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The Grand Traverse is a ski mountaineering race, from Crested Butte to Aspen. Beginning at midnight, racers ascend 7800 vertical feet and trek 37 miles... crossing the finish line at the base of Ajax. Ahead of the March 25th event, Aspen Public Radio’s Alycin Bektesh caught up with teams that are hoofing it for a bigger cause. To check out the full story on these teams, click here.

Team Race4Nepal

Alycin Bektesh
/
Aspen Public Radio

Through their “Race4Nepal” team, Snowmass Village residents Jeff Clark and Jack Linehan hope to raise twenty five thousand dollars to give toward reconstructing homes in Lalitpur, Nepal, which was destroyed by an earthquake last April.  

The J-Bombers, as they call themselves, train together on the Aspen Snowmass ski areas nearly every day. Skinning up tiehack or the bowl, and then bombing down. And then doing it again, lap after lap, to prepare for the trek across the Elk Mountains.

The pair participated in theGrand Traverse last year — but without a disciplined training regimen. Clark says he experienced an unexpected range of emotions and self discovery.

“I started having these rotating thoughts in my head like ‘why am I doing this? You are such an idiot,’” said Clark. “And then you start going up Star Pass and you’re like this is the worst idea ever and finally you crest to the top of the pass - then the sun is just coming through and I was like ‘best idea you’ve ever had in your life!’”

This year, Clark and Linehan say they have extra motivation because of their charitable cause. They are very aware that they are electing to put themselves in strenuous conditions whereas the families they are raising money for don't have a choice. However hard it feels for them — at least they have a home.

 

Earlier this month, locals Clark and Linehan participated in the Audi Power of Four race across all of the Aspen Skiing Co.’s ski areas… a little “warm up” for the Grand Traverse. The event occurred just weeks after Linehan had an emergency appendectomy.

 

This Saturday, a fundraising event at Justice Snow’s will include information about the community they are raising money for in Nepal, and presentations on ski mountaineering. The J Bombers are more than halfway to their fundraising goal, and feel they are in peak condition for the race later this month.

“But we are very humbled still by the length of it and the conditions because you never know,” said Linehan. “I think this year has taught Jeff and I a lot about preparation so we are pretty confident we can meet that challenge.”

 
 
About the organization: Team Race4Nepal hopes to raise $25,000 for the construction of permanent homes in Lalitpur, Nepal, a small community ravaged by the April 25, 2015 earthquake. The earthquake devastated one of the world's poorest countries and has left millions in dire need of help from the outside world. 

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