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.