Pack Trial Standards Revision: Substitution of Distance for Elevation Gain

Pack Trial Standard Revision:

Substitution of Distance for Elevation Gain

The Situation

According to the Articles of Incorporation for the Pack Llama Trial Association (PLTA), the organization was established “ … to provide for the education of the public and members of the association as to breeding, raising, training, care and uses of pack llamas”. In order to facilitate this, the founders created the PLTA Pack Trial as a way to “discover and recognize llamas that can fulfill the llama packer’s needs on the trail by performing in a manner consistent with the demands of actual packing conditions” (PLTA Handbook, page 4, January 2010 ed.).

The Pack Trial has proven to serve this purpose very well. It not only demonstrates the abilities of a llama, but it encourages people to train llamas appropriately. A llama successfully earning a PLTA certificate has shown that it has acquired appropriate skill in dealing with packing demands, and has an attitude suitable to the venture. It has also shown that it is properly physically conditioned to handle the demands of packing.

Skill is measured by the number and types of obstacles the llama must deal with. Attitude is clearly demonstrated by the llama’s willingness to complete the obstacles and the course. Fitness is measured by the llama’s ability to complete a specific distance and elevation gain carrying a load. It is this latter aspect of a trial that is addressed here.

The Need

Over the years we have found that people in areas with little elevation change are not able to hold pack trails because they can’t meet the requirements, yet people in the mountainous portions of the country have insisted the standards not be changed since a ‘real’ pack llama should be able to handle tough country. This attitude is elitist and is not pertinent to what the pack trial is intended to reveal. The following true account situation illustrates this point. Visiting the Sierra Nevada foothills in California, a group of marathon runners decided to hike four miles around a lake which lay at 6000 feet.The visitors struggled mightily to complete the hike. This doesn’t seem surprising until one learns that the visitors were marathon runners who regularly compete … in Florida. The marathon runners were tremendously fit, but their fitness was appropriate for the environment in which they normally run, not the situation they found themselves in.

The Solution

Addressing this concept in terms of pack trials leads us to consider that a pack llama’s fitness should be suitable for the environment in which they pack. To say that all pack llamas must be able to handle the type of conditions presented by rugged mountainous terrain in order to be considered pack llamas is inappropriate, yet requiring PLTA certified llamas to demonstrate a high level of fitness is appropriate.

To address this situation, the PLTA Board of Directors has adjusted the distance and elevation requirements so that mileage can be increased to replace elevation gain at a factor of 250 feet per mile, and allowed that this increase may be accumulated in quarter mile increments.

 So, distance/elevation standards have changed thusly:

The Board of Directors instituted the Revised Requirements on December 16^th, 2014. The ratios shown are for full miles, however, adjustments can be implemented in quarter mile increments, thus the ratios are 250 feet per mile, 188 feet per three-quarters mile, 125 feet per half mile, and 63 feet per quarter mile. In practical application this means that if a Basic trial course is found to have only 100 feet of elevation gain, the missing 150 feet can be compensated for by adding three-quarters of a mile. The total course length then becomes three and three-quarters miles.

In essence nothing has changed in terms of required exertion or fitness. This adjustment simply makes it possible for llamas living in flat or rolling landscapes to demonstrate their competence as clearly as those who pack in rugged mountains. The Board found this to be a fair and reasonable solution to a problem that has excluded many llamas and their owners from participating in PLTA Pack Trials.