Orienteering Sports (ST)

Experience the thrill of racing through the woods and fields with just your wits and map and compass to guide you.  Whether it is team adventure racing, foot orienteering, or navigating on skis and snowshoes that is your interest, you get the solid navigation skills you need for all of them. 

Summer 2021 will focus on Adventure Racing: a team sport that combines mountain biking, lake or river paddling, hiking or running all in a long-distance navigational challenge. Some surprise segments like swimming, or rappelling are sometimes included. This course culminates with a 12-hr race based in Craftsbury in conjunction with the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association. Students can either compete in all or part of the race, or support it as a race helper. Race entry is included in the course fee. Providing your own bike capable of riding rough dirt roads is the main equipment requirement. In addition to the map and compass skills, steering techniques for a tandem canoe will also be taught. Clear communication about pacing and group roles will be practiced daily. 

Learn the standard symbols for competitive orienteering maps both by navigating on existing maps and drafting new ones using a digital mapping program.  Early classes focus on particular aspects of map interpretation and decision making. Later classes put all the pieces together.  The skill development progression will mix on-terrain travel with on paper map exercises, and digital map drawing.  Existing topographics maps will also be studied and used for plotting a course and recognizing contour features.

 This class will enhance your personal navigation skills and also prepare you to teach orienteering to others.