Perfect Crust

Who is having a GREAT time this morning?

"I am! I am!" exclaims happy Jack.
"Wooooo, I approoooove!" belts wooing Rudy.

The Spring Crust was PERFECT this morning at Vail Pass. I was a little worried it would not be firm enough to support us due to the overcast skies and humidity in the air. But, the temperatures were well below freezing and the crust was absolutely perfect. 

When there is a firm crust, we abandon set trails and skijor every which way across vast meadows. Such a fun time of year:

Perfect crust as far as the eye can see!

A little further along and the kids switched positions; but same results!

Vast, endless crust - wheeee!

At one point we were cruising along when the kids suddenly stopped on a dime and started furiously digging into the crust for rodents under the snow. The rodents must have been very loud for Jack & Rudy to snap to a "stop & dig" in unison!

"Pesky rodents! We smell & hear you, where are you?!?" asks the rodent
digging twins. Nice teamwork although they failed to catch any rodents :)

Near the end of the outing, the sun finally broke through the thick clouds. I love shots of Jack & Rudy flying along the crust when we have sun and shadows:

Catching air in the sun along the firm spring crust

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. Come along for part of today's endless skijor in the sun on the firm & vast crust at Vail Pass!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another great skijor and, yep, another snow wall for the kids to climb for end of run treats:

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

A beautiful morning as we were able to abandon set trails and use the firm crust the entire outing! 9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 143 days on the trails covering 1268.5 miles with 116,500 feet of elevation climbed.