24 Hours

Look at this wide angle shot of the endless spring crust atop Rabbit Ears Pass!!!

Flying Jack & Rudy with a solid spring crust as far as the eye can see!

Oh boy, what a different 24 hours can make! We skijored Rabbit Ears yesterday morning and the crust was not firm enough to support us and it was soft & sloppy conditions. The problem was the temperatures did not get below freezing Monday night and into yesterday morning. Well, flip that problem and the overnight temperatures from Tuesday into Wednesday were PERFECT. The early morning crust was superb and endless, as you see above. Jack, Rudy & I were able to abandon all set trails and cruise the crust for over 9 miles any direction we chose. Wow, what a difference 24 hours can make!!!

After that impressive wide angle shot above, how about an impressive closeup of the power kids?

Can't you just feel the POWER in the Rudy missile in this photo!
Look at those ears tucked in tight as he's transformed into a sleek missile!
Impressive hover from powerful Jack, too; but, oh my, doesn't
Rudy look like a powerful missile!

Ok, how about a video to showcase the impressive kids and great conditions? Come along as we are flying along the firm crust. Partway through and a "right" and another "right" from me until we line out again and floor it into the wide open straightaway. Perfect listening and impressive execution from the youngsters!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A little more fun from the fantastic day. Here we are cruising by the Rabbit Ears Pass SNOTEL. SNOTELs are science stations spread throughout the areas of common snowpack in the United States. The devices report a myriad of measurements about the terrain around them for planning, forecasting and studying snow and, thus, upcoming water to be present throughout the country. The most interesting measurement to us is the "snow depth". As of this morning, this device reported a 65 inch snow depth at this location. Woo Hoo, over 5 feet of snowpack in late April!

"Hi SNOTEL - we like your 65 inch report!" says the fun kids
cruising on by.

At 65 inches we are assured good snow on Rabbit Ears through most, if not all, of May. Yay!

Fast & fun photos & videos above. But, I was with the Jack & Rudy clowns remember. Oh those kids during a quick pause in the outing:

Stop, Drop and ROLL!!!!!! demonstrates the goofy kids.

We spent most of the morning without elder Zorro as we were giving him most of the day off. After a little over 9 miles, we connected back to the trailhead to pick up the fun elder for a short out & back with the trio:

Whee, we've added super fun Z!
Another shot of the perfect crust this morning.

One more cool shot with Zorro in the group. I've mentioned many times how Zorro will always long jump snowmobile tracks going perpendicular to us. He will also long jump any & all exposed water (Zorro LOVES snow but hates water :)  The long jumps are simply something Zorro taught himself. Well, I have noticed this season that Jack has picked up the same behavior. Jack has started long jumping snowmobile tracks just like his older brother (we'll see what he does with water as we get further into May :)

So, here we go with Zorro & Jack in a synchronized long jump over a snowmobile track. One fun thing to note - Jack is actually slightly taller (and bigger) than Zorro but Zorro looks huge next to him in this photo. Why the "large Zorro" mirage? Well, it is the height of Zorro's long jump that makes him look so big. Not only is he a long jump expert, but he gets the most impressive height too!

Flying Zorro leaping high & over the snowmobile track.
Still learning Jack is simply long jumping, he hasn't mastered height yet :)
Rudy the Tank simply busting over the track ;)

What a beautiful morning for a fun run followed by delicious end of run treats:

"So much fun this morning!" says the happy, happy trio.

I'll say it one final time - WOW, what a difference 24 hours can make. A wonderful morning to skijor an endless & perfect crust atop Rabbit Ears Pass: 9.3 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 160 days on the trails covering 1093.8 miles with 99,800 feet of elevation climbed.