This year’s Empire State Games Ski Orienteering event attracted 56 participants, aged 8 to 82, from all over the U.S. and Canada. The event consisted of 3 races held at local Lake Placid venues over the weekend of Feb. 2-4 and although snow conditions were marginal, the temperatures were much more moderate than last year’s record lows, and the grooming crews worked hard to ensure safe and enjoyable snow conditions for all racers.
The opening race was a Friday evening Score-O held at Cascade Welcome Center. This was a twist on traditional ski-o racing in a couple of ways: competitors had one hour to find as many controls as they could in any order, and it was held in the dark! While the newly installed motion activated lights on the Cascade trails were of some assistance, many of the skiers were travelling too quickly to activate the lights in advance and so had to depend on their headlamps to read their maps and spot the control stations.
Saturday’s event was a traditional format, where 4 different courses were offered and racers had to find each control in order. It was held in daylight hours, and the longer courses stretched over onto the Van Hoevenberg trail system. Conditions were pretty sketchy by the end of the event but racers took it in stride and displayed caution and discipline on the icy downhills.
On Sunday another traditional format race was held at Scotts Cobble, again featuring 4 different courses. The more advanced skiers found themselves venturing onto snowshoe and mountain bike trails to find their controls. It was a bluebird day and the skiers all marveled at the wonderful views of the High Peaks as they navigated their courses.
This year’s event was a great success thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the grooming crews at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Cascade Welcome Center and Scott’s Cobble, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to them for ensuring safe conditions. And many thanks to the management at Cascade and Scotts Cobble for providing a welcoming environment for our competitors, as well as to the Adirondack Foundation for providing funds to purchase mapholders for our youngest participants. And finally, thanks as always to the Empire State Winter Games organization, Empire Orienteering Club and High Peaks Cyclery for their financial and organizational support, as well as to the many EMPO and Montreal Ramblers volunteers who made the event possible.
Results of all races can be found here!
Janet Findlay & David Hunter
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