Discussion: Orienteering in Greenland & Iceland in 2011

I'm going to Iceland next month, so I was doing a little research on the orienteering scene there. Not only is there a new orienteering club in Reykjavik, but there's a festival next June/July that will have events in both Iceland and Greenland.

Might be enticing for those of you interested in checking off two somewhat obscure O' nations from the list.

now that sounds great!

sweet! what a great way to escape the heat of the Okanagan Valley!

And see a 24 hour day! Greenland starts their event at midnight with the sun
shining overhead. Beware of the mosquitos though, I hear they're terrible in the
Greenlanic summer. www.iog.gl

I'd love to orienteer on a map of the head of Tasilaq Fjord I surveyed with other members of British Schools Exploring Society expedition to East Greenland 1983. It's not an orienteering map, but 1:10,000 if I remember correctly, and I'm sure the bradied river and glacier will need to be resurveyed - probably with easier methods than the plane tabling we used. I hadn't even heard of orienteering then, but I guess it shows a pre-existing love of maps. In fact, there are loads of maps created by BSES expedition members all over Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, North America etc, which could be suitable for orienteering.
Midges / mossies are a distinct drawback to Greenland in summer, though.

Greenland and Iceland are stunningly beautiful places to visit; but what a tragic clash with the World Masters - North Atlantic Tour goes up to the 3rd of July, WMOC 2011 starts on the 1st of July, a month earlier than this year.

I don't think it would be that tragic. I don't think they are expecting that many competitors.

From the website:
From Ilulissat to Nuuk:
Suggested flight day is Sunday 26 June 9 am.

From Nuuk to Reykjavik:
According to the currect schedule there is a flight from Nuuk to Reykjavik on Wednesdays, so the best will probably be to fly with Air Iceland to Reykjavik on Wednesday. The competitions in Nuuk will be held to match the flight schedule.

They are organizing these events around the schedules of flights that seat no more than 50 people. Unless they start chartering flights specifically for orienteers, this isn't a big conflict.

So they don't need any of the 4,500 cashed up vets who go to WMOC. OK.

@copepod Can the BSES maps be viewed somewhere?

@olles - I don't know if any BSES maps are available online. I could scan my map, but it would take a while, as I only have an A4 scanner, and the map is about 1m2. Some idea of the areas visited at www.bses.org.uk or look for Facebook group - there's where I'd put the map if I scanned it. However, the office staff might be willing to scan maps if requested. If this board has a PM facility, then I can help via that - otherwise, you could PM Copepod on www.nopesport.com (UK based orienteering websiet with forum)