Thursday, June 11, 2015

Season Finale

All good things come to an end.
Today brought an end to our 2014/2015 Skijor Season.
Another season surpassing 1300 miles of skijoring - woo hoo!
Tally for the season: 1324.9 miles traveled with 139,000 feet of elevation climbed and a
top speed of 26 MPH.
"And we LOVED every inch of every outing!" declare the happy husky pair.

We returned to Buffalo Pass this morning as it is typically the last trail to keep alive in June. Unfortunately we had warm temperatures last week and then rain the last few days. Nothing destroys a snowpack like horrible, ugly rain! Here is what we found...
On the top of Buffalo Pass and still white as far as the eye can see!

How could this be the season finale, you ask? Well, as nice as that last photo looks, very little of the terrain was actually this nice. We parked the jeep where the snow got too deep to continue driving and started skijoring; yet, within a 1/4 of a mile, the snow was gone again and we had to hike over dirt for a ways before putting the skis back on. Once restarted, though, the trail continued in & out of narrow snow (with exposed dirt on the sides) to occasional wide snow most of the way up the pass. As shown above, the top was wonderful; but it is shrinking so fast that it is time to declare the skijor season over. Here is what I mean:
Less than 1/4 mile from the start and we had to take the skis off and hike over the terrain for a ways.
"I see why this may be the last run, let's make it a good one!" states agreeable Max.
"But, but, but..." says 'Zorro in denial'.

Back to one last fun picture from the top of the pass...
"One of our favorite activities: hunt & jog!" declare Max & Zorro jogging while watching a group
of squirrels playing in the snow and trees to our right.

Our final outing of the 2014/2015 Season: 6.4 miles with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2014/2015 Season Summary: 155 days on the trails traveling 1324.9 miles with 139,000 feet of elevation climbed.


Sunday, June 7, 2015

Wonderland

A "Siberian Husky Summer Wonderland" atop Buffalo Pass this morning.
That would be a "winter wonderland" to the rest of the world...
June 7th. Wow, Whee, Woo, Zoom, Yay and every other fun word you can think of!

Sometimes the day's outing is just too hard to describe with words. Instead we offer the following video highlight of June Skijoring with snow as far as the eye can see atop Buffalo Pass - wheeee!
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

You have to agree that words could not describe the incredible June conditions in that video clip, right? Maybe Max & Zorro can describe it:
"Perfect!" exclaims ecstatic Max offering his description of the day.
"Best June 7th EVER!" declares giddy Zorro.

Capping off the June day on snow with a little cool off fun:
"Rolling snow angels to cool off in June - yay!" demonstrates Max.
"Chomp, chomp, yum, yum, love snowcones in June!" states snow eating Zorro.

A perfect skijor day on June 7th atop Buffalo Pass: 8.3 miles with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 154 days on the trails covering 1318.5 miles with 138,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Wow

A big WOW for the "mid winter conditions" atop Buffalo Pass on the morning of June 4th!
Zipping along the top of Buffalo Pass and "all white" as far as the eye can see! Wow!

Our "close to home" trails are all dead for the season; but if you look out the window you can still see white atop many of the peaks and passes of Colorado. So, it is no longer a 10-20 minute drive to the trailheads; but instead a multi-hour drive to get on snow. No problem, that just means we cannot get out every day and have to plan our outings instead. Yet, it is "Toes on Snow in June" so well worth it.

Today's adventure took us to Buffalo Pass. We approached the pass from the east side and drove up the winding dirt road until there was too much snow to continue (yay!). Then it was out of the Jeep and on the skis and Max & Zorro towed me up the remaining 4ish miles to the top of the pass. The photo above is the top of Buffalo Pass and you would never guess it was June, would you? It was fun, fun, fun flying up, down and around Buffalo Pass this morning!
Catching air as we sprint up a slight incline on the climb to the top of the pass - wheeee!
Flying along one of the many open patches of "all snow" once we got near the top of the pass.

If only Buffalo Pass was closer to home... But, given the snowpack atop the pass, we will certainly be back in the near future!
"We could do this terrain EVERY day!" exclaim the ecstatic pair at our turnaround
point on top of Buffalo Pass.

An amazing outing for June 4th: 8.3 miles with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 153 days on the trails covering 1310.2 miles with 137,350 feet of elevation climbed.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Passing 1300

It took some creativity.... But...
Passing 1300 miles of skijoring for the season this morning on Zorro's 7th birthday - yay!
"Toes on Snow in June - we couldn't ask for much more!" declare the happy pair looking
back at me as I remove the skis to hike the last bit to the trailhead at the end of the day's outing.

The temperatures have really risen the last few days and the "summer melt" is in full swing as the trails are quickly drying up all around us. But, we had to find a June 1st outing for Zorro's birthday - have to have "toes on snow" for birthdays! It took some creativity; but we succeeded on a short 3.5 mile skijor up & down the shady side of the Sally Barber Mine Trail.

Conditions were sketchy most of the day as the following photo was "as good" as it got:
All the toes (and skis) on snow as we trot along one of the few wide patches of snow still
left on the trail.

Despite the conditions, we made it all the way up to Sally Barber Mine!
"We made it!" exclaims happy Max.
"Mine, schmine, the real 'gold' is the white stuff under my toes!" declares Zorro.

You know the season is just about over when your only encounter on the trails is a guy jogging in his summer clothes!
Skis off as we trek across this large section of dirt (this is the only part of this leg of the
Sally Barber Mine Trail that does not get some shade).
Sled dogs, skis and joggers - what does not fit?

All we can say about the morning's outing is, "At least we did it (1300 miles and toes on snow)!" A small 3.5 mile trot with 550 feet of elevation climbed.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 152 days on the trails covering 1301.9 miles with 136,400 feet of elevation climbed.