Perfect Conditions

Absolutely Perfect Conditions skijoring Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

Flying along in a snowmobile track. Look at how high that snow wall is to our right!
There was no snow on this trail just 48 hrs ago - wow!

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the first "super storm" of the season arrived in Colorado Thu to Sat morning. The snow report said Rabbit Ears Pass got upwards of 2 feet of snow Thu morning to Sat morning. As a result, we expected a day of breaking trail in super deep snow as shown below:

Breaking trail in roughly 2 feet of fresh powder. What an aerobic workout!

As you can see above, the 2 feet of fresh snow was there. But, after not much trail breaking, we encountered a fresh snowmobile track. What a treat - we were expecting a slow day of breaking trail and instead were treated to a fast day sprinting in a set track. Of course we do not mind breaking trail, but it is certainly a treat to get a "paved trail" by a snowmobile to really open up the throttle!

Watch for yourself as we fly along the trail following a fresh snowmobile track - zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Zorro provided a great moment of comedy as we were sprinting along. Realize that most of this terrain was down to dirt & puddles just 48 hours ago. So, we would occasionally see where the snowmobile had cut down to a puddle. Remember, Zorro hates water and he will attempt to long jump any mud or water we encounter on the trails. Look closely at the following photo, you can make out a little bit of mud (brown spot) on the trail under Zorro. As we were flying along the terrain, he would "sense" an upcoming puddle and throw himself into a long jump to avoid any such obstacle. What a loon!

"MUD!!!! But I can FLY!!!" exclaims airborne, long-jumping Zorro.
"Silly, just run through the little water hazard!" demonstrates Max.

At our quick midpoint break and the usual antics:

"Aaahhh, love rolling snow angels!" declares Max.
"Yum, yum, love eating snowcones!" says Zorro.

Nothing quite like expecting to break trail all day and finding a snowmobile sprint track instead! 9.3 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 9 days on the trails covering 73.7 miles with 7100 feet of elevation climbed.