2009 Sierra Avalanche Ski-O Champs, Day 1
Royal Gorge Cross Country
Date: (Sun.) Jan. 25, 2009
Location: Soda Springs, CA
Event Director: 
- 650.793.8764
Course Setter: Brenda Giese
Type: Ski-O; Score-O course
The Day-1 event is "score-O" format for the Orange, Green, Red, and Blue courses. The White course, which is made for beginners, will be a point-to-point course. Score-O courses require that you find as many controls as possible, in any order, in a set amount of time, in this case 1.75 to 2.5 hours. Point-to-point courses require that you find a series of controls in a specified order in whatever amount of time it takes to find them (before the course closes).
Sometimes, score-O courses have point values assigned to the controls, but at this event each control has the same value as all other controls. Be careful though, not all the controls that you will encounter will be on your course.
E-Punch Will Be Used at This Event
In a policy reversal, it has been decided that we can use E-punching at this event, so we will use it. Bring your SPORTident E-punch finger sticks.
Terrain
The terrain at Royal Gorge is hilly with some flat terrain. The starts and finishes are at about 7200 feet but the competition area has elevations from 6900 feet to 7800 feet. All courses except white will experience some climb.
Rope Tows
Royal Gorge has three rope tows to help skiers go up some steeper hills that are used for telemarking. You are free to use the rope tows during the competition, but you must wait your turn, and you must be ready for the rope tow to stop whenever someone slips or falls from the tow line.
STAY OFF THE MAINTENANCE TRAIL
There is a maintenance trail that you must avoid using at all times. That trail is clearly marked as out of bounds for skiers, and it does not have tracks for skiers. STAY OFF THAT TRAIL, OR YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THIS EVENT. That trail is for the event management to use for moving equipment and for emergencies.
Courses and Classes
The following course classifications and competitive classes will be offered:
Course Competitive Classes Less Competitive
White (None) F-White, M-White Orange F-16, F55+ F-Orange, M-Orange Green F-20, F40+, M-16, M55+ F-Green, M-Green Red F-21+, M-20, M40+ M-Red Blue Amazon, M-21+
The competitive classes are based on your "USOF age": 2009 minus your birth year. A minus sign means the stated age "and younger". A plus sign means the stated age "and older".
The Amazon class is for women who want to compete against other women on the hardest course. Women are always free to compete in the male classes but males cannot compete in the female classes.
Groups get a time recorded for their course but are not included in class competitions. Parents who shadow youngsters (typically under 10 years of age) are not considered to be part of a group and are not charged an orienteering fee (but they must have a trail pass to ski the trails).
Trail-Pass Fees
If you already have a season or multi-day trail pass for this event day, you do not need to purchase a trail pass.
Day-of-event
Preregistration Registration
Adult (17+) $24 $24 Junior (11-16) $12 $12 Child (0-10) Free Free
Pass fees are based on your actual age on the day of the event.
Orienteering Fees
All competitors pay one of the following orienteering fees (which are based on your actual age on the day of the event).
Day-of-event
Preregistration Registration
Adult (21+) $10 $15 Junior (8-20) $ 5 $ 5 Child (0-7) Free Free
Compass and E-stick Rentals
These items are optional rentals. If you need a compass (most people do not need these on ski trails), you can rent one for $1.
E-punch will be used. If you do not have an E-punch SI card (finger stick), you can rent one for $3 per day.
Event Schedule
9:00 Registration opens 10:00 Starts begin (first come, first served) 12:00 Registration ends 12:30 Last start (later starts by approval of course setter only) 2:30 Courses close, cleanup begins 5:00 Cleanup ends
Event Cancellation
We have yet to cancel an event or close our courses early, but we've come close to doing that. In the event that the resort closes, we automatically have to cancel our event and remove it from our championship series. Also, if we are not able to set up the equipment or safely have people ski, we automatically cancel or close the event.
Last year, we endured four blizzards with a total of eight feet of snow dropped over six days, but we didn't close one event. At times, the highway was closed, but the resort was open and we were in place ready to start people when they were able to arrive. Of course, when there are horrendous conditions, we cannot always guarantee that all trails will be groomed. If you encounter an ungroomed trail, we will ignore that control in the results—feel free to continue to the next control. There is no point in going after a control that is not on a trail, because we will exclude it from the competition.
If the resort is open, but snow conditions don't warrant a point-to-point event, we will automatically change the course to score-O format. This typically happens if too many trails remain ungroomed to run a point-to-point event.
If an event is canceled, we automatically refund your orienteering fee, and we will do whatever we can to refund your trail pass as well. Refunds might be mailed out after the event.
Driving Directions
From I-80 about 80 minutes east of Sacramento (15 minutes west of Truckee), take the Norden/Soda Springs exit (Exit 174). Go straight through the village for about a mile to the first blinking light/stop sign. Turn right; go across the railroad tracks, past the Soda Springs Downhill Ski area on your right, up the hill and turn at the second right (you'll see signs by now). After the turn, go straight to the Summit Station parking lot of the Royal Gorge ski area lodge.
Results
Class (course)
Name Controls Points Time Penalty Total Event Score
F-21+ (Red--2:10:00 max.)
Julie Raymond 21 105 2:07:36 0 105 100.00 Sharon Crawford 20 100 2:06:38 0 100 95.24
F40+ (Green--1:45:00 max.)
Carol Schick-Lyda 13 65 1:32:08 0 65 100.00
F55+ (Orange--1:45:00 max.)
Anndy Wiselogle 8 40 2:06:28 22 18 100.00 Rosemary Johnson 6 30 2:00:17 16 14 77.78
F65+ (Orange--1:45:00 max.)
Dayle Levine 16 80 1:40:03 0 80 100.00 Nancy Lindeman 4 20 1:30:21 0 20 25.00
M-21+ (Blue--2:30:00 max.)
Greg Walker 27 135 2:21:36 0 135 100.00 Donatas Ereminas 26 130 2:22:07 0 130 96.30 Neil Hunt 24 120 2:26:15 0 120 88.89 Chuck Lyda 24 120 2:29:10 0 120 88.87 Ken Walker Sr. 24 120 2:36:13 7 113 83.70
M40+ (Red--2:10:00 max.)
Mike Poulsen 16 80 1:52:01 0 80 100.00 Bob Baylor 13 65 2:07:52 0 65 81.25 Douglas Berling 13 65 2:15:32 6 59 73.75 Scott Drumm 9 45 1:48:12 0 45 56.25 Pete Olsen 7 35 1:46:25 0 35 43.75
M55+ (Green--1:45:00 max.)
Max Suter 15 75 1:52:49 8 67 100.00
F-open (Orange--1:45:00 max.)
Jennifer Heckendorn 15 75 1:58:49 14 61 100.00 Sherry Timmerman 11 55 1:28:54 0 55 90.16
M-open (Orange--1:45:00 max.)
Oleg Shakhnovsky 11 55 1:37:11 0 55 100.00 Jim Fish 8 40 1:48:40 4 36 65.45
F-open (Green--1:45:00 max.)
Trinka Gillis 12 60 1:45:49 1 59 100.00
M-open (Red--2:10:00 max.)
Bjorn Widerstrom 14 70 2:00:56 0 70 100.00
White Course (point-to-point format)
Galena Shakhnovsky 100.00