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The headlamp at the end of the tunnel

Durango duo wins epic night ski mountaineering race
The start of the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse ski mountaineering race was ablaze in headlamps.

For Scott Simmons and Paul Hamilton of Durango, looking back on the headlamp-lit masses was a sight to behold.

For two reasons.

Yes, it was quite the sight – 400 or so skiing mountaineers, headlamps ablaze as they made their way through the darkness in the early morning hours Saturday during the epic Elk Mountains Grand Traverse. And the fact that Simmons and Hamilton were looking back at all of those racers – every last one of them – in the two-man race from Crested Butte to Aspen.

Simmons and Hamilton, teaming together for the first time in the grueling 40-mile ski adventure through the dark backcountry – the race started at midnight – finished in a record time of six hours, 44 minutes and 35 seconds on the fast course, good for a whopping 10-minute victory in what is regarded as one of the premier skimo races in the country.

They said they trained hard, and it paid off in their first event together.

“That was kind of the goal – make a statement. We trained with that in mind,” said Simmons, 43, a builder in Durango who said he has been competing in skimo races for about eight years.

But it was Simmons’ fourth Grand Traverse, and that race experience and course knowledge came in handy for the team as Hamilton was competing there for the first time.

“Scott skied there a few times and knew where we were and what we should be doing,” said Hamilton, 29, who works on the floor at Pine Needle Mountaineering in Durango and also is a runner with the North Face Endurance Team. “It was really nice to have him there to make a lot of the calls.”

As in when it’s time to ski and when it’s time to pull off the skis and run on a course that climbed more than 7,800 feet.

“By all standards the course was pretty flat. So it was a lot of kick and glide,” Hamilton said. “It was quite a bit more skate skiing than I usually do. And a bit of hiking. The first six or seven miles was pretty fun after we dropped down off Crested Butte Mountain (Resort) into the valley. The coverage was spotty. We were constantly switching between skate skiing and running with our skies in our hands. It was cool. I liked it – gorilla-style skiing. And after that, the coverage was good and the skiing was real quick. We were able to move real quick in sections where we could kick and glide.”

According to Hamilton, the duo took the lead about six or seven miles in.

“And we put a 10-minute gap between us (and the closest competitors) by mile 30,” he said. “Then we skied scared the rest of the way. We kept looking for headlamps.”

They wouldn’t see any and finished at about 6:45 a.m., just as the sun started to rise.

“In skimo, it’s a big deal,” Simmons said of the race. “The number of racers is the biggest. And it’s one I’ve wanted to win. I’m sure when I’ll be thinking back on my career, this will be one of the highlights.”

Along with all those headlamp lights.

“The race hasn’t even started and we’re all standing there with our headlamps. That’s pretty neat. It’s midnight, and then (early in the race) we turn around and look at that – a river of lights.

“Impressive.”

bpeterson@durangoherald.com

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