I am pleased to announce that a preliminary course design has been conceived for the Rocky Mountain Goat and a subsequent test run has confirmed that all the pleasures of the terrain that any desire could harbor are there, bared for the taking. A few small details remain to be finalized, but the basic concept is in place and confirmed. The course will contain 19 controls scattered over 12.1 kms. Some people will no doubt wonder at the relative paucity of controls, when comparisons of courses offered at other events earlier this year (in regions perhaps more desperately equipped when it comes to the fine race terrains) would suggest that 50-60 controls at least would be more appropriate, but as is always the case at Laramie Daze, we are going for quality, not quantity, here.
The design also features 2 fence crossings, 3 passages of "moose" terrain", a nice selection of geologic anomalies (including a nearly indiscernible shallow depression control (something special for the moody orienteer?)), north lines a kilter to the paper, and a good amount of newly mapped terrain that has never seen prior use.
And if the ranchers will just leave things alone for another 6 weeks, there will be plenty of cattle to run by--for that genuine western feel.
Here's a sneak peak at the map. I couldn't quite decide what scale to map for, but I didn't want to omit any of the exquisite details in the terrain, and given the expectation that we will be hosting numerous World Cups and other WRE races in the future here, I compromised and selected 1:600. If only there were a place where people could discuss appropriate map scales ad infinitum--it would have been helpful. But I think I pretty well nailed it anyhow. The most important thing of course is legibility. The black areas depict the tens of thousands of boulder sized (and smaller) rock features that I found. I sure hope I got them all.
When looking at the map, many REM songs come to mind, but the one that really sticks out is "It's the End of the World As We Know It".
It's gonna be one mighty fine race!