Finishing the race in six and a half hours, teammates Max Taam and John Gaston, of Aspen, took first place, crossing back into Crested Butte before sunrise Saturday morning.
“We are the first Aspen team to win since the very first year when Pierre Willie and Travis Moore won,” said Taam. The inaugural Grand Traverse was held in 1998.
Finishing seventh overall and first place in the women's division are Aspenites Jessie Young and Lindsay Plant - speeding through the course in seven hours and forty six minutes. The two started out fast and remained in the lead despite the single-digit conditions freezing all of Plant’s water and food supply.
“When you are out there in the middle of it you are never going to do it again,” said Plant. “But we always come back for more”
Weather forced the traverse - a point-to-point race from Crested Butte to Aspen, to become a “reverse” - an out-and back loop remaining on the western side of the Elk Mountains. Heavy snowfall and high winds were cited as too hazardous for the route to go beyond Star Peak. Racers were notified at 9pm - just three hours prior to the gunshot, that they would not have the opportunity to go through to Aspen.
