wall we went to Scholars for a social night. This was an amazing opportunity for the OPC gals to catch up with friends new and old and completed an already fantastic evening!

Hello all and welcome back to Campus! It was so exciting to see old and new members at our first climbing event of the semester in our new wall.

We got the ball rolling by hosting an Experienced Climbers night, we met loads of new climbers each of whom impressed us with their climbing skills and knowledge. Those there on the night had a chance to try out all the facilities at our wall including the Moon Board, Auto-Belays and Olympic standard speed climbing wall!

Our more established and experienced members spent the evening conducting belay tests to ensure that all those climbing were able to do so safely. Thank you to all the supervisors who made sure everyone there on the night completed their belay tests.

Going forward we are excited to see more members come through the door at our wall. We have lots of routes to test out and we can’t wait to see ye all crush it on our next climbing night!

So why should you join OPC?

We’ll give you a few good reasons:

1. EXPLORE IRELAND???

OPC organise trips to some of the most beautiful areas of Ireland. One week you could be climbing in the Burren National park?, watching the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean and the next week you could be hiking in the Wicklow Mountains National Park?, exploring ancient monastic ruins.

2. DEVELOP STRENGTH AND SKILLS??

?With the training provided by OPC - such as SRT training, and our campus runs, members can start as a complete beginner and progress to a level that will allow them to feel competent on international trips?. With each activity or event you partake in you’ll begin to feel fitter and stronger??.

3. BOOST YOUR MOOD??

Spending time outside is a great way to relieve stress and boost your mood. ?Joining us on our weekly trips ensures you get your dose of fresh air. Also you just can’t beat that endorphin rush you get when you finally send that route you’ve been projecting for a few days?????

4. VISIT DIFFERENT COUNTRIES?

OPC usually organise international trips during the time off during the semester. Over the past few years we’ve had winter ?mountaineering trips to Morocco, Scotland and Poland, sunny sport climbing trips to Spain and Italy?????, and long Alpine summer trip to Chamonix in the French Alps. These trips include gear, local guides and training, but best of all they are suitable for those on a student budget!?

5. HAVE FUN

?OPC trips are full of craic. ?There always someone telling a joke or a funny story. Whether you’re singing on the bus, jumping in bogs, hanging out by the crag or running through a forest, you’re bound to have a smile on your face. ? 6. MAKE FRIENDS????UL can sometimes be a scary place when you first arrive, the lectures are quite big, the campus is overwhelming. Joining clubs and societies are a great way to meet people with similar interests as you. OPC is a welcoming and fun space where you can make new friends outside of your course. ?? So whats stopping you? Make sure to keep an eye out for our next post about how to join OPC!?

So what are you waiting for? Join today!

 At 3am on the 23rd of March 2019 it was dark, cold and drizzly. The bars were long since empty and yet a large group was forming outside the Stables bar in UL. They weren’t staggering home after a night out, instead they were well bundled in mountains of coats, hats and high-viz’s. For a change, drunk on tiredness and anticipation. By the time the sun had risen, over 75 hikers had sumitted the top of Keeper Hill Co. Tipperary, enjoying some spectacular views and kilometre of silence just as dawn was breaking. It was a magical and memorable hike.

The event, Summit at Sunrise, was ran and organised by the Outdoor Pursuits Club in the University of Limerick with the aim of raising money for Pieta House. A GoFundMe page was set up which quickly surpassed its original goal of 300€, eventually reaching €685. We had a full team of support behind us including all those in the UL SU and Johnny Togher in Pieta House who lent advice and assisted in the running of the event.

Thanks to the unforgettable generosity of Pat of Castletroy Coaches for the free lift and Regan's Centra in Pallasgreen for the food donation, we were able to keep more profits and raise €2500, over double the amount we had originally aimed for.

This semester we wish to repeat the dedication and generosity seen in our members during the course of last years event and continue to demonstrate the truly positive influence and power that students can have on the local community.If you are interested in joining us in the early hours of the 21st of March, we will be once again Summiting at Sunrise in aid of Pieta House. Follow us on facebook and instagram @ulopc or send us an email uloutdoorpursuits@gmail.com for more information. 

Last weekend marked my fourth year heading up to Glendalough for the annual valentines trip with OPC. The trip follows the same formula every year, as the previous PRO Conor Walter once state it is basically a "Ctrl C Ctrl V trip" in terms of planning. Despite this, it is never the same. 

We met on campus at 6pm last Friday. Over 100 members filed onto the buses, filling them with excited energy. Some of the group had been my friends since I joined the club as a first year. They knew what to expect. If they hadn't been on this trip before, they'd heard the stories passed on by the previous generations of the club. Despite being an active member for the past few year, even I didn't know half of the people on the trip. Some of the group were second and third years who joined OPC this semester and are looking to make the most of what the clubs and societies offer UL students. A huge proportion of the group were international students, looking to see one of Ireland's most popular tourist destinations. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

Glendalough is a small village right on the doorstep of the Wicklow National Park. Its name comes from the Irish "Gleann Dá Lough" which means Valley of the Two Lakes, a very fitting name considering it is in the heart of a glacial valley beside two lakes. Upon entering the valley you're surrounded by mountains, Mullacor on the left and the spectacular looking Camaderry on the right. Not that any of us noticed, by the time we arrive it's completely dark apart. We got off the bus, and walked down towards the hostel, laden down with our backpacks. Usually it's so cold that I just want to get inside, but this Friday the sky was clear and the glittering stars took our minds off the cold. We made it to the hostel and got our room keys. The night was not over yet, we continued the party we had started on the bus, getting to know each other and having fun. The night ended with an impromptu trad session in our bedroom. 

The next day we got up and had breakfast. The weather outside was awful grim and I'm sure nobody was relishing the thought of spending a few hours on the exposed ridge line of the Spinc. Nevertheless we left the hostel and got underway. We passed by the lower lake and headed up by Poulanass Waterfall which was absolutely pumping after all the rainfall. As we headed up the gravel trail we began singing songs to keep us distracted from the rain. The Americans gave us a great cover of Country Roads. Through a parting in the woods we followed the stairs up to the ridge line of the Spinc. The view was.... okay, it was very overcast and foggy but you could still look down on the lake and see how far up we had walked. We continued following the ridge, the rain and wind started to pick up and it took great balancing to stay on the exposed board walk. Soon we began to descend and were sheltered from the wind. As we began to wind down the valley and follow the stream down to the lake, the clouds parted just a little bit, allowing us to see the valley a little better. We continued on the Miners track beside the lake until we made it back to the hostel.

Once we were showered, rested and recovered it was time to start dinner. Some handy helpers got to work in the kitchen while the rest of us started to warm up for the night. After dinner, we got ready for the ball. After seeing everyone looking like drowned rats on the mountainside it was pretty breathtaking to see them all dressed up in their glad rags. Mike OS took out his guitar, Aisling VW played the fiddle and Alan W got out his concertina. Soon enough the brush came out and Alan got up to show us his brush dancing, the ceilí continued with the Walls of Limerick and Shoo the Donkey. We danced until we were ready to head down the local pub and continue the fun. When the pub closed we brought the party back to the hostel, starting it off with nachos and cheese toasties for everyone and finishing it with some chill guitar sessions with Mike and Joe J. 

The Sunday morning started off slowly, nobody was in the mood for doing much, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining. We packed out bags and left the hostel once more. After a walk in the fresh air to the ruins of St Kevin's Monastery and a dip in the lower lake, we were feeling much more fresh. We took some group photos, as the weather was much better than it was the day before, and headed back to the bus. The bus was much quieter on the way back than it was on the way up. Everyone was tired but happy. We had made a whole bunch of memories and new friends, but now it was time to rest and recover. 

Thank you everyone for joining us for GLENDO 2020. It was one of the best weekend trips I've had. Special shoutout to our Trips Officer Meabh who made it one of the most enjoyable and smoothest running trips we've ever had.

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other" - JFK

Training and development are things that go on behind the scenes of every club and society, yet are rarely spoken about. Our club is based on a rotation of knowledge. As a young member you look up to older members and learn from them, and as those members finish college and leave younger members step into their place and continue to pass this knowledge down. It is important that we know exactly what to do when participating in any of our activities, especially for when the highest climbing wall in Ireland is located in UL (set completion date May 2020).

To make sure our members are safe and competent, our STD officer (safety, training and development officer), Niamh, is constantly making sure that our members have the skills they need by organising various courses. Last week 4 of our more advanced members took part in the Rock Climber Instructor training course. This course led by Brian from Climb It (based in the Burren) opened their eyes up to more climbing techniques and new rope work skills. It also has prepared them for the Rock Climber Instructor test which they hope to complete next year, after they have completed the minimum amount of climbs. It will be great to have qualified rock climbing instructors in our club soon.

Niamh has also organised for a REC 3 (rescue and emergency care) course to take place next week, with a specific focus on injuries that may happen to our members while participating in our activities. With a great response from members, it is even possible that we will fill a second course in the coming months.

The clubs safety and welfare is at the forefront of Niamh's mind, and she has even more plans in the works including a Mountain Skills 1 and 2 course, a first aid refresher course, Climbing wall award course and Learn to Lead course.

The weekend of Week 4 was very special for all members of the OPC. Our famous Letterfrack Weekend Trip took place, with over 70 members heading off for Connemara National Park for some hiking and climbing. Although the weather meant our poor climbers were effected and our lovely hikers got absolutely soaked, psych was still very high! Massive welcome to all the fresh faces we saw over the weekend, hope you had just as much fun as we did?

On Wednesday of Week 5, the OPC had a very successful Girls Night at the Climbing Wall! With over 30 members in attendance, it was one of the biggest Girls Nights to date. Huge thanks to everyone who brought baking and treats for us and of course the good vibes and music too? Keep an eye out for Girls Night 2.0 next semester!

Last night we brought 21 students from to Moylussa, the highest peak in our neighboring Co Clare. 

The group consisted mainly of first years with a few lucky internationals who came along for the craic. It was great to have a more intimate group as we were able to chat and get to know everyone. 

Unfortunately the weather was not in our favour. As we started our ascent the sky opened up and we followed the trails in a very heavy shower of rain. Although grim, our members showed how tough they were and didn't let the weather get to them. It was great to see how cheerful they were and we can only imagine what they're like when they're not absolutely saturated.

By the time we were on our way back to the mini bus, the rain had cleared up and we could see the stars. 

Thank you to our trips officer Meabh, our hike leaders and our drivers for making it possible. Big shout out to Tara who brought snacks along!

Last Thursday we hosted our Info/social night to give new members an introduction to what OPC is all about. Our committee members were all introduced, our activities were explained and our plans for the upcoming semester were shown.

After the wonderful presentation (thank you Cathal for the flattering photos), we headed to Scholars for some finger food. This gave our new members a chance to mingle with our current members and meet some new people. It was great to see some older members who were in the club years ago stop by to say hello. 

Afterwards we all boarded the bus to Costellos for a brilliant night! Shout out to UL Kayak club for being great craic, and to Costellos for serving toasties at 1am (as always). 

Thank you everyone for coming along and making it a great night. Be sure to check our facebook page UL Outdoor Pursuits Club for photos. 

Every Sunday of the semester the Outdoor Pursuits Club, along with 50 or so members, head off to a beautiful rural region in Ireland. The first week of 2016 was no different, with a stunning 18km hiking trail through the Kerry Way, from Glencar to Glenbeigh. Led by our fearless trojan PJ, we battered against near-gale force winds, up beautiful rolling hills all the while admiring the lovely scenery and having a few chats with both new and veteran (old) members! Make sure to sign up for OPC and join us on these fantastic hikes! Upcoming events include the Boolish Lake hike on the 7th of Feb and the club EGM/night out/Glendalough weekend trip sign up on the 8th (in the Schumann building, UL). See you there!

A group for the OPC took to a wintery Carrauntoohill last weekend to sample the wintery conditions. See attached report http://thecruxpitch.blogspot.ie/2015/01/curved-gully-winter.html

Well done to our members Kati Anderson, Caoimhe Roche, Jamie Kinnavane, Donal Ryan and Sam Meilano who went to the G-Force Climbing competition. All performed very well and did the club proud. Particular mention to Caoimhe Roche who came 16th and qualified for the semi finals. Well done to all!

Well done to PJ Cribben, Anna Ryan, Ultan O' Donnell and Eoghan Calnan who completed their Mountain Skills 1 training in Dingle last weekend. This training teaches them how to navigate the hills and is the first step to becoming efficient and knowledgable leaders on club hikes. These are just some of the ones to watch! Well done guys!

The OPC have been running a bouldering competition throughout the semester to encourage our members to get climbing and push themselves further! This week saw our winners stand out as a result of their commitment and hard work! Well done guys, great stuff! Here are our winners from the mens and womens competitions: Men's: 1st Sam Meilano 2nd Julian Delaporte 3rd Conor Moroney Women's: 1st Marie Picardat 2nd Erica Light 3rd Lydie Legrand Special thanks to Imre Leen, our Wall Officer for setting the routes for the competition and also to River Deep Mountain High for the Prizes

The OPC will be at the recruitment drive this Wednesday the 10th, to sign up all our new members. This is a great opportunity for prospective members to come and meet some of the committee, get an idea of what we do and what we have to offer you!