Skijoring the Ski Resort

One of our favorite annual traditions: Skijoring Breckenridge Ski Resort!

Kicking up dust in shallow powder as we zoom under a ski lift. Wheeee!

We started this tradition back with Max & Zorro. Then, Zorro introduced it to Jack and then Zorro & Jack introduced it to Rudy. Finally, Jack & Rudy have continued to carry on the annual event. We try to "skijor the ski resort" every year when they start to shutdown terrain for the end of season.

Technically speaking, Breckenridge Ski Resort is still open for operations as they try to keep some terrain open as far into May as conditions allow. The resort has ski runs spanning 5 peaks (named peaks 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) and they close peaks 9 & 10 in mid to late April and shift all operations to 6, 7 & 8. They then start to close off parts of 6/7/8 as the snow melts until everything is eventually closed. Well, Peak 9 is our favorite peak, so we are thrilled that it is one of the first to close as it usually still has snow to use (it's not profitable to staff & keep all 5 peaks open in April/May).

We try to get out on Peak 9 within days of it closing and this year it closed for the season yesterday. We never know what conditions we are going to find on the peak. But, the ski resort tends to keep grooming a few tracks on the peak for a couple of days for both maintenance and to give locals a chance to ski up & down terrain that all the tourists are told is closed :) As usual, we were thrilled to find a groomed track along one of the runs on Peak 9 - wheeee!

Catching air as we FLY along the groomie zoomie ski run on Peak 9.

This year, though, we had some added entertainment. The resort got upwards of an inch or so of new snow overnight. As a result, there was fresh snow sprinkled across all the runs on Peak 9. With a light layer of powder, we are able to ditch groomed trails and fly up & down any run we chose! Without the new snow, the ungroomed runs would have been too tracked up from yesterday and then iced overnight for me to be able to safely skijor behind Jack & Rudy. But, as you see in the first photo and next photo - we were able to ditch the groomed trails and make our own way laying fresh tracks on endless ski runs. So fun!

Laying fresh tracks as we FLY along a beautiful ski run!

Come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. It does not get much more fun than this! New snow on fast & endless ski runs. Zoom, zoom, zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I mentioned, all the locals know that Peak 9 is still secretly "open for skiing" if you know how to get yourself up the mountain. Who needs a ski lift when you have snow machines? Yes, either snowmobiles or sled dogs are the preferred way to get up the mountain today :)

Jack, Rudy & I completing our morning outing as a snowmobile is
towing other skiers up to enjoy the "locals only" ride down too :)

Some use snowmobile to get up, some expend the effort to "skin up" themselves and then some use sled dogs to get up the mountain. I prefer sled dogs!

"Us too! Who wouldn't prefer sled dogs?!?" asks happy Jack & Rudy.
These smiles are at one of our turnaround points after the kids towed me
up. Rudy is just finishing rolling his snow angel to cool off before
we started back down.

So much fun today. Let's go thank retired mentor Zorro for pioneering this annual tradition:

"So Fun!!!!" declares the ecstatic kids.
"I taught them EVERYTHING I know!" adds proud Zorro.

Remember that ski resorts are designed for downhill skiing, so our outings on the resort are always very high in elevation without as much mileage as we do on a normal skijor: 6.4 miles traveled with 1400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 138 days on the trails covering 1169.7 miles with 109,800 feet of elevation climbed.