Happiness

Happiness is an 8 mile skijor on May 17th, right guys?

"YES!!!!!" exclaims the ridiculously happy youngsters.
Do you think Rudy could get a much bigger smile on his face than this?

We went to Vail Pass this morning. The conditions at the trailhead were bumpy, soft and pretty tracked up. As a result, we started the morning without Zorro as the conditions were more than the almost 12 year old wants to run.

The plan (or hope) was that once Jack, Rudy and I got up in elevation a bit that the snow and crust would still be good. Well, check out this photo after about 1.5 miles of climbing up. Wow!

The fast & flying Jack & Rudy on perfect crust up high.
Nice "airborne tuck" from Jack and beautiful aerodynamic stretch from Rudy!

Zorro would have really had a great time on the conditions up high, but it was too bad that it took more effort to get to this point than he can run any more!

After flying for miles up high, it was time to turnaround and fly back. Turnaround? Yep, we had the usual "turnaround, roll around" twins!

"You turn, we stop, drop and ROLL!" demonstrates the goofy kids.

Today's video clip is quite the impressive glimpse of the conditions up high at Vail Pass. It is really unfortunate that the conditions at the trailheads are deteriorating so much given what you find a few hundred feet up in elevation!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another fun shot of the conditions and fun kids as we floor it on the way back!

Hovering Jack & Rudy as we fly along the perfect crust
with magnificent views!

Once we were just about back to the trailhead, we met up with Zorro & Nancy to hook the fun elder into the team for a short jaunt to the finish. Despite the soft & bumpy conditions, it was still "all smiles" from the group as they enjoyed the group trot to the finish:

A little bumpy & rough, but all smiles all around. We love
when Zorro joins in the team!

'End of run treats' anyone?

"Yep, ready!" says focused Zorro.
"You bet!" adds happy Jack.
"Such fun!" says cute, smiling Rudy.

A little rough going at the start & finish, but an incredible skijor once we go up high: 7.9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 171 days on the trails covering 1169.2 miles with 107,450 feet of elevation climbed.