The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“This year we’re giving more conditions reports than ever before”
By Than Acuff
Sure, it’s warm out and there’s not a lot of snow, but CB Nordic remains on point as they prepare for the upcoming evil eye Grand Traverse race starting at midnight on Saturday, March 28. And, yes, there’s going to be some running and some skiing but it’s certainly not the first time as it wasn’t that long ago when racers had to run and ski in the Grand Traverse.
Preparations started once the snow started piling up as snow safety director for the race Jake Beren has been keeping tabs on the snowpack and the team ramped up their efforts this week.
“We’re looking at things all winter, but it gets more focused and targeted this week,” says Beren. “The community has been great with getting us observations during what has been a goofy year because we all want to see the race go through.”
Beren called on locals Mike Kingsbury and Eli Weitzman as well as a couple of avalanche professionals from the Tetons, Travis Baldwin and Kate Koons, to join him on the snow safety team and they headed up to the Friend’s Hut on Tuesday, March 24 to get communications set up and start doing what they do in the field leading up to the race.
“We want to build a forecast for the avalanche terrain heading in and up there,” says Beren. “It takes a few days to build a forecast and get a sense for what the temps and snow are doing up there.”
As of press time on Tuesday, Beren did have this to say: “It’s gonna be hot, hot, hot during the day, but we could be flirting with some freezing temperatures Thursday and Friday.”
There will be a team at the Opa’s Hut as well so that they have all the information needed to get racers through safely come race night.
“We work with them to collectively cover the stretch from Star Pass to Taylor Pass to come to a consensus on safety for the whole show,” says Beren.
The course has been changed and there will be some running, and wading. The start is now slated for behind the Crested Butte Community School (CBCS), which is where the race used to start, and teams will head out the Deli Trail to the Riverbend Connector trail before reaching Brush Creek Road and then following the usual course from there up to the Friend’s Hut, over Star Pass, over Taylor Pass and then along Richmond Ridge to the top of Aspen Mountain before heading down to the finish line.
“They’ll be in running shoes from the start,” says CB Nordic executive director Hedda Peterson.
In fact, given current snow coverage, there’s a good chance that the 200 teams signed up for the Grand Traverse may be running nearly all the way through the Death Pass section and perhaps beyond.
“There’s a high likelihood that they will be hopscotching snow patches from the end of Death Pass to Block and Tackle,” says Peterson. “From then on they’ll be on snow.”
Field teams will be giving updates twice a day on course conditions to help inform racers as much as possible in the lead up to the race and those can be found at cbnordic.org/thegrandtraverse/ski.
“This year we’re giving more conditions reports than ever before,” says Peterson.
As of press time cutoff times will remain the same but depending how the weather and snowpack shake out before the race, they will adjust those if needed.
“If we need to get more aggressive with them due to conditions, we will,” says Peterson.
Plan B is a reverse, and they are currently considering what that might look like so, much like every year with the Grand Traverse, be ready for anything.
Keep reading the daily reports and look for a decision at the mandatory racer meeting on Saturday from 1-2 p.m. in the Lodge at Mountaineer Square. The rest of the pre-race activities that night will be held at the CBCS starting at 10:30 p.m.
