Nice Up High

The conditions were PERFECT on the upper and furthest away trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning!

Wow! Sometimes all you need to say is "WOW!"

I did not think we would make it to the upper shelf trail with Rudy at the nordic center this season (Zorro & Jack have been to this shelf early on when we were dropping young Rudy once a week). Rudy is still limited to how long we let him run and I did not think this shelf was reachable with the current limits. Well, I have been wrong so many times this season about what my 3 sled dog machines can do. Going from 2 to 3 dogs skijoring did not simply add 50% to our power but, instead, I think going from 2 to 3 doubled our power. They really feed off each other! Anyway, the upper shelf has some of the nicest views of the Rocky Mountains you can get:

Catching air along the upper shelf. Great views of the town of Breckenridge down below and
the snow covered Rockies across the valley. Two of the 54 14000+ foot peaks in the
Colorado Rockies are visible up and a little to the right of Jack.

Those prior two photos are pretty incredible given it is mid April. The trail was perfectly groomed and there was only one set of prior ski tracks along the way. The reason is this section of trail is far and high away from the nordic center trailhead, so few people make it this far without dog power towing you. Unfortunately, the lower trails are falling apart quickly. Tracked up, post holes, and sheer ice in the shade. Wish we did not have to come down :)

Tracked up trails, yuck. Every hole, footprint and smooth surface you see in this
sun shot is bumpy & icy in any shade.

Come along and watch the transition from perfect to tracked up. We start out skijoring the perfect upper terrain as we cruise by Kathy's Viewpoint Warming Hut. Then, as the video comes to a close, we enter the lower trails and suddenly I am snowplowing, scraping and moving around trying to find a safe passage over the tracked up trail. So nice up high!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

At our turnaround point on the upper shelf - how's it going partners?

"This is FANTASTIC up high!" declares the happy trio.

End of the day's fun outing - time to reward the sled dogs with pork treats and time to rest my sore legs from the bumpy & icy lower trail :)

"Hand them out - we earned them!" says the focused trio.

Perfect up high while deteriorating down low - wish we had a way to stay up high all day! 6.9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 100 days on the trails covering 567.6 miles with 52,100 feet of elevation climbed.