Training Log Archive: MIclimberIn the 7 days ending Sep 8, 2018: |
| « | » |
| » now | ||||||||||
| Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | |||||||
Tuesday Sep 4, 2018 #
Note
Back from the Great State of Wyoming and RMOF. What a 6 day trip. Orienteering, Climbing, Hiking, and some fantastic views of the high plains.
The orienteering, which I knew was going to be a shock treatment, contrasted with what I am used to back home in MI, was all around pretty amazing. The lack of thorns and dense veg and general open-ness was much appreciated. The altitude was a factor to some degree, even with our simulated 5 weeks of training sessions.
Was able to climb in Vedauwoo, just sport though, as didn't have room for trad gear. Was happily surprised to find a nice easy & moderate sport crag called Beehive Buttress. Spent 2 afternoons there after the O events. Lovely granite rock. Hiked up to the top of Turtle Rock one other day, another fantastic view.
As for the O, I would give the week long event a B+. Everyone was friendly, the events were all fun, the courses were cool and generally well set imo. The first couple of days were perhaps less pleasing, because of the follow the leader setup that it had going on. They were just fun day events, so I wasn't too upset, it was a good intro to the the area and what to expect land wise for the ranked events. But if was given a choice, I would advised to have adjusted them to make them less follow the leader, or certainly only one day of it. The other con, was perhaps that the ranked days, had the easiest day first and then 3 hard days. Although the last day was shorten by about a km. I would have preferred to have the easier day in the middle or perhaps the last day as 2 short sprint courses, so that everything could have been wrapped up by noon on the last day including the awards. I don't think the organizers realized maybe that folks were traveling out of state and had to get going. I know Brooke was trying to help facilitate that, but then got shut down, felt kinda bad for her. I also would have preferred to not have the wettest map on the last day, so that we had to travel home with wet shoes.
There was one map, called Granite Planite, which was literally peppered with boulders and rock out croppings. It was the worst nav day of the week for pretty much everyone I think. I appreciate what the setters were trying to accomplish, and they did. But to me it was a bit overwhelming from flat and non rocky Michigan. I gave up many times trying to count boulders or determine what was considered a boulder or a triangle. It was really mentally exhausting at times. And that combined with the flags were almost always hidden from direction of travel and down behind a boulder, was frustrating at times. I know at a national meet, that's how it's supposed to be, to navigate to the feature first, before seeing the control. But there were many times I just spent time searching the circle, because it was just so overwhelming to figure out which boulder or rock pile it was hidden behind. Scale also seemed to be difficult at times due to the openness, really played tricks on you it felt like.
That probably sounds like a lot of complaining, but just items that came off to me as a first time visitor to Laramie. Having been to GNC and Flying Pig, it was really an awesome experience all around, so they were really minor negatives. I would definitely go back again. The other maps were all very open, but yet still a little bit unique in their own ways even though they were all in the same national forest area. I would give a toe for the green they have to have that here. Many of the rock features were amazing to see and navigate around. I even came across a bull moose at the top of a long hill climb. Stopped me in my tracks for a second, but he let me on my way with just a slight acknowledgement with a wave of his head and rack at me. It was a major highlight of the trip for me!
Overall I covered just over 33 miles in the 6 day's events. Had some lows in navigating, but more spikes than normal, and overall I am pleased with my runs. Got to meet some new and friendly people. Experience orienteering in a completely new setting and environment, complete with cow trails! Couldn't be happier that my nagging injuries did not affect me too badly and that I was able to do it all with friends.
The orienteering, which I knew was going to be a shock treatment, contrasted with what I am used to back home in MI, was all around pretty amazing. The lack of thorns and dense veg and general open-ness was much appreciated. The altitude was a factor to some degree, even with our simulated 5 weeks of training sessions.
Was able to climb in Vedauwoo, just sport though, as didn't have room for trad gear. Was happily surprised to find a nice easy & moderate sport crag called Beehive Buttress. Spent 2 afternoons there after the O events. Lovely granite rock. Hiked up to the top of Turtle Rock one other day, another fantastic view.
As for the O, I would give the week long event a B+. Everyone was friendly, the events were all fun, the courses were cool and generally well set imo. The first couple of days were perhaps less pleasing, because of the follow the leader setup that it had going on. They were just fun day events, so I wasn't too upset, it was a good intro to the the area and what to expect land wise for the ranked events. But if was given a choice, I would advised to have adjusted them to make them less follow the leader, or certainly only one day of it. The other con, was perhaps that the ranked days, had the easiest day first and then 3 hard days. Although the last day was shorten by about a km. I would have preferred to have the easier day in the middle or perhaps the last day as 2 short sprint courses, so that everything could have been wrapped up by noon on the last day including the awards. I don't think the organizers realized maybe that folks were traveling out of state and had to get going. I know Brooke was trying to help facilitate that, but then got shut down, felt kinda bad for her. I also would have preferred to not have the wettest map on the last day, so that we had to travel home with wet shoes.
There was one map, called Granite Planite, which was literally peppered with boulders and rock out croppings. It was the worst nav day of the week for pretty much everyone I think. I appreciate what the setters were trying to accomplish, and they did. But to me it was a bit overwhelming from flat and non rocky Michigan. I gave up many times trying to count boulders or determine what was considered a boulder or a triangle. It was really mentally exhausting at times. And that combined with the flags were almost always hidden from direction of travel and down behind a boulder, was frustrating at times. I know at a national meet, that's how it's supposed to be, to navigate to the feature first, before seeing the control. But there were many times I just spent time searching the circle, because it was just so overwhelming to figure out which boulder or rock pile it was hidden behind. Scale also seemed to be difficult at times due to the openness, really played tricks on you it felt like.
That probably sounds like a lot of complaining, but just items that came off to me as a first time visitor to Laramie. Having been to GNC and Flying Pig, it was really an awesome experience all around, so they were really minor negatives. I would definitely go back again. The other maps were all very open, but yet still a little bit unique in their own ways even though they were all in the same national forest area. I would give a toe for the green they have to have that here. Many of the rock features were amazing to see and navigate around. I even came across a bull moose at the top of a long hill climb. Stopped me in my tracks for a second, but he let me on my way with just a slight acknowledgement with a wave of his head and rack at me. It was a major highlight of the trip for me!
Overall I covered just over 33 miles in the 6 day's events. Had some lows in navigating, but more spikes than normal, and overall I am pleased with my runs. Got to meet some new and friendly people. Experience orienteering in a completely new setting and environment, complete with cow trails! Couldn't be happier that my nagging injuries did not affect me too badly and that I was able to do it all with friends.