Crest and Go

Cresting on the trail to fly by the historic Sallie Barber Mine from the 1800s mining days in Breckenridge.

Jack & Rudy love to "crest and go" to fly by the historic mine.

It was a wonderful snowy morning to be out on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. With fresh snow and existing snowpack, we were able to lay fresh tracks on the less popular (and much steeper and rockier) backside of this trail. Wheeee!

Laying fresh tracks on the backside of Sallie Barber Mine. What fun!

Notice anything special about the prior two photos? Well, it's really hard to see in still shots but it was actively snowing all through our outing this morning. If you look closely at the first photo, all the white speckles you see on the mine are snowflakes. If you look closely at the second photo, the white speckles on Jack and Rudy are also snowflakes. 

I know it's hard to appreciate active snowfall of "white on white" in a still photo. So, let's put it to a video. Come along as we crest at the historic mine and then take off down the other side. You can see the wonderful light to moderate snow falling around us in a video. Yay for Snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did our usual route at Sallie Barber: up the frontside, down & back up the backside and then down the frontside. On the first pass, the sillies almost always roll snow angels to celebrate reaching the mine after the initial climb. You need to cool off after a climb after all :)

Stop, drop and roll to cool off on the first pass by the mine.

You may have noticed that in most of my photos and video, Jack is on the right and Rudy on the left. This is their typical configuration. I don't enforce it, it is just what they prefer. But, occasionally they'll switch sides to mix it up (there is even one stretch of trail at Gold Run Nordic Center where they ALWAYS switch for some reason, you'll have to ask them why :) 

The infrequent "Jack on the left & Rudy on the right" with the same results: zoom!

A wonderful, snowy morning, right guys?

"We LOVE snow! Now how about those end of run treats?" says the
happy, fun kids.

A "yay for snow" skijor day: 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 26 days on the trails covering 204.2 miles with 19,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Wave

First tracks on a freshly groomed nordic trail once we got far away from the trailhead and weekend crowds. Wheeee!

First tracks on a fresh groom with snow poofs flying off Jack & Rudy's feet!

It was a beautiful bluebird morning. Once we got high enough in elevation, the views were stunning and the kids, Jack & Rudy, were still flying!

What a beautiful morning, what impressive skijor pals as we fly
along this high elevation nordic trail.

We did encounter a few others along the way (especially when we were closer to the trailhead). Most people stop and watch in awe as Jack & Rudy tow me on by. Some will even clap and cheer. Today we got a nice wave from a onlooker watching us cruise on by :)

Look really close and this skier's right arm is raised giving us a wave.
I waved back :)

For today's video highlight it was "zoom, zoom, zooming" and then the fun wave. If you look closely, you'll see the skier we encounter near the end of this clip lift his arm to give us a wave as we fly on by (look closely around the 43 second point of the clip for the wave :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course all that zooming means you have to roll snow angels to cool off at any pause during the outing!

Jack, as always, rolling to cool his jets.
Rudy participating in snow angels today as he simultaneously grabs
a snowcone to munch on while rolling - talented!

Finally, a really nice snow wall to climb today so I could hand out end of run treats from a standing position. Such polite guys to climb the walls to my level :)

"Up & ready, let's get to the treats!" says the happy & fun kids.

It was a beautiful morning to skijor fast and far! 9.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 24 days on the trails covering 189.8 miles with 18,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Groom & Zoom

Impressive lift from Jack & Rudy flooring it along a groomie zoomie trail!

The hover huskies doing their thing. Impressive!

The prior photo is actually from yesterday morning skijoring the Dumont Lake Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass. I'm putting yesterday and today together into this one blog entry.

The local snowmobile club we belong to grooms the main trails at Rabbit Ears Pass and yesterday was their first groom of the 2024/2025 season. Jack, Rudy and I were FIRST tracks on this beautiful groom. As you see above and below, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomed trail!

The kids catching air again with Rabbit Ears Peak visible in the upper
left of this photo.

Yesterday's skijor tally: 6.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

Now on to this morning. We started the day on narrower trails in Dry Gulch. It was a bit slick on the side trails, so we could safely gallop but not fully open the throttle. But a gallop is better than nothing!

Jack galloping along. 
What has Rudy's attention to the left? Well, this is known moose territory;
but if Jack didn't glance too then it was not a moose. I glanced left myself,
just in case, but saw nothing. So, what got Rudy's attention? Well, if you've
met Rudy you know it could have been anything from a leaf to a moose :)

The highlight of today's outing? Topping 24 MPH on Gold Run Road. This is part of Gold Run Nordic Center and typically on of the trails where we top 24 MPH when the conditions permit it. Well, today was such a day. Come along for a fast & wild 24 MPH skijor behind Jack & Rudy. You might notice you see a lot more of my skis than most video clips. Well, I'm in a serious ski tuck to keep pace (and upright) behind the speed demons; thus the reason you see so much more of my skis than normal. There was no "sitting back and gliding" behind them at this pace :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After hitting our top speed of the season, it was time to turn out of the heavily shaded forest trail in the video above and into the bright morning sun to complete the day:

Catching air once again! Not as impressive as the first photo above, but
all hover photos are cool to me :)

We redid one stretch of the upper trail to get some additional distance. That meant we turned around and here's today's turnaround comedy:

The usual snow angels from Jack with the added touch of munching on
snowcones while rolling.
Today was woos from Rudy - you never know which Rudy comedy act
you are going to get each day :)

Back to the trailhead for some well earned end of run treats for the speed demons:

"That was FUN! Love perfect conditions to FLOOR IT!" says the happy
speed demons.

Today's tally: 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 180.4 miles with 17,400 feet of elevation climbed.