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.

 

Friday Freshies

It was a "Fresh Tracks Friday" on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning!

Out-stretched Jack & Rudy having a blast laying fresh tracks in a
shallow layer of new snow!

To our amazement and pleasure, just about everywhere we skijored, we were first tracks on the morning's new snow. What a treat:

Whee - Friday Freshies!

We did see other tracks twice: our OWN "out tracks" on two sections of trail where we skijored out and back :)

Still laying fresh tracks down the center of the trail as you see our
"out tracks" to the left. We like to hug the right shoulder of a trail on the
way out & up so that we can still lay fresh tracks down the middle on the
way back. Fun!

Ok, here we go with today's video counterpart to the prior photo. Come along as we are laying fresh tracks down the middle with our "out tracks" to the left. Fast & fun Jack & Rudy!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now that you know the left tracks are our "out tracks", go back and watch the video again. Do you notice anything unusual? Well, what happened at seconds 25-28 in the video as you see Jack & Rudy's footprints all over the trail (not lined out as our usual out tracks). Second, why has Jack backed off the gangline from seconds 28-32 in the video? Interesting, huh? Well, here's your answer. The kids caught the "scent of moose" on the way out and HAD to pause and drift towards the (apparently very strong) scent:

"I SMELL MOOSE! Must scan the forest!" says inspector Jack.
"Sniff, sniff! Me too! Where's the moose?" adds Rudy taking in the
apparently very strong scent of moose in the air.

So, there's the answer to the questionable parts of the video. First, Jack & Rudy's footprints all over the trail go along with the prior photo as they caught a very strong scent of moose. Second, Jack has backed off the gangline in the video at the same point where they caught the scent on the way out. He was clearly slowing a bit in hopes of finding that elusive moose until the scent dies down and he picks up the pace again. Silly moose hunters :)

Great day, right guys?

"Oh what fun!" exclaims the happy, happy kids at our first turnaround
point of the outing.

Another enjoyable day, another snow wall to climb for end of run treats:

"READY!" says the happy & focused kids perched atop a snow wall
to receive end of run treats.

A great day of Friday Freshies: 9.1 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 75 days on the trails covering 585.2 miles with 55,500 feet of elevation climbed.

 

26 MPH

Who was having a great time out on the trails this morning?

"Oh, the BEST time!" exclaims happy Jack.
"Yes, yes, I'm having a BLAST!" adds happy Rudy.

Today's skijor outing started with a postcard view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Beautiful shot of the ski resort across the valley as Jack & Rudy zip along.

The outing then changed to a postcard view of fast & impressive Jack & Rudy:

Max speed reported by the GPS on today's outing: 26.0 MPH!!!!!

We usually top 26 MPH skijoring 1-3 times a season. Typically this happens in January or February when the conditions are best. Before today, though, our top speed of the season had been 24 MPH (multiple times). I thought maybe that was going to be our season's top speed once we got into March. Then today came along with a perfect trifecta: 1) great snowpack on the mostly shaded upper loop at Gold Run Nordic Center; 2) no significant new snow in the last few days to slow us down; and 3) the groomer had run on the trail moments before us and we were first tracks on the fresh groom! I could feel the speed behind Jack & Rudy and fully expected this outcome - max speed: 26 MPH!

Come along and watch the fun as we topped 26 MPH along the way in today's clip. Unfortunately the incredible sprint ends when we encounter a loose dog, with no responsible human in sight, in the trail and have to stop for everyone's safety. Oh well, it was an incredible speed sprint before that! :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually a human showed up to collect the loose dog (so much for the "sight control" rule at the nordic center). No big deal, Jack, Rudy and I happily got past fluffy and then it was time to floor it again:

Catching air on the groomie zoomie! Wheeee!

Of course, going this fast means you really need to roll in the snow to cool your jets during any pause in the outing. Jack apparently needed to "cool his brain" today too, haha!!!

Jack looking like his is about to transition into a headstand in the snow.
With Jack, it would not have surprised me if he really did a headstand!!!
Rudy, on the other hand, it gently cooling himself in the snow.

Just when I thought we were going to top out at 24 MPH this season, my pals turned it up a notch and showed me!!!!

"If I lick your hand, will the end of run treats come out faster?" asks silly Jack.
"Can't believe you doubted our top speed of the season!" adds cute Rudy.

Zoom: 8.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH!

2024/2025 Season to Date: 74 days on the trails covering 576.1 miles with 54,300 feet of elevation climbed.