Postcard Day

Today was "postcard day" skijoring atop Vail Pass.

The views were awe inspiring!

A postcard view of the snow covered Rocky Mountains as seen from atop the Shrine Bowl
at Vail Pass.

Yesterday was so gorgeous skijoring at Vail Pass that we went back again today. Yesterday's route was an out & back on Shrine Pass Rd and Lime Creek Rd. Today was a different twist: we ascended Shrine Pass via the snowshoe trail (instead of Shrine Pass Rd), then we climbed up into the steep Shrine Bowl terrain, then turned around to capture the "postcard views" coming down Shrine Bowl and finally sprinted down the freshly groomed Shrine Pass Rd.

Heading up Shrine Pass via the snowshoe trail.

"YES! The views ARE awe inspiring!" exclaim Max & Zorro as we paused to watch a
herd of deer run off in the distance.

What could possibly top the views of the day? How about a professionally groomed sprint track! About 70% of our skijor outings are spent on un-groomed backcountry trails and the other 30% are on trails set by snowmobile tracks. But, every once in a while we get to experience a "groomed cross country trail". Today was such a day as Shrine Pass Rd was freshly groomed from Shrine Pass all the way to the Vail Pass trailhead. It it truly awe inspiring to watch what my skijoring buddies do on groomed trails. Easy & fast terrain equals ZOOM!

Zoom - groomed trails lead to speed!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Since we decided to ascend & descend Shrine Bowl today, the outing had a lot more elevation in a shorter distance than our typical runs at Vail Pass. It was a trade of elevation for mileage: 8.3 miles with 1550 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.