Classic

Love how skinny Jack can fit in a classic ski track to roll a snow angel!

That's classic Jack :)

While Jack is known for his skijoring POWER, he is also a skinny guy as you see above. There's a LOT of power packed into that skinny frame!

This morning was a gem of a day, especially for April! We started out laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the Dry Gulch backcountry:

Laying fresh tracks! Wheeee!

We then found ourselves first tracks on the freshly groomed upper trail at Gold Run Nordic Center. Sweet!

The hover huskies catching air as we are first tracks on the fresh groom!

We were doing a short outing today, so we only spent a short distance on the upper loop trail before transitioning onto the main trail. But, what did we find on the main trail? Darn near PERFECT. Only one other skier with a dog had been on the trail since the fresh groom. That's pretty much still "first tracks" :)

If you look closely, you can see a set of dog footprints in front of and to Jack's
right. The skier had used the classic track (you can see the ski pole holes on each
side of the classic track). This was about as close as you can get to being first
tracks on this popular section of trail!!!!

So much fun footage from today's short outing. What to feature in the video? Hmm, how about the counterpart to the prior photo as the GPS registered us topping 23 MPH along this section of trail. Come along, watch the fun and enjoy the light snowfall coming down around us. Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a classic day!

"Ready!!!" says the happy kids perched atop a snow wall awaiting
end of run treats.

Today's tally: 4.3 miles traveled with 200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 87 days on the trails covering 676.3 miles with 64,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

April Snow

Off we go!

Starting out the day with fresh snow on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail.

This time of year, ALL new snow is welcome snow! We know that April signals the season is really winding down (although we'll skijor as far into May or even June as the snow allows). So, every day that there is new snow is a celebration! Today we had fresh snow to enjoy on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. What fun!

Talkative Rudy is really a funny, wooing comedian out on the trails. When we pass other skiers, if they say anything, Rudy will almost always answer. Typically it is a "Hi" or "Morning" or "Looks fun" or some short comment like that. Well, Rudy takes all addresses as needing a "Woo" response. Such a funny kid.

This skier said, "Morning." as we were approaching. Talkative Rudy
responded with a "Woo" back to acknowledge the greeting :)

We did a short outing at Sallie Barber Mine this morning. But all outings are fun outings and all climbs to the mine must be celebrated with snow angels, silly kids.

Jack enjoying a roll in the snow.
Rudy getting a face full of fresh snow during his roll.

Now for today's video fun. Come along and watch as the clip starts with Jack & Rudy patiently waiting for me to turn around on my skis. Once turned, all it takes is me to mutter a simple "Ok" and the kids TAKE OFF! They know what to do when they get the verbal release to GO :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, they know what to do :)

Flying along, wheeee!

A short outing, but all outings are fun outings, right guys?

"Yes, we had a BLAST!" says the happy, happy kids awaiting
end of run treats.

Today's tally: 4.1 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 86 days on the trails covering 672.0 miles with 64,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh Tracks

Who was enjoying the wonderful fresh snow this morning?

"I am! I am!" exclaims happy Jack.
"You know if you ask I'll respond in song!" woos silly Rudy.

Today was a surprising and absolutely amazing day of laying fresh tracks in new snow.

We started in the Dry Gulch backcountry and, no surprise here, we were first laying fresh tracks in 4-6 inches of new snow. But, to our surprise and pleasure, we came across the occasional wind blown drift providing us upwards of 10 inches of snow (or more) to blast through for short distances. What fun!

Jack & Rudy blasting through one of the short-lived, but many, wind blown
drifts of fresh powder!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. As you'll see, most of the outing was spent laying fresh tracks in 4-6 inches of snow. But, the occasional wind drift provided some nice powder caches to blast through. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We then dropped onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center to extend the day. Well, it was "surprising and amazing" as there was 2-3 inches of untouched, fresh snow over the otherwise groomed and packed upper nordic loop:

Jack & Rudy literally FLYING as we are laying fresh tracks on the
upper loop at Gold Run! What a treat.

Next it became "shocking and amazing" as we transitioned onto the popular and well-used main trail at the nordic center. What did we find? Well, once again, 2-3 inches of untouched, fresh snow over the nordic trail. We were laying fresh tracks on the busy main trail almost the entire distance! It wasn't until the last 1/2 mile or so that we finally encountered other tracks and people. I don't think we've ever been able to lay fresh tracks on this busy trail for almost the entire distance! Shocking!

Laying fresh tracks on the popular & (usually) busy main trail.
Shocking and amazing :)

We did have one turnaround point during the outing. Jack & Rudy were running hard in the fresh snow all morning long; so I fully expected dual snow angels from them to roll in the fresh snow to cool off. Yep:

"Ah, rub a dub dub!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Laying fresh tracks in the backcountry and then almost the entire distance at the nordic center! Could it get any more surprising and amazing than today?

"No, you cannot top today's amazing outing!" states the happy & proud
kids awaiting their end of run treats.

Today's fresh tracks tally: 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 82 days on the trails covering 646.3 miles with 61,600 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Snowing

Here's what Jack & Rudy think of the "warming huts" out on the trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center :)

"Silly! We need to roll snow angels to COOL OFF! What's a warming hut?"
says the snow rolling sillies in front of one of the warming huts we pass
on the trails.

Notice the nice snowfall you can see against the hut in the prior photo. Increasing snowfall was the theme of the day!

We started amidst light snowfall laying fresh tracks on fast nordic trails:

Clear shot of Jack & Rudy leaning into a tight right on the trail.
I cannot take corners as tight as Jack & Rudy and have to swing way out
left to then glide around the corner at their speed!

Within 10 minutes or so, the snowfall started increasing:

Still pretty clear photo; but you can see active snowfall if you look very
closely (I know, "white on white" is hard to see :)

Then, within another 15 minutes or so and it was dumping! It was snowing so hard that it kept collecting on the camera leading to blurred footage:

Snow covered camera delivering blurry footage.

How hard was it snowing? Well come along for today's video to see for yourself. This clip starts with us slowed while I wipe the camera clear of snow. Once clear, I give an "Ok, here we go," to Jack & Rudy to let them know it is ok to speed up again. Speed up we do and watch how fast the camera gets covered in snow again and Jack & Rudy become blurry objects.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

No complaints here, we LOVE new snow - it is just hard to keep the camera clear to get any footage!

Finally, back to the trailhead and at least Nancy's camera was clear of snow :)

Happy kids awaiting end of run treats with visible against my coat and
Jack & Rudy's black & red fur.

Yay for fresh snow! 9.6 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 81 days on the trails covering 637.1 miles with 60,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Pass the Groomer

We started this morning's skijor laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the Dry Gulch backcountry. Fun!

Zipping along laying fresh tracks.

Then, as we love to do, we dropped out of the backcountry and onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. When we got on the upper loop at the nordic center, we found a dusting of new snow over a day old grooming. Not a problem, this upper loop does not get a lot of traffic (being very far from any trailhead), so a dusting over a day old groom was just perfect!

Zipping along with a dusting of new snow for safety over a day old groomed
trail. Safety dust :)

After flying around the upper loop, we paused to catch our breaths before transitioning to the main trail. Well, ok, I paused to catch my breath. Jack & Rudy paused to roll snow angels to cool their jets!

"Ah, rub a dub dub!" says the snow rolling sillies.

Then the day turned absolutely perfect (although it was darned near perfect before this point) as we found ourselves being first tracks on the freshly groomed main trail!

Whee - first tracks on a fresh groom!

Then the question became, just how far in front of us was the groomer and would we catch it? The answer was: not too far and yes, we caught it!

We love to chase and catch a groomer in front of us!

Once we catch the groomer, it is always time to pass. The groomer drivers know us from years of skijoring these trails. When they notice us in their rearview mirror, they will stop (when the trail is wide enough) and wave us on by. Jack has no problem gently passing right next to the groomer snowcat. Rudy, on the other hand, likes to put a little space between himself and the snowcat. Usually the passing lane to get by is wide enough that Rudy just stays on the outside of Jack and that is enough space for him. But, today the passing lane was quite narrow. What did Rudy do? Well, he hopped off trail into the deep side snow to pass as his preferred distance. Funny kid.

Jack cruising right on by the snowcat.
Rudy hopping off trail to pass at his preferred separation.

So, let's put it all together into a video now. Come along as 1) we are zooming on the groomie zoomie; 2) we catch the groomer and slow down; 3) the groomer slides slightly right, stops and waves us on by; 4) silly Rudy hops off trail to pass while mellow Jack walks on by; and 5) back on the trail in front of the groomer and Jack & Rudy floor it again. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day, right guys?

"YES! We love to chase, catch and pass the groomer!!!" says the happy kids.

Today's tally: 8.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 80 days on the trails covering 627.5 miles with 59,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Jack 8000

7 year old Jack surpassed 8,000 career skijor miles this morning! Impressive!

"And I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed EVERY mile of it!" states proud Jack.

Jack's skijor career to date is the following: 1042 days on the trails covering 8001.1 miles with 740,850 feet of elevation climbed! Consider that most of this happened since he was 1.5 years old and that is quite an impressive career he has strung together and continues. For the curious, younger Rudy is about 176 career miles behind Jack; so he should reach his 8000 career miles this season too :)

Now back to today's fun outing. With fresh snow, we decided to skijor the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. To our amazement, we were first tracks in the new snow on this popular trail:

First tracks in the 2-3 inches of fresh snow to start the outing.

As usual, we climbed to the mine to start the outing and, as usual, the silly kids had to stop, drop and roll snow angels to reward themselves for the initial climb:

Jack getting some serious powder flying around him as he rolls an angel
while Rudy is cooling himself gently.

Another note about Jack's career: he has rolled at least one snow angel on EVERY skijor outing of his life (and often more than one). That's 1042 straight outings rolling snow angels. He is such a snow rolling nut! Funny side story - when Jack was young he almost missed rolling a snow angel on one outing. I was skijoring with him and Zorro (Rudy was too young to come along yet) and made a final turn to return to the trailhead to complete the day. Jack had not yet rolled a snow angel on this particular outing. But, when he saw the trailhead (knowing we were about done), he realized he had not got his snow angel in yet. What did he do? Well, he dropped right in front of me to roll before ending the outing. I almost ran over the silly cracker Jack! Since that outing, Jack has NEVER come close to finishing a run without getting his snow angel roll registered :) 

Back to today, next we decided to skijor down and back up the backside of Sallie Barber Mine. What a great decision, it was magical on the backside! Come along and watch the fun in today's video highlight. After we round a right turn in the trail, watch the magic unfold as we get into an open straightaway with tons of wind blown snow drifts to blast through. So impressive to watch Jack & Rudy blast through powder!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Here are some fun still shots from that video:

Blasting through a stretch of deep powder!

And another:

Powering through a powder cache along a slight rise in the trail. Fun!

After doing the backside of the mine trail, it was time to return down the front. As usual, Jack & Rudy always fly by the mine on pass two (versus rolling snow angels on pass one):

Zipping along in the tracks we set on the first pass by the mine.

Fun day with some surprise deep powder caches, right guys?

"Yes! We had a blast blasting through deep snow!" says the happy kids.

Today's tally: 7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed with a top speed of 22 MPH and passing 8000 career skijor miles for impressive 7 year old Jack! Yay!

2024/2025 Season to Date: 79 days on the trails covering 619.2 miles with 58,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise

Who was enjoying this morning's fun skijor outing?

"We are!!!!! We are having a blast!" exclaims the happy kids looking back
to me at a short pause during the outing.

We started the day on the Buffalo Park Trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass. The trail was as expected: a bunch of soft snowmobile tracks to follow forever:

Zipping along in soft snowmobile tracks. Wheeee!

One nice snowmobile track eventually went right and up towards the Harrison Creek Trail. We decided to follow this path, fully expecting to find Harrison Creek to be a collection of snowmobile tracks too. But, to our surprise and delight, as we got onto the Harrison Creek Trail, we found it FRESHLY groomed! Wow, what an unexpected surprise and treat! Jack & Rudy knew what to do with the fresh groom:

Zoom!

We quickly changed our intended path (which was to be an out & back on the Buffalo Park Trail) to do and out & back on the freshly groomed Harrison Creek Trail instead. Of course, an out & back means you turnaround at some point, right?

Yep, turnaround antics from my favorite comedians.
"Turnaround, roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings Rudy.

Now come along for today's video highlight - running fast on the groomie zoomie. At 12 seconds into this clip and we get an interesting moment. The trail we are on goes forward, left and right at the 12 second point. In all the years we've skijored Harrison Creek, we've never done anything but go forward. But, today, the groomer went left. As you'll see in the video, Jack & Rudy are completely prepared to abandon the groom and continue forward (as we've always done before). So, you'll hear me call out a "Left" to my pals. They slow momentarily; but then execute the left as requested and off we GO again. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise beauty of an outing:

The hover huskies catching air being first tracks on the fresh groom. Zoom!

What a treat, right guys?

"Oh yes, now how about those end of run treats too?" says the happy kids.

There's nothing like a surprise groom for a fast & fun day: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 611.9 miles with 58,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh and First

Look at what we found this morning in Dry Gulch!

Upwards of 10 inches of fresh powder to blast through
in the backcountry!

When we get in deep snow like this, I love watching Jack & Rudy work in slow motion. You can really get a feel for their power and strength by watching this way. So, come along for today's video highlight: a slow motion glimpse into the Jack & Rudy trail breaking duo! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our plan was to enjoy fresh snow in Dry Gulch and then get some speed on the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. But, within 10 yards of transitioning from backcountry to nordic terrain, this unfolded :)

"I sense rodents under the snow! Incoming!" goes beautiful rodent diving Rudy.
"What? Really?" responds Jack pausing when he noticed Rudy's actions.

Jack, of course, was quick to join the rodent hunt. You never let your brother dunk in the snow for rodents alone! Jack does what I call a "rodent lunge" versus Rudy's high arching, fox-like rodent dives. From what I've seen over the years, the dive and the lunge tend to produce the same results. But it is certainly Rudy's personality to do a dramatic dive and Jack's personality to do a mellow lunge :)

"Joining! Where are those pesky rodents?" ask lunging Jack.
"Searching, searching!" responds Rudy furiously digging in the snow.
Nobody came up with a rodent in their mouth, bummer for them :)

Now go back to Rudy's dive photo above. Notice anything special in front of Jack? Well, the nordic trail is freshly groomed and we are FIRST tracks on the fresh groom! Once the comedians recovered from their failed rodent hunt, they knew what to do with a fresh groom! Zoom!

Topping 24 MPH being first tracks on the fresh groom.
The groomie zoomie brothers!

Much to our surprise and pleasure, we were first tracks on the fresh groom the entire upper loop at the nordic center and then we were only second tracks on the lower main trail for most of the way. What fun:

On to the main trail and only 1 set of ski tracks (look in between Jack & Rudy)
and one set of dog tracks (to Rudy's left). This was just a guy skiing along with
his dog (not skijoring), we caught them just around the next corner and he was
quite jealous of the help I get while he gets nothing from his dog, haha :)

Today's parting shot? Jack & Rudy the snow angel rolling sillies at our turnaround point of the outing:

Jack quite often hops in the deeper snow off trail to roll a very deep
and energetic snow angel. Rudy is hit or miss whether he wants to
roll "in track" or "out of track" - today was rolling in track.

From trail breaking in fresh snow in the backcountry to first tracks on a fresh groom at the nordic center, a perfect day: 8.9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 77 days on the trails covering 602.5 miles with 57,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Just Enough

There was just enough snow coverage between tire tracks for me to safely let Jack & Rudy floor it in French Gulch this morning!

The kids zipping along as my skis are in the "just enough snow coverage"
between the tire tracks to skijor safely. Wheeee!

Our outing took us out & back in French Gulch. As is usual, the further (and higher) we went, the better the conditions got. Midway out the gulch, the snow between the tire tracks was excellent for skiing:

Jack's footprints showing just how nice the snow down the middle of
the trail was midway out the gulch.

Eventually, the handful of private cabins in the gulch end and, as a result, French Gulch transitions into a true backcountry trail. Few others make it this far out the gulch, so any pre-existing ski tracks are single tracks and Jack & Rudy run single file to fit (as the snow outside the set track is too deep to keep pace). While we go slower in single file configuration, we, by no means, go SLOW :)

The fun kids running as fast as possible in single file configuration.

Today we eventually out skied ALL existing tracks and were making our own trail for a while. Once it was time to turnaround, the comedians got into their usual antics:

"Turnaround, roll around!" declares snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings vocal Rudy.

Rudy actually rolled a snow angel before singing as you can see the indentation in the snow around him and all the snow on his back from rolling around. So, today was "Stop, drop, roll and WOO" from talented Rudy :)

We were having such a great time, we didn't want the outing to end. So, as we were finishing our out & back in French Gulch, we hung a left onto the Sallie Barber Mine Trail (which shares the trailhead parking lot with French Gulch). Sallie Barber is a true backcountry trail, so it was safe to let the kids uncork it the entire way on this "out & back" extension to our outing:

Zipping along great conditions on Sallie Barber. Wheeee!

Back to the first photo and the title of today's blog: come along for today's video highlight as there is just enough snow between tire tracks for me to ski safely and let Jack & Rudy put the pedal to the metal!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to the trailhead and Rudy won "king of the mountain" today finding the highest point of the snow wall to perch himself for end of run treats:

Rudy just a smidget higher than Jack on the snow wall to win
"king of the mountain" today :)

An enjoyable outing with the full range of conditions in French Gulch and a nice extra extension on Sallie Barber Mine: 8.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 76 days on the trails covering 593.6 miles with 56,400 feet of elevation climbed.