Whee

Another BEAUTIFUL May Morning to skijor the great snowpack still available atop Vail Pass!

The "happy foursome" cruising to the end of a beautiful morning!
Three happy, happy sled dogs + one smiling human :)

This time of year, you need to get out early in the morning and, when the temperatures are right, the spring crust is incredible! Today was a great example of perfect May crust skijoring. Temperatures got below freezing atop the pass for roughly 10 hours last night and into this morning. That much time under freezing makes for a solid crust over the snowpack!

We started the day doing a quick "out & back" with Zorro as we made our own trail up and down the crust. Despite a quick stint with Zorro, Jack says an "out & back" is a "stop, drop & roll" regardless of distance ;)

"Can you believe this cracker jack?!?" says Zorro.
"Yeah, what a cracker, who needs to stop/drop/roll after a short stint?" suggests mature Rudy.
"A stop to turn around is a stop. A stop is ALWAYS a stop, drop & roll!" demonstrates goofy Jack.

Once we got Jack upright, it was the return on the firm crust with the fun threesome:

Flying Zorro! Wheeee!
Hovering Rudy! Woooo!
Cruising Jack! Woo Hoo!

After a quick & fast initial run with Zorro, we handed the elder fun guy off to Nancy and I took Jack & Rudy out for a longer run higher up on Vail Pass. After cruising up for a few miles, the trail levels off for a distance and you find yourself on what seems to be an endless shelf of snow as far as the eye can see!

The fun kids cruising west atop this endless shelf a few miles up from the trailhead!

The kids and I did a longer "out & back" on Vail Pass. While Rudy was trying his hardest to be upright and mature on Zorro's "out & back", he reverted to the usual comical 2 year old with Jack on the longer "out & back":

"Okay.... turnaround = roll around!" demonstrates silly Rudy.
"Haha, I knew you'd join!!!" says goofy Jack.

Upright and turned around and here we are now flying eastward back towards the trailhead. Flying, west, flying east - flying kids all morning long!

Look closely and you can see some fun "snow poofs" coming off Jack & Rudy's feet. And a fun Rudy footprint in the lower left of this shot:

Flying Rudy! Zooom!
Hovering Jack! Wheeee!

We close today with a nice combo video clip. Come along for the initial leg of the outing as we are flying along the solid crust with Zorro, Jack & Rudy. Then, the video transitions to Jack & Rudy "flooring it" on the incredible crust high up on the pass this morning! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Perfect crust all morning long: an initial out/back with elder Zorro and then a longer out/back with just Jack & Rudy: 7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 163 days on the trails covering 1113.9 miles with 101,700 feet of elevation climbed.