Racing With Purpose: For A Few Grand Traverse Teams, It’s About More Than The Finish

At exactly midnight on Friday night, some 200 two-person teams will line up in Crested Butte, Colo., with a singular purpose—skiing and skinning through the night to cover 40 miles and nearly 8,000 vertical feet to reach Aspen. But for a few of those teams, they’re racing for more than just the finish line.

A handful of charity teams participate in each Grand Traverse, aiming to raise money for nonprofits and causes as the rack up miles across Colorado’s Elk Mountains. Here’s a look at some of those teams and their missions.

Team: Peaked Sports
Organization: Camp To Belong

For many years, Liz Onufer of Team Peaked Sports has sought out a way to merge her love for backcountry skiing with her commitment to serving youth in foster care. At this year’s Grand Traverse, she plans to combine the two through raising funds for Camp To Belong, a camp where she works as executive director that reunites siblings separated in foster care. “The resilience and strength I have learned from working with these kids is my inspiration, and I know I will carry it with me to the finish of this race,” Onufer writes. camptobelong.org

Team: SkiToFeed
Organization: Generosity Feeds

“Every child deserves to eat,” writes Ron Klabunde of Team SkiToFeed. That’s why he founded Generosity Feeds, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that works with communities throughout the country to provide packaged meals to children who struggle with hunger. And that’s the cause that he’s raising money and racing for in this year’s Grand Traverse. “Children are being offered hope and entire communities are being inspired to help end the cycle of poverty,” Klabunde adds of his work and fundraising. generosityfeeds.org

Team: Tuck It For Tyson
Organization: Andy Tyson Memorial Fund

Last April, four Teton Valley locals died in a small plane crash near Challis, Idaho, including longtime National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) instructors AJ Linnell and Andy Tyson. “Andy was an inspiration to our entire community, with his amazing competence and humble attitude,” writes Tuck It For Tyson team member Kate Koons. “He has climbed all over the world but his greatest joy was teaching others.” In Tyson’s memory, his wife and friends started the Andy Tyson Memorial Fund to support outdoor leaders in mountain communities throughout the developing world. andytysonmemorialfund.org

Team: AJ Skis On!
Organization: AJ Linnell Memorial Trail Fund

“AJ has been a close friend and mentor to me in the mountains for over 10 years,” writes Jaime Musnicki of Team AJ Skis On! about her friend who died alongside Andy Tyson and two others in a plane crash last April. Linnell, a Voilé ambassador and guide with Yostmark Backcountry Tours, was an avid bike racer, and his wife, Erica, set up the AJ Linnell Memorial Trail Fund to raise money to construct biking and hiking trails in the Teton Valley. “This is just one way for us to remember and connect and actively contribute to AJ truly living on through his legacy in the mountains,” Musnicki writes. cftetonvalley.org

Team: The J-Bombers
Organization: Race 4 Nepal

Skiers Jeff Clark and Jack Linehan, roommates and aspiring ski mountaineers from Aspen, are aiming to raise $25,000 through their Grand Traverse race in support of constructing permanent homes in a region of Nepal that was hit hard by last April’s earthquake. “Our mission is to rally the Aspen community around our cause,” the duo writes on their GoFundMe page. “In sharing the tradition and mystique of this wonderful race, we hope to illuminate the parallels between the Nepalese mountaineering culture and that of the Rocky Mountains.” gofundme.com/race4nepal

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Learn more about the Grand Traverse Charity Teams at elkmountainstraverse.com.