Discussion: Use a map to find the beer

A bunch of folks used a sequence of maps found on trail to eventually find the beer. Master map showing the overall plan of sequence can be seen here

Nice! How did they ensure people didn't skip any non-beer controls?

Perhaps they simply heeded the mantra of the Hash House Harriers: Cutting the course is it's own punishment.

bartholemeu: I think the key is "sequence of maps"; what you are looking at in the "overall plan" is a master map. Each map only showed how to get the next point. At that point, they found a map to the next one.

Map posted under a footbridge, I doubt the hobo that is camping there can read it and figure out there's beer if he follows the sequence of maps



Participants use a pen or other writing tool to mark their own personal map




Notice the special terminology in the map legend






Beer found

Without the beer apparently that was a style of orienteering competition used in the 1960s. It was called the Norwegian Method.
Participants marked one control location at a time on to their map and got the next control to mark at the first control and so on.
The advantage was that before the days of e-punch you could use smaller maps with more crossovers and not have to worry about participants punching out of order.
I like the beer reason better.
Nice photos.

Very cool. Thanks

Pretty cool way to trick people into orienteering. ;-)

@gordhun: This method is still used today (or rather yesterday): The traditional ultra long end-of-season race in Trondheim called Hu & Hei took place in the traditional Bymarka hills and marshes. It is nominally 30 km in two laps (18+12) with about a km of vertical climb, and quite often some snow.

The "Gjertsen Factor" compares each year's course to the one planned by Einar Gjertsen in 1965. In case of significant snow (20-80 cm?) the rule is to shorten the race by 1 km for each 10 cm of snow cover, this did not happen the first year I started, in 1980: Shortly after we hit 20 cm of wet snow on top of Bodsbergheia both my legs started cramping since I as a complete novice had started with thin nylon socks and no wool layers.

http://huoghei.com/

@Terje That is interesting in a number of ways. One is that today I was talking with another old-timer in the Ottawa club. We were lamenting the fact that we no longer have our 1970s end of season ultra-long race of 20 to 25 km done in three loops with a mass start. It was also called the Hu & Hei which until today I never understood why. Now I recall the much stronger Norwegian influence we had in the area at that time.
Our race didn't deduct anything for snow but the evening did conclude with beer, a dinner, more beer, a sauna and a naked run across a set of railway tracks and in to the not-yet frozen Gatineau River.
And yes woe be the person who did not prepare for cold, wet feet and legs during the race. After the sauna there was no protection from cold feet, legs and other appendages.

Oh, Yes, the after-race Sauna!

In Trondheim we had to contact Finland's embassy in Norway in order to locate a wood-burning sauna oven suitable for the (really) large sauna we had in the club cabin above the city. The oven turned up and then we discovered that it was actually significantly wider than the cellar doors, but we fixed that by taking apart the door frames as well, all the way from the cellar entrance, through the dressing rooms and showers and into the sauna itself. It was about one cubic meter afair.

The most memorable run for an ice bath 400 m away in Blomstertjenna was probably the time nobody had chopped a hole in the ice and the club leader suggested that everyone should gather in the middle of the pond (a small lake, about 100m plus across) and start jumping up and down together in order to break a hole. When that (fortunately!) didn't work the next suggestion was to lie down in a pile and melt an opening...

ROFL! I didn't know Norwegian beer was that strong.

@gordhun: I believe that "beer" was called "aquavit". :-)

When served at close to zero C it is supposedly far too easy to drink. (I wouldn't know since I don't drink anything stronger than wine, and that only if it is very good.)

@Terje: some 30 years ago the mountain division of the Italian army ("Alpini") were given little portable plastic packages with grappa inside

Hmmpf, plastic packages!!!
What happened to the legendary St.Bernhards?

Here's what I use

Nice! I assume you have a tiny roll-feed printer embedded in the flask, so that it automatically prints out new maps as you move around?