Perfect Up High

May 19th and we are still going! Yay!

"We LOVE snow! We LOVE skijoring!!!!" states the happy, happy trio during a quick
pause on the trails this morning.

We went to the trails that span Peaks 7 & 6 of the ten mile range. I expected the conditions at the trailhead to be bad but also expected the conditions up high to be perfect. So, we decided to brave the conditions down low at the trailhead to get to perfect higher up. But, what I did NOT expect was to find the trail PLOWED from the trailhead! Egad!

This trail is a hike, bike and service road in the summer as the ski resort uses it to service lifts and trails on Peaks 6 & 7. Apparently the ski resort thinks summer is going to happen as they had taken out one of their snowcats to plow the road. Egad! Luckily a snowcat does not plow down to dirt; but it does remove a ton of snow and leave very choppy "cat tracks" on the trail. Oh my was it choppy and bumpy from the start:

Look at that snow wall to our left - that is how much snowpack the cat removed!
Look at those snow boulders to our right - this is the snow that was removed!
Look at those cuts going perpendicular to the trail (the "cat tracks") - oh boy was it bumpy!

Despite the cat plow, we did have a plan. The service roads bears left after about a mile or so while the trail goes both left and right. As expected, once we veered right (away from the cat plow) and continued climbing it was PERFECT!!!! Laying fresh tracks in an inch or so of new snow on May 19th! Perfect:

May 19th Freshies. It was SO nice up high. Wow!

We did an "out and back" run and were the only tracks on the trail once we got out of the cat plow. Here we come on the return laying fresh tracks to the right with our "out tracks" to the left.

Zoom - still laying fresh tracks!
That is Peak 6 of Breckenridge Ski Resort in the upper/center of this photo.

Occasionally the trail got narrow enough that some of us had to run in our "out tracks". Jack was in "freshies mode" all morning long. If someone had to drop into our "out tracks", Jack moved himself to the right of the team to continue freshies for himself :)

"Love laying fresh tracks!" demonstrates freshies Jack.
"I'll take any part of the trail as long as we are going!" adds Rudy.
"Flying down the middle!' contributes Zorro.

Today's video highlight showcases just how nice it was up high. Come along for some perfect skijoring on May 19th. So nice up high!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and time to celebrate a great May run with end of run treats:

"Ready!" say happy & focused Zorro & Jack.
"I can taste them already! Clearing my palette!" adds slurping Rudy.

An interesting range of conditions this outing. A bumpy 1ish mile up, a perfect 4.6ish mile out & back up high and a TOUGH 1ish mile back down. It got so bumpy and plowed that I eventually had to take my skis off and hike the last 1/2 mile. I do have a backpack which can hold my skis, so the hike is not as bad as if I had to carry skis... 6.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 120 days on the trails covering 696.5 miles with 65,300 feet of elevation climbed.