What are the chances for romance if you're sweaty, dirty and gasping for breath after finishing a four-hour hike? According to Alon Krausz, founder of the Jewish Outdoors Club (JOC), better than you might think. The club already has four marriages to its credit. But even if love isn't in the air for hikers, excitement might be. The club "quenches my thirst for adventure, as it does for other JOC adrenaline junkies," said Krausz.

Since its inception in 1996, the JOC has grown from a small group of hiking-enthusiast friends to a mailing list of over 800 people with activities ranging from ice climbing to river rafting. Krausz realized his gatherings filled a void on the Upper West Side when, in 1997, he organized a hike through Kehilat Orach Eliezer. 60 people attended and after creating a mailing list, the club expanded to its current size entirely through word of mouth.

The primary purpose of the JOC is "to bring Jews to experience and appreciate the great outdoors," according to Krausz. A secondary, but just as important, objective is to serve as an informal setting for people to meet.

When Teaneck resident Alon Krausz and fellow members of the Jewish Outdoors Club head for the hills, chances are they model good techniques in rappelling, hiking, mountain climbing, and the many other activities the group routinely enjoys.

But 32-year-old Krausz, founder and president of the group, wants to model behavior of a different kind. Last week, the organization, whose members hail primarily from New York and New Jersey, voted to ban from membership any male who is withholding a get, or document of Jewish divorce.

Krausz, who has seen the 11-year-old organization grow — primarily through word of mouth — from an informal collection of 50 or so members to a full-fledged organization with a mailing list of 2000 and a 20-member board of directors, said he hopes the action will send a message not only to the club’s own members but to other organizations as well.

"We hope it will raise awareness," said the author of the new policy, noting that some other outdoors groups are now considering a similar measure. Krausz said he was inspired by a piece in which the author urged organizations to take strong action on agunot ("chained women" whose husbands refuse to grant them a religious bill of divorce) — an area in which the rabbinic community is widely perceived as having fallen short.

"Not just hiking: Outdoors club joins fight for agunot" (Feb. 22) describes the bold leadership efforts of Alon Krausz, founder and president of a 2000-member outdoors club, who recently led his board of directors in banning from its membership any member who is withholding a get (Jewish divorce) from his (former) spouse. The purpose of this non-profit club is to provide the opportunity for modern Orthodox Jews to get together for fun and adventure in the great outdoors. Nevertheless, Krausz possesses the vision to recognize their opportunity and responsibility to help solve some of the most pressing challenges that confront our community. The members of the board were appalled to learn that one of its members was indeed withholding a get, and therefore took action and instituted this new policy.

"Without kosher food and stopping for Shabbos, I would not be able to do it," he said.

So he contacted Outdoors Unlimited, which runs rafting trips down the canyon. Together, they're organizing a white water rafting trip down the Colorado River with a hike in the canyon this June. Outdoors Unlimited is handling logistics and equipment; Lehman is recruiting the participants and coordinating the kashrut aspects.