By Derek Maclean
We're pleased to host you at the first ever orienteering event at the Truckee location of Sierra College. Rex Winterbottom has produced an excellent, brand-new map for this forest Sprint event. The map scale is 1:4000. The contour interval is 5 m, with some form lines shown at 2.5 m interval.
The Start and Finish are both adjacent to the Assembly Area.
The course area is bounded by I-80, Hwy 89, and the Union Pacific rail tracks. Do not approach, cross, or run along any of these throughways. Areas adjacent to each road/railway are not mapped and should be avoided. The edge of the mapped area is generally evident on the ground (e.g., fence, trail, bushes), and the road/railway are highly visible, so no-one should inadvertently stumble onto the throughways. Apologies for the constant highway noise (and occasional train).
The mapped area comprises two wooded hills, each about 50 m elevation from the lowest point on the map. Almost the entire area is runnable forest, with paved areas around the college building. Courses will mostly be in the forest, with little pavement running. Some routes might cross the parking lots near the college building. Please take great care in these areas, and look out for cars.
The forested area is open pine forest with very little underbrush (and no poison oak), allowing for fast running speeds. Cleated shoes are recommended due to the loose, dusty ground surface. Slopes are typically low to moderate gradient.
The area is traversed by a disc-golf course, which will be closed during our event. The golf tees and targets are not mapped. The course "fairways" comprise many of the indistinct trails and linear clearings shown on the map.
There are areas of thicker underbrush at the edge of the mapped area. The courses are designed to avoid these areas. Vegetation boundaries are not distinct. There are a few bushy thickets, which might be used as control sites.
Lone trees are mapped when their canopy does not overlap with neighboring trees. Two notations are used: green circles with white interior for large, mature trees; green dots for smaller, younger trees. The distinction is evident in the field. A white area around a green circle indicates the extent of the canopy from a larger lone tree.
There are many boulders, and they form the majority of control features. All boulders more than 0.6 m tall are mapped. In some areas you will find numerous unmapped, slightly smaller rocks. These might be mapped using the stony-ground symbol if fairly close together. In areas with relatively few rocks, some smaller rocks might be mapped. Cliffs are often similar to boulders, but are typically on steeper slopes and are clearly taller on the downhill side. Boulder clusters might comprise larger or smaller boulders that are close together. In areas where there are numerous separate boulders, the control description "northernmost", etc. will be helpful.
Three courses are offered:
Course Length Climb Controls Navigation
Beginner/Short 1.4 km 45 m 13 Beginner
Medium 2.8 km 100 m 15 Advanced
Long 4.0 km 170 m 20 Advanced
Due to the short distances, no water will be provided on the courses. Since we are at altitude, and it might be warm, please be well hydrated before your course, and carry additional water if you think you'll need it.
The Beginner/Short course starts out in paved areas and on larger trails, but later has some more adventurous, cross-country legs, which will benefit from compass use and paying attention to contour topography. These legs will typically be within sight of the college building, so there is little risk of getting lost, and this should be a fun challenge.
The Medium and Long courses are set to be as technical as possible in this terrain. Controls will typically be set on the far side of the feature from the typical route of approach, so that you should navigate to the indicated side of the feature before seeing the flag. Because of the small size of the area, courses will visit some parts of the map more than once. Both courses will have a map flip, with about half of the course on each side of the map. The climb is 4% on each course by the "optimal" route, with numerous (mostly) small ups and downs throughout. Your actual climb might vary based on several over-or-around route choices.