The UTS Outdoor Adventure Club’s mandate is to get UTS Students and City Dwellers as far away from those sky-scrapers and into Australia’s world class and diverse beautiful environments, connecting with nature and other members along the way.
We promote the safe and fun practice of outdoor recreational activities for our members, while placing emphasis on environmental sustainability and cultural considerations. UTS OAC acknowledges the traditional owners of the land which our activities take place on. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Our club is run entirely by our volunteer members, including our core group of passionate Trip Leaders and the Committee Team.
We pride ourselves on our culture of “helping the other person.” This has led to Member and Trip Leader retention and engagement and high Member participation. We’ve fostered an enthusiastic group of leaders in OAC, many of whom will be mates for life. We aim to cultivate authentic engagement and investment for all OAC members, hopefully progressing them to leading trips, being part of the committee, and “helping the other person” for many years to come.
The list of awesome individuals forming the glue and fabric of the club can be found on our committee team and trip leaders’ page.
Our activities include:
- Rock Climbing (Bouldering, Sport, Trad, Indoor)
- Canyoning
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Caving
- Backcountry Snow, inclusive of skiing and ice climbing
- Rogaining
- Slacklining
- Camping
- Bushcraft/Survival
- Snorkelling
… and whatever our creative trip leaders and members suggest (within reason!)
Notable Events
On top of our regular activities, we have some annual events that are worth looking forward to:
- Welcome BBQ – At the start of term (usually a week after O-day) we throw a BBQ to welcome the new members at the Ledge Climbing Centre. The night is filled with sausage sandwiches, soft drinks (provided free for club members), and — you guessed it — climbing! We follow up with drinks at the Flodge (a 5min walk to a local pub, the Forest Lodge Hotel) and share a toast or two with new members. Our Trip leader/Committee members are happy to answer any questions.
- Mega-Fest– Homage to the Megalong valley in the Blue Mountains. Every year we run a big weekend away in Spring typically around September-October where we take about ~80 people up to the mountains for a weekend of camping, climbing, canyoning, and hiking. We leave Sydney on Friday night, spend Saturday morning out on trips, regroup back at camp, cook up dinner over a campfire, eat, drink and be festive. Sunday morning we pack and clean up, head out on our trips for the day, and finally return to Sydney Sunday night.
- Easter Climbing – The mid semester-break usually falls on Easter which gives our members an opportunity to head down to Nowra/ Point Perpendicular and/or Mt Arapiles (in Victoria) and experience the climber’s dirt-bag dream for a week (not really, some of us hire a nice house/ warm cabin with all the amenities). This is an intermediate-advanced trip for members that are experienced climbers.
- Snow Weekend – Around August- September, the club hits Jindabyne/Snowy mountains to set the scene for our backcountry playground. This is where we spend two great days of hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing. If you are up for swinging an ice axe and wearing spiked shoes… Try Ice Climbing!
- Bungonia – Yearly, a few of us take a weekend down in Bungonia National Park for Caving and satisfy our urge to crawl into some deep dark holes underground. Note some of the holes are very large and require abseiling. Yes, there’s an awesome world beneath us that we explore too!
- Rogaining– A few of us organise entry to interstate (such as Tasmania) rogaining events to test out our navigation skills in a variety of great Australian environments, often more remote than your typical bushwalks.
If this sounds like an experience you want, we’d love to have you in the club! If you have any further questions head over here, and if you are ready to join click here.
