Skijoring not Skiing

As daily temperatures started rising in March and continuing into April, Rudy has followed Jack's lead to roll at least one (and usually more)  snow angel on every skijor outing!

"Apparently the duo are going to do this every outing now!" says Zorro looking back to me.
"Ahhhh, I was right, it feels great, huh little bro?" asks snow rolling Jack.
"I'm hooked! Love rolling snow angels now too!" adds goofy Rudy.

Sometimes a picture can really demonstrate the difference between skijoring and cross country skiing. A skier needs to fan the skis out to make progress uphill. The skijorer need only put the skis parallel and ride the "sled dog tow rope". If it is very steep, I'll shuffle my feet to help of course, but I am still being propelled uphill and only a shuffle is necessary!

Skijorer (me) - skis parallel as I get towed up the trail.
Skier tracks to the left - note the wide, diagonal strokes the skate skier needs to propel
themselves uphill.

I prefer skijoring. Although to be fair, uphill is easier skijoring than skiing but downhill is harder skijoring than skiing (you try riding 4 feet behind downhill sprinting machines :)

Following snowmobile tracks as you can still make out the diagonal ski strides of
skier while I am still riding the sled dog tow rope :)

Yesterday we introduced Rudy to the concept of "spring crust", today we gave him an extended introduction to the crust. The spring crust is the phenomenon that happens this time of year when the daily temperatures get well above freezing while the nighttime temps are still well below freezing. This daily thaw then refreeze makes for a crust solid enough to hold us on early morning outings.

Trotting along the crust with an inch or so of snow over the crust.

Today's crust was firm but not super strong. This meant we could trot or jog on the crust but if you went too fast, then you would punch through. We took Rudy off the set trail twice to test the crust and he wanted to go too fast to not break through. We went back to the set trail each time. Then, on the third test, Rudy followed Zorro & Jack's lead and kept at their pace and, suddenly, we were gliding along the crust for miles. Come along for a short clip of the "spring crust jog" as everyone is smartly going the speed the crust will support and not a step faster. Smart guys!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day teaching Rudy more skijoring tricks. At a quick pause on the trail and I had the HAPPIEST faces looking back at me. Unfortunately, the GoPro is on my chest and Zorro was barely blocking Jack's face from my chest viewpoint. But, believe me, he had a supper happy smile too!

"He's coming along nicely, what a pack!" says happy leader Zorro.
"That was interesting and FUN!" adds happy Rudy.
"I'm smiling too! I'm smiling too! Down in front!" says Jack.

A nice day of lessons for Rudy. He got to learn about extended runs on the crust and he got to learn that sometimes faster is not better and a jog can send you farther than a sprint! 6.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 87 days on the trails covering 481.7 miles with 43,300 feet of elevation climbed.