Cold

Cruising by Sallie Barber Mine on what looks like a beautiful morning.

Zipping by the historic mine.

What did I mean by "what looks like a beautiful morning"? Well, it was -9 F when we started our skijor this morning (yes, that's 9 below zero)! What did Jack & Rudy think of such cold temperatures? Well, they LOVED it!

Flying along the backside of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Going 20+ MPH
at 9 below zero sure put a chill on my face!!!

Any sign that this was cold to the kids? Ha, not a chance! We did a lap on the backside of Sallie Barber before skijoring the frontside. Doing a lap means a turnaround point...

"Rub a dub dub!" goes Jack rolling snow angels at 9 below.
"WOO! Beautiful morning!" woos Rudy.
Yes, talented Rudy can walk and woo at the same time :)

Any chance that 9 below slowed them down? Ha, no!!! Come along for a fun video clip from today's outing. You'll momentarily lose sight of Jack & Rudy midway through this clip. Well, that's me getting into a tight ski tuck and driving the skis hard so that I can take the tight left in the trail at Jack & Rudy's speed! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Okay, so any impact of 9 below? Well, yes, the wimpy human (me) cut the outing short to preserve the human. I felt 9 below even though Jack & Rudy thought it was a lovely day! Short runs still get end of run treats :)

"Ready!" announces focused Jack.
"Silly wimpy human, we barely broke a sweat!" adds cute Rudy.

A wimpy human dictated 5.6 mile outing with 450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 75 days on the trails covering 650.1 miles with 58,850 feet of elevation climbed.

Friends

It was an invasion of the red Siberians on the trail today as Jack & Rudy made some new friends!

"More reds!!!! Cool! Play with me!!!!!" goes play bowing Rudy.
"Hmm, you seem cool. Maybe not all reds are cuckoo!" says Jack to
his new red friend.

We all love Rudy to death; but it's safe to say the world is not prepared for two Rudys. Jack & I were thrilled to meet up with 2 mellow reds on the trail this morning while Rudy tried his hardest to bait them into his "zone" :)

Okay, friend party aside, it was a very interesting and entertaining skijor this morning.

We started on a lesser used backcountry trail and found a few existing tracks amidst a pretty choppy trail:

Tracks, but choppy tracks. Oh my knees :)

We were a little behind my intended schedule due to the choppiness of the trail. So, we decided to "abandon trail" at one point to reconnect to another network of trails. It was powder plowing in over 2 feet of snow at this point! It was only a short distance of plowing (maybe 50 yards or so) but it sure was an aerobic 50 yards!!!

POW goes the powder plowing Jack & Rudy.
Oh, nice view of Breckenridge Ski Resort on the mountains across
the valley from us.

After the last two photos, you are probably thinking we had a very short distance skijor today. Not to fear, I had plans... The reward for the powder plowing above was to get on a frequently used backcountry trail. With frequent use, this trail is well packed and quite smooth.

A frequently used, thus well packed, backcountry single track.
We are gaining speed and mileage now!

Then, it was onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Now here's where we picked up today's mileage :)

Flying, literally FLYING, on the fresh groomed nordic trail!

Come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo and you'll see why we still got over 9 miles of skijoring in today despite the rough initial conditions. Top speed in this zippy clip? 24 MPH. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Interesting day: choppy trails to breaking trail to packed trail to groomie zoomie to an invasion of the red Siberians. What fun, right guys?

"Great! Glad they were mellow reds!" says happy Jack.
"I guess I'm in a class by myself!" adds cute Rudy (who could not
be more correct in that statement :)

Today's skijor tally: 9.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 74 days on the trails covering 644.5 miles with 58,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Smiles

The "flirt & fly" kids, Jack & Rudy, putting smiles on the faces of all the skiers we zoom on by on Baldy Mountain!

"Hi... Bye... Coming through! Made you smile!" says Jack & Rudy as
the fly on by this entertained skier watching us.

It was a beautiful morning of fresh snow with upwards of 9 inches as you got higher in elevation. With lots of fresh snow, we like to get out on steep Baldy Mountain for an entertaining skijor outing. We skijored 3 laps around the historic Iowa Mill on Baldy. Jack & Rudy wanted to show their appreciation for the snow on our second pass by Iowa Mill :)

"Woo, I approve!" says wooing Rudy.
"Rub a dub dub, what great fresh snow!" goes snow rolling Jack.
Yes, Rudy is blocking most of Jack, you can see his upside down legs
which can only happen if your are upside down rolling snow angels :)

Enough woos, back to skijoring. Come along for Jack & Rudy's favorite activity on Baldy: flirt and fly. We start out flying along the trail. Then we round a corner and find some oncoming skiers to entertain. The skiers often pause to watch awestruck and smile or cheer as we zip on by. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Oftentimes the skiers do not necessarily stop as we come on by, they simply smile as we all keep going. Jack & Rudy understand trail etiquette so well...

"You are on the left, so we'll take the right! Coming through!" says
the polite kids letting this skier continue as we pass on by.

The smart kids will take whichever side of the trail makes sense. I do not have to say anything, I just glide behind in awe myself :)

"Ok, you are on the right, we'll take the left!" says the smart kids.

Finally, Rudy won "king of the mountain" at the trailhead as I prepared to hand out end of run treats!

"I'm king of the mountain!" declares Rudy high up on a snow wall.
"I just want the end of run treats!" says happy Jack.

Great flirt & fly day with fresh snow on steep Baldy Mountain: 6.8 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 73 days on the trails covering 635.4 miles with 57,600 feet of elevation climbed.