A Tribute to Quino (Quino I)

English description

After Carsten's multi-cache Old Stones, which I liked very much, this is the second multi-cache close to Graz.

This cache is divided into several stages. At Stage 3 and at the final stage cache containers (a film canister and a tupperware-like box, respectively) are hidden. The other stages guide you through the search.
Note that the coordinates associated with this cache are fictive ones somewhere in Graz sufficiently far apart from existing caches. Have fun!


Needed for the Cache Hunt

• Time (a free half-day at your disposition would be fine). Expect a walk of about 10 kilometers length and an ascent of about 350 height meters in total (just a rough estimate). I rated the terrain as 2.5 due to the length of the hike and the terrain in the vicinity of the final cache.
  
• Some preparation work at home for determining the starting coordinates for Stage 0.
  
• Some sheets of paper and a pen or pencil for making notes, and a pocket calculator (a simple one suffices) if you do not like to perform calculations without an electronic device.
  
• Not too bad weather is preferable. You will be rewarded by a nicer view and a better GPS reception (on Summer days with bad weather, the GPS reception at the final cache location might become a critical issue). There are now photographs of the hiding locations available, if you wish, you can take them with you (NB: they may be spoilers).

Stage 0: At a place of your choice

To determine the starting coordinates, you need to answer the questions below:

Question 1:
Find the name of an equestrian discipline which unfortunately has been part of the Summer Olympic Games only once (under a different name than the name which is used nowadays and with different rules). Among the horse sports disciplines this one is probably the most untypical one, e.g., saddles and stirrups do not belong to the necessary equipment. There are competitions for individuals (separate ones for women and men), pairs and teams.
Let L1 be the first letter of the name of this sport (it is the same letter regardless of whether you take the name in English, German, French, Italian or lots of other languages).

• P: Interpret the letter L1 as Roman number and let P be the Arabic number that is associated with this Roman number.

Question 2:
In the sport referred to above, besides the horse and the athlethe(s) another person plays an indispensable role. How is this person called? Take the first letter of the name (again the language does not play a role).

• Q: Interpret the letter as Roman number and let Q be the number obtained by dividing the corresponding Arabic number by 2.

Question 3:
In which country the World Championships 2002 in the sport referred to in Question 1 have taken place?

• R: The number of letters of the capital of this country.

• S: S = R + 1.

Question 4:
What is the name of the World Champion in the 2002 female individual competition in the sport referred to in Question 1?

• T: The number of letters in her first name reduced by 1. (BTW: Her last name would lead to the same result.)

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Stage 1: N 47° 0S.83R', E 015° Q.TSR'.

You can go to Stage 1 by bike, bus or car. The locations of the various stages can be reached by walking (recommended way for the average geocacher), by mountain bike (you need to be in rather good physical condition) or even by riding a horse (if you are an experienced horse rider).

Close to the given coordinates there is a house which in former times hosted an inn. Look for the sign which tells you the number of this house and its address.

• A: The first digit of the number of the house.

The address (community) consists of two words. In the second word two letters occur twice. Let us call these letters L2 and L3 (in this order, i.e., L2 occurs before L3 in the word under consideration).

• B: The number obtained from L2 (via the code z=1, y=2, ..., a=26).

• C: The number obtained L3 in an anologous manner.

• D: D = C-B+A-1

The final task at this stage requires you to look for a signpost directed to hikers which can be found close to the former inn. The signpost mentions two trail numbers.

• W: The trail number that consists of two digits.

• E: The sum of the two digits of W (i.e., the crossfoot of W).

• F: The first digit of W.

Do not worry if in some parts of your way to Stage 2 the GPS reception is bad. The reception will improve considerably once you are close to Stage 2.

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Stage 2a: N 47° 0E.54A', E 015° 2B.FFA'.

Now you should have arrived at a large building. Do not forget to enjoy the view down on Graz! It cannot compete with the views offered by the new caches in the Weiz area, but this place is reachable also by people like myself who run into troubles in difficult terrain.

• G: The number of multi-coloured glass windows on the side of the facade which is approached first when coming from the southward direction. (As a double-check: G is a divisor of the number A+B+E.)

• K: Set K=G+F.

Stage 2b: N 47° 0E.GED, E 015° 2B.F0D

This stage is not far from Stage 2a.
Look for a green signpost directed to sportive people informing them about the distance to three places.

• H: The digit before the comma of the distance to the inn 'Kreuzwirt'.

• I: The digit before the comma of the distance to St. Radegund.

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Stage 3: N 47° 0C.IDF', E 015° 2B.IBH'.

At this stage you need to find a small white film canister (35mm film). It is hidden at a tree stump and covered with foliage. Look carefully - the item is small and cannot be seen without removing the foliage which covers it. On week-ends with fine weather the area around Stage 3 might be crowded (walkers, runners, bikers, horse riders ...), however, the location of the stump is not in plain sight. Some care not to disclose the location of the microcache to other people might, however, be needed.

The film canister contains a magic formula which you will need later on. Since hiding the film canister was a spontaneous idea, there is only a single copy of the sheet with the formula (the second sheet contains a German translation). So please be so kind and do return the two sheets into the canister before hiding it again.

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Stage 4: N 47° 0C.GCC', E 015° 2G.CFK'.

You will find yourself close to a building.
At the front door you will find two carvings; one on the left and one on the right hand side. Let L4 be the letter that occurs twice on the right side.

• M1: The number that results from L4 via the code z=1, y=2, ....., a=26.

• Y1: The year date on the building (consists of 4 digits, two on each side).

Now have a look at the smaller building at the other side of the path.

• Y2: The year date that can be found there.

• Y: Let Y=Y1+Y2.

• X: The sum of the digits of Y.

Some final calculations

• M = M1*D.

• U = X-K

• V = M-P*X+A

According to old myths malignant witches, sorcerers and dwarfs are sometimes present in the wood area which you have to pass to arrive at the final stage. To safeguard against these evil creatures who would love to find the cache before you (in particular as long as the special surprise has not yet been removed from the final cache), the coordinates of Stage 5 are given in encrypted form below. To get the real coordinates you have to apply the magic formula to the last four digits of the minutes (i.e., to all digits which are represented by letters below).

The coordinates of Stage 5 in encrypted form are

N 47° 0U.VAF', E 015° 2K.IFE' (do not forget to apply the decryption step to the undisclosed digits!)

It might be safer to enter the encrypted version directly into your GPS and to refrain from writing down the correct coordinates on a piece of paper - the evil creatures are too old-fashioned to know how to use GPS devices. Usage of cellular phones for notes is at your own risk. There are rumours that the evil creatures are already familiar with such phones.

Hint: If you prefer to stay on trails, the best way to reach Stage 5 is to go back on the path you came on your way to Stage 4 until you meet a marked trail going down (there are several signposts at that crossing).

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Stage 5: ENCRYPTED!!! N 47° 0U.VAF', E 015° K.IFE'

The cache container is well hidden in a natural accumulation of stones which are located below some larger rocks. The location is not very far from the nearest path, but not visible from the path (which moreover is usually not that heavily used).

The cache container is an oval-shaped tupperware-like box (maximum length 15.5cm, minimum length 11.5 cm, width 6.5 cm, height 6 cm) in a zip-log bag (please make sure to close the bag well before you hide the cache again and be careful not to destroy the bag when you put the box back to its hiding place).

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Comments on the idea behind the cache
This cache is a moderate contribution to making the sport with which the questions in Stage 0 deal with more known. The performances of the top athletes are magnificent, but what is even more important is that this sport can be practised also at a much lower level and that it typically has a very positive impact on the personality of those practising it. The untypical name of the cache has a similar source. Quino is a wonderful horse to which almost everyone will lose his/her heart after a few hours of acquaintance. A picture of him is enclosed.