Discussion: Ski-O Events in North America

Is there a calendar of these anywhere? Are there any larger Ski-O events scheduled for this winter, like a Canadian or US Champs? Any info would be helpful!

Not far north of you at Crowsnest Pass Alberta there is an area called Allison Chinook Public Recreation area that would be a fantastic ski-O venue.
Between O-maps and I with help from the XC ski club map and Strava we have already most of the trails tracked.
We and you just need to convince AOA that it is worth finishing and holding a major ski-O event.

Just east of Bozeman is a downhill ski area called Bridger Bowl and just north of Bridger is the Crosscut XC ski area. Also a great area for Ski-O. I started a map there and got encouragement from the club but ran out of time to find the LiDAR information for contours.
I know you are looking for established events but outside of VT, NY and Ottawa those seem hard to come by.

Thanks Gord. Indeed, I'm looking for existing events to take our visiting Swiss junior to. Ottawa isn't out of the question, so I'll look there. I was just hoping for some sort of centralized schedule.

As an aside, Crosscut is high on the list of GrizO mapping priorities, and we've been in contact with them about permits. Still no Lidar yet, however.

Ottawa usually have 3 or 4 local ski-O races each winter on different xc-trail systems. The schedule is not set until December and is dependent on volunteer organizers stepping up. We have four or five Ski-O maps that can be provided for training, plus there are 200km of groomed xc-trails in Gatineau Park for ski training. The Ski-O events from last winter is posted on RouteGadget http://orienteeringca.nationprotect.net/cgi-bin/re...

CROC often organizes a small ski-O event near Mount Hood in the winter. I assume their 2023 schedule will be posted later this fall.

I'm not aware of any Ski-O history in the Washington State clubs.

I assume that the Truckee Orienteering Club are the people to ask about Ski-O in the Sierras. I suspect that an event there would become more likely if you asked them :-)

I'm not aware of any Ski-O history in the Washington State clubs.

In my 17 years here, I think CascadeOC has only done 1 or 2 ski-o events (I attended neither, since I don't ski).

It's not skiing, but if you want navigation + snow, Krank Events does an annual Snowshoe Navigation Race in February.

FYI, Boris, it's at least slightly too soon to say more but I am hopeful there will be a US Ski-O Champs held in 2023, timing TBD.

There is typically a Ski-O (regular the past 4 or 5 years) hosted by the Kootenay Orienteering Club at Kimberley Nordic (same venue as this year's COCs sprint) in early March.

Sage has three ski-O maps of different areas as well, and might host a Ski-O, but it whether it happens and scheduling is TBD. Send me a PM if you want these map files though - we would be happy to provide maps if you are traveling through even if we don't have a proper event organized.

RMOC usually has 1 or 2 ski-O events each winter, the last few years not withstanding.

EMPO will be submitting a bid to hold the US Ski-O Champs on Feb. 4-5, 2023 in the Lake Placid, NY area. We're planning to offer 2 formal traditional races to be supplemented by at least one DIY UsynligO event at a nearby venue.

Awesome to hear for EMPO's ski-o champs bid!!

Lake Placid, NY is a great location with a first class venue.
You can most certainly count on a good contingent of ski-orienrteers from Ottawa and Montreal which are both about 2 1/2 hours away.
Hey, speaking of that why not have the two federations get together and designate the event the joint US and North American ski-O championships? That might attract more entries and more sponsors. Marketing Marketing.

Just do not feed crocodiles while in the area

Patience, Gord.*

* not that anything you wrote expressed impatience per se.

I’m excited to see a US Ski-O Champs in such a great location as I always enjoyed racing ESG ski-O races there. but it’s worth mentioning that the Eastern Canadian nordic ski champs are near Ottawa that same weekend.

Already pursuing the possibility of a joint Championship meet with our Canadian friends. We'd also like to note that the US part of this is scheduled for the Lake Placid area but not necessarily at Mt. van Hoevenberg. We have 2 other very appropriate venues within 30 minutes driving distance that are well mapped for ski-o. Re conflicting dates - we're restricted this year by the World University Games taking place over 10 days in January in the LP area and our snow season seems to grow shorter every year. We'd love to avoid conflicts with major biathlon and cross country events on both sides of the border but don't really have that luxury. We settled on Feb. 4-5 because it's ESG weekend and it's generally the height of the snow season here. Hopefully we've scheduled early enough to avoid conflicts at least with other ski-o events.