"Amazing - just AMAZING!" exclaims ecstatic Zorro.
"Perfect for snow angels!" adds the goof twins :)
26th of June or 177th of January? You tell me...
Looks like the 177th day of January not the
26th day of June!
We returned to Buffalo Pass this morning to continue our
incredible endless June of 2019. Sadly, things are finally
starting to melt everywhere except the top of the pass.
How's the following for some narrow & sketchy conditions?
It might not look pretty, but, heh, the skis and
Rudy are still gliding on snow!
Interesting changing of the guard in the prior photo. In Zorro's
first 9 seasons skijoring he was always the one to keep toes
on snow at all cost and keep the skijor going. But, at 11 years
old, it appears as Zorro has handed the torch to Rudy and young
Rudy is assigned the job of trotting with me in the soft and
slushy shoulders.
Despite deteriorating approaches to the top of the pass, near and
at the top was still incredible this morning. Wheeee!
Just beautiful up high on this January 177th.
Today's video highlight is full of dips. We start in a gentle trot and
then I almost lose it in a large dip. Then Jack takes a dip to the right
to grab a mouthful of snow before rejoining the team to cruise along
(think of a marathon runner taking a dip to the side to get a shot
of water :) Lots of dips, but lots of fun!
A quick break in the action along the way. Everybody having a
good time?
"Yes! Is it really the end of June?!?" reply happy Zorro and Jack.
"Sniff, sniff, do I sense moose in the area?" suggests Rudy.
Despite Rudy's speculation, we did not find any moose (or elk, deer
or other delicacy that is tickling his nose :)
Remember that it really is late June, not mid January. That means even
Zorro will join in on the snow angels antics now and then to cool off.
"Ahhhhh!" says Zorro.
"I'll roll angels with ANYONE!" adds Jack.
"Now let me get this straight - *I* am the goofy young one?" asks mellow Rudy.
Here is an amazing stat: it is June 26th and today was youngest Rudy's first 10+ mile skijor. I never dreamed he would hit 10 miles this year since he was not mature enough to consider it until June. Well, welcome the record June in the Colorado High Country giving Rudy his first 10+ mile skijor: 10.1 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 136 days on the trails covering 803.3 miles with 75,150 feet of elevation climbed.
Are we done for the season yet? Of course not! I think we will get one more outing, probably on July 1st. Stay tuned...
Following snowcat tracks atop Rabbit Ears
Pass in Summer!
The calendar may say it is Summer but the mountains
have declared Winter is still here!
Today was our first ever skijor in summer. Sure we have had lots
of June skijors; but today was our first ever when the calendar
says "summer" instead of "spring".
It started snowing in the Colorado High Country on Saturday and
continued on and off through Sunday. Upwards of 12 inches of
snow fell on top of Rabbit Ears Pass so we headed back to
Rabbit Ears this morning for our first ever Summer Jor.
As you can see in the first photo above, we found some really
nice conditions and even found a snowcat track to follow
out and back. But, it was really summer at Rabbit Ears just
a few days ago and, as a result, we did encounter the occasional
treacherous stretches.
Yikes! Just enough ice in the cat track to
continue going.
For the majority of the day, though, we were on a snowcat track
that felt like the middle of winter!
Perfect cat track again - wheeee!
Despite lots of stretches of great snow from the weekend storm, summer is fighting hard to break through!
"Egad, now what?!?" asks Rudy.
"Oh boy!" adds Jack.
"This is a 'skis off' patch!" declares veteran Zorro.
People often ask if I fall when skijoring. Well, yes, but not very often
and typically in the sketchy conditions of the shoulders of the
season (October and May/June) when my skis catch something hidden
under the snow. So, here is a rare "wipeout shot" but notice how
nice, polite and patient my three partners are! The youngsters have certainly learned from Zorro this season that preserving the human is a good thing!
"You ok back there?" asks the happy & polite trio.
Notice the sideways skis and chunk of loose ice bottom/center that
gave way and caused my spill.
Today's video highlight is a first for young and maturing Rudy.
I have documented Jack's skill at changing lanes while skijoring
(often at high speeds). Zorro is also a skilled lane changer.
But come along for Rudy's first time changing lanes at moderate
speed. Sure we are not going as fast as we have when Jack or Zorro change lanes; but you have to start somewhere :) What a skilled and mature sled dog he has become this season!
End of day's fun run, time for a group celebration :)
Happy boys all circling and focusing on the musher.
Our first ever skijor in summer!!!! Temperatures are supposed to
rise quickly this week so this was our last run at Rabbit Ears.
Are we done for the season? Heck no - Buffalo Pass still has
enough snow to keep us going. Stay tuned for MORE...
Yay for Summer Jor: 5.9 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation
climbed and a modest top speed of 15 MPH (too may obstacles to
open the throttle more than this).
2018/2019 Season to Date: 135 days on the trails covering 793.2 miles with 74,150 feet of elevation climbed.
Look at all the snow still on the trails near
the top of Buffalo Pass. Wow!
"Wow indeed! Can we skijor ALL summer?" asks
the super happy trio at
our turnaround near the top
of Buffalo Pass.
If you weren't impressed by the prior photo, how about this one:
opening up the skijoring engine on June 19th! Wheeee!
June 19th - Wow!
If you look closely at the previous photo, you can see some of
the slush bombs coming off Zorro, Jack and Rudy's feet. You can
also see their footprints showing the snow was a bit soft; but it was still plenty
firm enough to open up and run up/down Buffalo Pass this morning!
Come along and watch an excerpt from this morning's outing. You
can see the softness slowing us a bit; but it was still firm
enough to go, go, go! Is it really June 19th?
Given warming June temperatures, you knew what would happen at
our turnaround point of the morning :)
"Goofballs!" states happy Zorro.
"Rolling, cooling, aaahhh!" adds the goofballs.
Today was our latest ever skijor outing and I had my skis on the
entire outing! Typically in June we will hit stretches of dirt or
mud and have to take the skis off and hike over. But not today,
our latest skijor ever and the skis never came off! There were
a few patches that will be dirt/mud soon, but not yet today - yay!
"You kids do not know how incredible this June has been!"
Zorro is telling the youngsters
as we see a bit of exposed road for one
of only a few times all morning!
It really is June, so even Zorro rolled a snow angel to cool off. But, Zorro waited until the outing was OVER before rolling to cool. The goofball twins rolled snow angels before, during and after the morning outing :)
"My turn. Ahhhh and YUM!" says snow rolling and eating Zorro.
The happy trio congregating around me for end of run treats:
"We had so much fun! Now hand them out!" declares the happy & focused trio.
A beautiful run up/down Buffalo Pass this morning: 6.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.
Are we done for the season yet? Most likely not; but things really are melting, so we'll see. Stay tuned...
2018/2019 Season to Date: 134 days on the trails covering 787.3 miles with 73,450 feet of elevation climbed
This June 14th was our latest day ever skijoring
and a GREAT time was had by all!
SO HAPPY to still be on snow!!!!!
Just look at those ecstatic faces!
Our previous "last day" record was June 13th in 2017 with
Max and Zorro. We have now eclipsed that record and I
think we may still have more to come!
Of course this is Rudy's first season skijoring, so he has no
idea just how impressive June 14th really is! It is Jack's
second spring skijoring and he made June 1st last year with
really sketchy conditions; so he has a little context for how
great today was. Zorro on the other hand, has been skijoring
for 10 of the 11 springs of his life. As you can see by his
happy face, I think he knows how special today really was!
We headed back to Buffalo Pass this morning as the snowpack on
top of the pass is still measuring over 7 feet! We start driving
up the pass and go until the snow is too deep to keep driving.
Today we had to stop driving over 4 miles from the top of the pass.
With this much distance to travel, I expected we would hit a few
dry patches along the way skiing up. Well, as I expected:
"You better take those skis off and hike!" says veteran Zorro.
"Whoa!" say the youngsters!
So, skis off and hike a bit, then back on snow to restart. But,
I have to stop to put my skis back on. Well, stop....
"Did you expect any different?" asks Zorro.
"A stop is a stop and a stop is a roll in the snow!" demonstrate
the goof twins.
We ended up having to take my skis off 3 times on the way up
(and, of course, 3 times on the way down). But, once we got
high enough it was INCREDIBLE. We did not make it all the way
to the summit, but we did make it high enough to see just how
much great snow is still near and on top of Buffalo Pass.
Beautiful up high!
Sprinting sled dogs having a great time running up high!
Today's video has two fun plots. First, come along as we are
opening it up on the great conditions up high - wheeee! Second,
notice the slush bombs flying off Zorro, Jack & Rudy's feet and
into me and the camera. About 15ish second into the video and, SPLAT, a slush bomb hits the camera dead center! You see some
blurry Zorro, Jack & Rudy for a bit until it occurs to me
to wipe the camera clear of slush and then you get a great
view of the running sled dogs again :)
All smiles as we complete beautiful 7.7 mile skijor on June 12th!!!
"Hi Mom!" flashes Rudy towards Nancy.
"What a beautiful mid June morning!" exclaims happy Zorro.
"I'm all smiles too!!!!" adds happy Jack just barely visible to Zorro's right :)
This morning was our first skijor on Buffalo Pass since Max's last skijor outing on Oct 9, 2017. Buffalo Pass is always one of the top 3 places in Colorado for depth of snowpack and, thus, snow lasting into June. It is a far drive to get to the trailheads; but this was a goto place for Max, Zorro and I for years to finish out the skijoring season in June. Since losing Max, we had baby Jack and then baby Rudy so we did not make the effort to get to Buffalo Pass last season (Rudy was too young to run and Jack was too young to go more than a couple miles). Today, though, we returned to Buffalo Pass with mature Zorro, Jack & Rudy and took a moment to sprinkle some of Max's ashes along the way. A fun new trail for Jack & Rudy and a bittersweet June outing for Zorro and I.
Upper right are Max's ashes coming out of my hand.
"Max, Max - we spread Max!" says Zorro watching the ashes spread.
"Smells like he was a COOL dude!" states happy Jack.
"Wish we still had that legend with us!' adds Rudy.
The snowpack on Buffalo Pass is near historic levels this June. Only once in the past decade has the SNOTEL atop the pass been reporting deeper snowpack that this morning. Just check out these incredible mid June conditions:
Almost a mid June hover husky as Zorro's right front toenail is barely touching the trail :)
Come along for a glimpse of the mid June treat. You might notice the video is quite bouncy and you see my skis bouncing all over too. But, it was skijoring on June 12th - we'll take bumpy & bouncy snow over dirt any day!
The outing would not be complete without the turnaround antics from the children :)
"Aaaah, LOVE rolling snow angels!" demonstrates goofy Jack.
"Aaaahhh, me TOOOO!!!" adds rolling Rudy.
"Children, oh children, can we get upright and continue running please!" states Zorro.
Max, Zorro and I have skijored as late as June 12th before, but never with conditions as good as today. What a fun outing:
"Now that was fun! How about those 'end of run' treats?!?" says the focused trio.
A return to Buffalo Pass to honor dear Max: 7.7 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH. Miss You Max!
2018/2019 Season to Date: 132 days on the trails covering 775.3 miles with 72,000 feet of elevation climbed.
Look at the following great skijor shot for June 7th.
But take note of the ominous sky too!
Beautiful stretch to open up the skijoring
engine and top 20 MPH!
Nice shot of great snowpack and fast running sled dogs. Yet,
look at that dark sky. In January/February I would have been
thrilled by this sky as snow would be on the way. But, it is
June, so that sky means RAIN!!!! Egad, RAIN!!!!
As the sky implies, our outing was cut short by rain. We waited
for some early morning rain to move by before getting out on
the trails. Then, we tried skijoring two different directions
from the Harrison Creek Trailhead. Each time we eventually skijored
into RAIN and had to turnaround! Ugh!
This morning is most likely our last run of the season atop
Rabbit Ears Pass. You are probably wondering why given that
beautiful first photo. Well, here is the counterpart to that photo
as there is only a narrow "ribbon of death" of snow for my skis
to cross!
"We can make it, we can make it!" says Rudy powering
forward despite
the narrow ribbon of death for me.
"We should slow and save the human!" says smart veteran Zorro.
"Fast or slow, I'm torn!" adds 'in between' Jack :)
By tomorrow morning the ribbon in the prior photo will be gone.
We hit 3 patches during the outing where there was not even
a ribbon but all dirt & mud! Couple this photo with the fact
that we can not return to Rabbit Ears for at least 4 days and
you know why this is most likely our last run on Rabbit Ears
this season.
Here is a rare "opposite of normal" shot for you - Zorro rolling
snow angels at a turnaround point while the kids wait for him
to get restarted :)
"Ha - Zorro does it too!!!!" says Rudy looking on.
Back to the fun patches that still existed this morning. Come along
for a great stretch of skijoring. But also notice the deteriorating conditions we fly by about 35 seconds into the video. Despite having
sun and shadows in this video, we got rained on just 3ish minutes
past this stretch and had to turnaround!
Cool shot of the "melt mist" coming off the snowpack in front of us!
It almost looks like smoke. It almost looks like fog. But, no, it's mist coming off a
section of shallow, and thus melting, snowpack.
Our plan was to make a tour around Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass this morning. There are two ways to access Walton Peak. One route is a service road and the other goes across wide and snow covered meadows. The meadows route is always a lot of fun until...
Until the evil river of snowmelt cuts through the meadow and leaves you no way to cross. We chose the meadow route this morning, hoping that one of the snow bridges over the river would still be intact. Well, here is what we found:
"Impassible, time to turnaround!" declares smart veteran Zorro.
"Really, we crossed this river less than a week ago! Can we jump it?" asks young curious Jack.
"I'm just going to drop & roll until you three figure out where we are going!" declares youngest Rudy.
Well, of course we followed Zorro's decision and turned away from the river. The opposite direction takes you on a series of snowmobile trails between Walton Peak and Harrison Creek. These trails are packed by snowmobiles & groomers all winter and maintain their snowpack the longest. Zorro was right, head towards Harrison Creek and it was perfect:
A hovering Rudy Ball with sprinting Zorro & Jack to his right.
A little further and a hovering Jack Ball:
Hovering Jack Ball with sprinting Zorro & Rudy on each side.
Put the two prior photos together and you get today's fun video clip. Come along and watch us skijor this PERFECT patch of trail between Walton Peak and Harrison Creek!
Eventually it was time to turnaround. Everyone having a good time?
"Why YES! Glad you asked!" responds the happy, happy trio.
But wait, did I stop to ask that question? Uh oh, you know what that means...
"Aaahhhh - we stopped I roll!" demonstrates silly snow rolling Jack.
"Well, I'm still having a great time despite goofball Jack!" adds happy Zorro.
"Really? And you all call me the wild one? I can't bear to look!" states Rudy in disbelief :)
A little re-routing necessary to keep on snow; but still a very nice June run atop Rabbit Ears Pass: 7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 130 days on the trails covering 763.8 miles with 70,800 feet of elevation climbed.
"Maybe we call go ALL summer!!!!!" suggests the happy trio at our turnaround point
of the morning.
Unfortunately, we will not really be skijoring all summer. Yet, we are still on some pretty good June snowpack to get a fun 7+ mile skijor outing. But, we did see the signs of summer frequently on this morning's outing. Come along for a full range of June conditions...
The conditions at the trailhead were EXTREMELY bumpy. The following photo does not do justice to just how bumpy the terrain really was. But, believe me, my legs were burning riding the bumps behind the fast sled dogs! Whew, what a workout at the start!
Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy say my knees and thighs!
The trail got much smoother as we got further from the trailhead. But, then we encountered another sign of summer: exposed ground & narrow snow cover:
Eek to the left and narrow down the middle. Another warm day or two and there will be
no snow on this section of trail!
While still on snow all morning we found ourselves frequently trotting alongside fast flowing water!
"Wow!" says Jack glancing right at the fast flowing river.
"Don't look!" states veteran Zorro.
"Ok, I won't!" adds Rudy ignoring the river.
A lot of sketchy conditions in those last 3 photos. Now take a look at the following "June Gem" - much smoother trail and snow as far as the eye can see! Wheeee!
Hovering Jack & Rudy alongside out-stretched Zorro as we open up the engine on a perfect
for June straightaway!
Today's video fun? Come along as we are cruising far away from the trailhead. As a result, the terrain is only slightly bumpy but notice the many dips we ride up/down along the way. A fun rollercoaster ride :)
Today was definitely our last outing going south towards Buffalo Park at Rabbit Ears Pass. But, if we go north or west there is still PLENTY of good snow! Come back tomorrow for more: 7.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 129 days on the trails covering 756.8 miles with 70,300 feet of elevation climbed.
Beautiful shot of "Flying Z" Zorro the day after
his 11th birthday.
We returned to Rabbit Ears Pass for another early morning
run on the vast spring crust. As you see in the prior photo,
we found some great stretches of firm snow. But, if you look
closely, you can see we are on the snowmobile trail (notice
the corduroys in the snow left/behind Zorro). We tried to
abandon the main trails once and, unfortunately, found the
crust off the trails too soft to run. The trails get packed
by groomers & snowmobiles all winter so maintain firmness
longer than wandering off into open meadows.
Not a big deal, though, there are plenty of snowmobile trails
to stick to and get a great run.
Not only did I get a great shot of Flying Z, I also got a nice
triple hover husky shot!
The trio in sync and catching air! Wheeee!
Come along and watch the fun in today's short video clip.
As you can see, if we stuck to the set trails it was packed
and firm. Zoom!
But, it is June. This is Rudy's first conscious June (he was only
5 months old last June - unconscious puppy brain :) Thus, this
is his first time really witnessing and processing the Big Melt of summer.
"Um, what now?!?!" asks maturing Rudy looking back
to me
(puppy Rudy would have continued into the water :)
A little further along and the only thing that can bring Zorro
to a dead stop on the trails: Fresh Moose Tracks!
"Mmmm, fresh!" declares track inspecting Zorro.
"I agree - delicious!" adds sniffing Rudy. "Let me see, let me see!" adds Jack swinging in to get a whiff too.
As Zorro would say, "And then we have the children. Kids these days!"
"Haha - they have to roll snow angels to cool off and keep up with me!!!!" declares
happy & satisfied Zorro :)
About as much fun as 3 sled dogs can have on June 2nd - right guys?
"Oh, you BET!" declares the happy & focused trio.
Things are starting to melt here & there, but still plenty
of snow to get in a solid June skijor: 6.7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and an impressive "June top speed" of 21 MPH!
2018/2019 Season to Date: 128 days on the trails covering 749.7 miles with 69,800 feet of elevation climbed.
