Lost Footage

Look at those happy boys patiently waiting for me to come up the trail to hook up and start an incredible run atop Rabbit Ears Pass this morning.

"We are READY!!!!" says the trio so happy that I am finally coming up the trail
to join them.

Unfortunately, today's blog is one of lost footage. Unbeknownst to me, the GoPro camera shutoff very early into our outing and very little of the day was recorded. Unbeknownst to Nancy, she had a big thumb print on the cover of her camera so we got no arrival or end of run treat footage. It is too bad as it was an INCREDIBLE day on the solid snowpack around Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass. The crust was solid enough to let us make our own path while the temperatures we also just warm enough so that the snowmobile tracks on set trails were soft enough to use as well!

What fun we had. Oh well, come along for what footage we did capture...

Starting off on the snowmobile trails going to Walton Peak. Zoom we go up the hill!

Riding the skijor tow rope up the trail!

Over the first rise in the terrain and time to test the crust going down the backside of the rise. Zoom!

Floating Jack & Rudy with outstretched Zorro. What a perfect crust!

The path we took crosses over a river that is covered in deep snow all winter. At some point in May or June, the river becomes completely exposed. It is always amazing to see how big this river actually is when you consider you have been skijoring over it for months!

The river is becoming exposed in places, but there are still plenty of solid "snow bridges" to cross it. We came upon our first sinkhole exposing the river and Rudy was FASCINATED. As this is Rudy's first May skijoring, this was the first "spring melt sinkhole" of his life. It was Jack's 2nd or 3rd time seeing such a sinkhole as he had a few short training runs last May. It was, of course, at least the 50th, maybe the 100th sinkhole Zorro has encountered :)

"Whoa - look at that FAST running water!" exclaims curious Rudy.
"I don't think you should go so close to the edge!" suggests smart Jack.
"Yes kids, that's an evil 'sinkhole of spring melt'!" adds veteran Zorro.

Shortly after the sinkhole, the darned GoPro just turned off. This does not happen often, but it is such a bummer we lost the incredible footage of the excellent conditions after we crossed the river and went higher and higher up Walton Peak.

Oh well, a great day that only Zorro, Jack & Rudy know about :)  7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 117 days on the trails covering 676.0 miles with 63,200 feet of elevation climbed.