NOTE: Terra Events is now Wicked Adventure Racing

Adventure Racers Brave Tempestuous Mt. Hood for Terra Mountain Sprint

By Mike Bitton

MT. HOOD MEADOWS, Ore. -- Athletes who swarmed Mt. Hood for the inaugural Terra Sprint Series adventure race faced more than punishing elevation gain on Oregon's highest peak. Mother Nature also dealt them the strongest storm the Pacific Northwest has seen in several months.

Wind and snow raged at the race start as athletes trudged up the temporarily closed Yellow ski run at the Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort. At times, the snow was so intense that visibility was limited to 20 feet. As the race wore on, the weather warmed. Blowing snow turned to sleet, and then to rain, turning the course into a slippery slush-fest.

Unusually dry weather in the Pacific Northwest had led race organizer Shane Gibson of Portland to change the name of the race from Terra Sprint - Winter, to Terra Sprint - Mountain. In fact, snow was so scarce the week before the race, Gibson reworked the course to add a 20-mile mountain bike section.

New snow cancelled the bike leg, as six-to 12-inches of the white stuff was on the bike route come race day. The ropes section was also cancelled because of weather. Avalanche danger was simply too high, Gibson said.

Adventure race photographer Mike Bitton said he'd never worked in such wet weather. "I felt like I was trying to take pictures underwater, but without an underwater camera!" Bitton said. He used a giant golf umbrella to keep his camera gear from getting soaked. "After standing in the rain for three hours, I started to wonder if a PFD should have been mandatory equipment."

About Mike Bitton

The finale of the BEAST series:
Seattle BEAST: Barebones Evening Adventure Sprint Tournaments is a series of four midweek short (1.5-2h winning time) adventure races put on by team mergeo.com under the management of Eric Bone.
Race solo or up to 4 members per team in races that are set in the Seattle area and will include cheap race fees (30-35$/pp/pr) and a streamlined check in to start at 7pm.

Seattle BEAST: Barebones Evening Adventure Sprint Tournaments is a series of four midweek short (1.5-2h winning time) adventure races put on by team mergeo.com under the management of Eric Bone.
Race solo or up to 4 members per team in races that are set in the Seattle area and will include cheap race fees (30-35$/pp/pr) and a streamlined check in to start at 7pm.
More infos under:
www.mergeo.com/beast

Seattle BEAST: Barebones Evening Adventure Sprint Tournaments is a series of four midweek short (1.5-2h winning time) adventure races put on by team mergeo.com under the management of Eric Bone.
Race solo or up to 4 members per team in races that are set in the Seattle area and will include cheap race fees (30-35$/pp/pr) and a streamlined check in to start at 7pm.
More infos under:
www.mergeo.com/beast

Come and practice your navigation skills at a Columbia River Orienteering Club (CROC) event!

For details on this event, please click here.

BYO Boat provides the Portland paddling community with regularly scheduled pick-up races on the Willamette River. These races are a convenient and inexpensive way for paddlers to meet each other and gain race experience in a fun, informal setting.

Chapter 6: TA5 to The Finish Line: Plus some thoughts:

We left TA5 on our bikes as the sun was coming up. We were convinced that we were going to finish in last place after our campout in the forest and slow bushwhack out, so we had enjoyed a two-hour nap at the TA5. Since we were refreshed and took the correct route this time, we enjoyed one of the fastest split times from TA5 to TA6. It also helped that Chad set a grueling pace once we hit the pavement. Susan and I simply tucked in and tried to hold on. The speedometer on Chad's bike stayed around 20MPH the entire time he said.

Chapter 5: Restart to TA 5 (It took us a little while)

Around 5 AM we started out with several other teams on a 40 plus mile mt bike ride. It had been raining steadily since the night before and showed no signs of letting up. Since the course had to be redesigned, the first section of our bike ride was on pavement, which made the miles fly by. A few teams joined in with us and formed a nice pace line.

Chapter four: Tragedy on the course and restart:

When we last left team PDXAR.com was stumbling across a dam on our way to TA4. As we arrived at the TA the check in personal were extremely happy to see us. They had been wondering what had happened to us because 15 teams had passed us during the trekking section. This news hit us hard, but not as hard as what they told us next. There had been an accident and the race was on hold until further notice. There would be a meeting of team captains at 11 the next morning at TA 5. All other details we would have to get from our support crew.

The first thing we did at TA2 was talk to the film crew. That and eat, but some of us did more talking while others did more eating. We also learned that the Mt Baker section of the race was going to be removed. As a team we were really looking forward to this section of the race. One reason being that we did the majority of our prerace training in the Columbia Gorge and on Mt Hood, which means we were good at going up hill. If you have been to either location you will understand, but if not, here is a typical trail in the Gorge. Dog Mountain: 7 miles round trip with 3000 vertical feet elevation gain. The good news was the we would not have to carry our mountaineering gear on the rest of the section which included over 30 miles of mt biking, several miles of trekking and a ten mile ride and tie.