Keystone Gulch

Flying along Keystone Gulch Road this morning. Wheeee!

Impressive Jack & Rudy flying along.

We do not skijor Keystone Gulch Road very often as it is not close to home like most of our other trails. But, if we ever have an appointment in Dillon or Keystone, then we'll make a stop at Keystone Gulch Road for a fun skijor on this trail.

In the winter, the road is primarily a service road (serviced by snowmobiles) for Keystone Ski Resort. The road mirrors the boundary on one side of the ski resort for almost 5 miles. Eventually it actually turns into a ski run on Keystone Ski Resort. The trail is roped off at this point as you need a ski pass to continue. Here we are at the end of the road before it turns into a ski run (right next to a ski lift). Well, this is a turnaround point, so you know what Jack did. Rudy, on the other hand, was too nosy inspecting the running lift and skiers riding up it :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"Interesting. Why not get pulled up by sled dogs instead?" questions Rudy.
Look directly up from Rudy and there is a lift chair with skier in it.

While the road is primarily a service road, it is also used for one short section as an actual ski run to connect the base of two lifts on the mountain. This short section gets groomed and makes for a fun, albeit short, sprint zone. Here we are transitioning from snowmobile service road to groomed ski trail. Notice nosy Rudy has to check out all the lift operations and skiers to our right. Nosy kid!

"Hey, anybody want to hear my woo?" asks nosy Rudy.
"Groomed ahead, let's go!" says all business Jack.

So, here we go for a fun video clip putting the story all together. We start skijoring along the snowmobile service road. Then, about 35 seconds into the clip, we come upon the ski resort junction. Jack & Rudy slow to hear instructions from me and inspect all the activity to the right. Once on the groomed track, though, it's pedal to the metal from the kids. Finally, a short sprint distance later and it's back onto snowmobile service road. Fun time!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Out of sight of the ski resort operations again so it is back to zooming along the service road.

Snowmobile tracks to our right but Jack & Rudy would rather run
in the shallow, soft powder to the left :)

Another successful day earning end of run treats!

"That was fun!" declares the happy, focused pair.

Today's tally: 10.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 71 days on the trails covering 618.4 miles with 55,700 feet of elevation climbed.