Blustery

It was a blustery morning on Baldy Mountain, that had no impact on Jack & Rudy :)

Hard to capture blowing snow (white on white) but you can see a bit of the blow
with the snow against the trees to the left.
Skip ahead to the video below for real evidence of the wind.

We started (and ended) the skijor in single digit temperatures (F) and there were gusting winds. So, I wanted to pick a route that kept us in the trees and definitely below treeline for the entire outing. The solution was to get creative in the backcountry and connect Boreas Mountain to Baldy Mountain. Fun!

We started the morning laying fresh tracks on Boreas. Surprising to be first tracks on popular Boreas; but, as I mentioned, it was single digit temps with below zero windchill. 

Laying fresh tracks up Boreas!

After cruising up Boreas for a bit, we cut over to the Baker's Tank and the Mountain Pride trails. These trails are very heavily forested, so plenty of tree protection from the wind. But, these trails are also infrequently used, especially Mountain Pride which is far back in the forest and very technical.

Testing all of my skiing abilities on the narrow, barely 2 Siberians wide,
Mountain Pride Trail!

Eventually we connected onto Baldy Mountain at the historic Iowa Mill. What do Jack & Rudy do at the historic mill? Well, roll snow angels and woo of course :)

Nice shot of Iowa Mill. The kids are slightly out of sync as Jack is finishing his
snow angel as Rudy is starting his woo. Usually they roll & woo in harmony!

Once to Iowa Mill, Jack & Rudy LOVE the skijor here on down to the trailhead. Come along for a video glimpse into the fun. If your volume is up, you can hear the wind whipping against the camera microphone. You can also see the wind blown snow flying across the camera, especially during the last 30 seconds or so of this clip. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The only downside of far below zero windchill? Well, not many others were out on the trails. Normally we encounter a lot of backcountry skiers on Baldy and Jack & Rudy love to flirt with them. Today, though, we only encountered 2 solo skiers. Oh well, 2 flirts are better than none :)

"Hi! Bye! Coming through! Made you smile!" go the flirts cruising by this
oncoming skier.

Jack & Rudy thought it was a beautiful morning, just see for yourself!

"Anytime we end the outing with frozen heads was a GREAT day!" says the
silly kids with icicles frozen all over their happy faces.

Fun day in the backcountry hiding from the wind: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 87 days on the trails covering 761.0 miles with 70,000 feet of elevation climbed.