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Aspen women finish 6th in team race at ski mountaineering world championships

Aspen Times staff report
Jessie Young of Aspen heads uphill at a ski mountaineering race earlier this year at Jackson Hole.
Joe Risi/Courtesy photo |

Jessie Young, of Aspen, and Lindsay Plant, of Carbondale, joined forces to finish sixth in the two-member team competition at the International Ski Mountaineering World Championships, which concluded Thursday in Verbier, Switzerland.

Max Taam and John Gaston, both of Aspen, finished 15th in the men’s team race. Their previous best at the world championships was 10th.

Young and Plant hadn’t previously competed together in a team race.



The race featured 2,200 meters of climbing for the men and 2,000 meters for the women as well as steep and rocky descents, according to a posting on the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association website.

The climbs were mixed in among the descents. The third descent was particularly icy and rocky, according to the association’s website.



“This course was not for the faint of heart or those that were not very strong skiers,” the association reported. “It was on this descent that John Gaston broke his boot in half. That only fazed him briefly, and he continued to charge down another 1,200 meters-plus of descents with only one functional boot. There are not many racers who could have accomplished this.”

In the individual men’s race, Gaston placed 27th of 91 starters. In the women’s race, Plant was 20th and Young was 23rd of 140 starters.

In the Vertical Race, informally known as King of the Hill, Plant finished 14th, according to the association’s website. Young was part of a three-women relay team that placed fifth out seven teams.


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