Current at 11/6/2011 (Online waypoint URL)
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Unknown Cache Zeus's Games by janalicious (2.5/1.5) (Archived)
N49° 51.584  W97° 04.972 (WGS84)
UTM  14U   E 637790  N 5524798
Use waypoint: GC1F0VF
Size: Regular Regular    Hidden on 8/8/2008
In Manitoba, Canada
Difficulty:  2.5 out of 5   Terrain:  1.5 out of 5
Dogs allowed  Available at all times  Bicycles 
   



http://img.geocaching.com/cache/d764b6a6-9b29-4356-921b-183556ecac19.jpg http://img.geocaching.com/cache/59ada419-c24e-4357-bd2a-a5555ea98883.jpg

I’ve placed cache in honour of the Olympics; more specifically the Games of the XXIX Olympiad; Beijing 2008 and the upcoming XXI Winter Games; Vancouver 2010.

According to historical records, the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia. They continued for nearly 12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such "pagan cults" be banned.

Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic Games, is in the western part of the Peloponnese which, according to Greek mythology, is the island of "Pelops", the founder of the Olympic Games. Imposing temples, votive buildings, elaborate shrines and ancient sporting facilities were combined in a site of unique natural and mystical beauty.

Olympia functioned as a meeting place for worship and other religious and political practices as early as the 10th century B.C. The central part of Olympia was dominated by the majestic temple of Zeus, with the temple of Hera parallel to it. The ancient stadium in Olympia could accommodate more than 40,000 spectators, while in the surrounding area there were auxiliary buildings which developed gradually up until the 4th century B.C. and were used as training sites for the athletes or to house the judges of the Games.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad will be celebrated in Beijing,The People's Republic of China and followed by the 2008 Summer Paralympics from September 6 to September 17. Ten thousand, five hundred athletes are expected to compete.

"The five rings -- blue, yellow, black, green and red -- represent the five parts of the world now encompassed by Olympism and ready to compete against each other. Moreover, the six colours (including the white background) thus combined represent those of all nations, without exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and white of Greece, the French, English, American, German, Belgian, Italian and Hungarian tricolours, the yellow and red of Spain are side by side with the new Brazilian and Australian flags, the old Japan and the new China. It is a true international emblem."

The cache is a regular lock’n’lock containing an FTF certificate and prize, a travel bug, and a few trading items which is located in a nice park not too far from home. The posted coordinates are located in a nearby church parking lot.

THE REAL CACHE COORDINATES ARE N49° 51.KLM W097° 04.NOP

Answer the questions below to calculate the coordinates using the following formulas:

K = G N = (E – F)/(A*H)

L = D – G O = [(B + C + H)*(I – A)]/[(J + H)/H]

M = H + I P = K - L

A. The numerical value of the 8th letter of the Beijing Olympics slogan.

B. How many sports are involved at the 2008 Summer Olympics?

C. How many events will take place at the Beijing Olympics? Sum the digits.

D. The numerical value of the 5th letter of the Canadian city that bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics?

E. In which year did the triathlon become an Olympic sport?

F. What year was the last time golf was on the Olympic programme?

G. The Shamrock Lacrosse Team of a Canadian city took home the gold medal in the 1904 Olympic games. What is the numerical value of the 8th letter of this city?

H. In which Winter Olympics was snow trucked in from Canada when cross-country ski trails melted? (eg 1st -21st Olympiad, not year)

I. How many career Olympics medals has Cindy Klassen won?

J. Montreal was called the games of which Olympiad?

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)


Current at 11/6/2011

Found it 8/31/2008 by Kabuthunk
Finally! I've been eying this cache for a while now. Mainly because since it was placed, it's been the closest cache to home. But I kept on putting it off, and putting it off, and never got around to solving the puzzle. That would require looking up information, and... well ok, that's about it really ToungeOut.

Today for some reason however, I felt inspired to solve the puzzle. I was actually planning on solving two different puzzle caches today, but it looks like the second one I had planned was archived yesterday. Ah well, looks like just this one will have to suffice.

The puzzle is actually a bit tricky. Obviously, all of the information wasn't all available on one single page. I had to bounce around back and forth a bit in order to find most of the answers. And one answer just completely eluded me entirely *shakes fist at "H"*. I haven't the foggiest clue where you located that information, but I was luckily able to work around it. H is both fortunately and unfortunately required for three different numbers in the coordinates. Hence, I was unable to work around not having it. Well, one method would have been to systematically check the 999 possible combinations... but that's just ludicrous. Thus, my geek level kicked in. One variable, three equations. Yay for being one of the strange types that enjoy calculus ToungeOut.

There were a few other factors that made it easier still, actually. I won't post them here, since I think that would start to make things too easy for others reading this post. Needless to say, I was able to quickly ascertain the correct value of 'H', and plug the correct coordinates into my GPS.

My wife and I headed off to pick up some stuff today. However, I was able to convince her to take a minor detour off towards this cache before heading elsewhere.

The first time we swung by, we found ourselves in front of a row of houses with no discernible way to get to the coordinates. Thinking I had punched in the answer key wrong, I headed off and got gas. On the way, my wife checked the description for the cache on my palm pilot... which mentioned it was in a park. Hmm... strange. On the way back from there, I had initially planned to abandon the attempt so I could double-check the coordinates at home. My wife persuaded me to try again (shocking, I know... she's supposed to be the anti-geocaching one!)

On our second trip to the area, we found what we were looking for. A little entrance to what appeared to be a really, really thin park. Finding some nearby parking, I jogged over. MAN but that's a long, yet thin park. I never would have known it existed if not for this geocache! I actually ended up taking a bit of a wrong turn at a fork in the path, and I was spat out back onto the road we initially came down the first time. Doubling back, I found my way to the coordinates. WOOH!

Finding the cache container took only a few seconds, so I was able to dive in quickly. Thankfully, there was noone nearby, so no worries about being spotted. I snagged the geocoin to move along, and dropped in a chainmail ball. Mission accomplished BigSmile.

Thanks for the cache. I've gotta get to completing more puzzle caches around where I live... they're starting to pile up ToungeOut.

Took: Geocoin
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball


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Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)