May Yay

Yay for actively falling snow on this May 1st skijor! Yay!

So nice up high this morning as we skijor the road connecting Dry Lake to Buffalo Pass
with awesome views to our right.

We started the day at the Dry Lake Trailhead with the intentions of skijoring up the steep trail towards Buffalo Pass. The risk in this plan... Well, the Dry Lake snotel is reporting very little snowpack. The reward in this plan... Well, the Buffalo Pass snotel is reporting 10 feet of snowpack! The difference in elevation between Dry Lake and Buffalo Pass is about 2400 feet, thus the reason one snotel can have 10 feet while the other has less than 2. So, how was it?

Okay, brace yourselves.... We endured this:

Yikes! Barely any snow as Zorro and I hug the shallow shoulder snow while Max has fallen
onto the mud. 

Why did we endure the previous photo? Well, take a look at the first photo again - this photo shows the conditions at the upper elevations - so nice!

Need some more convincing of why we chose this route? Watch the following video highlight of us skijoring PERFECT conditions at higher elevations on May 1st! Watch closely, what else do you see in this video? Did you see it???? Yes, that is "actively falling snow" sprinkling around us. Active snow in May - Yay!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It is not just Max, Zorro and I who are crazy and willing to endure rough conditions down low to get to immaculate snow up high:

"Interesting contraption - want me to tow it?!?" asks curious Zorro.
"Hey, fun!" says Max.
We pulled to the side of the trail and stopped to let this pair snowmobile by. Notice the
snowboards they are carrying. They submitted their snowmobile to the same sketchy
conditions down low so they could get up high and get 10 feet of snow all to themselves!

Well worth the effort down low to get to such great snow up high - right guys?

"Oh yes!!!! It is incredible up here!" exclaims super happy Max.
"But, but... you said 'time to turnaround' and I see perfect terrain to keep going!" says
shocked Zorro that I would ever suggest turning around :)

Cautious skiing down low to get rewarded with perfect conditions and falling snow on May 1st up high: 8.8 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 142 days on the trails covering 1191.7 miles with 127,100 feet of elevation climbed.