Orienteering on cross-country skis
Did you know ……
There is NO CONTROL DESCRIPTION on a Ski-O map. All of the controls are on easy-to-find features – often on trail junctions. It’s all about ROUTE CHOICE!
Each control circle has a code printed next to it. For example: 3 – 54 means this control is the 3rd one on your course, and the control number for this control is 54.
The circle can have a purple dot in the centre to identify the exact location of the control.
MAPS FOR SKI ORIENTEERING
Specially prepared maps for ski orienteering will have some features not shown if they will not be visible or are not useful for navigation.
Extra symbols on the map are green lines to show the ski trails:
– solid green lines to show the widest trails
– dashed green lines to show medium trails
– dotted green lines to show narrow or not tracked trails
Ski orienteering events are popular in northern countries which have reliable amounts of snow, suitable dense networks of trails and temperatures that are not too variable! Each year there are World Championships, Junior World Championships and Masters World Championships.
Orienteers who compete in lots of ski-O events own a special no-hands harness to hold their map; they can also orient their map on the board.
For a low-key club event a simple option is to have your map in a bag, which has a length of elastic attached. The other end of the elastic can be tied to your zipper pull, or attached to your jacket with a safety pin. This allows you to let go of the map while skiing without losing it!
In big competitions, timing is done with contact-less SportIDENT Air which registers without having to put the SI card in the hole or even taking it out of your pocket.
At low-key club events, we often use old-style pin punching, as the punch cards can be attached to the map bag. Searching for a dropped SI card in the snow is frustrating and time-consuming!