14th Annual Elk Mountains Grand Traverse

I left Crested Butte, CO Friday night at Midnight on my skis with my friend Jon headed home to Aspen as a participant in the 14th Annual Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, a forty mile backcountry ski race from Crested Butte, CO to Aspen, CO. It was a blizzard when we departed Crested Butte. I wasn’t sure the race was going to happen. It dumped all the way to Friends Hut, then the clouds cleared for a moonlit climb up Star Pass. There wasn’t a lick of wind on Star Pass. Descending Star Pass in the dark with two feet of fresh was interesting; I had a few good “over the bars” diggers on my cross country skis. I welcomed the sunrise on the approach to Taylor pass after single digit temps in the valley. Once I arrived at Barnard Hut I knew I could make it home. Jon and I hammered Richmond Ridge to the finish at the bottom of Aspen Mtn. I had another good high speed explosion in Spar Gulch before the finish. It was an awesome race. Our team name was Donor Dudes Aspen. We finished in twentieth place out of one hundred twenty-five teams with a time of 10:46. I was proud to complete the course and arrive safely back home in Aspen. Enjoy the photos below. Stay tuned for a video of our race as I wore my GoPro until I cartwheeled down Star and had to put it in my pack. Thanks for checking in. More snow on the way to Aspen! Hope to see ya out there.? CK