Climb

Nice wide angle shot of Jack & Rudy galloping along nice snow up high with vast views of the rest of "snowless Colorado" below and to our right :)

Whee - still perfect up here; but look at the endless brown & green to our right.
Yikes, the snow is really melting!

Temperatures did not get below freezing at the base of Rabbit Ears Pass overnight, so we knew finding firm (instead of soft & slushy) snow to skijor would be a challenge. The solution? Well, we started on the Harrison Creek Trail. This trail has a quick rise in elevation (through lots of shade) and, as a result, is always the last trail at Rabbit Ears to maintain snow and survive through warm nights. With a quick rise and the potential for soft/slushy conditions, we decided to start the outing without elder Zorro.

The result? SUCCESS!!!! After the quick climb from the start, this trail eventually levels out on an upper elevation shelf 100s of feet in elevation above the trailhead. Here is a nice shot of the incredible conditions once we crested from the initial climb. Beautiful!!!

Firm snow and fast Jack & Rudy having a great time on the beautiful
upper elevation conditions!

Once we got up in elevation and saw the incredible firm spring crust, it was time to abandon set trails and go touring through vast meadows with the youngsters!

Wide open and perfect, endless crust once you climbed up high enough!

After miles of touring the meadows up high, I paused to send Nancy a text of our expected arrival back at the trailhead. Well, texting requires stopping.... Uh, oh, you know what that means :)

"Stop, Drop and ROLL!!!!!" says the goofball kids rolling their usual snow
angels at any stop point.
Nice view "snowless Colorado" in front and below us.

Apparently I took too long enjoying the views and then sending the text. What happens when two 2 year olds pause for too long? Well, the snow angels turn into play bows :)

"You took too long - Stop, Bow & Play!" demonstrates the goofs transitioning
from snow angel rolling to play bow silliness :)

Ok, text sent and wild playing animals separated by the musher - time to skijor agian.

Come along for a glimpse into the day's fun. We start out in the shade on a somewhat bumpy trail until we transition into the open sun where the terrain smooths out. Despite how much the camera (and, thus, me) are bouncing, it really wasn't a hard trail to ski. I just rode the dips behind my skijoring engines as they towed me along.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another successful day exercising the youngsters, Jack & Rudy, while giving elder Zorro most of the day off. A perfect outing for all results in 'end of run' treats for all :)

"Ready, ready, ready!" says the focused & happy trio.

A great plan for warm temperatures to find perfect conditions! 7.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 169 days on the trails covering 1157.1 miles with 106,100 feet of elevation climbed.