Ski orienteering

Ski orienteering

Ski orienteering
Highest governing body	IOF
Characteristics
Equipment	skis, skipoles, map
Venue	snow
Presence
Olympic	no
World Championships	yes
Paralympic	no

Ski orienteering (SkiO) is a cross-country skiing endurance winter racing sport and one of the four orienteering disciplines recognized by the IOF. A successful ski orienteer combines high physical endurance, strength and excellent technical skiing skills with the ability to navigate and make the best route choices while skiing at a high speed.

Standard orienteering maps are commonly used, but since 2019, a separate mapping standard ISSkiOM^[1] has been produced which recommends a subset of the symbols used in other disciplines. Ski-orienteering maps uses green symbols to indicate trails and tracks and different symbols to indicate their navigability in snow; other symbols indicate whether any roads are snow-covered or clear. Navigation tactics is similar to mountain bike orienteering. Standard skate-skiing equipment is used, along with a map holder attached to the chest.^[2] Compared to cross-country skiing, upper body strength is more important because of double-poling needed along narrow snow trails.