First place co-ed finishers (2009) Grethe Haggenson and Andrew Kastings know that waxing skis correctly is critical to a strong race.
Backcountry ski racer Rob Fessenden competes in the Grand Traverse.
[continued from page 17] finish times were 1.5 to 3 hours faster than usual. “It was kind of a letdown, but the organizers need to keep people alive so we can keep doing this race,” says Janelle Smiley, a six-time competitor who won the co-ed division with her husband, Mark, in 2010. There have been a handful of fair weather races, but they are a rarity. “I remember having lounge chairs on Taylor Pass, but for the most part it has been a nasty race weather-wise,” says Bob Wojtalik, a longtime emergency medical technician and volunteer firefighter who was one of the original founders of the race. He oversees the Taylor Pass to Aspen portion of the route. The race was initially created as a fundraiser for the Crested Butte Nordic Center but now benefits a variety of charities. “The organizing body that had the gall to put a race like this together in 1997 was pretty ambitious,” stresses 2010 Grand Traverse winner Bryan Wickenhauser, who was teamed up with fellow Gunnisonite Brian Smith, a two-time champion. They might have had gall, but the founders of the race were not newcomers to the route. Chris “Buck” Myall was guiding the route for Crested Butte Mountain Resort ski area’s former guide service, taking clients on three- to four-day adventures. “The Friends Hut had just been built,” he recalls. “I probably had the most time of any of us on the route.”
Traverse easy in the least. You have to be tough even to make it to the end. For many of the competitors, staying fit and working out in the backcountry is a way of life. “I’m always going to Aspen via the mountains — skiing, hiking, running and biking — so the Grand Traverse is not shocking to the system,” Wickenhauser notes. “The people who compete in the men’s, women’s and co-ed divisions are the best of the best from Crested Butte, Gunnison, Aspen and the Front Range,” says Runge. “Ninety percent are from Colorado, but we are getting more and more from Jackson Hole, Utah and bigger ski areas. We thought there would be a lot of Europeans participating, but they have a hard time handling the elevation.” Five-time Traverse champion Mike Kloser of Vail, who like Wickenhauser has participated in adventure races all over the world, says he started competing in the event approximately 10 years ago as it was the closest thing to a real true adventure race, and loved the racing-throughthe-night aspect of the event. He’s had his share of interesting happenings and intense battles over the years, with a few of them coming down to the wire. Wickenhauser especially remembers 2003, which has become known as the “frostbite year,” when he saw many top competitors need to stop and go into the Friends Hut to warm up. Four years ago
18 Colorado Country Life MARCH 2011
Runge also has skied every inch of that country and remembers biking the route in the summer of 1997 to scope it out. The race founders were not the first to connect Crested Butte and Aspen by their route, either. In the Friends Hut, there are articles posted on the walls that talk about the old mail route that followed almost the same path, including one by a man who shared his great-grandfather’s diary entries. After arriving in Crested Butte from Illinois in the 1880s, this great-grandfather hired one of the skiing mailmen, Fred Johnson, to take him to the mining camp over the hill (aka Aspen) where he could set up a hardware store. The route they took was the same as the Grand Traverse, except for their alternate path over Pearl Pass to Ashcroft. “This guy had never skied before, had a big pack of hardware, goes over Pearl Pass and straight-lines down the other side into Aspen,” says Myall. “That embraces the whole spirit of our event.” The Western State College Nordic ski team began traversing a 28-mile course in the 1950s led by legendary coach Sven Wiik. A recent article in The Aspen Times described the route as going over East Maroon Pass, down Conundrum Creek and through East Maroon Creek, taking anywhere from 9.5 hours to 17.5 hours. It may have been around for a while, but that doesn’t make the route of the Grand
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