Forest Training 1 - Cypress Falls

Organizers: Bruce Rennie (Course Planner), Robyn Rennie (Event Director), Joanne Woods (Membership), Brian Ellis (Controller), Marg Ellis (Assistant)

Map: Cypress Falls

Results are now available on winsplits

Thanks to everyone who participated and/or helped to make this a success. It was a lot of fun to see everyone.

Forest Training #1 is on the newly expanded Cypress Falls map. The map is mostly new, joined to the north end of the existing Cypress Falls map. Much of it is steep coastal terrain with many small and large cliffs, rocky sections and some delightful moss areas.

Training - This is the first of four sessions of forest training that we are offering this spring. Each session will focus on one or more different skills which are required for orienteering in a forest environment. In this session, we will offer five courses for attendees to use and to practise the skills that they are learning.

This week we are introducing reading contour lines and forest features like: spurs, terraces, re-entrants, hills, earthen banks, rocks, small depressions etc. Training resources: http://www.learnorienteering.com/index.htm We suggest you read the pages on "Understanding Contours" and "IOF symbols".

We will provide detailed, optional, training notes for the Intermediate and Advanced courses. You can select which one you want to practice with, after you have selected and paid for a course. We will accommodate people who indicate that they want training materials for more than one course.

Courses - all courses will have SI timing. There will be SI sticks available at registration for those who do not own one.

1. Beginner course - 900m - suitable for children and families or newcomers who have never tried orienteering before. Participants in the OAK program can use this course to practice their skills in a more traditional orienteering setting.

2. Intermediate course - 1300m - a little more off trails and slightly longer.

3. Advanced course - 2400m - suitable for experienced orienteers or a good chance for intermediates to try some forest legs, with detailed course notes.

Notes for both shorter-elite and elite courses: This area is bisected by the deep canyon containing Cypress Falls. Due to the dangers on both sides of the creek, we will mark out of bounds areas on the map. There are 2 bridges which are the 2 mandatory crossings from the East side map to the West side map. You will receive two maps in a map bag. From the second bridge crossing there is a 500m mandatory route along a road.

4. Shorter elite course - 5500m - more physical and longer. Explores the new areas along with parts of the original Cypress Falls map.

5. Elite course - 6300m - more physical, longer and with more challenging control placements. Explores the new areas along with more parts of the original Cypress Falls map.

The actual Cypress Falls are a short 150 m distance from the second mandatory bridge crossing, on both the shorter-elite and elite courses. Please be mindful that the Falls do not have safety fences. The Falls, while spectacular, do present a very real danger.

Parking is limited along Eagle Lake road and at the start finish area. Additional parking is along the south side of Cypress Bowl road and near the Pop-Up area. If you park on the south side of the road, this may require a u-turn, with caution, further up at the Chippendale road crossing.

Please be registered by Friday midnight. After that the price doubles until 2:00pm on Saturday. There will be no spare maps.

Map: is mostly new, joined to the north end of the existing Cypress Falls map. Much of it is steep coastal terrain with many small and large cliffs, rocky sections and some delightful moss areas. The map scale is 1:5,000 with 5 m contours.

Registration: 9:45 am - 10:30am

Start: 10:00am - 11:00am

Courses close at 1:00pm

Cost for Participants:

Purchase an event entry for $10 per adult, $5 per junior (8 - 20) + administrative costs (until midnight on Friday night. After that it doubles)

Families can use the FAMILY_DISCOUNT code for a discount of 40%.

OAK participants can attend for free - use the code OAK during registration.

Signup and pay through the link on the right.

See who else is attending and if you know other orienteers, put together a bubble of people to train with or arrange to meet up at the site.