The high Sierras, the Grotto, bats and the 1i-XViro Team gets the call for Tasmania.

One month ago: It was proving difficult for teams to finish the full course of this Adventure Racing World Championships Qualifier. I had spent 11 hours up an amazing carved granite canyon in the high Sierra Nevadas of California, waiting for teams to start the accent. Teams never came. I later learn, it proved more strategic for the teams to skip the rugged checkpoint to make the finish line time constraints. From this canyon, I made my way out of the Sierras to a small dot on the map to await teams. I had slept one hour in the last 28 hours of chasing teams through the Sierras for the past three days and nights . I had no idea what I would find at this checkpoint, being a checkpoint near the end of the race. I was unsure if teams would reach it in time.

To make sure I would stay ahead of the teams I ran with my pack and camera in the silver pre-dawn glow, climbing steadily to a cliff outline above me. Moving fast I startle a group of large winged bats who launch themselves from the trees silently gliding into the dawn above me. I reach the cliff base and descend into the darkness of an enclosed grotto my headlamp illuminating basalt pillars and scraggly trees. A cacophony of birds descend upon me screeching, hooting, swooping close enough to feel their speed. Strange calls reverberates off the cliff, not avian in nature. I wonder if I will be spending time with the originators of these wild calls as I descend to the floor of the grotto. My headlamp reveals scurrying rodents, a Hitchcock numbers of frogs and skittering insects. This is where I will be, with my camera, for the next 8 hours as dawn pulls in the coming heat of the day. I will await the teams, await the shot.

That was four weeks ago in Northern California. We will soon be headed to Tasmania. I can’t imagine what type of imagery we will bring out of it’s temperate jungles and rugged shorelines, what strange creatures we will encounter, what dramatic action and incidents we will capture. As we lead into our departure for Tasmania I will give you an insight into the preparation, training, research and thoughts that will bring us to Tasmania. Once there I will give you a behind the scenes glimpse into the filming of the Adventure Racing World Championships and the experience of the 1i-XViro team.

A promotional video produced by 1iOpen Productions, home of the 1i-XViro team, showcasing Adventure Racing Team DART-Nuun. This video also gives you an exciting view of what Adventure Racing is.

1i-XViro team member Erik Nachtrieb captured an 8 hour adventure race in Vancouver BC, single handed. Produced by 1iOpen Productions. This video was produced to promote the new MOMAR Adventure Race location, in Burnaby BC, Canada.

Check out the trailer to the infamous web series "Mandatory Equipment" produced by 1iOpen Productions. Episodes #1 and #2 can be found at 1iOpen.tv. The series will give the audience entertaining insight to what it takes for a 3 woman and 1 man adventure racing team to train themselves physically, develop as a team, and conduct regular life as the team trains for an 600km 6 day nonstop expedition length adventure race, where every team member must complete the entire course together. It is rare for a female dominant team to participate in this sport and very rare for a team of this composition to race on the expedition level versus shorter-length races. Adding to the complexity of the team dynamic is two of the team members being over 40 years old and the youngest on the team, at 27 years of age, having never participated in a race of this nature on any level.