The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The weather aligned and we were lucky to be able to pull off a successful race”
By Than Acuff
As the 25th Annual Montane Grand Traverse approached, questions swirled about whether the race would go to Aspen on Saturday, April 1. But Mother Nature cooperated, and the snow safety team called down from Star Pass the day of the race to say it’s going through.
“It was down to the wire,” says Crested Butte Nordic events director Becky Nation. “I was still half expecting to tell everyone at the starting line it was a reverse.”
Megan Paden, snow safety director for the race, and the snow safety team of Lani Bruntz, Sonja Allen, and Jack Caprio, headed into the field Tuesday morning to get a look at things and keep tabs on the snowpack throughout the week leading up to the race. While at first it was looking like the plan would have to be adjusted to a reverse, conditions came around.
“I certainly didn’t think this race was a go when I left the trailhead on Tuesday,” says Paden. “Thankfully the GT was able to capitalize on a short window of moderate danger during a very complex winter snowpack. We also rerouted several traditional routes to be conservative. The weather aligned and we were lucky to be able to pull off a successful race. The complexity and inherent risk in the Elk Mountains should not be taken lightly and our route reduced as much uncertainty as possible. Hard work and dedication by field teams should not be dismissed.”
With the green light given, 229 teams headed out at midnight on Saturday bound for Aspen.
While the weather proved manageable compared to numerous past races, teams still felt the sting of the Grand Traverse, forcing 56 teams to drop out. That left 173 teams to finish the race, with winners Logan Greydanus and Adam Loomis finishing in a time of 6:45:53. Brad and Nikki LaRochelle won the coed race and finished third overall with a time of 7:58:55, and Stevie Kremer and Kristin Layne teamed up to win the women’s race in a time of 8:20:30. The final team crossed the finish line after 16 hours of skiing.
“We usually have around 190 teams that finish,” says Nation. “I think the drop outs are the people who sign up for the race unprepared for the conditions.”
Greydanus had done the Grand Traverse seven times prior to this one, with last year’s third place result his best ever to that point. This go-round he teamed up with Loomis who, along with Greydanus, is on the US National Ski Mountaineering team and has a history in Nordic combined racing.
“We’d always been chatting about doing the race together,” says Greydanus.
Greydanus had been jumping back and forth from here to Europe spending some time on the World Cup race circuit. But his biggest plans over there were dashed by COVID, so he returned with his sights set on another strong Grand Traverse.
“I refocused for the Grand Traverse,” says Greydanus.
He and Loomis made their move early on and were never challenged throughout the race.
“There were three or four teams together on the first climb up the ski area,” explains Greydanus. “We put in a little extra effort at the top of that climb before the first transition and from that point on we were out in front.”
While the weather was stellar, the course had its share of challenges.
“Overall, it was slightly slower conditions, couldn’t skate as much as usual, some breaker conditions,” says Greydanus.
Other than that, everything was smooth for the winning team with Greydanus’s experience keeping the team on pace.
“It was Adam’s first Grand Traverse, but I know the course well and had it pretty dialed in,” says Greydanus. “It was a pretty smooth night, which is rare. Nothing crazy happened.”
He now has his sights set on a race on Mt. Baker in May, and then will look across the pond again next winter with plans to return for another Grand Traverse.
“I’ve got some unfinished goals on the World Cup circuit,” says Greydanus. “But I love races like the Grand Traverse, so I’ll always be coming back for it.”
With the ski portion of the Grand Traverse Triple Crown now complete, athletes can now start planning for the Montane Grand Traverse Mountain Run and Mountain Bike races, September 2 and 3.
