Nice "shot from the front" as the happy sled dogs run by Nancy on the trail this morning.
"Wheeee!" say the happy happy trio.
We did a short & easy skijor on Boreas Pass this morning so we could bring little Rudy along for the ride. We had fast packed terrain with nice views:
Sprint tucked Jack + sprint flying Zorro + sprinting Rudy as the ski runs of Breckenridge
Ski Resort come into view across the valley. Pretty sled dogs, pretty views.
We had multiple breaks as little Rudy is still in "training mode". Take a break, roll an angel...
"Rub a dub dub!!!!" demonstrates silly Jack doing 'his usual' at all breaks :)
"Silly, just silly!" declares happy Zorro.
"And you call me 'the silly puppy'?!?" questions Rudy.
Break over and back to the day's theme: zoom!
Nice form as the trio is in a synchronized sprint tuck.
For today's short video fun, we are exercising Jack. Notice how older Zorro is in one packed track and little Rudy is in another packed track. Meanwhile young Jack, who needs the most exercise, is running down the middle in shallow powder. Exercise the Jack :)
That's all for today... A short & easy run with Rudy as the happy sled dogs are forming a very nice skijoring trio: 2.6 miles traveled with 100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 64.9 miles with 6100 feet of elevation climbed.
10+ miles of skijoring at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning! Woo Hoo!
"Whew, this is FUN!" declares happy Jack resting at our midpoint break of the outing.
"Stay with me kid, I'll show you how to pace yourself for mile & miles & miles!" declares Zorro.
A big day for young Jack as we are early in his first season of real skijoring - his first 10+ mile skijor (10.2 miles) and his fastest speed yet of 19 MPH. Now that the condition are great, I foresee 20+ MPH in the near future! Go Jack Go!
As usual, Jack was rolling snow angels before we even got started! Silly Boy!
"I'm ready to go if anyone else cares to join me!" declares all-business Zorro.
"Don't care if we haven't even started yet - rub a dub dub!" demonstrates silly Jack.
We started on a narrow single track winding through the forest:
Tight, shoulder-to-shoulder as we glide the narrow track through the forest.
The reward for traversing the single track was to connect to the Breckenridge Nordic Center and open up the skijoring throttle - zoom!
Great view of the flying Siberians in front of me and the snow covered Rockies to our right!
Come along as we cruise the fast groomed terrain at Breckenridge Nordic Center. Wheeee!
Eventually we exhausted all terrain at the nordic center and checked the snow off the groomed trail. Too deep to get to 10 miles so we turned around and repeated the groomed loop.
"Ok, let's repeat the groomed fast track!" suggests happy Zorro.
"Hehe, deep off the trail! But, yeah, let's repeat the groomie zoomie!" adds happy Jack.
An impressive outing for young Jack (and veteran Zorro too :) - 10.2 miles traveled with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 62.3 miles with 6000 feet of elevation climbed.
A rare treat - laying fresh tracks all the way up Boreas Pass!
First on the trail as we laid fresh tracks in 3-5 inches of new powder all the way up Boreas!
We got some nice new snow overnight, so the Big Boys (Zorro & Jack) and I set out for a long run up & down Boreas. Why a "rare treat"? Well, Boreas is one of the most popular cross country ski trails in our area. Usually you have to be on the trail near sunrise to be first tracks. But, to our joy & surprise, we were still first tracks even though not starting the outing until 9am! What a treat!
Quick geography lesson on Boreas in the photo below: if you crossed the open meadow in front of Zorro & Jack and then drifted through the trees for a bit then you would eventually run into Indiana Creek. Indiana Creek is a popular destination for moose and we have spotted moose in this meadow before. You can also see moose tracks traversing through the meadow. Clearly Zorro & Jack "sensed" moose and had to hop off trail to scan for moose.
"Sniff, sniff - we smell you -where are you?!?" say the moose seekers.
After laying fresh tracks all the way up, time to turnaround. But, first....
"Turnaround = roll around!" demonstrates snow angel rolling Jack.
"He's rolling angels again. Surprise - NOT!" declares Zorro.
I fully expected everyone to ride in the track we set on the way up on the way down. Silly me as even 10 year old Zorro wanted to continue in the freshies all day long!
Keeping in the freshies all the way down!
Why use the track you set on the way up when you can stay in the freshies all the way down?
End of a fun day laying fresh tracks all morning long!
"Ready for more!" says 'not tired yet' Zorro.
"Now that was FUN!" declares young Jack (this was his first outing laying
fresh tracks all day long).
A day of freshies with the Big Boys: 8.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH (we were happily slowed by fresh powder :)
2018/2019 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 52.1 miles with 5050 feet of elevation climbed.
A ridiculously fast packed trail at Indiana Creek this morning!
Flying Zorro + Airborne Jack + Launching Rudy = Zoom!
The trail at Indiana Creek was thin & fast packed terrain this morning. Almost too fast as you see patches of shiny ice instead of snow in the photo above. But we did it as I was riding my skis hard to keep the 3 pack under control all outing :)
Today's short video clip demonstrates what I am talking about. Come along as we are on ridiculously fast packed terrain. Zoom!
To date, Rudy had been perfect at all our skijor starts. Perfect meaning he was "lined out" with Zorro & Jack and took off with them. This morning, though, he was so busy talking about how much fun he was about to have that he forgot to line out and almost missed the start. Silly puppy!
Zorro & Jack taking off as little Rudy forgot to line out with them.
"Wait for me! Wait for me! Here I come!!!!" screams Rudy :)
Love this fun shot of the tightly configured 3 pack. Airborne Zorro leading the youngsters hanging off each of his shoulders.
"Keep with me kids!" declares lead dog Zorro.
As usual, lots of breaks since it is still "training mode" when young Rudy is along. And, as usual as well, snow angels from Jack at every break!
"Rub a dub dub!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"So many breaks, but still a ton of fun!" expresses Zorro.
"I love love love skijoring!" declares happy Rudy.
Skijoring over, time for "end of run" treats!
"Slurp, yum, yum!" says Jack taking a pork treat from my hand.
"Hurry back to my turn!" says Zorro.
"Me next, me next!" little Rudy is saying to me :)
Another short, fun & easy Rudy training run: 1.9 miles traveled with 100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH (Rudy's fastest speed yet!)
2018/2019 Season to Date: 10 days on the trails covering 43.9 miles with 4250 feet of elevation climbed.
An absolutely beautiful morning to skijor great conditions atop Rabbit Ears Pass!
Zoom, zoom, zoooom we go with Zorro, Jack and little Rudy!
We planned a nice & easy training run to introduce young Rudy to Rabbit Ears Pass. A short 2.6 mile skijor with 3/4 of the outing being on downhill terrain and about 1/4 of the outing with a small climb. It is safe to say that Rudy officially "gets" skijoring. He has such a blast on these short training runs!
Come along for today's short video clip as we fly along snowmobile tracks in what was a beautiful morning atop Rabbit Ears Pass.
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]
As with all our training runs, lots of breaks to rest & regroup before going again. The morning temperatures were in the single digits (F); you'd think that was cold, well, here's our first break:
"Having so much fun!" declares happy Zorro.
"Oh man, must roll snow angels to cool off!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"Why are we stopped?!?" asks cute Rudy.
A little further along and we took our second break at the official Rabbit Ears Pass marker. Remember it was cold (to humans) this morning :)
"Still having a BLAST!" says fun Zorro.
"Rolling, cooling, so hot!" suggests goofy Jack.
"Must eat snowcones to cool my jets!" demonstrates silly Rudy.
Time to complete the day's outing as we leave the top of Rabbit Ears to glide down into the forest leading to the trailhead:
Fun shot of the skijor triplet!
Another very successful "short & easy Rudy training run": 2.6 miles traveled with 200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 15 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 9 days on the trails covering 42.0 miles with 4150 feet of elevation climbed.
Young Jack's first "skijor niner" (9+ mile skijor). What fun!
"He's really coming along nicely!" declares satisfied Zorro.
"I'm a sled dog, I'm a sled dog!" declares happy Jack.
We started the day on backcountry trails and found a narrow set track weaving through the forest. It was "shoulder to shoulder" skijoring as we glided through the trees:
Hard to tell where Zorro ends and Jack starts as we glide in the narrow set track.
The reward for weaving through the forest? Well, we eventually connected with the groomed trails of the Breckenridge Nordic Center. It is still "early season" so not a lot of terrain is groomed. But that which was groomed was VERY nice. Love this "tuck & fly" shot of Jack and Zorro as Jack is in an airborne sprint tuck while Zorro is in an out-stretched sprint fly next to him. Wheeee!
The "tuck & fly" brothers :)
Today's video highlight demonstrates just how good Zorro & Jack are as skijoring partners. Come along as we are comfortably gliding along the fast trail until we come upon some trail damage (the leftovers of a tree that had fallen and been removed). Listen as I do not say a single word while Zorro & Jack automatically slow for the damage, cross carefully and then open it back up after I get over the damage behind them. What partners! Jack has learned beautifully from Zorro that "preserving the human" is a good thing!
Today's trail comedy. Here we are at the start of the days run as I am putting my boots into the skis. We are stopped, so Jack decides to roll a snow angel. Love the look on Zorro's face watching goofy Jack:
"Beginning, middle, end - doesn't matter to me. You are stopped, I roll!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"Really kid, we haven't even started yet! How could you need to cool off?!?" asks perplexed Zorro.
Fast forward to our quick midpoint break of the days outing and Zorro shows the kid the rules.
"Stop & roll at the break when you need to cool off!" demonstrates veteran Zorro.
"Hehe, you are a fun big brother!" states happy Jack.
Woo Hoo - Jack's first 9+ mile skijor: 9.3 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 8 days on the trails covering 39.4 miles with 3950 feet of elevation climbed.
After 8+ days on constant snow, it was a beautiful bluebird start to this morning!
Zipping along the French Gulch Trail on beautiful & sunny morning!
This was Rudy's first skijor trip to French Gulch. He has been on this trail in the summer, but never on snow. He was ready to join his big brothers and experience this terrain at skijor speeds :)
Since we are still in "training mode" with young Rudy, we did our typical type of training outing: short & easy terrain with lots of breaks to rest, regroup and reflect on our fun. First break and Zorro & Rudy are ready to go while Jack has other plans:
"Wait, wait, gotta roll in the snow first!" demonstrates silly snow rolling Jack.
"Aw come on man! Let's go!" declare Zorro & Rudy lined out and ready to restart.
In between breaks it was zoom, zoom, zooooom! Come along and watch as we fly along the fast packed French Gulch Trail.
Usually we will take 2-3 breaks during training runs. But, everyone was going so fast today, that I had us stop and rest little Rudy 5 times. Sprint, rest, sprint, rest, sprint, rest, sprint, rest, sprint, rest, sprint - that was the day's outing :)
After the last break and it's role reversal from the first:
"Look who's lined out and ready to go now! Come on slowpokes!" declares Jack.
"Having a BLAST!!! A real BLAST!" exclaim happy Zorro & Rudy.
Break over and back to the day's action - sprint:
Zoom, zoom, zoooom!
Another successful training run with young Rudy: 2.6 miles traveled with 200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 15 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 7 days on the trails covering 30.1 miles with 3050 feet of elevation climbed.
Having a blast breaking trail in about 15 inches of fresh powder in French Gulch! Wheeee!
Gliding along in 15+ inches of powder. What impressive sled dogs!!!
This is young Jack's first real season of skijoring, so we will be experiencing a lot of milestones as the season unfolds (recall last winter was just short & easy training runs for Jack). Today had two milestones: (1) Jack's first 8+ mile skijor (8.4 to be exact); and (2) Jack's first extended time breaking trail (we had about 1 to 1.5 miles of what you see in the prior photo). Impressive young Jack (and just as impressive veteran Zorro :)
We are at the tail end of a great storm from the previous few days dumping upwards of 2 feet of snow in and around Breckenridge. Today we decided to take Zorro & Jack for a long run in French Gulch to enjoy all the new snow. There has been so much snow, that we were able to start on French Gulch Road and run in tire tracks until entering the real French Gulch Trail.
Flying along in packed tire tracks on French Gulch Road. Zoom.
Once we transitioned from the road to the trail, we were able to ride in a set of ski tracks for a while and then we eventually out skied all existing tracks. Once this happened, you got the first photo above: breaking trail for over a mile in 15+ inches of powder!
Besides great snow, the biggest attraction of French Gulch is ... MOOSE!!! We did not see a moose this morning, but the "scent of moose" drew Zorro & Jack off trail once into deep snow as they scanned the forest for the source of the moose aroma. No visuals, but still fun to scan:
"Come out, come out wherever you are. We SMELL you!!!!" declare the moose scanning
pair enjoying the deep powder as they scan for moose.
The only drawback to French Gulch - well there are a handful of property owners in the gulch who have keys to the "winter gate" and will occasionally run their evil plows down the trail. Anything that removes snow is evil (except the sun, as it has other uses so we will allow this one snow remover :)
Evil, just plain evil!!!! Why remove snow!!!!!
On to today's video highlight - the evil plow. Come along as we are flying along a "fast packed trail" until we encounter the source of the packness - the evil plow. Love my skijoring partners as they automatically slow as we approach Mr. Evil as we all consider "what to do". All it takes is one gentle "Left" command from me and Zorro & Jack hop into the left powder as we pass Mr. Slow & Evil. Once passed, hop back into the ski tracks on the trail, floor it and leave Mr. Slow & Evil in our dust :)
Almost our first "hover husky triplet" skijoring shot. Almost......
Jack & Zorro each have a toe or two on the ground while Rudy is hovering along the trail.
Almost our first "hover husky triplet" - we'll have one soon! :)
The upper section of Boreas Pass got a great dump of new snow overnight. So, we ventured out for what has been our standard "Rudy training route" of this early season. Specifically, we drove up Boreas and then Nancy drove the Jeep back down while Zorro, Jack, Rudy & I skijored down in the set tracks made by the Jeep. A perfect "packed & downhill" trail for training young Rudy.
I love this short section of video from the day's outing. Notice how Zorro has little Rudy along side him as they run in the set tire track. Jack, meanwhile, has put himself in the shallow powder just outside of the track. Zorro, at 10 years old, is happy to take the easy track and train Rudy while Jack is young and full of energy and needs the extra powder to get his exercise :)
As was the pattern when we were training Jack last winter, we kept the outing short & easy and took two breaks during the run. Break number one:
"Having a blast!" declares happy Rudy.
"Yes, yes - what fun!" adds happy Jack.
"A break ALREADY?!?!" asks veteran Zorro.
First break over and we got onto a well-traveled section of Boreas that had wide packed tracks. Everyone spread out and go...
Zorro taking point (notice my skis are shifted behind Zorro and Jack) while Jack provides
the mid engine and little Rudy runs at his own pace out to the right.
Break number two...
"Okay, I am having fun in spite of all these breaks!" says happy Zorro.
"Cooling my jets in the snow!" demonstrates little Rudy.
End of the day's run and time for our "end of run pork treats":
"Dish them out!" says intense Zorro.
"Yes, yes!" adds happy Jack.
"I'm right here too!" declares focused Rudy.
What a fun "short & easy" training run with Rudy: 2.4 miles traveled with a top speed of 16 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 19.1 miles with 2050 feet of elevation climbed.
