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Over the Years - Race Highlights
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1998
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Travis Moore
and Pierre Wille of Aspen won the race, arriving at the
finish line at 8:30 a.m. Fifty teams competed. Forty-one
teams finished. |
1999
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Jim Faust
and Pat O'Neill of Crested Butte won, arriving at 6:52
a.m. There was 30 inches of new snow, so the course was
shortened and was known as “The Grand Reverse.” The
course took skiers up to the Friends Hut and then back
to Crested Butte.
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| 2000 |
Jim Faust and Pat O'Neill won again
in whiteout conditions. The start was delayed three hours
and the finish came 8 hours 32 minutes later. At Star
Pass, 3 a.m., Avalanche Forecaster Dan Ewert had 30 seconds
to decide if avalanche conditions were safe enough to
continue the race. |
| 2001 |
Geo Bullock and Dave Penney of Crested
Butte clinched the victory, with the race now featuring
100 teams of two. |
| 2002 |
Geo Bullock and Dave Penney won again,
nailing the fastest Grand Traverse finish
to date. Newbies and professional adventure racer Mike Kloser and partner Dan
Weiland came fast on their heels in second.
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| 2003 |
Mike Kloser
and Dan Weiland of Vail led the pack on a very cold night
with -11 at the start of the race, -2 F at the
Friends Hut at 2 a.m., and several cases of frostbite. Faust and O'Neill lost
the race due to a “slide for life” off Star Pass. A third of the
contenders slid on their behinds, perhaps 1,000 feet below the usual course route.
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| 2004 |
Jim Faust and Pat O'Neill returned to
their winning ways. With icy conditions, many skiers
slid off Star Pass. Early spring melt also required racers
to wade across the East River, some up to their
waists and others grabbed from the water by volunteers. |
| 2005 |
Mike Kloser and Dan Weiland of Beaver
Creek won. The race was made memorable with high winds.
By now, the race quota of 125 teams typically fills quickly.
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| 2006 |
Brian Smith
and Jon Brown (M25-35) of Gunnison won the 2006 competition,
known as the “Mike Martin
Memorial Race,” in the closest finish ever. Martin had
been race organizer with Jan Runge since 1998 and died
in a plane crash around New Year’s. Aspen Mayor
Helen Klanderud made a proclamation uniting the towns
of Crested Butte and Aspen and along with Crested Butte
Mayor Alan Bernholtz declared April 1 Grand Traverse
Day. |
| 2007 |
Happy 10th
Anniversary! It'll certainly go down as one of the most
challenging races, with a ground blizzard that hit with
a vengeance, 50 mph winds, white-out conditions and numerous
reports of frostbite, hypothermia and dehydration. This
year tested more than just your technical ability and
prowess. 121 teams started out, 30 teams had to drop
out, and the storm added 1-2 hours to the average race
time. Mike Kloser and Stephen White of Vail took top
honors with a winning time of 8:46:50 |
