- by Mike Chastaine

The road to Primal Quest is a long one. Hours on the bike, on your feet and in the kayak. Many weekends away from home working on skills, and technique. Learning to work as a team while improving one’s own-fitness. On top of it all we have to complete various certifications that are required by the Primal Quest organization.

The Dirty Avocados started early. On December 2, 2007 both DA teams traveled to Las Trampas Regional Wildness for navigational instruction, map reading and plotting. As a final exam we did a full on orienteering course/race. The team navigators, of course, breezed through while everyone else picked up some tips and increased their skills. It was a beautiful day and everyone learned a great deal. The DA’s took the top three spots on the Orange course with Adam Doti taking 1st, Susan Bower 2nd and Brian Schmitz 3rd.

The next week, on December 9th, the DA’s met in Marin to work on their climbing certification. Under the learned guidance of Jon Bosworth, the DA’s repelled and ascended the rock working on valuable techniques and skills to allow them to tackle the ropes section in Montana. It was another beautiful day and everyone enjoyed working together.

On January 12th and 13th the group headed to Coloma for the White Water Kayaking training. This two day course was expertly taught by Jason Gates and Gigi Mcbee. The river was cold and the air temp colder as the DA’s learned how to read the river and negotiate the various obstacles found in Class II and III water. Although chilled to the bone, everyone enjoyed the class and learned a great deal.

On February 23, 2008 it was back to the water. The swim certification only required a mile swim and 10 minutes of treading water. However, the DA’s wanted to be fully prepared so they also took a swift water safety class. They learned how to swim through rapids, swim up river, eddy to eddy and how to deal with strainers. We rode River boards and practiced rescues. We all left with a renewed appreciation of the power of the river and the skills to deal with many of the issues that we hoped never arise.

Our final certification was first aid. On March 1 Jon Masztakowski did an excellent job taking a great deal of information and breaking it down into a very practical application. We were all given the tools to help us make the important decisions that sometime arise.

Now that the DA’s have completed all of the required certifications, we can focus on preparing for PQ Montana. But first – Baja.

Share This