Szklarska Poręba, or rather its district Jakuszyce, is the Polish ‘center’ of cross-country skis enthusiasts, that welcomed us with huge banks of snow and heavy snowfall last weekend. This, however, did not stop us from organizing another open-air event – a competition on the cross-country track that required not only skills of moving with cross-country skis on but also demanded the ability to use a map and other devices related to skiing and mountains. The Guests were provided with appropriate equipment and took part in a training with an instructor. The competition started at the shooting point where the group, assisted by the instructor, shot at the target with professional air rifles. The next task consisted in deciphering a sentence written in Morse with the use of binoculars. At the end, everyone took part in an avalanche training carried out by an experienced GOPR (Mountain Volunteer Rescue Service) staff member and great Himalayan mountaineer. In this case, the task was to find an avalanche detector buried in snow by means of another detector, confirm the finding with a probe and dig it up with shovels. After the competition finished the group went to one of the local atmospheric restaurants where hot meals were served and commemorative medals as well as a cup were awarded to the participants in a room prepared specifically for this occasion.
