Subaru Primal Quest
Dizzy Heights, Deep Caves and Starting Again
Gordon Wright (SPQ)/Rob / 08.09.2003
Upon completing a 22-mile trek out of TA3, Team Nike ACG had extended their lead to 2.5 hours; a gap that grew to 6.5 hours after an orienteering loop that was as beautiful as it was arduous.
"The orienteering was scrubby and difficult," said Matt Dalziel of second-place Team AROC. "It was all smooth granite with really great route choices, including a go at some 5.10 pitches if you wanted. We really liked that no one was telling us just how to go; we were just alone with the decisions."
After completing the orienteering and a quick mountain bike ride of 15 miles, the racers faced the most talked-about - and feared - discipline on the course: the two-part ropes section. Clipping in on a specially-designed system of a main climbing rope and a redundant shunt rope, the competitors were immediately faced with a 300-foot free-hanging ascent.
To top out on Calaveras Dome, they then faced a series of knot transfers and a truly epic jug of an additional 600-plus feet. That's right: every racer jumared up the equivalent of the Eiffel Tower.
"What a view! What an office!" beamed Steve Gurney of then-third-place Team Parallax, who looked almost jaunty at the top. Nathan Fa'avae of Team Seagate was more descriptive, if no less enthused. "It was exciting,� he said. “This is by far the biggest ascent in adventure racing and the most exciting by far."
"This thing was incredibly well-designed," said Dalziel. "The shunt rope was really appreciated. I mean, everything was backed up, everything was redundant. Even though I felt real nervous at the base, it felt safe."
Once off the ascent, the racers headed toward a linked granite dome, where they faced what is becoming a SPQ trademark: a dizzyingly high abseil. At over 400 feet, the rappel alone would have been epic, but combined with the ascent, this ropes course is considered to be the most audacious in adventure racing history.
The teams then picked up their bikes at the base of the ropes to ride 30 miles, knowing that they needed to get through the caving section of the race before the dark zone came into play. But what they found was a series of three holes, two of which had entrances best described as ‘teeny.’
Inside they dodged old mine shafts and abandoned steam engines, and negotiated at least one short rappel. Only after slithering for six miles underground and squeezing through one narrow passageway dubbed “The Birth Canal,� did they emerge into light.
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