Early Morning Spring Crust

The early sled dogs get the wonderful early morning crust!

Nice shot of Jack & Rudy catching air as we zip across a firm
early morning snow crust. Wheeee!

Springtime is good for one thing, and one thing only: the Spring Crust! With warm days (well above freezing) and cold nights (many hours below freezing), a firm crust develops in the morning that can support Jack & Rudy's weight and me on skis. This lets us abandon set trails and skijor any direction we want. Such fun!

But, as the snowpack melts, obstacles do start to emerge from under the snow. Today we encountered many little trees starting to poke through. Not a problem, just obstacles to navigate around:

Sometimes Jack & Rudy have to spread apart to avoid obstacles.
I'll typically follow one of them until we are past the obstacle.

Once past any obstacle, though, it's back to shoulder to shoulder skijoring for the impressive sled dogs:

Moments after the prior photo and the cool kids reconnect
for tight, in team skijoring :)

Oftentimes, power lines provide us some of our best spring crust skijoring. This is because the power companies frequently clear cut trees under power lines. This provides us a pretty much obstacle free stretch of spring crust. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean. If your volume is up, you'll hear me call out the occasional "left" or "right" and Jack & Rudy listen for us to navigate along a wonderful spring crust under the power lines. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

There is one thing a spring crust cannot support: MOOSE! Yes, we encountered moose leg postholes in the crust at one point during the outing. You must stop and inspect moose tracks, it's in the rule book :)

What a moose posthole as Jack's head has completely disappeared down
the moose hole! These tracks were apparently very fresh according to
Jack & Rudy's noses!

But, the spring crust is perfectly strong for everything Jack & Rudy want to do: from running to rolling snow angels :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes the snow rolling sillies cooling themselves by
rolling the crust. Funny kids.

Finally, who is ready for some delicious end of run treats?

"We are!" says the happy kids who were able to, once again, find a nice
snow wall to climb to come face to face with me for treats.

An early morning skijor to enjoy the crust before it starts to soften: 5 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 98 days on the trails covering 747.1 miles with 73,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Patience

Jack & Rudy whipping me around a gentle left in the trail. Sled dog power! Whee!

The fun kids hug every corner very tightly, it's up to me to
try and stay upright and keep pace on skis :)

Today's outing took us on the upper elevation trails on peaks 7 & 6 in Breckenridge. Along the way, we found some snowcat tracks going up one of the Peak 6 service roads. With fresh snow over the snowcat tracks, this was safe for me to traverse on skis, so we followed. Eventually the snowcat turned around, so we did too. Did I say "turn around?" Yep...

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
You can see the wide cul-de-sac like turnaround the snowcat did.

Once the kids were done rolling, it was time to go back down the way we came up. This service road gets a bit steep in areas, so I like to take it cautiously. I only have to call out "easy" a few times to Jack & Rudy for them to get the message that we are taking the trail slower until I say otherwise. Great partners!

Believe me, they WANT to go faster than this; but a couple of "easy"
commands from me and they oblige as jogging is better than stopping!

After doing the side tour on the snowcat tracks, it was back onto the main trail on Peak 7. This is technically one of the trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center which is now closed for the season. I had turn on skis to get from the snowcat tracks back onto the main trail. Come along and watch as Jack & Rudy sit SO patiently waiting for me to turn on skis. Once around, I only need to mutter "Ok," and off we GO! I love to reward their patience with the opportunity to floor it :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the video. The tracks (ski and dog prints) you see are our out tracks on this same trail. So, go back and watch again and pay attention to seconds 24-25 in the clip. It looks as though my skis and Jack & Rudy's footprints seem to go off trail. Well, here is what happened at this point on the way up :)

Jack first lunged off trail looking for rodents under the snow.
Rudy, as usual, followed suit with one of his high arching rodent dives.
Together, both nearly pulled me completely off trail! Now you understand
the prints in the video :)

It was actually quite a nice morning with a light layer of new snow atop the (now closed for the season) nordic trails. We will not be able to use these trails again unless there is new snow as they get beat up quickly this time of year.

Whee - what wonderful April 20th conditions!

Back to the trailhead and we are still finding snow walls to climb for end of run treats; but they are melting fast :(

The fun kids found yet another snow wall to scale so we could be face to
face for end of run treats. Fun guys!

Today's tally: 6.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 97 days on the trails covering 742.1 miles with 72,700 feet of elevation climbed.

April Powder

Guess who was excited to find upwards of 18 inches of powder on our trails this morning?

"We are THRILLED!" exclaims the happy kids looking back to me
when we paused briefly to catch our breaths from deep powder skijoring!

As I mentioned the other day, Breckenridge Nordic Center decided to stay open for an additional week (this week). We had a marvelous April snowstorm yesterday and went back to the nordic center to enjoy the fresh powder this morning. On Thursday, the nordic center only groomed a little over 2 miles of their upper elevation terrain. I was expecting they might do a little more today with all the fresh snow. But, alas, they did not and only groomed the same 2 miles. But, with all the fresh snow, Jack, Rudy and I did the full nordic loop on our own, breaking trail for roughly 3.5 miles! At our highest point of the trail breaking fun, we found ourselves blasting through upwards of 18 inches of fresh powder!!!

Pow, POW, POWDER day!

Nobody had been out in the deep snow before us and we were thoroughly enjoying the aerobic workout. But, we did have to stop to inspect moose tracks crossing the trail at one point. You HAVE to dip your nose in deep moose tracks, you know :)

"Sniff, sniff! MOOSE!" says the moose inspectors.

I knew we'd eventually reconnect to the groomed stretch of trail and this would be our reward for breaking trail earlier. Sure enough, Jack & Rudy knew what to do once on nordic trails :)

Zoom! Rudy the missile and cannonball Jack flooring it.

Now come watch a fun video clip of us transitioning from deep snow to snowcat tracks to a groomed sprint track with an inch or two of fresh snow on top. For context, we had just been breaking trail in upwards of 18 inches of fresh snow. But, I knew we'd eventually connect with the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center to reward our hard trail breaking work with a sprint to the finish. Fun watching Jack & Rudy transition from the deep to the snowcat tracks. They sniff a little and then it's like they said, "Hey, wait a minute, we can SPRINT on this!!!" and off we goooooo without me having to say anything :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, Jack & Rudy know what to do with the nordic sprint track:

Catching air laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow over
a groomed nordic sprint track.

What a fun and aerobic day, right guys?

"Oh yes, that was FUN!" states the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

Some aerobic trail breaking work combined with some nordic sprinting made for a 7 mile outing with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 735.3 miles with 71,700 feet of elevation climbed.a

Surprise

Who is having the BEST time on a surprise groomed trail outing?

"We are! We are! Love the groomie zoomies!" exclaims the ecstatic kids.

I had announced that last Saturday was our final skijor on the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center as their closing day was Sunday. Well, the highest elevation trails at the nordic center are still in great condition. So, the nordic center decided to extend their season an extra week and keep grooming the highest elevation trail. We arrived to the trailhead this morning to find it freshly groomed and we were first tracks on the excellent terrain! Jack & Rudy knew what to do with a fresh groom :)

The fun kids catching air as they whip me around a left bend in the trail.

Need more evidence they know what to do with a fresh groom? How about this :)

Catching air again on the groomie zoomie. Wheeee!

Unfortunately, the groomer only ran a little over 2 miles on the high elevation trail before turning around. The happy faces in the first photo was at our turnaround point. This is what happened, as expected, before I got that fun dual happy face photo:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes alway snow rolling Jack.
"WOO! Why did the groomer turnaround? WOOOO!" sings Rudy.

Now come along for the today's video highlight as Jack & Rudy are making the most of today's surprise groom. Oh, the occasional ski tracks you see in the video are our own "out tracks" on this same trail. We were first and second (to ourselves) tracks the entire outing!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise but EXTREMELY fun fast day today, right guys?

"Oh yes! We LOVED it!" says the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

As I mentioned earlier, the groomer did not go very far; but any surprise groom of any length in April is a treat: 4.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH (ZOOM!).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 95 days on the trails covering 728.3 miles with 70,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Spring Crust

From yesterday's skijor outing: it's "Spring Crust" time of year!!!

Jack & Rudy catching air on the perfect spring crust. 

While the onset of Spring is always sad because that means our season is winding down, Spring is great for one thing - the Spring Crust! With warm days (well above freezing) but still cold nights (many hours below freezing), a hard crust forms in vast, open meadows every morning. This crust is hard enough to support Jack & Rudy running and me on skis. It really is fun to abandon set trails and just "go your own way" through vast, open meadows. 

Another open meadow, another great crust, another
shot of fast running Jack & Rudy. 

Now look closely at the prior photo. You can see skate ski tracks to Rudy's left and between Jack & Rudy. You can also see a path of classic ski tracks far to our right. Yes, the magical Spring Crust at Rabbit Ears is known to all avid cross country skiers in this area. We encountered four different small groups of 1-3 skiers throughout the day's outing. Whenever there was a skier in front of us, Jack & Rudy floored it to catch up. They love catching anything in front of them :) 

"Here we come, you can't out ski us!" says the fun kids flooring
it to reach the skier in front of us. 

We did indeed catch the skier. As we caught up to him, he stopped to greet Jack & Rudy, laughed and said "You guys are fast, nobody has ever caught me from behind!" (he was a very talented skate skier). 

Of course every meadow comes to an end and that means you turnaround to run back across the meadow you just traversed. Well, the turnarounds do not go unnoticed by Jack & Rudy :) 

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies. 

Each meadow we traversed got the same reaction from the comedians when we turned around to go back across it. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean. We had just come to the edge of one meadow when I called out a left to turnaround. Well, watch what really happened: stop, drop and roll from the goofballs. Once they finish rolling they look back to me with such happy faces (they are clearly very proud of their snow angel rolls :) until I say "Ok, here we go," and OFF we go - zoom! Fun and funny kids. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

To end the day, if you have met Jack you know he is a big kisser. Rudy, not so much, but Jack is a constant kisser. Here's what I mean: 

"SMACK!" goes Jack to my left cheek as I'm getting the end of run
treats out of my right pocket.

Fun day on our first Spring Crust outing of the season: 7.8 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 717.3 miles with 69,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Skijor the Ski Resort

Skijoring Breckenridge Ski Resort - wheeee!

The fun kids towing me to the finish of a "skijor the ski resort" outing
yesterday morning.

It has become an annual tradition for us. When Breckenridge Ski Resort closes Peak 9 for the season, we skijor the ski resort the next day. While the ski resort itself is still open, they start to shut down some of the trails as the season & crowds wind down. Well, Sunday was the last day peaks 9 & 10 (of the 5 peaks of ski runs at Breckenridge) were open. So, Monday was our annual "skijor the ski resort" on the closed trails on Peak 9. This outing is best shown through pictures versus me talking, come along for the fun ride:

We flew down wide trails high up on Peak 9:

Whee!

We floored it down narrower corridors of tree lined ski runs:

Zoom!

We zipped on by slopeside condos and hotels:

Wouldn't it be cool to step out on your hotel deck to see this
flying on by!!!!

So much cool video footage from the day. Let's go with the counterpart to the prior photo for the highlight of the outing. As I said in the photo caption: wouldn't it be cool to step out on your hotel deck to witness this flying on by :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Great time, right guys?

"Oh, the best! We love to skijor the ski resort!!!" says the happy kdis
with a nice trail map of Breckenridge Ski Resort in the background.
Peaks 9 & 10 are on the far left of this trail map.

Remember, ski resorts are designed for downhill skiing. Thus, our outings on the resort are always steep in elevation but lower in mileage: 4.8 miles traveled with 1500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 92 days on the trails covering 709.5 miles with 68,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Breck Nordic Finale

The fun kids catching air on the wild Gluteus Maximus Trail at Breckenridge Nordic Center!

Whee! It's quite the ride behind Jack & Rudy on steep and winding
Gluteus Maximus Trail!

Today was our last skijor at Breckenridge Nordic Center for this season as they close tomorrow. So, Jack & Rudy made the most of the outing. They seem to always know when it's a skijor finale of any sort and they seem to pick it up a notch! Smart kids :)

Catching air again near our highest point in elevation for the day.
What a beautiful bluebird morning!

Everywhere they took me, it was the same thing: pedal to the metal, catching air!

The hover huskies at it again :)

It was also a warm day for Jack & Rudy (above freezing the entire outing), so you know what that meant had to be done a turnaround time:

"Stop, drop and ROLL to cool our jets in the snow!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
Don't their faces look like they are in absolute heaven?

Today's video highlight is Jack & Rudy towing me to the finish of the day's outing. There are some fun hairpin curves along this stretch that are wild to take on skis at Jack & Rudy speed. As this clip is the end of our outing and our final day at the nordic center, consider it our Breck Nordic Finale Finale :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

While the snow walls to climb for end of run treats are melting and shrinking, Jack & Rudy are still experts at finding the best available wall to climb!

"Found a nice wall right here. Now how about those end of run treats?" asks
the happy kids.

Today's tally: 8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 91 days on the trails covering 704.7 miles with 67,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Smooth Shoulder

Wonderful conditions on wide snowmobile trails on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass!

Nice, wide trail with soft snowmobile tracks to gallop in. Wheeee!

We did an "out & back" skijor at Harrison Creek this morning. So, that means we got the typical antics from the comedians at our turnaround point :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Once done rolling, it was time to run back. Zoom!

The fun kids catching air as we zoom along.

Then, I stopped to check our time out on the trails to decide which direction to follow at a juncture. Well, this second stop was met with protest from Rudy :)

"WHY ARE WE STOPPED?!?" asks singing Rudy.
"I'll wait patiently for you to restart." adds mellow Jack.

Once restarted, Rudy and I found a wonderful stretch of trail to use. Watch how Rudy and I are on a bit of untouched corduroy to enjoy on the left shoulder of the trail. Meanwhile, Jack keeps dipping his head to sniff the moose tracks going down the center of the trail. Talented "sniff & run" Jack without breaking stride :) The moose tracks must not have been very fresh as Rudy was not interested; but they were definitely fresh enough for Jack to keep sampling with his nose.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then it was "all business" to end the day. 

"Almost done? We need to floor it to empty our tanks!" says the fun
kids running fast to the finish.

Finally, everybody ready for some end of run treats?

"You bet!" says the happy, focused & fun kids.

Today's tally: 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 690.5 miles with 65,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Final Gold Run

Rudy had a lot to say at our turnaround point of the outing this morning :)

"Woo! Woo! Did you hear me, I said WOOOO?" sings wooing Rudy.
"Does he ever NOT have something to say?" asks mellow & quiet Jack.

Today was our last skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center for this season as they close tomorrow. I swear Jack & Rudy got the memo, as they were tearing it up sprinting around the nordic trails today!

We started on the upper Preston Loop. There was a light layer of new snow on a day old groomed trail. Since this trail gets light usage, a dusting of snow over a day old groom is quite perfect conditions. See for yourself:

I told you, the kids were tearing it up all day long!
They are FLYING in this photo!

We then transitioned onto the main (and very heavily used) trail. I was originally fearing the condition since this trail gets a lot of traffic and the upper loop had not been groomed yet. But, what did we find? Well, low & behold, a freshly groomed lower trail. We were shocked and ecstatic to be first tracks on the fresh groom!

The hover huskies catching air being first tracks on a fresh groom!

Once I saw that we were first tracks, I immediately thought, "Could it be? Could it be? Could we get to play our favorite game at nordic centers: Catch and Pass the Groomer?" Well, sure enough, Jack & Rudy slung me around a few bends in the trail until finally it was Catch the Groomer!

We did it! We caught the groomer! Jack & Rudy love doing this.

As I've described many times before, the groomer drivers know us and will stop to wave us on by when the trail gets wide enough to do so safely. So, we hung behind the groomer for a few moments until the trail widened and the driver stopped and waved us on. Oh boy: Pass the Groomer!

Passing on by! What fun for our final skijor at Gold Run this season!

Now let's put it all together in today's video highlight: 1) flying along being first tracks on the fresh groom; 2) catch the groomer! 3) wait, wait; 4) pass the groomer! 5) FLOOR IT once safely on by. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a wonderful outing for our last skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center this season, right guys:

"We LOVE Catch and Pass the Groomer!" says the happy kids.

Today's tally: 6.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 88 days on the trails covering 682.9 miles with 65,200 feet of elevation climbed.