ENLARGE

Competitors push off from the base of Crested Butte Mountain Resort on Friday night at the start of the 15th annual Elk Mountains Grand Traverse.

Ansley Alyse Chappell

ENLARGE

Gunnison’s Bryan Wickenhauser, left, and Brian Smith are all smiles Saturday after winning the Traverse. Pavel Osiak / Special to The Aspen Times

ASPEN — Before the break of dawn, organizers bustled at the Gondola Plaza as they prepared the finish area for the 15th Elk Mountains Grand Traverse.

As the first tent went up, two illuminated headlamps danced down Aspen Mountain.

Brian Smith and Bryan Wickenhauser coasted down the mountain at 6:32 a.m. for their second win in four years.

The duo finished the 40-mile endurance race in 7 hours, 32 minutes, 23 seconds — almost two hours faster than last year’s winning team.

In stark contrast to last year’s race, in which competitors had to contend with fresh snow, a swollen creek provided an early obstacle; organizers fashioned a foot-wide wooden plank to allow for safe crossing.

Because of hard, packed snow, Wickenhauser said, most teams donned running shoes for as many as 8 miles.

“Many teams stopped to change into running shoes after crossing the river, but we ran in our ski boots,” Wickenhauser said.

Smith added: “That’s why we got the gap. We stayed in our boots, but we started to lose some ground. But we knew they would have to take some time putting the ski boots back on.”

A few teams caught and passed Smith and Wickenhauser at Star Pass, but the duo took back the lead while the same teams transitioned back to ski boots. Atop the pass, they turned around and still saw other headlamps — but not for long.

At Taylor Pass, Wickenhauser saw only race officials.

“The weather was really conducive to a fast time,” Wickenhauser said. “We had no problems with our skins or hands freezing up. The snow was near perfect because it was so hard and fast.”

Nearing the end, at the mandatory 10-minute medical check at Barnard Hut, no other teams caught up to Smith, 36, and Wickenhauser, 39.

“We took off, and no one else came through,” Wickenhauser said. “We were just like giddy schoolgirls after that. We knew we had the win.”

Crested Butte’s Patrick O’Neill and Marshall Thomson crossed the finish line 28 minutes after the winners. Chris Kroger, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Scott Simmons, of Durango, finished third 10 minutes later.

The real battle of the morning was for second and third.

Andy and Jason Dorais, former Brigham Young University cross-country runners from Salt Lake City, tried to stay in the lead pack and hoped for a podium finish in their first Traverse. One of Andy’s ski boots snapped near Taylor Pass, however, making every downhill portion afterward perilous.

“It was feeling like a good day, and then a lot went wrong,” Jason Dorais said.

The brothers also made two costly errors, missing turns and going off course briefly after Star Pass and before Barnard Hut. The mistakes allowed Simmons and Kroger to slip into third.

At the Barnard Hut, Simmons and Kroger met up with Thomson and O’Neill.

“We were just trying to hold on tight to second,” said O’Neill, who has competed in all 15 Traverses. “This was the first time we ever partnered up, so maybe we’ll do something cool next year.”

Thomson’s second-place finish is his second straight after competing with female partner Stevie Kremer a year ago. He said he had hopes of claiming the top spot but couldn’t keep pace with the winners as they pulled away on Star Pass.

“I couldn’t get my foot into the binding, and Smith and Wickenhauser took off,” Thomson said. “They’re both really strong skiers, and they just bombed down the hill.”

Added O’Neill, “It’s just like in a peloton: Once you lose the wheel, it’s tough to get back on.”

The Dorais brothers were still able to crack the top 10, finishing seventh.

For Wickenhauser, the top podium spot was a relief after finishing out of the top 10 last year because of issues with his skins throughout the race.

Because of the ideal conditions, he thought there could be a very fast winning time.

“We won it in 2009 in a reverse route,” Wickenhauser said. “It’s nice to legitimize that win with the Crested Butte-to-Aspen race.”

As for the Dorais brothers, they were mostly discouraged after setting a goal to take a podium spot.

Asked if they would compete again, Andy Dorais was noncommittal.

“Not after what happened today,” he said. “We’ll have to rethink it next year.”

mappelgate@aspentimes.com

Elk Mountain Grand Traverse

The Elk Mountains Grand Traverse has become an annual landmark for my husband Mark and I. Out of the eight times I have competed in this race from Crested Butte to Aspen, six have been with him. At 11 p.m. on March 30th we toed the starting line yet again, and I thought of all those races, all those years.

We’ve skied the race on Nordic skate skis, classic skis with fish scales, classic skis without scales, and for the last three years we’ve raced on lightweight randonee gear. We’ve won the coed division, turned around a quarter of the way in, and had a medical evacuation an hour and half from the finish. We’ve seen heavy powder and open streams.

This year we knew the conditions would be rough, with make-shift bridges over the rivers, miles of dirt to run in our ski boots, and ice instead of snow for most of the race. Aside from my decision to bring an extra pole, we didn’t alter our gear. We have our system dialed, so we knew we just had to get through the tough terrain the best we could.

While every year I get butterflies in my stomach as we stand there with the other racers, headlamps spangling the darkness, waiting for the prayer to start the race! This year I felt a distinct pressure to do well. My goal was to win the co-ed division and get top 10 overall. This pressure is a mysterious thing. Mostly, it comes from within me. After a successful season of competitive ski mountaineering last winter, I started this year with some mediocre performances. It was hard to get motivated and I kept having technical difficulties. But come mid-season I had my head back in the game and my equipment dialed, and I won the North American Ski Mountaineering Championship. I felt like I came into my own as a racer again, and frankly, that’s where I wanted to stay–at the top of the pack. What makes racing so exciting, though, is that each time you race you don’t know what’s going to happen.

Every race has its ups and downs, both literally and figuratively. The GT is so unique because, unlike shorter ski mountaineering races, it goes on for 8 to 15, or even more, hours. We finished this year in our personal record time of 8 hours and 51 minutes. Coming in 8th overall and winning the coed.

Being out there for so long, there’s always a moment (or two) when you wonder how much longer you can keep pushing so hard. The first mishap we had was that when we were going up Star Pass, just after the Friends’ Hut, my skins failed and I slipped out, stepping on my pole and breaking it. It was only partially severed, so we tried to tape it for speed, but when the tape job failed we pulled out the spare pole I had in my pack. Why I brought a spare pole is beyond me. I have never brought a spare before, but as we were packing for this year’s race, something inside of me knew I would need it.

For me, the more profound challenge came climbing up Richmond Ridge after Taylor Pass. After nearly seven hours of charging through the dark, I was mentally exhausted. What finally came into focus for me was the cup of soup that would be waiting for me at the Barnard Hut. It sounds like such a little thing, but I was so tired of eating gel and sugar. Knowing that a salty cup of hot goodness was in front of me was the trigger I needed to get me out of my own head for awhile, and it enabled me to tap into some inner reserve of strength to keep forging ahead.

The other shining moment of the race was when the sun started to rise and the whole sky glowed bright red, streaked with dark clouds. To be honest, part of me wished we were further back on the course so we could get a better view and watch it longer. I was reminded why I do this: you’ve been working so hard through the night, and then when the sun comes up, it’s a new day. It’s a new race. You feel like you’re a new person. It all begins again.

That’s the thing about this race: there’s not one pivotal moment to overcome, it just keeps going. You’ve got to find your own groove, and keep pushing—always staying at the edge of discomfort. There are moments that are harder than others, but what makes the Grand Traverse distinctive is that one moment doesn’t undo or define the entire race. It becomes a collection of moments, and you can choose which ones to focus on. You can focus on the ones that are hard and stressful, that slow you down, or you can focus on the sunrise or a cup of soup—whatever gets you through.

For Mark and I, this year’s Grand Traverse was a huge accomplishment because of the speed with which we finished the course, and placing so high. More than that, though, as Mark said, “I think this foreshadows the summer, and it makes me really excited about what’s to come.” This is just one more step in our journey towards completing the 50 Classic climbs of North America, a project we’ve undertaken the last two summers and which will pursue again this year. The GT reaffirmed our partnership, and for us the summer’s all about long slogs through ice and snow, variable conditions, problem solving, unknown outcomes, and working together, just like in the race.

I would like to thank my husband, for his inspiration, companionship, and support during the race. I’d also like to thank Jalene Szuba and Bryan Wickenhauser for putting together such an amazing event. Once again I had the privilege of racing on incredible La Sportiva boots and skis, and also got outfitted in a two-piece La Sportiva race suit that worked perfectly. Thanks goes also to CAMP for accessorizing with some key items, especially the wind mitts. And I would not have had so much energy, if is wasn’t for Honey Stinger’s energy chews that taste so nice and go down so easy. I love those things! I hope that other folks are able to get out and enjoy their time in the backcountry as much as I do, have a great spring and be careful!

A Special thanks to Laura Puckett and Alissa Johnson for helping me take my 2nd grade writing skills to at least the sophomore level.

Watch their final preparations, views along the course and post reflections.

GORE-TEX® Team Miller Racing the Grand Traverse from chris miller on Vimeo.

CRESTED BUTTE, CO (kbut) – The week in sports featuring a bunch of gapers on snowblades, the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, junior freeskiing and Titans track.

Listen Now:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kbut/news.newsmain/article/0/1/1918357/KBUT.Local/Sports.Barrel.Rundown

GORE-TEX® Team Miller Ep. 2 from chris miller on Vimeo.

ASPEN — It’s been called uncompromising and unpredictable. A rite of spring. The culmination of a season’s worth of intense outdoor activity.

As longtime competitor Bryan Wickenhauser can attest, the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse also is unlike anything of its kind.

The 15th installment of the venerable race — in which teams of two test their grit, equipment and sanity on an arduous trek through the remote Colorado high country between Crested Butte and Aspen — kicks off at 11 p.m. Friday.

“It’s part ski race, part adventure,” said Wickenhauser, a co-race director who teamed with fellow Crested Butte resident Brian Smith to win in 2009. “It’s unique, really the only race in North America that travels off a permitted ski area. … You’re out there in the pitch black with your partner for hours on end. It provides a sense of adventure that backcountry skiers like. That’s obviously what draws in folks.”

About 130 teams will gather Friday night at the base of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort; the start was moved from its usual location outside the community school because of sparse March snowfall. From there, competitors will skirt through the East River Valley and follow 19th-century mail routes across two mountain passes — Star and Taylor — before hitting Richmond Ridge and descending Aspen Mountain on Saturday morning.

Racers will cover 40 miles and negotiate 7,800 feet of precarious elevation gain. Along the way, they will contend with avalanche risks, exposure, fluctuating temperatures and wind gusts that cut through even the toughest clothing.

Wickenhauser was among those caught off guard by a ground blizzard in 2007 near Taylor Pass that pelted competitors with winds in excess of 50 mph and caused multiple cases of hypothermia. Thirty teams wound up dropping out.

“We were ill-dressed, in skin suits basically. Our mantra was to keep moving,” Wickenhauser recalled. “We did not know where we were going, and we were frozen. There was nowhere to hide. To put on our down jackets, we would’ve had to hide behind a rock or tree.”

Things should be a little more tame this time around, Wickenhauser surmised.

“When you’re putting on a ski race with the snowpack we’ve had this year, there’s always a concern,” Wickenhauser admitted, “but concern is a relative term. We’ve had a snow-safety team up there all week, and it seems like the snowpack is locking up at night and there are strong melt-free-cycle temps. It’s going to be cold enough at night, so we’re not overly worried unless racers were out there until 1 or 2 (p.m.).”

In the interest of safety, the course features four cutoff points: the Friends Hut, Star Pass, the Barnard Hut and the Aspen Mountain Gate. Competitors who fail to reach the Friends Hut by 7 a.m. or Star Pass by 8 a.m. will be forced to turn around and head back to Crested Butte.

Barnard Hut features a mandatory 10-minute stop and medical check, and those who do not make it there by 2 p.m. will have to ski to a predetermined pickup point, be escorted to the Sundeck and download on the Ajax gondola.

The same fate awaits racers who fail to reach the summit of Aspen Mountain by 4 p.m.

Wickenhauser expects the top teams to reach the Gondola Plaza around 7 a.m.

After coming up agonizingly short in 2009 and 2010, Crested Butte’s Ethan Passant and Travis Scheefer finally triumphed in last year’s Traverse, crossing the finish in 9 hours, 14 minutes, 50 seconds.

Two coed teams cracked the top three; Aspen’s Peter Gaston and Carbondale’s Sari Anderson wound up third in 9:17:20, 50 seconds behind Crested Butte’s Marshall Thomson and Stevie Kremer.

Little more than 30 minutes separated first through 10th place in what proved to be one of the closest races in recent memory.

jmaletz@aspentimes.com

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20120330/SPORTS/120329789/

It’s been called uncompromising and unpredictable. A rite of spring. The culmination of a season’s worth of intense outdoor activity.

As longtime competitor Bryan Wickenhauser can attest, the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse also is unlike anything of its kind.

The 15th installment of the venerable race — in which teams of two test their grit, equipment and sanity on an arduous trek through the remote Colorado high country between Crested Butte and Aspen — kicks off at 11 p.m. tonight.

“It’s part ski race, part adventure,” said Wickenhauser, a co-race director who teamed with fellow Crested Butte resident Brian Smith to win in 2009. “It’s unique, really the only race in North America that travels off a permitted ski area. … You’re out there in the pitch black with your partners for hours on end. It provides a sense of adventure that backcountry skiers like. That’s obviously what draws in folks.”

About 130 teams will gather tonight at the base of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort; the start was moved from its usual location outside the community school because of sparse March snowfall. From there, competitors will skirt through the East River valley and follow 19th century mail routes across two mountain passes — Star and Taylor — before hitting Richmond Ridge and descending Aspen Mountain on Saturday morning.

Racers will cover 40 miles and negotiate 7,800 feet of precarious elevation gain. Along the way, they will contend with avalanche risks, fluctuating temperatures, wind gusts that cut through even the toughest clothing, plus exposed mountain passes that are treacherous under even the tamest of conditions.

Wickenhauser was among those caught off guard by a ground blizzard in 2007 near Taylor Pass that pelted competitors with winds in excess of 50 mph and caused multiple cases of hypothermia. Thirty teams wound up dropping out.

“We were ill-dressed, in skin suits basically. Our mantra was to keep moving,” Wickenhauser recalled. “We did not know where we were going, and we were frozen. There was nowhere to hide. To put on our down jackets, we would’ve had to hide behind a rock or tree.”

Things should be a little more tame this time around, Wickenhauser surmised.

“When you’re putting on a ski race with the snowpack we’ve had this year, there’s always a concern,” Wickenhauser admitted, “but concern is a relative term. We’ve had a snow-safety team up there all week, and it seems like the snowpack is locking up at night and there are strong melt-free cycle temps. It’s going to be cold enough at night, so we’re not overly worried unless racers were out there until 1 or 2 [p.m.].”

In the interest of safety, the course features four cut-off points: The Friends Hut, Star Pass, the Barnard Hut and the Aspen Mountain Gate. Competitors who fail to reach the Friends Hut by 7 a.m. or Star Pass by 8 a.m. will be forced to turn around and head back to Crested Butte.

Barnard Hut features a mandatory 10-minute stop and medical check, and those that do not make it there by 2 p.m. will have to ski to a pre-determined pick-up point, be escorted to the Sundeck and download on the Ajax gondola.

The same fate awaits racers who fail to reach the summit of Aspen Mountain by 4 p.m.

Wickenhauser expects the top teams to reach the Gondola Plaza around 7 a.m.

After coming up agonizingly short in 2009 and 2010, Crested Butte’s Ethan Passant and Travis Scheefer finally triumphed in last year’s Traverse, crossing the finish in 9 hours, 14 minutes, 50 seconds. Two co-ed teams finished in the top three; Aspen’s Peter Gaston and Carbondale’s Sari Anderson wound up third in 9:17:20, 50 seconds behind Crested Butte’s Marshall Thomson and Stevie Kremer.

Little more than 30 minutes separated first through 10th place in what proved to be one of the closest races in recent memory.

jmaletz@aspentimes.com

Date: 3-30-2012 RACE DAY!

AM Weather: Clear, warm 28 overnight

Morning Course and Snow Report: No activity on the course today. Everything was set yesterday and the Team wanted as little traffic on the course so that our track stays nice for race time.

PM Weather: Calm and warm. High of 48 but back down to 46 due to some high clouds

Afternoon Course and Snow Report: CB SAR and the Snow Safety Team finalized the preparations for the race including filling and hauling water, building the table for racer pass through and got the lanterns and other supplies out for the race. Unfortunately we lost one of the course workers for Star Pass due to a family injury at CBMR, good luck to Mike.

Snow Safety Director Comments: No new information from the SS Team. Temps are still very warm and it needs to be stressed that the major concern is wet, rotten and unsupportable snow on the second half of the course. From a safety and ease of travel standpoint; all racers, volunteers and course workers should be focused on getting the race to Aspen as timely as possible due to the record setting temps forecast for Saturday afternoon. The longer it takes the worse conditions will be for any type of travel.

Notes:
The Snow Safety Team wants to thanks the sponsors, ground crews, Doug the Heli pilot, CBMR Ski Patrol and EVERYONE else that has made this race possible and our week at the Friends Hut safe and memorable.

WE ARE READY – BRING THE RACERS AND GOOD LUCK!

Signing out until POST RACE.
Kevin, Embedded on the Grand Traverse.