3 Degrees of Trail

A fun shot "from the side" that Nancy
captured as we approached the finish
for the day.

A beautiful, sunny day skijoring high atop Vail Pass today.

We explored 3 degrees of trail on our 9 mile outing:

1) Trotting along a snowshoe trail to climb Shrine Pass.
2) Following a solo snowmobile track to explore miles of terrain adjacent to the top of Shrine Pass.
3) Sprinting along the wide & groomed trail to return from Shrine Pass to the Vail Pass Recreation Area Trailhead.

It was a little warm for the Siberians (temperatures starting around 25 and rising to 40), so it was not one of our longer outings at Vail Pass. While we did hit 22 MPH along one sprint stretch, we kept the speeds to a gentle jog & trot for most of the day to keep from overheating. But, it was about as much fun as you could ask for on a warm April day...

Here we go with 3 degrees of trail and a fun, fast video highlight from the day:

Cresting over the summit of Shrine Pass.
What a beautiful day!

We skijored partway down the backside of Shrine Pass and then took a solo snowmobile
track to explore the adjacent backcountry. We followed this track deep into the forest
and happily found that it took us on an extended tour back to the summit of Shrine Pass.

To close out the day, we took the "groomie zoomie" (e.g., wide & groomed trail) from
Shrine Pass back to our starting point at the Vail Pass Recreation Area Trailhead.
A great shot of "airborne Zorro" and a great shadow view of "long Max" flying along
the fast trail.

The video highlight of the day comes from the groomed trail from Shrine Pass to the trailhead. "It may have been warm, but who can refuse an easy 'groomie zoomie'?" say Max & Zorro never known to do anything but sprint when we hit the rare groomed section of trail on our outings...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As we connected from the snowmobile trail onto the groomed trail at Shrine Pass I asked, "Everyone ready to sprint to the finish?" and this is the response I got:

"READY! We've been conserving all day for this final 2 mile sprint! Let's GO!" express
the happy Max & Zorro.

What a great day exploring snowshoe trails & snowmobile tracks with a fast sprint to end the outing: 9 miles with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2013/2014 Season to Date: 126 days on the trails covering 1088.1 miles with 126,150 feet of elevation climbed.