AESOP: Better Late Than Never

By AESOP Leader George Merrill

I didn’t manage to get my first taste of AESOP until I was half way through my Bates career. I entered Bates as a transfer student during the spring semester of my freshman year, which meant that I was not able to go on a trip. It wasn’t long before wished I had gotten the opportunity to be a part of this awesome student run program. Even during the spring semester, new friends were asking me which trip I was on and who my leaders were. It quickly became apparent that AESOP is a critical part of the Bates culture as something that builds connections, friendships, and a love for adventure right from the start.

As a sophomore last winter I was still thinking about AESOP. Luckily I found a co-leader for my junior fall, my ticket into the AESOP experience. Late one night while reminiscing about our experiences on NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) courses with my friends Franny and Sarah we somehow figured out that Franny and I had one of the same leaders on both our trips. He was named Fil. A soft spoken IT guy from the Boston area who really showed us both the importance of working closely with other people in harsh and unusual environments. Franny and I realized that this was something that we too were passionate about. Having learned from our own outdoor experiences that nothing brings people together like sleeping in a pile under a tarp in the rain or sitting in a circle and big spooning the rest of a seemingly bottomless mac n cheese pot, we decided we wanted to pursue AESOP as a way to meet new people and pass along what others had shared with us.

After stressing about the AESOP leader application and showing up to our interview unnecessarily overwhelmed, we were given a trip! The next fall we both learned just how cool AESOP really is. We spent a week preparing with everything from sorting out food, to getting WFA certified, to going on our leader trip, one of the biggest perks of being a leader. At the end of the week, the new students arrived and we began our awkward introductions featuring the most pleasantly uncomfortable games such as pterodactyl and mingle. The following day we pushed off with an embarrassing assortment of middle school jams playing on the stereo in the van. Our drive took us about two hours to Pinkham Notch at the foot of Mount Washington where we would begin our hike across a section of the Presidential Traverse.

Like many new groups of people, we were all a little quiet at first as we talked about life at Bates and past hiking experiences on our way up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. The group got even quieter as we neared the summit of Mount Washington. A thick fog had set in and we were greeted with howling winds and freezing rain at the top. Very few words were spoken as we hurried down the alpine garden on the backside of the mountain. Since the weather looked a little ominous, we all agreed that it would be best to take a lower route around all of the peaks we had planned for the day. Then, just as we reached the foot of Mount Clay, our next summit, the sun broke through the clouds. Everyone’s mood seemed to lift up a bit and we enthusiastically decided to go back to our original plan and gain some more elevation, good views, and summit Sour Patch Kids.

That night at the Valley Way tentsite we got a chance to look back upon our eventful day. Our group had a broad range of hiking experience under their belts, yet everyone felt accomplished, having climbed New England’s highest mountain and having already met cool new people before the semester had even started.

It was clear that everyone’s comfort levels changed over the course of our four day trip to the Whites. Many of the people in the group started the trip unsure of their hiking abilities and what Bates had in store for them, but we all headed back to Bates feeling accomplished and ready to start the school year. I think that transition is what I like most about the AESOP experience.