Eek

Eek - we skijored this meadow just yesterday!

Oh my.... Just oh my!

The lower sections of Vail Pass trails are deteriorating quickly. So sad. It is hard to imagine we traversed this terrain on skis yesterday, isn't it? Do take note of Zorro, though, as he is stopped as close to the dirt/mud as possible while still having all his toes on snow. He will never touch ground if he can have toes on snow instead :)

So, given the horrible state of the prior photo, you must be wondering, "Did you really skijor Vail Pass today?" Well, take a gander at the upper terrain and you will understand why we dealt with exposed ground lower to get up higher...

Top of Shrine Pass - just a few miles from the exposed ground down low!

Beautiful conditions as far as the eye can see!

Then, once we established that the crust up high was hard enough to hold our weight... Pedal to the Metal:

Sprinting & catching air with nice views of the snow covered "top of the Rockies" all around
us! Wheeee!

Unfortunately, we had to turnaround and head back down eventually...

"Turnaround? Ok, I'm having so much fun today!" exclaims happy Max.
"But it's broken down low? So why turnaround?" asks perplexed Zorro.

"I am having a great time, though!" adds happy little Zorro.
"I'm a cool dude!" declares dignified Max.

Getting harder to "get started" with deteriorating conditions down low; but so worth it once you get higher! 7.4 miles traveled with 850 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 144 days on the trails covering 1208.1 miles with 132,650 feet of elevation climbed.