Work Rewards

Such happy & hard-working partners on the trails this morning!

Pausing for a second to exchange pleasantries. You can see the trail we just
made in the deep snow behind Jack. Jack doesn't look like he is in deep snow
because he just rolled a huge snow angel and is proudly standing in this angel print :)

Breckenridge Ski Resort reported 20 inches of new snow overnight and 40 inches in the last 72 hours! As a result, we knew today would have extended stretches of breaking trail so we let elder Zorro sit out most of the day to then join us for a gentle run to the finish.

As expected, here we are breaking trail in at least 12, maybe 15, inches of fresh powder. POW!

Love the trail you see behind the Siberian Snowplows :)
Love the untouched fresh powder in front of us.

Today's video highlight showcases the "powder plowing power" of young Jack & Rudy. I put the clip in slow motion as I think you get the most appreciation for their power by watching in slomo. Such an impressive pair of powder plowers :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We broke trail for almost a mile like you see in the video above to be rewarded with a fast run on a freshly plowed road. This road is far from town and accesses only 3 houses, so it is safe to skijor and is relatively free of traffic and the occasional car is few & far between.

Zoom - we broke trail in 12-15 inches to get to ZOOM this high elevation road!

We used the road to get us onto another backcountry trail. This particular trail is situated so it magically gets the most snow of any overnight snowfall. We found ourselves breaking trail in over 24 inches of fresh powder. POW POW!

Look at those impressive snow troughs behind the super trail breakers!

How do I know it was more than 24 inches of powder? Well, this particular trail extends for just over 1 mile. It was quite the fun workout for Jack & Rudy to plow through this much powder; but they did need a little reprieve at one point. This is always the pattern when we are doing very deep and extended trail breaking. At some point, I have to take the lead position and help bust the trail. Well, when I was in front, the snow was deeper than my knees and just under my mid-thigh - that is 24-28 inches of powder!

Look at me breaking trail as I lift my right ski up to project forward.

The "human in front" never lasts for long as I am SLOW in deep snow :)  Rudy dropped in right behind me with Jack behind him. Rudy kept head butting my legs in an expression of, "Hey, speed up in front - you slow slug!" Max used to do this same "head butt" whenever I had to break trail in front of him. It must be a red thing! I was only in front for about 200 yards, but that was just the short break the kids needed before moving back in front of me to continue breaking trail (at a much more efficient speed than me :)

The reward for breaking trail in 24+ inches of snow for over a mile? Well, this trail eventually drops onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. What a reward!

Zoom!!!! What a reward for young Jack & Rudy's deepest trail breaking effort ever.

Finally, the reward for getting onto the groomed trails at Gold Run? Well, we could meet up with Zorro & Nancy at one of the midpoint trailheads and let Zorro join for a short & fun "groomie zoomie" with the team! Wheeee!

Adding Zorro for a fast & happy final sprint - yay!

What a fun day for Jack & Rudy. Each 1ish mile of trail breaking was rewarded with many more miles of easy & fast terrain. What a fun finish with Zorro as we always love finishing with the happy veteran! 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 90 days on the trails covering 617.9 miles with 57,250 feet of elevation climbed.