Dunk

Our first "spring crust" skijor of 2022. Wheeee!

Using the crust to "make our own path" up, down and around
Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass.

The arrival of the spring crust is always an exciting event. With hot days and cold nights, the endless "off trail" snow gets soft in the afternoon to then refreeze into a firm crust every night. So much fun to use the crust to make our own path and go every which way for miles and miles.

While the arrival of the crust was exciting for all three of us, Jack & Rudy had a second major event for the outing: rodents moving under the snow!!! Spring also means the rodents are starting to stir and move around more than in the dead of winter. At one point, Jack & Rudy drifted off trail after smelling/hearing rodents they were determined to find them under the snow!

"I smell them RIGHT here!" says inspector Rudy.
"No, no, we have to dive & dig!" declares rodent searching Jack.

Rudy was quick to follow Jack's lead as the rodents must have been deep under the snow :)

"Gotcha! Dive & dig!" says Rudy backing up for a rodent dive/dig
into the snow.

Once through the crust and into the snow, it's time so search for those rodents in your holes!

"Where are they? WHERE are they?!?!?!" says the dunk brothers.

Nobody came up with a rodent; but it was still a very fun exercise to dunk, dig and search :)

With the search for rodents over, it was back to skijoring the spring crust. Wheeee!

The hover huskies "doing their thing" atop the wonderful spring crust.

Technically, the crust was still a bit soft in areas. Whenever that happened, we would slow and/or maneuver around it. But, when it was solid, all three of us "got it" and off we went. Come along for a short glimpse into skijoring the spring crust. We can hardly wait for it to firm up a bit more for endless crust exploring!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, everybody in tight for 'end of run' treats including our favorite retired mentor, Zorro:

"We are all READY!" declares the up close fun trio.

Our first crust skijor of the year with a little rodent hunting mixed in for extra entertainment: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 122 days on the trails covering 1033.9 miles with 97,000 feet of elevation climbed.