We Could Not Resist

Zorro says, "fresh powder on the nose - that's the
way to cool a husky!"

It has been snowing like crazy the last 10 days. I know I said yesterday, "we can't keep up, Mother Nature wins, I need a rest." But, it kept snowing all day Monday and into Tuesday morning.

We could not resist - Max, Zorro & I decided we would regret missing today's fresh powder once summer arrives. Breckenridge Ski Resort reported 16 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours and 26 in the last 48 hours. We could not resist!!!

I had a plan - we would skijor one of our shorter routes today - thus staying true to our new Spring motto of "if it snows, we go!"

The Plan: skijor from the BnB trailhead up French Gulch Rd; ski to & past the French Gulch winter trailhead; hang a right on Sally Barber Mine trail and ski up to the mine and then sprint down to the Barney Ford trailhead.

The Expectation: French Gulch Rd would be packed powder from vehicle traffic and Sally Barber Mine trail would be packed powder from other skiers. After all, the Sally Barber Mine trail is one of the most used in & around Breckenridge - we'd just make use of others' tracks and not have to break trail as extreme as we did yesterday.

The Reality: WOW - Sally Barber Mine trail was untouched powder! "Zorro chest deep" at the minimum (about 9 inches) and just over "Max chest deep" at the maximum (just over 12 inches). We were breaking trail again - this time up the steep incline to Sally Barber Mine (about 600 feet in 1.5 miles on the steepest section of the ascent). We have *never* been the fresh tracks breaking trail on Sally Barber Mine trail! Oh Mother Nature - you are a tricky one ;-)

Vital Stats: 4.6 miles; 70m total time; 62m moving time; 4.5 MPH moving average; 16 MPH top speed; 750 feet of elevation gain (and then loss). As with yesterday, a slower than usual "moving average" brought on by breaking trail in 9+ inches of powder while climbing some steep inclines...

Beginning Sally Barber Mine trail.
Zorro chest deep in powder (and it kept getting deeper).
No tracks in front of us - one rarely gets to break trail on this popular path!

Camera tilted up from the last shot to show the untouched
Sally Barber trail ahead of us.

Fresh snow on Sally Barber Mine.

Max says, "yum, fresh powder!"
(notice his tongue licking his chops ;-)