November started with a dump of 12 inches of new snow on Rabbit Ears Pass. So, a 3-day road trip was in order while we wait for the local trails to get in shape...
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| "Wow, look at the deep powder we found!" exclaim happy Max & Zorro at our midpoint break of day 2 of our outing. Notice Zorro's front legs are completely submerged - that is about 10 inches of powder! |
We arrived at Rabbit Ears late morning on Nov 1st and found a brutal wind whipping across the pass and at least 8 inches of new snow in the parking lot! There was nobody but us Siberians out to brave the intense wind. But, the wimpy human was getting beaten by the wind, so we cut day 1 short and did a short 5.3 miles in 6-12 inches of fresh snow.
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| Snow covered trees, fresh snow, cool temperatures and a strong wind - Siberian Hot Tub. "We don't know why the human cut this day short!!!" |
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| Our first stretch of "single file skijoring" of the 2013-2014 season. We drop into single file mode when the snow gets so deep that short Zorro wants to ride behind Max and his long trail breaking legs. |
The wind stopped and skies cleared for day 2 of our outing. We went to one of our favorite starting points on Rabbit Ears and found the trail completely untouched. It was an extreme day of nonstop trail breaking. We were in about 6-8 inches of fresh snow at the trailhead, and that was the shallowest we saw as we found ourselves breaking trail in snow as deep as 12+ inches. 7.3 miles of nonstop trail breaking: what a Siberian Workout. Woo, did we put the POW in powder this day!
It started deep, it got deeper and it got to "single file depths":
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| It started deep... This was "as shallow" as we saw all day. |
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| It kept getting deeper. Siberian power blasting through the snow. |
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| And it got so deep that we all had to hop in behind long-legged, trail-breaking Max. |
Day Three: Fast Day
We decided to make the 3rd day of our Rabbit Ears party a "fast day" by following recently set snowmobile tracks. When we arrived back at the pass, we found our trail from day 2 had been ridden by some snowmobiles. So, we started on the same path as day 2. The difference between "extreme trail breaking" (day 2) and "snowmobile packed trails" (day 3), you ask? Well, we only covered a modest 7.3 miles breaking trail on Nov 2nd while covering a fast 10.4 miles on Nov 3rd (in much less time)....
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| Same trail as yesterday! Snowmobiles turned our "extreme trail breaking" route into a "sprint track". |
Trotting along, slowing momentarily until coming over a rise in the trail and then
putting the pedal to the metal once we see the open straightaway.
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]
putting the pedal to the metal once we see the open straightaway.
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]
A funny scene from the outing is below. Normally, my Siberian partners are only mildly distracted by wildlife tracks. They can pass over fox tracks, rabbit tracks, squirrel tracks & more and they typically acknowledge the tracks with a quick sniff while trotting by (without breaking stride). The exception to going "on by tracks" is MOOSE TRACKS! It is impossible for them to ignore moose tracks crossing the trail.
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| "Moose Tracks! Moose Tracks! The moose went this way!" say distracted Max & Zorro. |
The summary of our 3-day adventure: 5.3 miles with 650 feet climbed + 7.3 miles with 800 feet climbed + 10.4 miles with 950 feet climbed = 23.2 miles with 2400 feet of elevation climbed - bringing us to 109 miles for the season on only Nov 3rd!
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