Season Finale, Maybe? Probably

After nearly two weeks off, Jack & Rudy virtually shot out of a cannon on this morning's skijor outing!

BOOM! Off we go, shot out of a cannon, to start today's skijor!

Unfortunately today was probably our last skijor of the 2025/2026 season. We've had historically low snowfall & snowpack in Colorado this season with also historically warm temperatures. So, while we usually skijor well into May and, occasionally into June, we are probably done for this season. But, it is supposed to snow in our elevations in Colorado in April and May, so maybe we'll have a surprise outing after today, but I doubtful the way this year has gone. But, maybe.....

We found a great (albeit short) groomed trail to skijor this morning. The US Ski Team grooms the top of Rabbit Ears Pass to use when other, closer to town, trails melt. Typically, we find the ski team groomers on Rabbit Ears Pass in May as trails close to town are still full of snow in April. But not this year as there is no snow on the trails in town so the ski team has taken to Rabbit Ears Pass in April instead of May this year. That's how bad a snow year it has been! We were reminded of this many times on today's outing, such as the following:

Looks perfect at first glance; but look at the exposed ground to Jack's right.
This shows just how thin the snowpack is on this trail. It is one or two warm
days away from having exposed ground on the trail too!

Today's video is another example of dwindling conditions. Come along as we are on the well shaded Harrison Creek Trail which usually has snow through May and sometimes into June. But, watch closely at about 6 seconds in you'll see a ice across half the trail as this will be an exposed puddle later in the day. Then at about 18 seconds into the clip and you'll notice me slowing down as the trail is paper thin with brown ground starting to show through. Yikes! But, as you'll also see in the video, we were able to open up the throttle whenever safe. Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did, though, find some really nice stretches to uncork the skijoring engine. Zoom!

"Wheeeee!" says Rudy to Jack as he gives him a quick glance
as the speed demons are catching air along a perfect stretch of trail.

We went out and back on this short groomed trail. So, we had to turnaround at some point, right?

"Turnaround! Roll Around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

The prior photo is unfortunately misleading. While it looks like we still have endless snow to enjoy, the reality is it is paper thin in most places and a few warm days away from large amounts of exposed ground.

Well, it was an interesting and strange season between my health issues and the worst Colorado snow on record; but we made the most of it, right guys?

"We still had a blast! All snow is good snow! All skijor outings
are good outings!" says the happy kids atop a nice snow wall to
receive end of run treats.

Today's tally: 4.2 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 55 days on the trails covering 332.7 miles with 34,800 feet of elevation climbed.

That's probably it for the 2025/2026 season. But, you never know, maybe we'll get one last surprise outing if it really snows at some point in April or May BEFORE all the little snowpack we have melts...

Let's hope for a better 2026/2027 season: Pray for Snow!!!

Still Going

Look who was THRILLED to be back on snow again this morning!!!

"We are having a BLAST!" says the happy, happy kids.

Despite deteriorating snow conditions throughout most of Colorado, Rabbit Ears Pass is still hanging on with good, albeit melting fast, snowpack. Today's outing found us skijoring along the edge of Highway 40 for a while. Every time a car/truck would pass us on the highway, Jack & Rudy would speed up to try and keep pace. They HATE getting passed! But, the speed limit out on the highway is 65 MPH, so obviously we don't keep pace; but not from lack of trying :)

"Hey, don't pass us!!!" says the kids kicking it up a gear once this big truck
passed us to our left. Nice try guys :)

After that initial leg along the edge of the highway, we turned away from the highway to skijor out and back on the Harrison Creek Trail. This trail keeps its snow the longest at Rabbit Ears. It was a bit rough and choppy in places from frozen snowmobile tracks; but we were able to hug the shoulders of the trail for pretty good conditions for this time of year:

Hugging the right shoulder where I can glide nicely on skis.

Now come along for today's video to see I mean about the choppiness. We start out the video on the right shoulder gliding along smoothly. Then, about 35 seconds into this clip, the right starts getting choppy and I start bouncing around on the skis. But, I did notice the left shoulder was now smooth. So, I call out "over to the left" to Jack & Rudy and we drift left until I am on smooth terrain again and off we go. Great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Did I mention we did an "out & back" on Harrison Creek? Well, that meant we had to turnaround at one point, right? Well, you know what that means...

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
Nice view, too, although Jack & Rudy had no use for the view :)

Finally, as the day ended, we were back along the edge of Highway 40. But, this time we were first tracks on a fresh groom - what a treat!

First tracks on the groomie zoomie! Wheeee!

Fun day, right guys?

"Any day on snow is a GREAT day!" says the happy kids atop a nice
snow wall to receive end of run treats.

Today's tally: 7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 53 days on the trails covering 323.5 miles with 34,100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Angels and Ears

Angels with "the ears" in the background at Rabbit Ears Pass yesterday morning:

The silly kids doing "their thing" rolling snow angels to cool off at our
turnaround point of the day. But, we also have Rabbit Ears Peak centered
in this photo with "the ears" (the two rocks atop the peak for which Rabbit
Ears Pass is named). Nice postcard photo :)

I was secretly hoping for our first "Spring Crust" skijor of the season yesterday morning. But, unfortunately, the crust was not firm enough yet to support Jack & Rudy running as they would punch through. So, we quickly abandoned the attempt to skijor the crust and returned to established (i.e., well packed) snowmobile trails. Not to fear, a great time was still had by all!

It was "packing it in tight" to catch air on the nice shoulder of an established trail:

The "tightly packed" Jack & Rudy skijor engine. Whee!

Then it was catching air to cruise along established trails along the shores of Dumont Lake:

Whee!

Finally, it was catching air to complete the day's fun outing:

Still catching air as we are arriving at the trailhead to complete
the day's outing.

Now come along for today's "fun to the finish" skijor as we are flying towards the trailhead until I call out a "left" and we turn to slow to the finish. What fun and perfect skijor partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As usual, look who is perched atop a snow wall and ready for end of run treats!

"You have our FULL attention!" says the focused, fun kids.

A short outing but still a great time had by all: 4.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 52 days on the trails covering 316.2 miles with 33,400 feet of elevation climbed.