Comedy, Go, Catch

Fun "shot from the front" of the happy kids towing me to the finish of today's excellent skijor outing!

Wheeee! Smiles all around!

Notice anything special about the prior photo? Well, Jack & Rudy are first tracks on the groomed corduroy! Sure, there are a couple of snowshoe tracks to our left, but we are first tracks on the center of the freshly groomed trail!

We spent most of today's outing at Gold Run Nordic Center (with a little bit of the outing on backcountry side trails). At one point along the nordic center trails, the groomer does a little cul-de-sac turnaround. This is at the highest elevation point of our outing. So, I typically pause at the top of this cul-de-sac for two reasons: 1) to let the goofballs roll snow angels to cool off after towing me up; and 2) for me to get ready for the Jack & Rudy missile to LAUNCH me back down the trail! So, here we are at the top of the cul-de-sac:

Cooling our jets, rub a dub dub!

Now for today's "comedy, go & catch" video clip. The clip starts just after Jack & Rudy had got up from their snow angels. Jack & Rudy had turned around to GO but I have us paused while I adjust some equipment before restarting. So, if your volume is up, you'll hear Rudy protesting (by wooing) about how long I am taking. Then, as I rotate around you'll see what Jack is doing with my extended pause: rolling snow angels as he always does (once I re-paused us, he stopped, dropped and rolled AGAIN). 

Next, all it takes is one "Ok, here we go Jack." from me and he pops up from his snow angel and launches down the trail. Now watch the fun as we top 24 MPH in what I knew was a chase. "What chase?" you ask, well about 1m 8s into the clip and you can start to see groomer lights ahead of us until we finally catch the groomer and have to slow down. Jack & Rudy love playing catch the groomer!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

For the curious, we know the groomer drivers from skijoring these trails for years. When the trail eventually gets wide enough for us to pass, the driver will pause and wave us on by. On today's encounter, the trail was not wide enough yet for us to safely pass. So, I'd slow Jack & Rudy for a bit to give the groomer a little head start and then we'd catch right back up again. Slow, Run, Catch - repeat, repeat, repeat :)

Catching the groomer again after slowing to give it a head start.

As I said, eventually the trail gets wide enough for us to pass. The driver always stops and we safely trot on by. The driver and I always exchange smiles and waves as we pass!

Wide enough to pass - here we come!

For us to have encountered the groomer where we did, meant it had already groomed the main trail at Gold Run. So, once we passed, we connected onto the freshly groom main trail around a couple of corners. Well, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groomie zoomie:

Zoom go the hover huskies. Wheeee!

Finally, a really nice high snow wall to climb today for end of run treats!

"That was so FUN!" says the 'catch the groomer' pair.
Sorry my head is unseeable in the bright sun, but we are here
for Jack & Rudy's happy faces anyway :)

A fast, fun and short day playing catch the groomer at Gold Run Nordic Center: 5.4 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 31 days on the trails covering 234.9 miles with 22,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Flirts

"Hello from the historic Sallie Barber Mine!" says the happy sled dogs.

"HELLO!"

We did a "different than usual" skijor tour around Sallie Barber this morning. We started the day by climbing to the mine from the quiet, backside trail. As is usual with the silly kids, it was necessary to stop, drop and roll in the snow after the initial climb to the mine. We typically do the initial climb from the frontside. But, as you see, climbing from the front or the back yields the same snow rolling results:

"Ahhh, rub a dub dub, cooling our jets after the initial climb!" says the
snow rolling goofballs.

Then, for another different twist, we went out & back on the narrow Trail of Tears starting at the mine. This trail is barely 2 Siberians wide in the summer and gets even narrower with snowpack. Sometimes Jack & Rudy can still fit shoulder to shoulder in the winter; but often they have to switch to single file skijoring to fit on the narrow single track. They still jog and tow me at a nice pace in this configuration, just not nearly as fast as when both are able to pull side by side :)

Jack taking the lead to tow me on the narrow Trail of Tears while
Rudy takes a break jogging behind him (they do switch to take
turns doing the work in the lead).

Finally, it was time for us to complete the day on the popular frontside of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Jack & Rudy love flooring it on this trail and flirting with the crowds we often encounter.

"Hi! Coming through!" says the fun kids. Rudy always gives onlookers a
flirting glance when he is on the inside lane when we pass. Jack is typically
all business flying by whether he is on the inside of outside lane.

Did I mention Rudy loves to flirt when he is on the inside lane? A little more proof:

"Whee! Made you smile!" says silly Rudy giving another flirting glance
from the inside lane as we glide on by.
"Yes, made you smile; but 'focus forward', 'focus forward' - maintain speed!"
adds all business Jack.

We'll go back to the first "on by" photo above for today's video highlight. Come along as we weave through a couple of curves in the trail before flooring in on an open straightaway to eventually fly on by the oncoming snowshoer. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and a much better snow wall to climb for treats than yesterday, yay!

"We love climbing snow walls to get treats!" says the happy & focused kids.

A quick, but very fun, outing at Sallie Barber this morning: 4.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 30 days on the trails covering 229.5 miles with 22,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Authorizations

Beautiful views, beautiful bluebird morning, beautiful fresh groomed trail, beautiful sled dogs - that about sums up today's great skijor outing :)

Cannonball Jack next to Rudy the Missile as we fly along the freshly
groomed nordic trail with great views in front of us and to our right.

Jack & Rudy covered all ranges of authorizations (or lack thereof) on today's outing. Let me show you what I mean.

First, we had unauthorized play bowing and wrestling on the trail:

Double play bows from the sillies about to launch into a wrestling
match on the trail. Unauthorized!!!

Second, we had authorized but not encouraged diving for rodents off trail under the snow. The rodent dives are always fun to watch, thus authorized. But, I say "not encouraged" because if I did encourage this behavior, Jack & Rudy would spend all day off trail digging for rodents and we'd never skijor :)

"Dunk! I sense rodents under the snow!" declares dunking Jack.
"Really? Well, then, INCOMING!" joins Rudy with one of his patented
high arching rodent dives. Authorized but not Encouraged!

Third, we had authorized hover huskies catching some serious air while topping 24 MPH skijoring on the freshly groomed nordic trail. 

Whee! Look how high off the trail the speed demons are! Zoom!
Authorized and ENCOURAGED!!!!

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. Come along as we are skijoring at around 12,000 feet in elevation on a freshly groomed nordic trail topping 24 MPH behind wonderful Jack & Rudy on a gorgeous bluebird morning. It doesn't get any better than this!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The only slight letdown of the day's perfect outing? Well, not much of a snow wall to climb for end of run treats at the trailhead. There was one good wall, but the car parked next to it had an obnoxious dog barking nonstop inside of it - not fun to be right next to such a loud and annoying creature. So, we settle for what little wall we could find:

Rudy on a little bit of a perch but only Jack's rear end was able to fit
on any sort of incline. Oh well, we still very much enjoy end of run
treats at ground level :)

All authorizations exercised by the comedians today as we covered 9.6 miles with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 29 days on the trails covering 224.9 miles with 21,600 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Second

Smiles all around as we complete yet another fast & fun skijor outing!

Wheeee!

The footage in today's blog is actually from last Wednesday, Dec 11th. I did not have time to process the video footage until today. So, here's our summary of last Wednesday's fun outing.

We started the day being second tracks to a previous skier on a wonderful backcountry trail in Dry Gulch. With a light layer of fresh snow, I was comfortable "putting the skis parallel" and letting Jack & Rudy open up the throttle!

Zipping along a wonderful backcountry trail.

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo as we are second tracks out on this great backcountry trail. Notice about 36 seconds into this clip and Jack & Rudy really floor it! Then, about 52 seconds in and I call out "Forward" to direct us that direction versus following the existing ski tracks going the left. After the forward I call out "Good boys" and then, if your volume is up high enough, you'll hear Rudy respond with an acknowledging "Ruff" (as if saying, "Yep, got it!") in reaction to my "Forward. Good boys." Silly, talkative kid :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After the fun backcountry romp, it was time to drop onto the wide trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. We started on the uppermost Preston Loop. While this loop had not been freshly groomed, it is far enough away from the trailhead that it does not get too much traffic. So, a "day old" groom on Preston is often almost as good as a fresh groom. So, that means ZOOM!

The fast kids kicking it info overdrive on the Preston Loop.

After the Preston Loop, we did an out & back on another backcountry side trail before finally re-connecting with the main trail at Gold Run. Much to our pleasure, the main (and thus most used) trail had been groomed just moments before. So, we were first tracks on a fresh nordic groom to end the day. What fun!

Jack & Rudy making full use of the wide and freshly groomed nordic trail!

Along the way, we also skijored the Jumbo Overlook at the nordic center. This is a short "out & back" groomed side trail. Well, "out & back" means you have to turnaround at one point, right? So, you guessed it: Stop, Drop & Roll from the comedians at turnaround time:

The snow rolling goofballs not much interested in the views you are supposed
to take in from the Jumbo Overlook :)

Finally, as is the ritual, climbing a snow wall to received end of run treats to complete the day:

"Ready!" says the happy & focused kids atop a mini snow wall.

A fun day mixing backcountry and nordic skijoring in the same outing: 7.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 215.3 miles with 20,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Crest and Go

Cresting on the trail to fly by the historic Sallie Barber Mine from the 1800s mining days in Breckenridge.

Jack & Rudy love to "crest and go" to fly by the historic mine.

It was a wonderful snowy morning to be out on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. With fresh snow and existing snowpack, we were able to lay fresh tracks on the less popular (and much steeper and rockier) backside of this trail. Wheeee!

Laying fresh tracks on the backside of Sallie Barber Mine. What fun!

Notice anything special about the prior two photos? Well, it's really hard to see in still shots but it was actively snowing all through our outing this morning. If you look closely at the first photo, all the white speckles you see on the mine are snowflakes. If you look closely at the second photo, the white speckles on Jack and Rudy are also snowflakes. 

I know it's hard to appreciate active snowfall of "white on white" in a still photo. So, let's put it to a video. Come along as we crest at the historic mine and then take off down the other side. You can see the wonderful light to moderate snow falling around us in a video. Yay for Snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did our usual route at Sallie Barber: up the frontside, down & back up the backside and then down the frontside. On the first pass, the sillies almost always roll snow angels to celebrate reaching the mine after the initial climb. You need to cool off after a climb after all :)

Stop, drop and roll to cool off on the first pass by the mine.

You may have noticed that in most of my photos and video, Jack is on the right and Rudy on the left. This is their typical configuration. I don't enforce it, it is just what they prefer. But, occasionally they'll switch sides to mix it up (there is even one stretch of trail at Gold Run Nordic Center where they ALWAYS switch for some reason, you'll have to ask them why :) 

The infrequent "Jack on the left & Rudy on the right" with the same results: zoom!

A wonderful, snowy morning, right guys?

"We LOVE snow! Now how about those end of run treats?" says the
happy, fun kids.

A "yay for snow" skijor day: 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 26 days on the trails covering 204.2 miles with 19,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Wave

First tracks on a freshly groomed nordic trail once we got far away from the trailhead and weekend crowds. Wheeee!

First tracks on a fresh groom with snow poofs flying off Jack & Rudy's feet!

It was a beautiful bluebird morning. Once we got high enough in elevation, the views were stunning and the kids, Jack & Rudy, were still flying!

What a beautiful morning, what impressive skijor pals as we fly
along this high elevation nordic trail.

We did encounter a few others along the way (especially when we were closer to the trailhead). Most people stop and watch in awe as Jack & Rudy tow me on by. Some will even clap and cheer. Today we got a nice wave from a onlooker watching us cruise on by :)

Look really close and this skier's right arm is raised giving us a wave.
I waved back :)

For today's video highlight it was "zoom, zoom, zooming" and then the fun wave. If you look closely, you'll see the skier we encounter near the end of this clip lift his arm to give us a wave as we fly on by (look closely around the 43 second point of the clip for the wave :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course all that zooming means you have to roll snow angels to cool off at any pause during the outing!

Jack, as always, rolling to cool his jets.
Rudy participating in snow angels today as he simultaneously grabs
a snowcone to munch on while rolling - talented!

Finally, a really nice snow wall to climb today so I could hand out end of run treats from a standing position. Such polite guys to climb the walls to my level :)

"Up & ready, let's get to the treats!" says the happy & fun kids.

It was a beautiful morning to skijor fast and far! 9.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 24 days on the trails covering 189.8 miles with 18,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Groom & Zoom

Impressive lift from Jack & Rudy flooring it along a groomie zoomie trail!

The hover huskies doing their thing. Impressive!

The prior photo is actually from yesterday morning skijoring the Dumont Lake Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass. I'm putting yesterday and today together into this one blog entry.

The local snowmobile club we belong to grooms the main trails at Rabbit Ears Pass and yesterday was their first groom of the 2024/2025 season. Jack, Rudy and I were FIRST tracks on this beautiful groom. As you see above and below, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomed trail!

The kids catching air again with Rabbit Ears Peak visible in the upper
left of this photo.

Yesterday's skijor tally: 6.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

Now on to this morning. We started the day on narrower trails in Dry Gulch. It was a bit slick on the side trails, so we could safely gallop but not fully open the throttle. But a gallop is better than nothing!

Jack galloping along. 
What has Rudy's attention to the left? Well, this is known moose territory;
but if Jack didn't glance too then it was not a moose. I glanced left myself,
just in case, but saw nothing. So, what got Rudy's attention? Well, if you've
met Rudy you know it could have been anything from a leaf to a moose :)

The highlight of today's outing? Topping 24 MPH on Gold Run Road. This is part of Gold Run Nordic Center and typically on of the trails where we top 24 MPH when the conditions permit it. Well, today was such a day. Come along for a fast & wild 24 MPH skijor behind Jack & Rudy. You might notice you see a lot more of my skis than most video clips. Well, I'm in a serious ski tuck to keep pace (and upright) behind the speed demons; thus the reason you see so much more of my skis than normal. There was no "sitting back and gliding" behind them at this pace :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After hitting our top speed of the season, it was time to turn out of the heavily shaded forest trail in the video above and into the bright morning sun to complete the day:

Catching air once again! Not as impressive as the first photo above, but
all hover photos are cool to me :)

We redid one stretch of the upper trail to get some additional distance. That meant we turned around and here's today's turnaround comedy:

The usual snow angels from Jack with the added touch of munching on
snowcones while rolling.
Today was woos from Rudy - you never know which Rudy comedy act
you are going to get each day :)

Back to the trailhead for some well earned end of run treats for the speed demons:

"That was FUN! Love perfect conditions to FLOOR IT!" says the happy
speed demons.

Today's tally: 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 180.4 miles with 17,400 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Dives

Another wonderful day skijoring with Jack & Rudy in soft snowmobile tracks atop Rabbit Ears Pass!

Whee! Zipping along! I am in a serious ski tuck to keep pace, thus the reason
you can see so much of the carabiner in the lower right of this photo.

We started on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears as was the case yesterday. But, a few miles in and we got to a junction. Yesterday we went straight at the junction, today we turned right to mix it up. As with yesterday, this was still an "out & back" route. So, we had to turnaround at some point. You know what that means from Jack & Rudy:

"Turnaround! Roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies to cool
themselves off before turning and restarting :)

On the way back, those pesky "rodents under the snow" apparently were very active and caught Rudy's attention. So, off Rudy went rodent diving off trail and into the deep snow. Jack, of course, was quick to follow (with his typical "rodent lunge" versus Rudy's high arching dives).

"I sense rodents! Incoming!" says rodent diving Rudy.
"What? Really? Well I'll certainly join too!" adds Jack.

Today, instead of my usual video highlight showcasing hard working/running Jack & Rudy, I will expose the comedians. Come along for today's episode of diving & dunking and diving & dunking again from the silly kids determined to find one of those rodents under the snow! Goofballs :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, comedy interlude over and it was back to Jack & Rudy the professional sled dogs:

Whee, back to "normal"!

Back to the trailhead and a nice snow wall to climb for end of run treats:

"We heard you laughing! You loved our rodent dive comedy event!" says
the happy kids very proud of their performance on the trail today :)

A nice day for following soft snowmobile tracks and, apparently, a nice day to dive off trail in search of rodents under the snow: 8.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 21 days on the trails covering 164.8 miles with 16,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Track Follow

Fun shot from the front as we finish yesterday's skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center.

Whee, happy kids towing me to the finish yesterday.

I did not have time to writeup yesterday's outing; but I wanted to include the fun shot from the front above in today's summary.

On to today... We had a blast following soft snowmobile trails into the backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass. Look at this wonderful photo of Jack & Rudy catching air in soft & deep snowmobile track:

Whee - zipping along! Look at how deep this track is in the awesome
soft snow! Pretty nice for December 2nd!

Besides snowmobiles, there is one other thing Rabbit Ears Pass is known for: MOOSE (and elk, too, but moose are the most interesting to Jack and Rudy)! 

"Moose went this way! We should too!" suggests the silly kids trying to
convince me to leave the trail and search for moose. Haha, I vetoed that :)

Well, since the big bully human vetoed the off trail moose excursion, we might as well gallop along in these nice & soft snowmobile tracks again. 

Whee we go along this nice shelf with awesome views of Colorado below
us to our right.

Now let's have some video demonstration of the day's fun. Come along as we bounce & gallop along in these wonderful soft snowmobile tracks. Oh, you can catch some of the nice views to our right in the gaps between the trees, if you can take your eyes off fun Jack & Rudy that is :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did an out & back on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears. Well, that meant we stopped to turnaround at one point. Yes, you guessed, it... turnaround antics from the comedians:

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, WOOOOOOs abound!" sings entertaining Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and who is ready for end of run treats?

"Me, me, me!!!! READY!" says the app & focused fun kids.

Today's fun following snowmobile tracks into the backcountry: 6.9 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 20 days on the trails covering 156.1 miles with 15,300 feet of elevation climbed.