27.01.2020

Orienteering with map and compass

This Monday we met directly at 9:15am at the hut nearby the university. First, they asked us to sort by our orienteering skills. Then they placed us into groups, for example the people with the least experience went together with the people with the most experience, so every group had about the same skill level. Everyone received a map and they told us to visit certain points and take a picture to proof we were there.
I think that’s a pretty good concept, the only problem was that we already used the same map in our class with Len, so we were all comfortable with the map.

I was together with three other people and our task
was to reach point 8 and then point 1. Sadly, these two points were easy to reach because of a big path between the points, so for us it wasn’t a big challenge. Luckily the Norwegian student in my group was skilled with orienteering and he told us some extra tips to use a map and compass. We reached point 8 easily, took a picture and marked the way we walked to point 8 on our map. We took the same way back and reached point 1. In this area was an old mineshaft that wasn’t easy to find because it was covered with plants. After the photo we marked the way on the map again, then we went quickly back to the hut at the university because the time limit was one hour.

We found out that we were one of the earliest groups back at the hut. The other groups were still on their way, because their points they had to reach were further apart. We had a long break on the hut. Some of the Norwegians had started a campfire and we could warm ourselves up a bit. We had to wait one extra hour till all the groups were back.
It would say it wasn’t well planned because some groups had it very easy and other groups had it very difficult, so they couldn’t make it back in time.

After our long break we played hide and seek with items. Two groups went together one of the groups had to hide a small item and then check from a certain point the compass degree in the direction the Item was hidden. Then the other group had to find the direction using their own compass and search for the item.
It was a fun game and at the same time we worked a little with the compass and got more familiar of how to use it. Then we played a second game where we had to answer quiz questions mostly about orienteering, if we knew the answer, we had to run to a water bottle, whoever got the bottle first, could answer. We stayed in our groups, the group with the most correct answers won some candy. In my opinion a very simple game, but good to refresh the knowledge about orienteering.
After that game the program was over, we cleaned up the hut and went back home.