Going fourth: Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon ready to race despite warm winter and low snow

No matter what the weather forecast may be, the show must go on for the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon.

While the winter has largely been unseasonably warm, that just meant that adjustments had to be made to the 43rd edition of the race affectionately known as the Quad.

“Canceling was never really an option,” Dhanielle Gaines, race director, said. “It was more of just: how are we going to change some stuff and be flexible.”

For the uninitiated, the Quad is a 44-mile round-trip event that goes up Mount Taylor, the highest peak in the Cibola National Forest at 11,301 feet. The race begins at the foot of the mountain with a 13-mile bike ride before transitioning to a five-mile run on an icy, snow-packed road. From there, competitors will ski two miles before reaching the summit with a one-mile snowshoe trek. The combined vertical gain this year is nearly 5,000 feet.

After taking in the views at the top of the mountain, participants head back down the mountain via the same means they ascended. Those who don’t excel in every discipline can specialize by competing in teams of two to four, and there’s also a kids’ Quad for the younger set.

The overall course layout can change on a yearly basis due to a number of factors, with weather being the primary determinant. In this case, the ski portion of the race required some rerouting options due to less snow than usual. The running portion of the course, meanwhile, begins somewhat dry before ending with snowpack on the last three miles.

Dhanielle’s husband, Chad Gaines, is a former race director who this year serves as a course coordinator. In more informal parlance, some call him “the snowcat guy.” In his current role, safety is paramount.

“You can ski on very little snow, but the problem is the rocks underneath,” he said. “So a lot of times we have to take that into account. And so even though people assume that there’s plenty of snow, sometimes we adjust depending on the safety and the severity of the injury that can happen.”

It doesn’t happen often, but Chad Gaines says there have been a handful of occasions in the past where competitors had to snowshoe or run the portion of the Quad that was originally intended for skiing. Usually, an alternate route can be found, or the weather comes through with an assist.

“We’re still hoping we can get some snow, and it’s kind of looking like maybe there’s a chance of high clouds and maybe some passing storms that come through that day,” Chad Gaines said. “But … it’s kind of hard to tell. So you always have to be prepared.”

The determination to make the Quad a reality arises in part because it’s such a valued tradition in Grants. Many people who serve on the race committee have also participated or served as volunteers in previous years. That community investment helps to make the race what it is.

“For me, what’s special is just seeing how our group comes together to pull it off and how we add new people every year,” Dhanielle Gaines said. “We’re going on 43 years, and I think that in itself says something for it. It’s exciting to see how we can evolve because each year has its own challenges that come with it. Just how we come together as a group to put on the race is pretty special.”