2013 Sierra Ski-O Tour and WRE
2013 Sierra Ski-O Tour and WRE

2013 Sierra Ski-O Tour and WRE

Date: Jan. 26 - Feb. 3, 2013
Location: Tahoe Area and Bear Valley
Event Director: - 650.793.8764
Course Setters: Anna Voegele, Brenda Giese, Damian Swift, Denise Kowal, Greg Walker, Jonathan Owens, Julie Raymond, Neil Hunt
Type: Ski-O; 7 events in 9 days, including a World Ranking Event

Please note that fees and time limits apply, unless otherwise mentioned below. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.
Table of contents


We're doing it again! Another 9-day tour of outstanding ski-orienteering events in the Sierras. This year, we start the tour at Bear Valley with a World Ranking Event (WRE) and a general event for non-WRE people. We continue with a second day at Bear Valley, then move to the Tahoe/Truckee area for five more events at Northstar-at-Tahoe XC, Auburn Ski Club, Tahoe Donner XC, Tahoe XC, and Royal Gorge XC.

We have a large crew of directors and course setters this year, now that we have lots of experience to take advantage of. As always, we'll have E-punch, beautiful maps, challenging courses (and venues), and lots of fun. We'll be considerably more relaxed this year than we were last year, but we'll have the same outstanding competition and training opportunities. If the conditions are anything like what we have right now (Nov. 30), we'll have lots of excellent snow.

Come join in on the competition and fun. Hopefully, we'll have preregistration going soon (we just now got the final trail-fee prices), and might be able to do online registration. There will be some nice deals for those who sign up early, and some nice, inexpensive lodging for many of our volunteers. For now, mark your calendars for the 26th of January through the 3rd of February for competition, and come early to acclimate to California ski conditions at 6000 to 7000 feet above sea level.

Check back here for additions over the upcoming weeks.

Schedule

The 2013 Sierra Ski-Orienteering Tour schedule is as follows:

Date Day Venue Format
 26 January  Saturday Bear Valley Cross Country  Point-to-point and WRE 
27 January Sunday Bear Valley Cross Country Point-to-point
28 January Monday Travel/rest day
29 January Tuesday Northstar-at-Tahoe Cross Country Point-to-point
30 January  Wednesday  Auburn Ski Club Training Center Point-to-point
31 January Thursday Rest day
1 February Friday  Tahoe Donner Cross Country (near Truckee)  Score-O (probable)
2 February Saturday Tahoe Cross Country (near Tahoe City) Point-to-point
3 February Sunday Royal Gorge Cross Country Point-to-point

Registration

Pre-registration for this event is now closed, but day-of-event registration will be available.

Prices

Trail pass prices range from $15 to $24 for adults, with lower prices for children, and sometimes for seniors, too. The details for each venue are listed on the individual event pages linked in the table above.

Embargoed Areas

See the event web pages for embargoes in effect for those resorts.

World Ranking Event

Day 1 has a World Ranking Event (WRE) for the M–21+ and F–21+ classes. The WRE competitors must pre-register for assigned start times. The pre-registration period is over and the assigned start times are shown below. If you miss your start time, you will be disqualified for the WRE competition. There are no make-up start times for the WRE event.

Males:

Competitor  Country   Order   Start Time 
 Greg Walker  USA 1 10:00
 Jonathan Owens  USA 2 10:08
 Paul Carson  USA 3 10:16
 Donatas Ereminas  Lithuania 4 10:24
 Mikkel Conradi  USA 5 10:32


Females:

Competitor  Country   Order   Start Time 
 Anna Voegele  USA 1 10:04
 Carol Ross  Canada 2 10:12
 Sharon Crawford  USA 3 10:20


Sierra Ski-O Championships

Everyone who completes a course for their gender/age class is automatically included in the Sierra Ski-O Championships. Your total championship score is the sum of all your scores for the week. Points are given as follows:

If you have the best finish time on a point-to-point course, you get 100 points. If someone else finishes a couple of seconds slower than you, he or she might get 99.5 points, but if that person takes twice as long as you then he or she gets only 50 points.

Minimal points are awarded to competitors who do not complete their courses for reasons of not finding controls, mispunching, minor or unavoidable overtime, or equipment failure. This rewards competitors for at least attempting to do a course with good sportsmanship, but places them in last place for not completing the course. The only way that you get 0 points is if you purposely have a negative impact on the sport.

Training Areas

You can train at any cross country resort that we have already finished a competition at. If a competition has yet to happen, then you are restricted to using the area specified by the embargo rules for that facility (see that event page). Other places that you can ski at that offer groomed trails include Spooner Lake and the Van Norden Lakes area of Royal Gorge.

Transportation

Typically, the most convenient and fastest way to the ski resort is by car. Because winter conditions can make driving dangerous, you must carry chains or have all-wheel drive. If you have all-wheel drive, be warned that chains are sometimes required in addition to all-wheel drive in severe storms. Do not consider driving a car if you do not have all-wheel drive or chains — this is for your safety and for the safety of everyone else on the road.

Other forms of transportation to the Tahoe area include trains and buses. The Amtrak Zepher train leaves Emeryville in the Bay Area once a day and stops possibly in Truckee and definitely in Reno. There are a couple of Amtrak buses that leave from Sacramento to Truckee each day.

If you are flying to this area, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Airports handle North American and some international traffic. Sacramento and Reno airports handle more local traffic but are closer to the events.

Lodging

For Bear Valley, consider calling one of the following:

For Lake Tahoe/Truckee, consider the following:

Google Map

Map Legend

San Francisco Airport (SFO)
Oakland Airport (OAK)
Sacramento Airport (SMF)
Reno Airport (RNO)
Sat.–Sun., Jan. 26–27, Bear Valley Cross Country
Tues., Jan. 29, Northstar-At-Tahoe Cross Country
Wed., Jan. 30, Auburn Ski Club
Fri., Feb. 1, Tahoe Donner Cross Country
Sat., Feb. 2, Tahoe Cross Country
Sun., Feb. 3, Royal Gorge Cross Country

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1 Orienteering USA has a discount program with Choice Hotels (http://choicehotels.com) (CP 00228560). Anyone can use this discount at any time, for any travel whatsoever — for orienteering and non-orienteering personal use, and on business. Choice Hotels include these chains: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn. (In addition to the discount you receive, there's a benefit to Orienteering USA.) The previous Motel 6 discount program is not in effect for 2013.