Training Log Archive: Oslug

Essentially a day off. Shadowed/walked half of the permanent controls at the Campbell Tract. She had a great time and is jazzed. But a double purpose for me, as I've been wanting to check the condition of our permanent courses; I've never heard anyone in the club mention them in my 15 years or so of being on the Board or otherwise paying attention. One missing, one added but not on the map. One mislabeled. A few with the wrong symbols used. One on a really lousy feature.

Beautiful day. Hard to believe that 6 days ago there was still a bit of fresh snow on the ground. Now the trees are starting to leaf out. I was wrung out afterwards. Lack of water? I only really blew out on one control; parallel error. But I reasoned out where I was in a new way for me. Maybe i'm learning!? Still, Dan ended up picking up 1/3 of the controls I wanted to.

41 people managed to get onto the military base for the meet; that process was a challenge. Everyone seemed happy with the courses and pleased to be reminded about what nice terrain it is, and it appears we didn't make any mistakes. The courses were probably a bit on the long side for our clientele
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One vignette from the evening: Two relatively new but adventurous orienteers went out on the orange course and decided they didn't really know what they were doing. So one pulled out her smartphone and Googled 'how to use a compass', got the help they needed, and finished the course. Great resourcefulness!

One porcupine, one mama moose with a BRAND NEW calf. All legs.

Best part of the meet for me: Unbeknownst to me, Chris T had arranged for the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group to use our meet as a training exercise -- to simulate what we would do if we'd lost an orienteer. Once the group found us (first lesson - communicate on location), the convoy of 10-15 vehicles showed up, one towing a trailer of equipment. They set up their command post complete with tent and radio antenna, interviewed us about the 'lost' orienteer and what we had already done to seek him, sent someone out to be the 'lost' person with a broken leg, then deployed the group for the search and rescue. We kept one expert orienteer around to help (as we would do in a real situation), then he and I led the rescuers in two directions around the yellow course, searching for clues, as Dan manned the finish for the Oers that were still out. Team #1 found the 'injured' 'orienteer', and went through the whole exercise of evaluating his condition, getting the second team to bring out the necessary med and evacuation equipment, and loading up the patient for transport. They stopped the exercise before actually carrying him back. It was a great exercise. Our groups learned from each other. And it was great for me to watch a wilderness first responder group in action. For the O group, my main take-away is to do an even better job of making sure people sign in completely and that they carry whistles and know to use them, and to be sure other orienteers know what to do when they hear a whistle in the woods. Another take-away for early in the O season is the remarkable similarity between a whistle and a varied thrush song during breeding season.

Scoping out some better yellow control sites, etc and set a red one near where the bears were hanging yesterday. A leisurely walk in the woods. The mozzies are out but they're big and slow. Saw a porcupine so big I had to double-take to be sure it wasn't a bear.