Lets Go

Today's skijor outing had "equipment issues" at the start which lead to classic "we have no patience, let's go" from Max & Zorro.

"Booooooring, boooring, can we go yet?" asks yawning with impatience Zorro.
"Can we go YET?!?" says wooing Max.

I was having a problem with one of my ski bindings as it had frozen into the closed position before I could get my boot attached for the day. Temperatures at the trailhead were single digits and the binding must have gotten wet and then quickly frozen while I was getting my other equipment ready.

Max & Zorro are typically pretty patient at the trailhead waiting for the musher to get ready. But, patience has a limit and they always let me know when I have gone beyond their limit! After giving me the "yawn & woo" treatment above, Max took it one step further as you see below:

"You're killing us! LET'S GO!" says Max the bucking bronco showing his impatience and
testing if Nancy can really hold him back while I try to get my ski bindings working.
Nice work by Nancy to keep hold of the wild beast :)

Once we finally got started, it was a great day on the trails at Rabbit Ears Pass. We did the same route as yesterday with two modifications. First, we carved the trail in the fresh snow yesterday, so we got to re-use our tracks again today. Second, the temperatures remained in the teens and single digits for the entire evening, night and early morning; so all the mud & puddles from yesterday were frozen ground and ice today - yay!

Zoom, zoom - following the track we set yesterday!

With the improved conditions over yesterday, though, that meant we out-skied our set track and had a couple miles of laying fresh tracks too - wheeee!

Further than we made it yesterday - fresh snow for all!

We did hit one hidden puddle which caused me to stop and clean my skis before continuing. Everyone ready to go again?

"Yep, glad you are back on track!" says happy little Zorro.
"I cannot believe this guy, will we make any progress today?!?" says the 'still impatient with
my behaviors of the day' Max

Quick pause to check the GPS before restarting once more. Everyone ready?

"Yep and I am so happy we finally covered some serious terrain!" expresses happy Max.
"Asked & answered - will you just get going!" states Zorro.

Nice October conditions leading to a 8.9 mile outing with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 6 days on the trails covering 43.7 miles with 5050 feet of elevation climbed.