Discussion: Reports from the US Ski-O Champs

I have nothing to report, since I'm not there. But some other hardy souls (tougher than I am) are, or soon will be. Hats off* to them! Send us news from the bitter front lines as to how things are going.

*(That's our hats, not yours. Please, please, if you're there, keep your hat on!)

My son Gavin and I were the only 2 ski orienteers in the opening ceremony athletes march. Hoping this isn't indicative of the actual showing! We were one of the only sports that didn't have at least a sizeable group of athletes... and wow the figure skaters and hockey had tons!! Gavin was excited to have the honor to carry the Ski-O logo sign for the ceremony. It was a nice warm mid-20s evening, about 40 degrees warmer than it will be tomorrow! Volunteers that checked us in were very interested in hearing about Ski-O and orienteering itself. We downhill skiid Whiteface today and the weather was perfect! Quiet before the storm. Wife and kids will have to bail tomorrow due to the extreme cold but I will still give it a try. This will be my first Ski-O Champs and only my 2nd Ski-O attempt ever, and my son's 1st attempt. As I type the winds are just now really starting to pick up and get strong and the temperature is starting to plummet. Good luck to all who will take on tomorrow's newest Ski-O format: a biathlon of Ski-O and winter survival!!

Middle Start on Saturday will be delayed until 1:30 pm

Was also at Whiteface yesterday. I overdressed.

Looks like about an inch of new snow fell in Saranac Lake overnight.

Can confirm, lots of fresh snowfall happened last night. We were driving the last hour in it, and I could barely see the road.

the figure skaters and hockey had tons

Yeah it helps that they don't have to compete outdoors.

55 starters. Lots of happy faces. Results: vmeyer.net/skiosprint.html

Nice!

Excellent!

Wow, very impressive that Sandy and Valerie were hooked up to do live results online!

Also interesting is the change in the trail grooming since, I'm guessing here, ADK bought it last year? The last time I can recall a ski-o being scheduled here, maybe the only previous time(?), the edict was given that it would be classic skiing only and you would be disqualified for skating. Today the trails were groomed wide for skating, without classic tracks even being included. That might have been a special exception just for this race, I don't know, but it's interesting to see that flexibility.

Mike Battisti who used to be at Van Ho is doing the grooming at Cascade now.

Well he did a bang-up job. The trails were in superb condition.

Yes, grooming was great. Just very, very slow due to the temperature. Almost had to double pole down hill.
Great job on this event despite all of the organizational challenges. Well done!

Some initial photos from the sprint: https://www.facebook.com/100068876753883/posts/pfb...

I missed an official sign yesterday. But seeing here- above- q 1.30 pm start today- Saturday?

As for yesterday felt surprisingly better on trails ,compared with 1-2 minutes of walking around at a time, early and later in the day.well organized. Thanks to organizers

Yay!!

Yes, website says Saturday mass start at 1:30 PM.

Yes, today's mass start changed to 1:30. Map distribution indoors 12:30 - 1:00.

And there will be a map exchange for all classes except White. Two exchanges for Blue, Red and Green, and one exchange for Orange. Please read instructions carefully here: https://empoclub.org/logistics/
There will also be butterfly loops.
Not knowing the procedure could lose you quite a bit of time, and taking the wrong map will really mess up somebody else's race!

Results by class for the middle: vmeyer.net/skiomiddle.html

Splits by course on AP but note that because of the map exchanges, results by course are split into 2 or 3 depending on the order in which the loops were done.

Tested skis today at 10:30 AM and nothing that I had was gliding. Tested again at 12:30, same skis, same waxes, and miraculously they were now gliding. Thank you for moving the start back to allow the temp to rise!!

Is Sunday a mass start or interval?

Interval starts every 30 seconds starting at 9:30

Did the starts get moved up for today? The start list and schedule still seems to say 10:30?

Report wise, the courses at Dewey were a ton of fun yesterday! There was a good mix of trail types and options that kept the navigation and skiing interesting and exciting!

30 second intervals does explain why there are two people starting every minute (presumably EventReg isn't showing the seconds), but if it's 9:30, I'm apt to be late.

First start is 10:29. Except for a few individual changes, starts are as posted on EventReg.

Big massive THANK YOU to all the organizers and volunteers!! It was a wonderful event and I know the extreme temperatures required a lot of changes and crazy times. Special thanks to those of you I saw standing out in the exteme cold and I'm sure there were others I didn't see. It was our 1st US Ski-O Champs and we loved it and really appreciated the help getting started. Combine all that w/ Empire State Winter Games fun and hosting in Lake Placid venues and we had an incredible experience. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

Agree with Vector! Lots of fun this weekend, and really appreciative of all the work that went into creating a great event despite the weather. It was our first time at the ESWGs, but we'll be back.

thank you organizers- 3 great venues for ski-o..

Also thanks so much - I didn't get to do as much of the events as I would have liked, but Sunday's long was a great venue and I was challenged by the course setting, so had a blast. So appreciate that this was a tough meet to hold with the arctic temps, so thanks much to everyone!!

Photos from Friday & Saturday are now posted.

• OUSA Photos - Friday
  
• OUSA Photos - Saturday
  
• ESWG Photos
  

Gang - it was a terrific US Ski-O Championships this past weekend at Lake Placid, NY. Yes, it was cold Friday for the Sprint at Cascade - something like -13F = -25C. You just needed to wear planty of layers, maybe hand and toe warmers and tape on your cheeks and nose, or a balaclava or mask. See the link above to Clinton Morse's fabulous photos of ski-orienteers in action!

By Saturday for the Middle it was +5F = -15C and warming; and up into the high 20s and 30s on Sunday.

The Middle was a mass start with butterfly loops and one or two map exchanges. Lots of trails of all sorts on the side of Dewey Mountain to confuse people. Tricky navigating, and lots of fun.

Sunday at the VIC at Paul Smiths, a third great area. Again, David Hunter did a fantastic job of course setting (as well as mapping) - tough but worthy courses. All participants had to be happy with the challenges. Plenty of careful route choices and navigation required. Rewarding for skilled skiers, but also plenty doable for less practiced ones. All three areas had wonderful warm lodges next to the trails to get ready in, as well as great networks of trails for Ski-O.

Many thanks to Janet Findlay and David Hunter, club members of EMPO, controller Jim Arsenault, timer Sandy Fillebrown, photographer Clinton Morse, and so many other volunteers for a great weekend of Ski-O.

Congratulations to all who skied in the US Ski-O Champs, not just to the medal winners, but to all participants hardy enough to meet the challenges of a winter sport.

The events were also this year a part of the annual Empire State Winter Games. All participants received a very nice Games jacket. The top three in each age category received handsome ESWG medals.

There was a large contingency of Canadian orienteers present, and though ineligible for OUSA metals, certainly went home with their share of ESWG medals. Well done, Canada, thank you for coming; and thank you again to the EMPO organizers for a terrific championship.

“Brushing aside sub-zero temperatures as if it were lint on a lapel…” :)

It occurs to me to wonder what became of the Perm Cup. Was it awarded this year and I missed it? Or has it been overlooked or forgotten about?

It dates back, if memory serves, to the first US champs in ... 1988(?) or thereabouts.
The only mention I find of it from searching AP is here:
https://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/m...

You can see the cup in the team photo linked by Alex in that discussion. I'm pretty sure I've seen it awarded more recently than 2010.