Finally... Skis!

Our 3rd outing early in the 2012/2013 season and ....

"Ah, Finally - the human is on skis, we control the speeds!!!" excitedly exclaim Max & Zorro.

Our first 2 outings of this season were on the sled as the snow was too shallow to risk hitting rocks on skis. Unfortunately, with only 2 huskies, the human has to help (on inclines) so our speeds were still limited by human factors. But, we got enough snow last night to finally bring out the skis! We were skijoring - no silly human speed limiter, just pure Siberian power cruising around the trails...

Cruising along Shrine Pass Rd. Note we are in a "tire track" for groomed-like conditions.
Also note the depth of the snow to the side, about 3/4 the way up Max's tall legs.

Our outing was at Vail Pass today as we knew that Vail Pass got more snow than the trails closer to home. Max, Zorro & I were praying for enough snow to break out the skis and, oh boy, were we thrilled with these early season conditions.

The route was a fun "roller coaster ride" touring Shrine Pass and Lime Creek at the Vail Pass Recreation Area: 650 feet up, 600 feet down, 100 feet up, 100 feet down, 600 feet up and finally 650 feet down - wheeee. Our total distance was just under 9 miles (8.9 to be exact) - a wonderful "first outing on skis" for the season.

Hitting some nice speeds with the human finally on skis. Note Zorro with both back legs
airborne as he pushes to move us along. We hit a top speed of 18 MPH, not bad
for our first ski outing of the season.

Of course, no outing would be complete without Max rolling a snow angel in
the snow at our mid-point break!