Smudged

Skijor in French Gulch this morning, so you know what that means...

Paused to peer over a small snow wall to scan the gulch for the moose Jack
and Rudy clearly have caught the scent of.

French Gulch is known for its active moose population. We never skijor the gulch without Jack & Rudy pausing at least once to stare intensely into the gulch after they have caught the scent of moose in their noses. Sometimes we locate a body camouflaged amidst the trees to go along with the scent and sometimes we do not. But, I know from the intensity of Jack & Rudy's stares that the scent is strong and moose are definitely in the neighborhood. We had no sightings today, but Jack & Rudy made two "exit stage rights" as above to try and location the smelling moose!

Now, what is that down the center line of the photo above? Well, unfortunately it is a large water smudge from snow falling, melting and refreezing to the camera. It was cold this morning (temperature of 5 F at the trailhead with a stiff wind), so water spots were refreezing quickly on the camera. I did not realize that we had this large smudge down the center of the camera after the first 5 minutes of our outing (then for the rest of the day) until I got home. So, today's footage is water smudged down the middle all day long. Oh well, a great time was still had by all!

We started the day following ski tracks from two who had been out before us. We encountered the skiers on their return, so knew it was only 2 that had been out before us in the morning's fresh snow. So, we out-skied the pair and had 3-5 inches of fresh snow to ourselves for about 1/2 the outing! I mentioned it was 5 degrees (F) with a stiff wind. Do you think that had any impact on the comedians? Nope...

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack dropping in the
snow to cool off at 5 degrees!!!
"I apprOOOOOOOve!" woos funny Rudy with the cutest little frosted beard :)

As I mentioned, we had the new snow on the trail all to ourselves for about 1/2 the outing. So, we laid fresh tracks gliding up one side of the wide trail so that we could then continue to lay fresh tracks on the other side for the return. What fun:

Laying fresh tracks down the center of the trail with our "out tracks"
to our left.

Then, the first 1/4 and last 1/4 of the outing was back on set tracks from the previous two skiers and ourselves. But, still plenty of snow to floor it!

Zipping along reusing set tracks. You can see zippy Jack while speedy
Rudy is, unfortunately, smudged out. Oops.

I typically remember to wipe the camera clear on stormy and/or cold days (when it tends to get blurred); but, alas, I forgot today. So, there is no video highlight for today as nothing came out clear for more than a few seconds at a time. No worries, though, a great time was had by all:

"You have our FULL attention!" says the handsome kids.
I love the frosted snow beards on both chins. You know the huskies
are happy when their faces are frosted!

A peaceful outing in wonderful fresh snow: 7.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 19 days on the trails covering 117.5 miles with 14,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from me in my Santa hat and my adorable miniature flying reindeer, Jack & Rudy :)

Merry Christmas!

Did I say "miniature flying reindeer"? Well, yes, see for yourself:

Jack & Rudy may be smaller than a reindeer, but they can fly just
as well as any on Santa's team :)

Our outing this morning took us to the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. As we hoped, the groomer had been out on the trails just before us. While the groomer had not groomed all of the terrain, we did find a few stretches of fresh and untouched groom. Yes, we were first tracks on these sections of trail! We did encounter one other skier along the way, but she was gliding in the classic ski tracks, so that still left the entire width of the trail freshly groomed and untouched for us!

"Coming through! Made you smile!' go Jack & Rudy and they love to 
entertain oncoming skier by flying on by and putting smiles on their faces.

But, aside from that solo skier in the classic tracks, we were first tracks for an extended duration. So fun:

The fun kids catching air as we are first tracks on the fresh groomie zoomie.

Eventually, though, the fun came to a minor pause. Come along for today's video highlight. Watch as we are zipping & cruising along the freshly groomed trail having a blast. Then, we come upon a trail intersection and, boo, there is a loose dog standing in the middle of the intersection. I start to snowplow to slow us down while we see what Fluffy is going to do. We've encountered this dog before, so I wasn't too worried, we just wanted it OUT OF THE WAY! Well, watch as Fluffy finally moves enough to give us an escape gap. I release Jack & Rudy by putting my skis parallel, I don't have to say anything. The great kids feel the release and know they can now run on by Fluffy. Jack & Rudy have absolutely no use for loose dogs, all they do is cause slow downs or stoppages. Sled dogs hate stopping, sled dogs LOVE running :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It was a bit of a warm morning with temperatures in the 30s (F) but above freezing. So, I knew what I'd get from Jack & Rudy at our turnaround pause of the outing:

Yep, rub a dub dub, need to roll in the snow to cool our jets.
It's hard to tell which legs are Jack's and which are Rudy's as they are
a conjoined snow angel :)

A wonderful Christmas outing: 9.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 17 days on the trails covering 104.1 miles with 12,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Scrapes and Glances

Uh-oh....

An unauthorized session of "tag & tackle" breaking out as we reached the
historic Sallie Barber Mine this morning :)

You know what came after the prior photo! Yep, BOOM, tag, tackle, wrestle, flip, flop, duck, dodge - you name it, the playful kids did it!

Prior photo aside, we really did skijor the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this morning. We are still dealing with the aftermath of last week's super windstorm as we have not had new snow to cover any of the tree debris littered on the trails. For the most part, it is just minor debris that we can easily run and glide amongst:

Zipping along with minor tree debris scattered on the trail.

But, there are locations where large and often many trees fell across the trail last week that had to be removed by chainsaws. Unfortunately, in removing these large downed trees, a lot of sawdust and tons of little branches remain littering the trail. While not as bad as exposed rocks, my skis still made a awful scraping noise each time they grazed a pile of dust & twigs. Check this out, for example:

You can see the remnants of the large trees that fell forward and to our left.
You can also see the dust & twig debris covering the trail.

Jack & Rudy are great partners, of course, and they automagically slowed when we approached difficult debris for me to ski over. In fact, each time either of my skis made a scraping noise, one or both of them would glance back to check on me. Such great pals:

"You ok back there, that didn't sound good?" asks the great kids glancing
back to check on me after one of my skis scraped across a patch of twigs.

Now come along for the video fun of what I'm talking about. This clip starts out with us galloping along amidst minor, no issue, debris on the trail. Then, about 30 seconds into the clip and we get to a swath of heavy debris from downed tree removal. Watch as Jack and/or Rudy glance back to check on me a total of 7 times (each time one of my skis scraped) as we pass over this swath of debris. What great partners to keep checking on me!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I was happy as can be to dish out end of run treats to my perfect partners who had my well being in mind as we scraped through some sketchy patches of trail!

"We'd rather slow, glance and keep you upright than not skijor at all!" declares
the great kids awaiting end of run treats atop a mini snow wall.

A fun, albeit short, outing on the parts of Sallie Barber Mine that have had the downed trees removed (there are sections that are still blocked by trees): 4.1 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 16 days on the trails covering 94.9 miles with 11,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Zoomies

Sometimes you just need to roll in the snow to cool your jets!!!!

"Rub a dub dub, cooling the engines!' goes the snow rolling sillies
taking in the soft snow just off trail to roll and cool in :)

What a tale of two days between yesterday and today. Yesterday was a technical brain day weaving through downed trees. By contrast, today was a speed day ZOOMING along recently groomed nordic trails. Come along and see for yourself.

We went to the higher elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. As expected, the nordic center had cleared all downed trees on the trails from the Wed-Fri super wind event here. But, to our surprise, only 1-2 skiers had been out on the day's recently groomed trails. What a treat to be 2nd or 3rd tracks on a nordic speedway all morning long. What did Jack & Rudy think of this?

Well, it was flooring it to catch air on speedy straightaways:

Whee - the hover huskies in action!

It was flooring it winding around gentle bends in the trail.

Whee - the hover huskies catching air as we swing through a slight
left bend in the trail.

It was ZOOMING to top 23 MPH and catch air at the highest elevation point of the outing:

BOOM!

I think you get the idea, it was a day of the "nordic groomie zoomies" with Jack & Rudy. Come along for a video glimpse into the action. Most of the day looked just like this 60 second clip. Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a contrast from technical yesterday to zooming today. But, all outings are deserving of end of run treats, right guys?

"You bet! We work hard in ALL conditions!" says the happy & focused kids
atop a nice snow wall to receive their treats.

A nordic zooming day: 8.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 14 days on the trails covering 86.6 miles with 10,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Downed Tree Obstacles

Fun Jack & Rudy running on by two skiers with their smart phones out to record the impressive sled dogs towing the crazy human on skis along the trail :)

"Coming through! Glad you are enjoying the show!" says Jack & Rudy to the
skiers who pulled out their phones to video us as we approached and glided on by.

But, wait, what is that ahead of us across the trail? Is that a tree? Well, YES it is. For context: Wednesday night, all of Thursday and into Friday morning was RIDICULOUSLY windy here in Breckenridge. Power was out for roughly 24 hours, trees were blown down all over the place and the top wind gust was recorded at 113 MPH!!!!! So, that meant we had a lot of downed trees to navigate amidst on this morning's skijor outing. Come along and see...

We had small trees across the trail that I could ski over cautiously. Jack & Rudy would hop over then wait for me on my verbal command and then take off once I was over and gave a verbal release.

Yes, I can ski over a tree this size if going slowly. But, Jack & Rudy listen
and obey perfectly so these small trees were all passable.

We had to slow so I could duck or crouch under downed trees shorter than me across the trail. Again, Jack & Rudy could fit just fine, but they listen perfectly to me to slow while I crouch or duck to try and glide through.

Approaching two trees hanging across the trail. Jack & Rudy could trot
through just fine but I had to crouch to fit. A few steps after this photo and
the camera was pointing down to the ground while I crouched.

We also had to navigate through narrow openings to fit past down trees too tall to ski over but with just enough room to squeak around.

Can't ski over this one, so slow a bit and drift to the right to squeeze through
the narrow opening my skis will slide through.

Now let's put it all together in today's video highlight. Come along as this clip starts rounding a corner into one of our favorite fast straightaways. But, then, as we pass the two skiers taking videos of us on their phones, we come across one small downed tree. Watch as Jack & Rudy hop over then gently wait me to ski over. Next we have to slow while I crouch under a tree across the trail. Then we have to swing right to go around another downed tree. Finally, we come to a stop where the trail is impassible (and you'll see a trail worker with a chainsaw out working to clear the downed trees).

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I stopped the video as we got to what looked impassible at first sight. We paused and talked to the trail worker who was clearing this large collection of trees with a chainsaw. Then, we saw that we could step up and off trail to ski around this big obstacle too. Despite all the downed tree obstacles we encountered this morning, I was surprisingly able to keep my skis on the entire way and navigate over, under and around every obstacle. Jack & Rudy are such great listening pals!!!

Back to the trailhead for end of run treats. Despite a ton of tree obstacles, who had a fun time today?

"We did! We did! Obstacles are fun too! We love to skijor!" says the happy,
happy kids atop a small snow wall to receive their treats.

A short, but very entertaining and technical outing amidst trees, trees, everywhere: 4.1 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH (we never had a stretch open long enough to top this speed).

2025/2026 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 78.2 miles with 9400 feet of elevation climbed.

Sniff

Jack smells moose in the neighborhood!!!

"Sniff, sniff, moose in the hood!" declares moose detecting Jack.
"Where? Where?" asks curious Rudy.

While we never spotted an actual moose, I know Jack was right and one must have been nearby camouflaged in the trees. I know from experience that Jack is an EXTREMELY accurate moose detector. Rudy, on the other hand, can get equally bothered by the scent of a moose to the scent of a moth; but not Jack, he's moose accurate!!!!

Back to skijoring, we had a great morning on the highest elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. With a busy Saturday on the trails yesterday, we knew we had to get to the highest elevations for the trails to not be too tracked up. Success, very few humans had made it as far as us yesterday. Yay!

The fun kids catching air near the highest point of our outing.

We were dipping in & out of sun & shade all morning long. I love this contrast shot with me (and the camera) still in the shade while Jack & Rudy are glowing in the bright sunlight:

What a fun "shade to sun" contrast shot!

We are on "dogs allowed" trails of course. So, that means we often encounter loose dogs along the way. Very few others skijor like us; most people are cross country skiing on their own power with loose dogs accompanying them - how boring!

Anyway, Jack & Rudy are great and have no problems with other dogs. But, every loose dog we encounter is a wildcard - some are friendly, some are scared (of the fast sled dogs) and some are downright aggressive and should NOT be loose out on the trails. Today, as we came around a corner as loose dog appeared ahead of us. First it downed when it saw us (not always a good sign) and then it got up and started trotting to us. So, with the dog in the middle of the trail, we had no choice but to stop.

Here comes fluffy meandering down the middle of the trail. Ugh.

Now come along for the video event of the loose dog obstacle. The clip starts out with us happily galloping along the great nordic trail. Then, about 30 seconds into the clip and the dog appears. It then starts coming up trail towards us and things go "out of view" as I'm stopping us to wait and see what kind of dog fluffy actually is (nice or not). Well, fluffy was nice, so, as you'll see, Jack & Rudy only give it a passing sniff (it was in the middle of the trail after all) and then they have no use for fluffy and would rather pass on by and FLOOR it again. I love skijoring with these guys, they love SPEED over loose dog any day!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and a different section of the wonderfully high snow wall we climbed yesterday for end of run treats.

The happy kids perched up high for end of run treats - fun!

A great outing with a mild "loose dog obstacle" to glide on by: 8.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 67.8 miles with 8100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

23 MPH Day

Jack & Rudy were in a groove this morning on fast nordic trails as we hit our top speed of this 2025/2026 season: 23 MPH! Zoom!

The hover huskies were in full form today zooming around
the groomie zoomie nordic trails!

The trails had been freshly groomed this morning and, while we were not first tracks on the fresh groom, only a handful of people/dogs had been out before us. So, the conditions were perfect for Jack & Rudy to floor it and that they did! Come along for today's entertainment from the fun sled dogs:

We caught air hovering by the Hallelujah Warming Hut, wheeee!

Floating on by, no need to stop at a silly warming hut!

We did have to pause momentarily, though, for pesky rodents off trail under the snow. Jack caught scent of them first and did his usual rodent lunge in search of the pests. Rudy, of course, followed with his patented, high arching rodent dives to investigate with Jack:

"I sense rodents right here!" declares Jack lunging off trail.
"Really? Well, then, INCOMING!" goes Rudy joining with a beautiful swan dive.

I've been impressed with my new video camera that I got just last week to replace the dead gopro. This camera has the widest viewing angle of any camera I've ever had. Well, Jack & Rudy decided to test "just how wide" it really could capture. They almost out spanned the wide camera :)

"Turnaround, roll around - can you capture this wide separation?" says the
far apart but snow rolling sillies. No camera I've ever had before would have
captured both of them this far apart!

Back to action and "hovering over the trail" was the action theme of the day!

The fun kids catching air yet again as we hover by the Kathy's Viewpoint
Warming Hut.

What do use for a video highlight today? So much to choose from. I'll go with the video counterpart of the first photo. Come along as we start out zipping along a perfect trail amidst dense trees. Then, we round a right curve in the trail and the trees start to part to reveal some stunning mountain views ahead of us and to our left. What a beautiful morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As the final act of entertainment from the fun kids, they found their highest snow wall of this young season to climb for end of run treats. It's always so fun when they find waist high (or higher) snow walls!

"No need to kneel, dad, we'll climb to you for treats!" says my happy
and polite pals!

A great morning on fast and freshly groomed nordic trails: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 10 days on the trails covering 59.4 miles with 7000 feet of elevation climbed.

New Snow, New Camera

Today was our first "perfect conditions" skijor of the 2025/2026 season.

Let me tell you, Jack & Rudy knew it too, they were FLYING around the trails today!!!

Oh, and my new "high quality" camera arrived to replace the dead gopro, so we have crispy & clear photos and smooth video footage again today! Yay!

Fun kids laying fresh tracks atop a recently groomed trail at the
highest elevations at Breckenridge Nordic Center.

We have had on the order of 20+ inches of new snow in the last 36 hours. As a result, Breckenridge Nordic Center was able to finally open all the wonderful upper elevation trails. Jack, Rudy and I LOVE skijoring these trails. To make it even more exciting, the groomer had run about an hour or so before we got to the trails and it had snowed in the meantime. So, we had a light layer of fresh snow to enjoy atop our first groomie zoomie trail of the season.

As you see in the prior photo, we out skied all humans on these trails and found ourselves laying fresh tracks at the highest elevations of the outing. At the mid elevations, only one or two skiers had been out before us, so it was still laying fresh tracks with 1 or 2 existing tracks to the side:

Catching air at the mid elevations. You can see two pre-existing ski tracks
to Rudy's left (close and far left); but still plenty of untouched trail for us
to continue laying fresh tracks on the right side of the trail. Whee!

With so much wonderful new snow, even the well-used lower portions of the nordic center were still a safe treat to continue flooring it:

Despite lots of traffic/tracks on the lower trail, there was still plenty
of soft snow for me to keep upright and in pace with the fast kids!

When we got to the highest elevation point of the outing, we paused for a moment to rest from the climb before zooming back down. Well, we paused...

"You stop to rest, we stop to Drop & Roll!" says the snow rolling sillies.

Now come along for the video treat of our highest point of the day. Nobody had made it this far before us, so we were first tracks on a recently groomed trail with a light layer of new snow. What a great day!

Now, for something to watch for in the video. Remember we have had 20+ inches of new snow in 36 hours. While the groomer had run to pack this wonderful new snow, it was still a LOT! Think of a groomer machine like a tank, it has two treads supporting the heavy machine. So, what happens is the trail is the most packed & firmest where the groomer treads had been and it is somewhat soft in between and outside of the tread lines. 

Okay, now watch the video again and you can see smart Jack & Rudy moving side to side to find the hardest packed groomer tracks to run atop. You'll notice the softness in between the tracks when one moves from one side to the other. Such smart kids to automatically find the firm groomer tread lines to run in. Impressive!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our most enjoyable outing of this early 2025/2026 season, right guys?

"Oh we had a BLAST! Zoom!" says the happy, happy kids awaiting end
of run treats atop a nice snow wall.

What does the first "perfect conditions" of the season yield? Well, 9.7 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH - wheeee!

2025/2026 Season to Date: 8 days on the trails covering 46.6 miles with 5400 feet of elevation climbed.

Dive

Skijoring an uplowed road in this season's first super snowstorm.Yay for snow!!!

Cruising along the unplowed Sallie Barber Mine Road on the way to the
trailhead of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. We love to get out before the plows
and enjoy some road skijoring :)

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. We start the clip with Jack & Rudy calmly awaiting my release command. Then, once I say, "OK", off we go! Whee! Again, the video is a bit bouncy as I'm still using my old, cheapo video camera since my gopro died. But, a new camera with video stabilization has arrived; so our videos should start looking smooth again once I get that camera setup!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I mentioned, we started today's outing on the road leading to the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Once we got on the trail and started climbing in elevation, the snow got deeper and deeper. So fun:

Breaking trail at higher elevation in about 8-10 inches of powder!

Along the way, we got our first rodent dive of the season from Rudy. He does the most beautiful, high arching, fox-like rodent dives to search for rodents off trail under the snow.

First rodent dive of the season from Rudy - incoming!!!

As I've mentioned in past seasons, Jack does low angle "rodent lunges" as opposed to Rudy's high arching dives. Which is more effective, a lunge or a dive, well judge for yourself:

Looks like a lunge is just as effective as a dive to dunk deep in the off trail
snow searching for rodents :)

Neither came up with a rodent in his mouth, but it was NOT from lack of trying! Ok, rodent interlude over, time to continue skijoring. How about breaking trail to cruise on by the historic Sallie Barber Mine?

Whee - what a fun powder day!!!

Back to the main trailhead parking lot for end of run treats to finish the outing and this trailhead (versus the one we started from) has been plowed so had snow walls to climb for end of run treats!

"Ready!" says the happy kids atop a snow wall to receive their treats.

What fun powder skijor day at the Sallie Barber Mine: 5.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 7 days on the trails covering 36.9 miles with 4200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Snow Wall

Shoulder to shoulder flying along the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this morning. Wheeee!

Such perfect, synchronized form. Impressive :)

This morning found us skijoring the fun Sallie Barber Mine Trail. This trail, though, is somewhat short for Jack & Rudy's liking, so we always enjoy adding to it when the snow permits. There are lots of single track offshoots from the main trail to explore. Today we FINALLY had enough snow for the offshoots to be safe to skijor. Our offshoot this morning had a narrow set track from previous skiers. The set track was only "one Siberian Husky wide" and the snow out of the track was too deep for one of Jack/Rudy to run in track and the other keep pace out of track. So, what to do? Well, the smart kids have no problem arranging themselves into single file skijoring to keep the fun going:

Rudy running point while Jack takes a break behind him.

I never have to say anything, the smart kids automagically adapt and configure themselves to fit in the narrow set track. The guy in front, though, is now doing all the work (leading & pulling) while the guy in back is taking a break and merely jogging along. So, kids will eventually switch positions to even out the load. Again, I say nothing, they do this all on their own. So smart :)

Jack's turn to run point while Rudy takes a break behind him.

While the single track offshoots are fun, the most entertainment is getting back on the wide main trail and flooring it. Here we are zooming by the historic Sallie Barber Mine:

Wheeee!

Now come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. We start out gliding by the historic mine and then floor it on this wonderful wide trail amidst very dense trees on each side. What a peaceful run!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, today's real highlight was our first snow wall to climb for end of run treats this season. A plow had cleared the trailhead parking lot recently and a small snow wall was now available for Jack & Rudy to climb to receive treats. They LOVE doing this (and I love not having to get down on my knees :)

Not the tallest of snow walls; but still a sufficient wall to climb and receive
treats from me in a standing position. Yay!

The conditions are finally starting to come together this season with more snow in the forecast. Today's tally: 5.7 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 27.7 miles with 3300 feet of elevation climbed.