Ski Orienteering

Ski-Orienteering

Ski Orienteering is an endurance winter sport combining navigation and cross-country skiing across a rough terrain using prepared cross-country ski tracks. A ski orienteer combines high physical endurance and strength, excellent technical skiing skills and the ability to choose the best routes. Ski orienteers use a map to navigate in a dense network of ski trail and to visit control points in right order. Route choices are made on the basis of the quality of the ski tracks, gradient and distance, all of which can be read from the map.

The World Ski Orienteering Championships is the official event to award the titles of World Champions in Ski Orienteering. The World Championships is organised every odd year. The programme includes Sprint, Sprint relay, Middle and Long Distance competitions, and a Relay for both men and women.

Having its origins in the 1890s, ski orienteering is a sport with long traditions and the most popular is in Scandinavia, Russia, Canada and other snow-rich countries.