Too Slick

It was an interesting and almost too difficult day to skijor Boreas Pass!

"You about set back there?" ask Zorro & Rudy at a break on the trail.
"Boring.... boring... Can we go yet?!?!" asks impatient Jack.
Nice view of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort on the mountains across the
valley from us.

So, what was interesting and difficult? Well, the primary set track on the trail was only 2 Siberians wide (3 could not fit shoulder to shoulder). In addition, the set track was so packed it was closer to ice than packed snow. So, interesting was the trio could not fit side by side. Difficult was that I could not put both skis in the primary track - it was so narrow and packed that I had no ability to stop or even slow down if I put both skis in this narrow chute. My pals have been taught that if you feel no friction from me then you are allowed to go as fast as you want. They are right 99% of the time. Today was the other 1% as I had no way to introduce friction in the narrow slick track! Yikes.

We cannot all fit, so Jack takes a turn jogging behind Zorro & Rudy.

But, aha, look at my skis in the prior photo. There was a secondary ski track to the left of the narrow and slick primary track. I could put my left ski out in this track and suddenly I had some ability to control our skijoring machine. Phew! Zorro quickly noticed what I was doing and said, "Hey, if the secondary track works for you, then it will work for me!" Smart guy.

Finally able to do a little skijoring with Zorro and my left ski in the secondary track
and Jack & Rudy and my right ski in the primary track.

It was still difficult as I was skiing with each ski in a different track (and the space between the primary and secondary constantly fluctuated); but we did it. Come along for an interesting and difficult skijor in strange conditions :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Rudy caught on to what Zorro discovered too. He and Zorro took turns running in the solo track while the other stayed in the primary track with Jack. Jack tried the solo track once and did not like it. No problem, Zorro & Rudy were happy to alternate and let Jack stay in the main track.

Rudy's turn to run solo with my left ski. Wheeee!

All went great higher up on Boreas where we had the primary and secondary tracks. But, the last 1/2 mile was impossible to skijor. Notice anything in the following photo?

The straight line coming off my shoulders and by my head are my skis mounted on my backpack.
Yes, we are jogging, not skijoring!

So, what happened? Look closely and Zorro, Jack & Rudy are in the set track. It was wide enough for 3 down low (from lots of traffic); but it was also packed to the point of ice, not snow! Now look at the shoulders outside of the set track. There is no secondary track and, in fact, there are post holes all over the place (presumably from crowds stepping off for photos, etc.). So, my skis could not operate outside of the set track but the set track was too narrow and slick to provide any speed control (and my partners would, as taught, take off without friction). Yikes, too dangerous, time to put the skis on the backpack and jog the last 1/2 mile.

This is pretty much the only time that skijoring is at a complete disadvantage over traditional dog sledding. A dog sled has a brake, skis don't!

Oh well, we still had a great time - just a bit more difficult and interesting than planned: 5.9 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 425.5 miles with 38,000 feet of elevation climbed.