Grizzly Orienteering's 2023 spring season premiere at Blue Mountain featured deep snow and full-on winter conditions. Several inches of snow fell the night before and mercifully covered up the icy crust that had formed over a couple of weeks' freeze-thaw cycles.

 

This event featured the debut of first-time event director Emily Johnson and first-time course setter Chris Caldwell. Emily greeted event participants with a smile and a welcoming attitude and ran the event flawlessly. Chris designed fantastic courses and spent many hours scouting locations and putting out flags at Blue Mountain in a snowstorm. 

 

Future GrizO Youth Program participant Joshua Walthall sped around the Beginner course in under 27 minutes setting the quickest time by almost 40 minutes. On the Advanced Beginner course, first-time orienteer Kandiss Hamm had the fastest time, and then headed out on the Intermediate course, finishing second to Nick Pence. Nick, another first-time orienteer, was also out on his second course, after doing the beginner course with his family. On the Long Advanced course, Jan Lauenstein cruised around in a blistering 62 minutes! 

 

We were happy to note that out of the 43 participants that attended today, a whole 16 were kids. We love seeing kids and families come out to our events!

 

As always, this event would not be possible without our volunteers. This event would not have happened without Emily Johnson stepping up to direct the event, and without Chris Caldwell stepping up to set courses. Jeff and Svea Johnson helped with setup and takedown. Eric Jones, Boris Granovskiy, and Jan Lauenstein helped with control pickup. Jan, Eric, and Emily all helped with beginner instruction.

 

Full results are below. 

Splits are at https://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_55690.

Course replays with participant routes are available at https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/GrizO-Blue-Mountain-/Long-Advanced?classId=568309. Add your own routes if you have them! 

Some photos from the event by Boris Granovskiy are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/o3fEuZzywHMU8kZ36. Feel free to share and add your own!

 

Our next event is at Soft Rock Recreation Area on April 15. Let's hope that there will be a bit less snow on the ground then!