Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Roller Coaster Route

Returning to the Vail Pass trailhead.
As you can see, conditions are deteriorating
near the trailhead - need more snow!
Highlight of today's outing: hitting 23 MPH as our top speed of this early 2011/2012 season!

Today's skijoring outing was an tour of endurance over rolling terrain.

- We skijored up a 600 foot incline.
- We skijored down a 1000 foot decline.
- We skijored up a 1000 foot incline.
- We skijored down a 600 foot decline.

There were a few smaller dips mixed in these 4 major segments; but, in all, it was pretty much a roller coaster of 1600 feet of ups & downs spread over 9.9 miles. A total BLAST!

We returned to the Vail Pass Recreation Area. But, as opposed to yesterday when we went off trail, today we followed the major snowmobile paths around Vail Pass. What a difference a day (or a change in trail) can make. Yesterday was breaking trail in up to 24 inches of untouched powder. Today was sprinting on snowmobile tracks through the rolling roller coaster terrain.

NOTE: Max, Zorro & I will entertain co-existing with snowmobiles early on weekdays - someone out the same time as us is serious and experienced about snowmobiles. We will happily share the trails with good snowmobilers - we always move off the trail when they approach and we get a respectful wave from the driver who appreciates trail ettiquette. On the other hand, I will never ever attempt to share the trails with snowmobiles on weekends or holidays - put a bunch of clueless novices on dangerous machines and watch out!

Today's Route: (1) Start at the Vail Pass Rest Area trailhead and skijor out Shrine Pass Rd and eventually hang a left onto Turkey Creek Rd - cruise through the 1st half of the roller coaster over this mixed terrain; (2) take a break to roll in the snow; (3) return the same path - reversing the roller coaster fun.

Vital Stats: 9.9 miles; 120m total time; 100m skijoring time; 23 MPH top speed; 1600 feet of elevation gain. A nice gentle outing having fun rolling up & down through the beautiful terrain.

Near the beginning of our outing. Cruising uphill on snowmobile
packed terrain.
Deeper into the backcountry. The trail is noticeably narrower, but still a
gentle sprint up snowmobile packed terrain.
Taking a break at our midpoint. What better thing to do during a break
than bury your head in the snow???
Coming up for air - look closely, both Siberian heads are covered in snow.
A look back at the trail we sprinted down before taking our midpoint break.

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