Tom Lyons and Lisa Lieb: The team won the kayaking event and went on to take first place in the overall competition. Photo by Ryan Jerz.Following a grueling week of competition, the 2008 Nevada Passage adventure competition came to a close Friday afternoon at the Nellis Dunes just outside of Las Vegas.

The competition partnered with Land Rover this year to serve as a qualifying event for the Land Rover G4 Challenge, an adventure competition that incorporates physical skill with technical skill in handling all-terrain driving. Production was handled by TEAM Unlimited.

Day one

The first day of competition started at the Sunset Station in Henderson. Competitors were given a set of coordinates and told to go there. The race was on and the first destination was a town called St. Thomas that was abandoned when Hoover Dam was built. Residents left because of the rising waters of Lake Mead, but the town site is no longer submerged.

At St. Thomas the competitors had to find a new clue, which led them to Overton Beach on Lake Mead. There they launched their kayaks with one team member paddling to Stewart Point and the other driving the Land Rover to meet them. At Stewart Point they switched places and the new kayaker paddled to Echo Bay when they finished the first race of the competition.

Competitors arrive: The long dirt road from I-15 to the campsite ended int he dark for some competitors. Photo by Ryan Jerz.From the finish at Echo Bay the competitors went north through Overton and Logandale to I-15. There they found the road to take them north toward the campsite just outside of Alamo. The ride of about 100 miles along a dirt path made for an exciting trip that everyone seemed to enjoy, even as long as it was. Upon reaching the campsite, the competitors set up their tents and called it a night.

Day two

Day two started early with a briefing and a short trip of less than a mile to the competition site. A lot was happening, but only one part of the morning’s activities mattered for the competition. There were four areas set up: a driving course, a climbing/repelling area, an orienteering area, and a mountain biking course.

The driving course: Set up with a combination of brutal terrain and tight turns, the driving course was a true challenge. Photo by Ryan Jerz.The event that mattered was the driving course. It was set up on some brutal terrain consisting of tight turns and plenty of rocks to climb over. The drivers had to navigate the course while maintaining the road and passing between cones set up to barely allow the vehicle any clearance. The course was timed, with penalties being given if one of the vehicles even touched a cone.

While teams navigated the driving courses the teams waiting practiced the other events, keeping their time occupied. Each station was set up to help familiarize the teams with either upcoming events or events they might see if they were to move on to the Land Rover G4 championship.

The Athletes’ Tents: With grass in place, I’m sure sleeping at Cathedral Gorge was a little better than the naked desert floor. Photo by Ryan Jerz.After completing the riving course and all of the practice sessions, the teams gathered up and drove from the camp through Caliente and into Cathedral Gorge State Park. There they set up camp again, this time for two nights. With a more civilized campsite (tables, grass, bathrooms with showers!), they were able to relax a bit more than the previous night.

About an hour after arriving, though, the teams were told to meet in a spot to receive instructions for that afternoon’s event. It was about a 5-mile run around the park’s edge. As with most of the events, the run included a clue that had to be deciphered in order to find your way to the finish. This threw off a couple of teams, who wound up a few minutes behind the pack of leaders that came in together. It also didn’t help that the run began amid some pretty good rain. Mixing that with the slick surfaces that the rock formations of Cathedral Gorge run off made for a tougher course to navigate than you might normally expect there.

Day three

Brandyn stretching: Along the road we took a wrong turn and had to wait for the proper directions. Brandyn Roark-Gray took the time to stretch out. Photo by Ryan Jerz.The third day of competition began bright and early with a 7:00 am breakfast and 8:00 am departure. Everyone gathered up and got into Land Rovers and headed out of Cathedral Gorge and right onto a dirt road heading west. The long ride was picturesque. Eventually we ended up right near US 93 at a stop with a picnic area and large parking lot. The crew was set to go with a 17-mile mountain bike ride.

Competitors were not told what the event was ahead of time and were given an envelope with instructions. As they opened it, they read that they had to ride bikes and were given a direction to go. Signs along the way directed the ride. Some teams got out very quickly, while others, either through the previous day’s practice ride or some other reason, had to change tires before they could take off. A 17-mile ride on hilly dirt roads—at altitude—is no easy task, so it was important to set up the bike properly before heading out.

Along the ride the teams had to stop and find a geocache. They were handed an instruction sheet with coordinates and told to sign the paper attached to the clipboard when they found it. Two separate geocaches were set up to avoid having two teams arrive simultaneously and follow one another to the clipboard.

Returning to the bikes: Laura Home runs to her bike after finding the geocache. Photo by Ryan Jerz.After signing, they returned to their bikes and took off for home. The ride lasted almost two hours and took place in some decent heat. Just watching the riders and hiking a tiny bit to get to a few of the spots along the course wore me down.

After the ride it was lunch time before taking off for a drive down Rainbow Canyon. South of Caliente is a road that winds its way along a small river and some train tracks with cliffs on both sides. The road was damaged in a 2005 flood, and more damage recently has closed the road for all but local driving. It can certainly be navigated, but is narrowed to one lane in a lot of spots and there are no guardrails to prevent you from tumbling into the water. You have to be pretty aware driving through here, so it’s simply safer to not attempt it.

Climbing: Team Yellow climbs in Rainbow Canyon. Photo by Ryan Jerz.In Rainbow Canyon the teams stopped to compete in a rock climbing event. Two routes were set up in the rock with a crew of experienced spotters helping to secure the lines and manage the event. Each team waited a few hundred yards down the road while the climbing team chose which athlete would climb which route. They had ten minutes to reach the top, or get as far as they could while marking their progress by unclipping the line at certain spots. Points were awarded for the progress achieved.

As each team climbed, their results were pretty well-known to the awaiting teams. Nobody failed to reach the top, and a few competitors were real fast in getting there. The difficulty of the climbs were rated at either a 5.7 or 5.8 for one, and a 5.9 for the other.

After completing the climbing event, it was time to head back to camp for the final night. The mood was festive despite one more day of competition remaining. It was as if the competitors knew their hard work was about to end and they could already feel a big sense of accomplishment. I am hardly going to argue, s I had already remarked that I was not cut out for what they were doing. I once might have thought I was, but seeing what they went through to get to this point quickly changed my thoughts on it.

Day four

Day four began with breakfast and a drive south from Caliente to the north side of Las Vegas and Nellis Dunes. Located just a few miles from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nellis Dunes is a popular spot for off-roading. The sand shifts its way around the desert resulting in some soft dunes and good off-road climbing. It was the perfect spot to get a Land Rover stuck, and that’s exactly what was in store.

Dean climbs the hill: Nevada Passage competitor Dean Kruuse runs up the hill carrying the winching cable. Photo by Ryan Jerz. The final event of the competition was winching. Winching is the act of tying your vehicle to something stable and using the motor on the winch along with the slow movement of your tires to pull yourself out of a very precarious spot.

For the event, competitors drove to a starting point (and couldn’t really advance beyond that on their own) and got out of the car to get the winching started. They had a strap to hook into that was attached to a vehicle acting as an anchor at the top of the hill. They had to run up the hill to the strap and then begin the slow process of inching the vehicle up the hill.

When they were close enough to the strap to unhook, they then ran the cable up to the anchor vehicle and attached it thee. Again, they inched up the hill until they reached a finishing point. The average time of getting up the hill, which was a distance of about 60 yards, was 15-20 minutes. Winching is not fast.

When all was said and done, the winners were announced. Tom Lyons of Reno, and Lisa Lieb of Durango, Colorado finished in first, while Peter Hanson of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Sarah McMahan of Incline Village, Nevada finished in second. All four competitors will compete for a shot at the world championships.

More information:

• Nevada Passage
• Land Rover
• TEAM Unlimited
• G4 Challenge
• Nevada Passage Pressroom
• Photos from the competition
• Cathedral Gorge State Park
• Geocaching information
• Winching information

Nevada Passage is set to start airing in August

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