New Snowshoe Options - No Navigation!

There are some new options for the February stupid thing, the Salomon Snowshoe Raid. In addition to the 3-hr snowshoe orienteering competition, they've added 5k and 10k snowshoe races. So for those of you who aren't interested in doing the map and compass thing, you can follow a marked trail. You can also do the 5k and 10k solo; the orienteering race is done in teams of two.

We're still planning to do the orienteering. Although I just discovered yesterday that Ashifa has never used a topo map before, so we're going to have to do a little practicing!

Here's the site for the Snowshoe Raid.

Snowshoe!

Registration for the Salomon Snowshoe Raid, February's stupid thing, is now open. Early registration until December 31 is $100 per team of two. We've heard from several people who are interested in doing this event. If you're interested but haven't been able to convince someone else to run around in the snow with you, let us know; we can connect the partnerless. If you don't have snowshoes, they list a few options on the website for renting them.

Here are a race report and some pictures from last year's race.

If you need to brush up on your orienteering skills (which might be a good idea - notice that you're required to carry survival gear during the race!), here are some links to try:

• Golden Horseshoe Orienteering - navigation tips
• Golden Horseshoe Orienteering - race tips
• Canadian Orienteering Federation - orienteering lingo and sample orienteering maps
• US Orienteering Federation - click on the Education link

The Snowshoe Raid website has a lot of details about the race and includes the maps used for last year's race.