Intermediate to Advanced Study
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Topic created by Ed on Sun Mar 9, 2025 at 5:33 pmI'm trying to move from intermediate to advanced (Orange to Brown) O. Any help would be appreciated.One new source I just found is Better Orienteering:https://betterorienteering.org/I will start to go through it this week.Ed
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Reply by EricW on Mon Mar 10, 2025 at 5:48 pmEd, you raise a very common subject and I thought you would have at least one response by now.There are plenty of DVOA members that could give advice, perhaps even conflicting (not the worst thing), but unfortunately this eboard doesn't seem to generate much discussion.You might want to be acquainted with https://www.attackpoint.org/, which has plenty of discussion, and some existing threads are similar to your topic.After a quick look, this betterorienteering.org/ website looks OK, but strikes me as unnecessarily intellectual & complicated.My simple advice is to spend as much time on maps as possible, in addition to organized events, simply walking or running slowly, while reading all the map details, learning to stay in constant contact with the map, progressing from simple to more detailed terrain, as your skills progress.There are many steps before, after, and in addition to this suggestion that can be mentioned but this is my best guess as to what would help you the most, admittedly not knowing you at all.
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Reply by rgbortz on Tue Mar 11, 2025 at 4:43 pmEd, Your desire to improve is probably the most common wish of budding orienteers. We, as a club, should put more focus on identifying those individuals and offering one on one tutoring. My own personal situatuion in life is that I am free to do what I wish when I wish and can offer assistance to those who ask. If you wish you could send me your email to discuss help either at events or other days that suit you.Ron Bortz
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Reply by Steve on Tue Mar 11, 2025 at 4:57 pmI agree with Eric and Ron. One way that I found "forced" me to upgrade my skills was to help out at events. Every event director loves help picking up flags, usually several flags in a small area. This allows you to read the map closer, no competition thoughts. The next idea is to put the flags out the day before the event. Most course setters put some sort of ribbon at the spot, so you would not be entirely on your own. Once we have you totally hooked, you can start setting courses with a mentor. Maybe just one or two courses while the mentor does the rest.I would also like to say that Brown and Green, as well as Red and Blue, should all be the same difficulty, just longer legnths and times. Choose your course by the amount of time you want to be out there on any given day.
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Reply by shiatsuron on Sun Mar 16, 2025 at 6:59 pmI found that taking the appropriate trainings at DVOA's training in the fall at Hickory Run were helpful.
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Reply by JanetT on Tue Mar 18, 2025 at 9:38 pmIf training events don't offer a contour-only exercise, consider asking the organizers for a map with just contours printed on it; no trails or streams. It makes you really look at that information which can help you move from Orange to Green/Brown. Another skill is knowing when to stop and relocate if what you see in the terrain doesn't match where you think you are on the map.
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Reply by Ed on Fri Mar 21, 2025 at 10:15 amThanks for all the suggestions. I will work to include them in my development as an M70+ walker.I have downloaded the Livelox recorder to my iPhone and want to try it at Quail Hill this weekend. Maybe that will reveal additional problems I have closing in on controls.Thanks, Ed (with the orange hat)
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Reply by LarryG on Fri Mar 21, 2025 at 1:37 pmInteresting, I didn't know you could track your route with Livelox app on a smartphone.
