The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Preserving the spirit and tradition of the race
The Sunday before the Grand Traverse, course director Ross Matlock will head to Aspen with a team of a half dozen people. On Monday, they’ll load a helicopter with medical supplies, stakes for marking the course, tents for checkpoints, food for volunteers and anything else they might need to support the 40-mile backcountry race between Crested Butte and Aspen.
Weather permitting, the helicopter will fly the supplies and one or two guys into the Barnard Hut that day, eliminating the need to take everything up the gondola at Aspen and then shuttle it by snow mobile, as done before last year. The rest of the crew will travel by sled. Weather not permitting, they might not reach the backcountry until Tuesday or Wednesday. Either way, the helicopter saves wear and tear on the equipment and the people.
“It used to turn into a mild epic depending on the snow and on the conditions of the road,” Matlock said.
Once in the backcountry, the team will set up checkpoints and medical tents, start melting snow for water, lay down track with snowmobiles (powder sleds will lay track for the work sleds first, so the work sleds don’t get stuck), and staking the most exposed parts of the course. They’ll meet with Search and Rescue teams, transport medical personnel and monitor snow conditions so they can send reports to co-director Jalene Szuba. When all goes well, the course is set by Friday night, March 30, at midnight when 150 teams of two set out for Aspen.
Each year, 15 to 20 teams don’t even make it to the start, and a number of them get turned around on the course. It’s a giant logistical puzzle, and simply taking over management of one of Crested Butte’s most iconic race would have been enough to keep any management team busy. But Szuba, Matlock and the Crested Butte Nordic Council (CBNC) also set out to build on its 14 years of success.
“Some people want it to stay the fun, funky Crested Butte historical race, and some say it’s a great opportunity to bring in people from out of area, who love to ski mountaineer,” said Szuba. “We believe it could become one of the premier events in the U.S. for people who like to do backcountry. We’re trying to keep locals happy, but also want to appeal to a higher level of athlete.”
They’ve been meeting every two weeks since early September, tackling a long list of to-dos and learning fast. First and foremost, they reassessed safety and risk management. They also gave the race a new logo and website, and thought up more reasons for out-of-town racers to spend more time in Crested Butte.
Safety first
When it comes to safety, the Grand Traverse has a proven track record. In 14 years, there haven’t been any major accidents or incidents. But a team did get off course one year, spending the night in a cabin and finishing the race on Sunday. The racers were fine, but Szuba, who has a background in event planning, looks at the potential for a repeat scenario as a matter of odds.
In an effort to stack those odds in everyone’s favor, the organizing committee has commissioned the development of the race’s first risk management plan and has instituted new policies. Some have ruffled a few feathers among traditionalists, but as CBNC executive director Keith Bauer explained, it’s about being prepared.
“It’s an example of how we said, ‘Okay, if something happened are we really set up to deal with it? It was worth the money to assess and set up a game plan,’” he said.
In addition to outlining race support and emergency response plans, teams will be required to carry two-man shelters instead of bivouacs. If racers get caught in bad weather, they’ll be able to wait it out together, talk face-to-face and even build a fire on the floorless shelter.
“We’ve gotten comments of, ‘Why are you making us carry this extra weight?’” Szuba said. But, she promised, it’s not about making teams suffer. It’s about looking out for their safety—and acknowledging that in organizing the race, the CBNC has taken on a lot of responsibility.
That’s why racers will also be required to use SPOT trackers, and the addition of Internet to the Friends and Barnard huts will let organizers know where racers are and respond more quickly if a team gets off track.
“It is my responsibility to know where every team is on that course. I feel very responsible,” Szuba said.
Backcountry communication
Matlock feels the weight of his responsibility, too, particularly when it comes to race day communication. He has to communicate with the Crested Butte, Aspen and Gunnison Search and Rescue Teams. There are also 100 volunteers that need to communicate as well, so that if a racer turns around at one check point, Matlock isn’t looking for them at the next.
It’s a communication challenge that has plagued the Traverse from its earliest days; the most iconic form of communication at any race—the walkie-talkie—doesn’t work so well between Crested Butte and Aspen.
“Last year I had four radios,” Matlock said. “A Crested Butte radio, an Aspen radio, a Motorola ‘talk about’ and a satellite phone.“
And while sat phones changed the game, with technology went the ability to communicate with multiple people at once. Even new additions to the race, like the Internet, can go down.
Enter sat phone texting, and thanks to Szuba, the good old stand-by, spreadsheets. Volunteers will track racers by hand along the course, and texting will make it possible to update organizers with one message instead of several calls. Combined with early cooperation among stakeholders, and it looks like communication will reach a whole new level.
A new caliber of event
Of course, the organizing team wanted to do more than improve safety. They also wanted to add to the event, giving people a reason to arrive earlier and to spend more time (and money) in Crested Butte.
“There is no doubt that the GT is a big deal in Crested Butte. People who aren’t part of it talk about it a lot when it’s going on, and people who participate in it talk about it all year-round,” said Mike Haney, CBNC board member and race organizer. “In many ways, it consumes the town, and we thought there was an opportunity to bring other things to town that might benefit the town.”
Szuba agrees, saying, “Ten or 15 years ago, this was an unbelievable event, but now there are more events around the U.S. that are like it. There are more athletes interested in this kind of race, and there’s an opportunity to get onto the stage.”
But, she says, that doesn’t mean growing the race exponentially or outgrowing local racers and supporters. It means building on what the Grand Traverse already had going for it, so it has the option to grow at a reasonable pace in the future. And the ultimate goal is to have it be a fundraiser for both the CBNC and community organizations.
For the first time, teams had the option of registering as charity teams, raising $1,500 toward an organization of their choice. Nine teams entered, representing everything from the High Country Citizens’ Alliance to the Denver Children’s Hospital. Those funds cover the entry fee; the rest of the funds go to the charity.
The CBNC has also added a film festival on Thursday night, with backcountry ski films from the race’s sponsors. And registration will take place over two days to lower stress for racers and volunteers and give them more time to visit with vendors at the Grand Traverse Expo. The hope is that racers can spend less time standing in line on race day, waiting for their gear check, and more time prepping for their race. Aspen has also committed to making the finish line more of a celebration.
All the changes have meant an increase in the registration fee, to $400. But the CBNC thinks racers will see the difference in the caliber of the event, and hopes they’ll also understand they’re investing in the race.
“A lot of the organizers have done the race and have a lot of respect for it,” said Haney. “Some of the safety issues we want to address, but the spirit and the history and tradition, we want to preserve.”
