Interesting

Love the look I am getting from Zorro as the goofball kids roll snow angels once again behind him!

"Um, they are at it AGAIN! What shall we do?" asks mature Zorro.
"Whee, haha, roll, hehe, let's connect our snow angels!" demonstrates the goof kids.

It was an interesting day this morning skijoring the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. We have had upwards of 60 (maybe closer to 70) inches of snow fall over the last week. It has seriously snowed just about every day with some days dropping as much as 20 inches at once and the "mild" days dropping 5 inches; but the week total is in the 60-70 inch range.

What has made this interesting is that the nordic center groomers cannot keep up! We were on trails that are normally 8, maybe 10, dogs wide of easy groomed terrain. But, today, the upper elevation trails looked more like backcountry trails than nordic trails. There was a set track down the middle that was only 2 Siberians wide as people are reusing each other's tracks since the groomer cannot keep up. A "single track, 2 wide" trail is a backcountry trail. So we had the problem that Zorro, Jack & Rudy could not all fit in the single track. Plus, the snow outside of the track was too deep for one to run in and keep pace. What to do? Well, Zorro to the rescue!!!! Zorro quickly noticed the "classic track" made by the groomer to the side of the single track. While there was fresh snow in the classic track, it still had a somewhat firm surface under the new snow. So, Jack & Rudy ran in the single track (doing most of the work pulling me) while Zorro kept pace to the side in the classic track. What a smart guy that Zorro is!

Let Jack & Rudy have the 2-wide set track and do most of the work while
Zorro keeps pace in the classic track to the side.

It is not often that you can say the nordic center was "too narrow" and "too soft" to go very fast. What a week of snow it has been!

Near the trailhead, though, the trail was packed wider than 2, so back to the power trio we go:

Such power in this trio!

One problem with the prior photo, though. We are close to the trailhead. This particular trail has the following things to be cautious of near the trailhead. First, there are many side trails connecting from the left and right onto this main trail. Second, ALL of these side trails are known as places where people bring loose dogs along on snowshoe hikes. Third, only about 1/2 of the people we encounter think it is a bad idea for their loose dogs to jump in the middle of a moving skijor team. "Fluffy just wants to say 'HI'," they say.

So, what does this mean. It means I try to proceed cautiously through this section of trail. But, it is also steep and I have powerful machines. Come along and watch just how fast we go with me in a complete snowplow the entire time! Watch for all the trail intersections that are all known for loose dogs: snowshoe trail to the left at 15 seconds, wide trail on the right at 17 seconds, snowshoe trail to the left and right at 33 seconds. I get a real workout to snowplow at 15-20 MPH through this section of trail!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, finished towing the snowplowing chicken human but we are still all smiles ending the day's interesting, yet very fun, run.

"Whee - we don't mind snowplowing, just gives us something to PULL!" says
the happy power trio.

A relatively short distance outing for the trails we were on; but the trails had a "backcountry feel" instead of the usual nordic feel: 5.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 634.5 miles with 58,850 feet of elevation climbed.