Beautiful Morning

Beautiful morning for a 10+ mile skijor with Jack & Rudy!

Beautiful morning, perfect trail and cool snow poofs coming of Jack & Rudy's feet.

We spent the morning at Breckenridge Nordic Center. The trails had just recently been groomed and we were either first or second tracks on the fresh groom all morning long. Here's a different than usual (for Jack, Rudy and I) photo. Notice anything different?

Zooming; but what is different?

The "different than usual"? Well, one of my skis is in the classic ski track. I do use classic skis (since we spend so much time in the backcountry) but I rarely use the classic ski tracks. Why? Well, if I put both skis in the classic track, I become an almost frictionless object behind Jack & Rudy. They are trained to "go as fast as they want unless/until they feel some slowdown resistance from me." Well, if I have both skis in a classic track, I have virtually no ability to slow us down and, well, that's a little scary! But, I will put one ski in the classic track now and then - only on flat or uphill terrain, though, downhill would be suicide. Anyway, I shift weight to my leg in the classic track for Jack & Rudy to speed up and shift weight to my leg out of the classic track to let them know to slow down a bit. Great fun with great teammates!

Back to this morning. It's always guaranteed Jack will roll snow angels at any turnaround point on the trail. It's always a mystery which Rudy will join, wooing Rudy or rolling Rudy. Today was the woo :)

Each kid doing their favorite antic at turnaround time!

Okay, Rudy done wooing and Jack upright, back to skijoring :)

First tracks on the groomie zoomie!
Nice mountain views to our right as well.

Only one thing can make Jack & Rudy stop and drift off trail. Moose! Okay, we didn't see any moose today, but the scent was clearly in the air as Jack & Rudy drifted right to stare deep into the trees.

"We smell moose! Where's the moose?!?" says the moose hunters.
We have seen moose in this area before, so I know their noses were accurate.

With no moose in sight, it's back to endless skijoring on the great trails this morning. Come along for a wonderful video highlight from a perfect day!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, who is ready for end of run treats?

"You have our FULL attention!" declares the happy, happy kids.

Wonderful nordic morning: 10.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 778.8 miles with 71,700 feet of elevation climbed.