Discussion: Orienteers don't downhill ski

I get the feeling that orienteers don’t downhill ski much. Especially compared to, say, bicycle riding - which is popular with orienteers. Could this lack of interest be because there is no navigation associated with downhill skiing? Perhaps they think it's not physical enough? What gives?
My downhilling ski weekends are spent Telemark skiing. I think it’s a great compliment to running in the woods. Not to mention that skiing steep mogul runs is a great workout.

I prefer X-country...no lines, stay warm, get to be in the woods...what more could anyone want??!?!?!

Boarder (splitboard as well). Just not this winter.

We're off to ski next week, but westward. Blue skis, powder snow. So fine.

I downhill ski. I occasionally XC ski but I'm a total klutz at it, and I much prefer downhill skiing, presumably because I'm less klutz-like in downhill. I also snowboard, although I started doing that at an old enough age that I don't really expect to be any more than intermediate level at it.

There is some navigation component involved in downhill skiing at large ski areas, where it is not always obvious w/o referring to (and in some cases, paying very close attention to) a trail map how to get from trails near one lift to another lift, how to get to the desired base area or lunch spot on the mountain, etc.

Unfortunately, ski trail maps are most definitely not made by orienteers, and as such, they sometimes can be fairly confusing to someone with an orienteering background.

I'll say the obvious - lift passes are expensive and orienteers stereotypically tend to be thrifty. I'd guess that plus downhill skiing not being particularly aerobic (telemarking, if you climb as well as descend, is a different story) has a fair bit of explanatory power in this instance and that lack of navigational challenge needn't be invoked.

Going off on a slight tangent, has anyone ever tried to set a downhill ski-O at a resort with a decently complex network of downhill runs?

Years ago - maybe 1994?- Kristin put on a downhill ski-o event at Killington VT. using their map that had countours back then.
To make it even more exciting, controls where trivia questions like "how much is a cup of hot chocolate at the bear mountain base lodge ?"

IIRC, the Killington Ski-O (in early 1992, definitely) was supposed to be on the trail map that had contours, however, they had discontinued that map because skiers found it confusing, so instead she had to use the perspective-view painting version, which was a shame.

I'm all for XC skiing! and it seems to me like many other orienteers enjoy xc skiing as well

Helly Hansen Big Mountain Battle at SunPeaks, BC is kinda a mountain ski-0 (but not really).

http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/activities/events/ev...

You are right JJ. The topo map was retired one of the seasons just before the race.
I dont really understand the "I X-C ski so I don't downhill" argument. They are different sports that require different gear, skills and even terrain. Why would doing one prevent you from doing the other? I do both and enjoy each of them for what they offer.

We´ve had "Club Champs" in downhill ski-O a couple of times in one of our local ski hills. Start was at the top with a score O type course - the major challenge being how to get all controls without having to go up the ski-lift too many times (or at all). Some back-tracking was usually involved - and that´s tough with downhill ski equipment.
The map was an actual orienteering map we already had in that area. The ski hill seen on the map is actually not the one we used - instead it´s a newly developed area near Snöberget in the SW corner of the map.
There weren´t too many different runs at that time but the area has expanded since then and would be more of a challenge today.

We´ve also done - as another fun/social event - skate-O champs on some big frozen lakes.

As I mentioned, we're off next week for downhill but we would also be out on the trails for xc if we had snow this winter. Unfortunately our neighbors to the south have a monopoly this year (except when we have tried to catch airplanes that is.)

No good local ski slopes. Plus I want to try winter biathlon thus the cross country skiing.

I just have trouble motivating myself to shell out for lift tickets very often. I did have a bit of amusement on my few recent dowhill outings, as it has become extremely easy of late to find my skis when they're in the rack outside the lodge.

I like xc skiing and I love downhill skiing. I actually haven't used real xc ski gear; I just used my downhill equipment, and it works alright.

Wow. If you ever give real XC ski gear a try, you'll find it's a totally different sport and you might even love it instead of just liking it. Or maybe you're just kidding and I got sucked in...?

But downhill skiers might well do orienteering once in a while. Watch out for Tanja Poutiainen in the womens giant slalom.

I'm a big fan of both xc and downhill. I used to be a much bigger downhill skiier and raced in college, but the cost has pushed me more towards xc now, especially since I went to the NENSA womens clinic a few weeks ago and really learned the correct form....now I need more snow in CT to practice, but I will always love doing downhill at least a few times a year especially when you find the quiet weekends and don't have to wait for lifts :-)

I started as a downhill skier, and was recruited to the XC team to fill a slot... Went to XC running only to get in shape for the XC ski season. (and it's mildly amusing to watch average XC skiers go down the hill)

Downhill requires a different approach than XC - it's a whole day or evening, costs a bunch of money, and if the family isn't into it, you're on your own. With XC you already know you're alone, and if the local parks have snow the cost is minimal.

If you're working down the hill, it is tiring - but 4 minutes on and 15 minutes off is not the most exhausting schedule;-)

It is a bloody expensive sport. I try to plan well ahead and shop for all kinds of bargains. There are many days when I've spent way less for a day of skiing than I've spent for 1 day of an A-meet. For example, four of us skied the whole day last Sunday for less than $50. Thats less than the cost of some X-C centers.

XC skiing is a lot more like running than DH skiing is. I like DH skiing, but even with a super bargain like that you can't beat "step out the door and ski for free". ;-)

I really look at downhill skiing as being similar to an amusement park. They do both have appeal.

I was an avid downhill skier, before I started O. Went most weekends, skied most mts. in NE. But back then i paid $5-7 for tickets, then they were cahrging $20 then $50, I couldn't justify it in light of running or biking.
We got XC skis in 79, and a few years later we were in Jackson NH and I saw a couple skate skiing up a hill.
That did it for me, I had skated on my downhill skis (good for getting around the base area and putting on some extra speed in the flats).
I love skate, and I still love classical.
I used to freeze on thelifts at Alpine areas, and really got no workout no matter how hard I went.
I had some great times, and have some great stories (of crashes) but nordic is a great sport for conditioning all your life.

Well said JJ but I have been on some steep X-C sections that have left me pretty rattled despite being what I consider well above average on technical downhills thanks to my Telemark experience. Interestingly enough, am pretty fearless on downhill runs. This can probably be attributed to the aggressive downhill gear.

We learnt to XC Ski when we lived in BC but now the skis gather dust in Perth - must get back it is great fun even if we were crap at it. Looking forward to seeing some on the Olympics if OZ TV gives it any coverage.

I just meant that it's like an amusement park in that you buy a ticket to go on a ride. Downhill skiing does (well, can) take more effort from the participant than a roller coaster does, but the energy for the whole process is still primarily coming from a big motor. Not that I'm in much of a position to be critical of that -- lately I've been doing a lot of hang gliding, where you drive the wing up to the top and fly down, and if things work out well, you get a bunch of free energy from the air, but none from your muscles, so that's an amusement park ride as well. (I'm one of the few who is willing to put out the effort to carry the gear up to some of the launch sites that don't have road access.)

I love downhill skiing but I have determined that XC is much more social and have been doing much more of that over the past few years.

I downhill skied long before I ever knew what orienteering was. I started in HS. Once our kids were old enough and had an interest, I started taking them as well, though Ryan never skied he snowboards and was an instructor at a small local area for 2 years in HS. Denny was the last of us to learn and that was after we had been in orienteering for quite a while. We live in a part of the country where XC skiing means traveling to a part of the country that has snow winter after winter which then makes the cost just as much as DH skiing. So we never got involved. For our kids there are 2 smaller local ski areas that are not that costly and have 100% snowmaking ability which is necessary for our area except for this winter but this is an exceptional winter unlike any we have ever had. For us skiing aand snowboarding is totally recreational and something we do for fun. I think it just depends on where you live and how you spend your free time and money as to what kind of skiing you like or do. I can see that people that live in parts of the country where they know that there will be snow every year to XC that they would include it as part of their year round training but for those of us that live where we should get snow but don't for years on end, then it has to become something you do for fun.

I prefer downhill to cross country. I would never say I did a lot of either but when younger I did more down hill than XC. Now I am more leary of downhill as I don't bounce like I use to so haven't been in a good number of years. The only time I go XC skiing is when we have a boat load of snow which on happens about every 7 years here (like this last week). I have been out twice in the last week but my skiing is real XC not some namby pamby groomed trail.

....but the energy for the whole process is still primarily coming from a big motor...

I don't go XC skiing because it is cheaper or more convenient...by the time you buy the current Salomon racing gear, and driven hundreds of miles to the well-groomed trails, XC is neither.

No, I go because I love the sense of power and freedom of traveling for miles and miles, through sun-dappled snowy forests, swooping and gliding much faster than I can run. And completely free of any "big motor." It isn't exactly the same feeling of freedom I get when orienteering....but it is close.

lately I've been doing a lot of hang gliding, where you drive the wing up to the top and fly down

And with the fine ski-O opportunities this weekend, what did I do today? I went hang gliding, but due to the circumstances, six minutes of airtime was bought with 1800 feet of vertical travel on foot, half of that carrying heavy gear. No motor today (other then to get there, but that also applies to most XC skiing, orienteering, etc.).