Tisdagbana in freshly falling snow. Tonight was a pretty tough course not because of the new powder snow but rather because of the crunchy oddly packed snow underneath. A real workout on all the little stabilize-y kinds of muscles in the ankles, hips, and back. This course had a several sections of controls between the more typical corridor orienteering. I struggled a bit with the navigation in these places, possibly because my compass was not liking the cold (too many bubbles). On one of my forays at taking my own route choice to the next control, my lamp stopped working as I was in the middle of a swamp. It luckily was a problem that could be solved by just twisting the cord differently and getting it to stay that way. It may be time to break out the new headlamp though.
I ended up running the 12 k version tonight, running most of the course with Carl, Elisa, Kajsa, Hannah, Mika, and Jenny once I got lost enough to lose the lead pack.
There were many places where I was not at all in contact with the map. I trusted in the group, and we all trusted a bit in the footprints left by the lead pack.
quickroute There is a moment 12 minutes into the session where you can see me lead the whole pack down the wrong trail...I hadn't yet taken my compass out of my pocket. I realized fairly quickly that I was now heading downhill and not uphill, but it was a bit embarrassing.