The Primal Quest Montana Team Hits Full Stride
Posted on 06/21/08 2:56 AM| by Will
June 20, 2008 - Big Sky Montana
By Craig Stein
Volunteers have arrived in Big Sky and the “Volunteer Village” is filling up!
Today volunteers from around the U.S. and abroad began the menial tasks required to get an expedition level race like Primal Quest started. Everything from scrubbing down kayaks to hanging banners and trail clean up have been started by the talented group of professional race volunteers in order to make the Primal Quest experience exceptional for every level of racer participating in this year’s enduring event.
Volunteers camping on a hard pan gravel parking lot where met this morning with a beautiful sunrise which quickly warmed up the Big Sky Mountain Village. Early morning meetings with race directors and producer, Don Mann, revealed the tasks and concerns at hand.
While previous weeks of onsite course planning and retooling by the PQ management team have been focused on the unusually huge amount of late Spring snow pack, this week brings a quick melting of the snow fields and new safety concerns for the water sections of the course. The Gallatin River is running at 155% of it’s average stream flow for this time of year. With more than 100 miles of water sections on this year’s Primal Quest, Don Mann now has to consider the racers safety in rivers that are running at, or above, a class IV rating.
“Course variability will be a large factor for this year’s water course as conditions continue to evolve,” says Don Mann. “Safety is our top priority! We may be required to alter the water sections of the race.”
