Rudy 8000

7 year old Rudy surpassed 8,000 career skijor miles yesterday morning! Impressive!

"And I've been singing for 8000 miles too!" adds proudly wooing Rudy.

Rudy's skijor career to date is the following: 1034 days on the trails covering 8000.3 miles with 742,100 feet of elevation climbed. Consider that most of this has happened since he was 1.5 years old and that is quite an impressive career he has strung together. For the curious, 5 month older Jack surpassed 8,000 career miles himself earlier this season.

Back to yesterday's outing. It was another fun tour around the top of Rabbit Ears Pass. But, the signs of summer are really starting to come through - boo!

There was lots of breakup in open meadows:

Yikes, the snow caving in to Jack's right with more exposed water
to Rudy's left.

There was lots of dirty snow in heavily wooded sections of trail:

Look at all that "tree debris" covering our otherwise beautiful white snow!

There were lots of narrow stretches with views of "no snow" at elevations below us.

Cruising along a narrow stretch with views of snow bare lower elevations
of Colorado to our right.

But, what did remain constant with the comedians was rolling snow angels to cool off at our turnaround point:

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Which deteriorating condition to feature in today's video highlight? How about gliding along behind Jack & Rudy in the tree debris covered snow amongst thick trees. Sure, it's not pretty snow, but it is toes on snow in mid-May, we'll take that any day!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another constant, along with rolling snow angels, was still finding snow walls to climb for end of run treats. Despite heavy melting, the kids can still find a wall to scale!

"If there is a snow wall, we'll find it and climb it!' declares the happy
kids getting up to my level for end of run treats.

Yesterday's tally: 9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed with a top speed of 22 MPH and passing 8,000 career skijor miles for impressive 7 year old Rudy. Yay!

2024/2025 Season to Date: 106 days on the trails covering 810.7 miles with 80,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Packed Leftovers

Look who was enjoying "toes on snow in mid-May!"

"We LOVE toes on snow!!!" exclaims the super happy kids thrilled
to still be on snow in mid-May.

We returned to Rabbit Ears Pass for another skijor this morning. We started the day by skijoring yesterday's surprise groomed trail. We just HAD to do this wonderful stretch again today!

The kids flying along yesterday's surprise groomed trail. Wheeee!

After flying along the 1.5 mile groomie, we changed our route from yesterday to follow leftover snowmobile trails towards Walton Peak. There is a network of "primary trails" on Rabbit Ears that get tons of snowmobile and snowcat traffic all winter long. These heavy machines really pack the snow. As a result, the leftover snowmobile trails remain skiable far into May even though conditions off trail are quickly deteriorating. Here's what I mean:

The fun kids catching air as you can make out the packed leftover trail in
front of us as compared to the choppy mess off the trail. Nice leftovers!

Now come along for the video example of what I am talking about. Watch as Jack, Rudy and I are having a blast skijoring the packed leftovers at the base of Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass. What fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

This particular network of trails has one "guardian" to how far into May you can use them. There is a "snow bridge" crossing Walton Creek that is formed by snowmobiles and snowcats continually running over snow covered Walton Creek. There is no real bridge, just a bridge of packed snow. Once this bridge melts, there is no way to cross the creek and we have to abandon this route. We are happy to report that the packed snow bridge was still intact this morning!

You can see exposed Walton Creek to our left. Directly in front of us is
a bridge made out of packed snow allowing us to still skijor over the creek.
It's melting fast, but still intact this morning!

We did an "out & back" on the snowmobile leftovers. So, you know what that meant happened at turnaround time :)

Turnaround, roll around!!! You are pretty much guaranteed to get the
comedians rolling dual snow angels once we get into warm May days :)

Back to the trailhead and the kids found a mini snow wall to climb for end of run treats:

"We love snow walls! We LOVE snow!" says the happy kids awaiting
their end of run treats.

A wonderful mid-May skijor this morning: 9.6 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 105 days on the trails covering 801.7 miles with 79,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise

Look at the surprise we came across atop Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

A recently groomed trail! Wow, what a WONDERFUL surprise!!!

These grooms are known to happen now and then on Rabbit Ears Pass in May; but it is not something announced or scheduled. You just show up and occasionally get this lucky! It is members of the US National Nordic Team that do (and use) these occasional, surprise grooms and Jack, Rudy & I LOVE to come across it!

Now come watch how the surprise groom unfolded in today's video highlight. We start this clip with us on a narrow, leftover corduroy between snowcat tracks. I was expecting this (the narrow between the cat tracks) once I saw it and that was just fine for Jack, Rudy & I. But, then watch as about 35 seconds into the clip and the snowcat turned and lowered its grooming blade. Well, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a recent and wide groomed trail. So, ZOOOOM we go. What fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The groom only lasted about 1.5 miles. But, that is ok, after zooming on the groom, we headed out towads Walton Peak on backcountry ski trails. Once we got to the base of the peak, I paused to assess whether we could abandon set trails and skijor the spring crust. Did I say pause? Yep...

"Stop, drop & roll!" goes the 'if you stop, we roll' sillies.

I did determine that the crust could hold our weight, so we set out so skijor across vast snow covered meadows. I realize it looks very bumpy in the prior photo; but that is because we were at the edge of the meadow. Once we got into the center of the meadow, it smoothed up a bit for some fun "no set trails" skijoring:

See, not as bumpy once we got into the open. Whee!

We then connected onto marked snowmobile trails to begin our return to the trailhead. This type of trail gets very packed by snowmobiles running all winter and, as a result, it was still in perfect condition especially for May! Yay!

The kids opening it up on packed snowmobile trails. Fun!

To complete the day, we got back on the surprise groom and sprinted across it in the reverse direction to arrive back at the trailhead.

The hover huskies catching air on the surprise groom!

What an enjoyable and great surprise today, right guys?

"Oh, I had a blast!" declares Jack who is laying down atop a nice snow wall.
"Yes, we love Rabbit Ears!" adds giddy Rudy.

A really nice outing for mid May: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 104 days on the trails covering 792.1 miles with 78,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Fresh Snow Means We Go

Who is excited about fresh snow in May?!?

"Me! Me! MEEEE!" exclaims the super happy sled dogs.

We had some fresh snow last night and into this morning. It wasn't much (1-2 inches), but it was enough to get us back out on the trails. We decided to skijor Peak 7 once again as these are the highest elevation trails we can access easily. It was a wonderful morning for May. We were thrilled to be first on the snow laying fresh tracks on the way out:

Laying fresh tracks in May - Yay!

We went out and back on the highest elevation trail on Peak 7. An "out and back" means you turnaround at some point and, yes, the comedians were their usual selves at turnaround time :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies cooling of
by rolling around at our turnaround point.

Once the snow angels were complete, it was time to head back. With a very wide trail, we were able to continue laying fresh tracks on the way back. Whee!

Still laying fresh tracks down the right/center of the trail with our out
tracks to the left. What fun in May!

Now come along for some video fun from the morning. It was really nice for long stretches at a time. What a May treat!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I would be lying if I said everything was as nice as the prior video and photo. The "signs of summer" are, unfortunately, starting to appear. But, I was able to keep my skis on the entire outing and that is pretty good for May!

Getting a little narrow along this stretch of trail; but still enough
snow for us to continue to go!

Unfortunately, all the snow walls have melted at this particular trailhead. So, I had to get down on my knees to hand out end of run treats. It's so much more fun when the kids can climb snow walls to get to my level; but end of run treats are happily accepted at all heights :)

"We'd prefer to be on a wall face to face; but we'll accept them here!" says the
happy kids awaiting their end of run treats.

A nice day laying fresh tracks in May on as much terrain as we could string together: 5.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 103 days on the trails covering 782.7 miles with 77,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Let's Dance

Fresh snow in May - Yay! Let's Dance!!!

Jack & Rudy doing a "fresh snow celebration" dance :)

Fresh snow in May is always such a treat! Today we found ourselves laying fresh tracks in 1-2 inches of fresh snow on the upper elevation trails on Peak 7. It was a beautiful May Day for a skijor!

Laying fresh tracks in May! Yay!

This time of year I prefer to do "out & back" skijor outings with the out direction being more up than down. This way, on the way up (going a little slower) I am able to see all the obstacles I'll need to avoid coming back down at much faster speeds. But, with the wide trail on Peak 7, we were able to lay fresh tracks both directions by hugging the right side of the trail on the way up and the flying in the center on the way down.

Freshies down the center of the trail with our "up tracks" to our left.
What a fun May Day!

Now come along for the video highlight of the day. I had so much fun video footage to choose from, I chose the following for the fun curves in the trail along the way. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The snow was a bit wet and heavy (as it usually is in May) and temperatures were right around freezing (maybe a little below to start the day and a little above to end), so I was expecting snow angels to cool off from the comedians at our turnaround point of the day. Yep...

"Turnaround, roll around! Need to cool our jets!" goes the snow
rolling sillies.

What a May Day treat, right guys?

"Yes, that was FUN!" declares the happy & focused fun kids.

A fresh tracks May Day covering 5.2 miles with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 102 days on the trails covering 777.5 miles with 76,700 feet of elevation climbed.