Orienteering tradition in the border triangle
Orienteering has - if you take it exactly - already a long tradition in the Zittau Mountains. Already in 1953 district championships in tourist cross-country skiing took place. At that time, people ran distances of up to 25 km with 10 kg of luggage and emergency equipment. The posts were approached with marching direction number and range finder. As maps were used the well-known [measuring table sheets]. The team Hänchen/Haufe delivered itself in the 50's and at the beginning of the 60's many an exciting fight with the Dresden greats Kaßbaum/Heinemann. At the beginning of the 60's the summer-OL with black and white maps came up. The tourist groups (Haus der Pioniere) around Georg Wichary and Gerhard Döring operated from the Kaltenstein and took care especially of the new generation.
Turbine-OL
Finally, in 1977 the 1st Turbine-OL with self-made punching pliers (rarity for collectors!) took place. The initiators at that time were Horst Haufe and Volker Ender from Turbine Zittau. The section hiking, mountaineering and orienteering within the HSG Turbine Zittau had already been founded in 1971. Since 1977 at least one orienteering race per year took place in the Zittau mountains, at first always the Turbine OL in November, later still the district championships under the direction of Peter Kudraß (SG Zittau-Süd).
The orienteering group of the SG Zittau-Süd emerged from the Army Sports Association of the Officers' College Zittau and exists since 1990.
OL-Team Zittau
OL-Team Zittau - this is the name under which the orienteers from Zittau and surroundings organize orienteering events in the border triangle of Germany, Czech Republic and Poland. The orienteers from HSG Turbine Zittau e.V. and SG Zittau-Süd e.V. belong to the OL-Team Zittau. In total there are about 25 orienteers in the two clubs.
Mountaineer orienteering
Since 1985 there is also the - originally meant for mountaineers - mountaineering run, which is held every year on the second Sunday in November. Since the Zittau Mountains are almost completely covered with orienteering maps, it has become increasingly popular among orienteers as well. In 2004, this event was held for the first time on Czech territory (Horni skaly). In 2022, the 37th edition was held.