The ski orienteering meet in McCall brought a break in the dry spell and much needed snow to the area. The weather was the great leveler with blizzard like conditions that dumped fresh, wet snow causing the usually much faster skate skis to stick and the best score was turned in by a snow shoer! Traditional cross country skis may have been the best choice for the conditions, however few people had them.
My controls for the score course were planned so that it would be unlikely for anyone to get all of them within the one hour time limit- in ideal conditions (pretty much every day except for meet day). The wet snow conditions made many of the controls out of reach within that hour even for the fastest competitors, making route planning very tricky.
Ole gathered the greatest number of points, but the (unexpectedly) heavy overtime penalty knocked his score down by half - still good enough to be first place skier. Jeff first went out on skate skis, then went out again for another go on snow shoes. The surprising results of his comparison test showed that a guy running on snow shoes (and cutting corners) could do better than the same guy on skate skis. Sergey generously consented to pick up controls on his outing, but was then severely hampered by bags that were stiff and heavy with crusted snow; he had also been out previously with Masha on her very respectable run. He still managed to rack up the second highest number of points, however the overtime penalty cut him heavily.

And the winners are: Jeff for first overall and first snow shoe, Ole first skate ski, Masha first traditional ski and first under 20 yr. old.

Congratulations to everyone for showing up and competing in the conditions! And thanks to Ponderosa Park for providing a warm and dry visitor center to hang out in. Check the web site for a few photos soon.

Name                Points       Penalty     Score      Style
 
Jeff Black            95            0          95        snow shoe
Ole Bergset          170          -80          90        skate
David Bergset         65            0          65        skate
Sergey Velichko      145          -85          60        skate
Ben Hipple            55            0          55        skate
Jeff Black            60          - 5          55        skate
Masha (& Sergey)      45            0          45        traditional
Mc Stover &
Jen Garretson         40            0          40        traditional
Austin Rygh &
Myckie Cole-Thurow    15          -10           5        traditional (kid's course)
 
- Karin Didisse, meet director