Fast Packed

 Jack & Rudy aren't much for sightseeing at the historic Sally Barber Mine :)

"You stopped, we 'stop, drop & roll'!" demonstrates the silly kids rolling
snow angels when I paused momentarily at the historic mine.

We spent the majority of this morning's outing shaded by mountains from the rising sun as we did a fast packed skijor up, down and back up the shaded front side of Sally Barber Mine. 

Jack & Rudy catching air as we zip along the fast packed trail.

It was almost too fast packed for me to feel safe on skis. I like to pretend that I could stop behind strong & fast Jack & Rudy if I needed to :) Come along for a peek into the fast packed outing. If you look really close, you can see that Jack & Rudy are each in one fast packed lane on each side of the trail. There is a smidget of soft snow in between their two lanes. Thus, I have my right ski in Jack's lane for speed and my left ski in the bit of soft snow in the middle for control to pretend I could stop... 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

With such fast packed terrain, we were way ahead of schedule to meet up with Nancy and Zorro. So, we dipped into the backcountry for a bit to ski lesser used and narrow side trails.

Winding through the trees on a trail that is just a bit too narrow to fit
shoulder-to-shoulder. Note that Rudy is backed off a bit to fit while Jack
takes the lead on the narrow trail.

Finally, it was time to complete the outing on the other side of the mine. As you see in the first photo, the sun was out at the mine. As you see in the following, the backside of the mine was out of the mountain shade and in the bright sun of another beautiful bluebird day:

Beautiful morning once we popped out into the sun. Wheeee!

As usual, we ended the day sharing 'end of run' treats with retired Zorro. Such a fun group event:

"Ready!" declares very focused Zorro & Jack.
"I'm having such fun today!" adds smiling Rudy.

A peaceful morning gliding around Sally Barber Mine: 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 754.8 miles with 66,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Beautiful Morning

 A beautiful bluebird morning to skijor the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center!

Gorgeous day! Wonderful trail! Incredible skijor partners!

We spend most of the outing near and above 11,000 feet elevation on these trails. As you see above and below, the views from this high are absolutely stunning!

Hovering Jack & Rudy with an awesome panorama of the Rocky
Mountains ahead and to our right.

The views in the prior photo were so nice that we did two laps on this section of trail :)

Almost the same location at the prior photo but Jack & Rudy have
switched positions for this lap.

Come along for a video view into the gorgeous morning. Jack & Rudy were having a great time opening up the throttle on fast trails for this bluebird morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

If you recall from this season and last, Rudy has become known for his patented "high arching rodent dives" off trail. He has the perfect form you see from rodent diving foxes. Well, until today, all of Rudy's rodent dives have been for rodents. Today, though, he had another target for his swan dive... Jack!!!!

Incoming! Silly Rudy with Jack as the target for today's rodent dive!
Jack had stepped off trail to roll a snow angel in the deep snow until
incoming Rudy appeared :)

Silly, silly Rudy. Although Jack is smaller than Rudy, he's certainly bigger than a rodent! What was silly Rudy thinking?!?!? Jack did put him "in his place" for rodent diving at him :)

Back to the trailhead and look at the happy, happy trio getting ready for 'end of run' treats:

Smiles all around. Such patience from good Jack & Rudy knowing
Zorro gets his treat first!

A beautiful morning for a 9 mile skijor with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 92 days on the trails covering 747.4 miles with 65,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Catch the Groomer

 Jack & Rudy zooming along as we were first tracks on the freshly groomed trail!

Zooming! Wheeee!

I had a unique route in mind for our outing this morning. But, when we got to the trailhead, Jack & Rudy had other plans. First, they wanted to wrestle while I attempted to put my skis on. When I put a stop to the wrestlefest, they decided pre-run snow angels must be in the plans instead:

My skis are lined up. I am ready to go...
"If we can't wrestle, then we'll roll instead!" demonstrates the
silly kids.

Once I got the goofballs upright, it was time for a unique outing on a variety of conditions.

We started the day in the backcountry and found ourselves breaking trail in 15+ inches of untouched snow for one stretch of the outing!

Trail breaking Jack & Rudy with impressive snow troughs
behind them!

After an aerobic stretch in the backcountry, we dropped onto a quiet and snowpacked road. There are only a handful of houses to be reached on this road, so it is safe to skijor when snowpacked and not run into cars.

Flying along the quiet & snowpacked road.

After the interesting jaunts in the backcountry and snowpacked roads, we dropped onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. We then got to play one of Jack & Rudy's favorite games: Catch the Groomer. The groomer was out on the trails just ahead of us and we had fun continually catching the groomer, stopping to give the groomer a head start and then catching the groomer again. Jack & Rudy are faster than a groomer on flat, downhill or gradual uphill trails. Eventually the groomer got to a wide point in the trail where he could stop and wave to us that it was ok to pass. 

Catch the Groomer! Wheeee

Of course, if we caught the groomer, you know what that means! It means we were first tracks on the newly groomed trail just behind the groomer. Come along as Jack & Rudy top 24 MPH skijoring the freshly groomed trail. We did not know we were going to catch the groomer at this point yet. Zoom.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead to enjoy 'end of run' treats with retired Zorro. Cute shot of Jack who is the "big kisser" in our pack and loves to give out affectionate licks.

"Ready!" says focused Zorro.
"Lick, smack!" performs kissy Jack.
"Just waiting my turn!" adds mellow Rudy.

A little bit of everything for Jack & Rudy on this morning's outing - breaking trail, snowpacked roads and freshly groomed trails! 9.3 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 91 days on the trails covering 738.4 miles with 64,400 feet of elevation climbed.